The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-07-16

the eager puDllC should swallow both to-
gether.
Disagreeing Juries-Tho Case OF Stokes.
The trial which, in one phase or another,
has absorbed 80 much public attention since
January last has come to an end that must be
disappointment to every honest citizen.
After the jury had been locked up for forty
four hours the Judge admitted the truth of the
statement that there was no possibility of their
agreeing, and discharged them without YER
dict. So, after six months of law, Justice de-
clares her precious scales to be 80 rusty that
the beam will not move one way or the other,
to say whether Stokes is guilty or guiltless of
the murder of the man he shot down in the
Grand Central Hotel. The impression gains
ground rapidly that trial by jury, as at present
conducted, is likely, in the words of Lord
Denman, to become "a mockery, delusion
and snare" We do not intend to breathe
one word against the honest intentions of the
jury to decide fairly in the Stokes trial, but
we have held all along that the system on
which jurors are at present sifted for
murder trials is likely to give us jury of
blanks, and, consequently, that confusion
and disagreement are not astonishing in the
result Of their deliberations We do not care
to argue to which side the verdict of an intel
igent jury should incline in the late trial It
is sufficient to remember that, though the con-
tradictions between the theory of the prosecu-
ton and that of the defence were broad and
clear, they covered variety of ground and
demanded sharp analysing power, which
can scarcely have existed, or it would have
been exercised. As far as we can learn, the
doubts of the jurors resolved themselves into
the question Of generalization OF unpremedita-
ton to kill. They had failed, after twenty
hours deliberation, to agree, and yet they we're
locked up for twenty-four additional hours, as
if that would improve their reasoning. In
olden times in England the difficulty of dis
agreeing jury was met by the singular pro-
cess Of making it fight between the
strongest stomachs rather than the strongest
minds-in other words, the jury was starved
into verdict. Thus the TYPICAL obstinate
juror who stood out contumaciously against
the other eleven was spoken of as the man
The process of coercing verdict, no matter
what shape the coercion takes, is reprehensible.
In order, we submit that fair verdict upon
the evidence may be reached, the jury must be
intelligent and intelligently chosen, and the de-
STABILITY suggests itself of taking verdict upon
the finding of, say, two-thirds majority.
After a certain period the struggle in the jury
room becomes a fight between the physically
strong and the physically weak.
The people of New York were startled and
Mortified upon learning of Fisk's death A
cry for prompt justice arose, but the ingenuity
Of counsel STAYED off the inquisition from week
to week and month to month. We must
blame in this matter rather the apparent laxity
of court officers, who left open the way for the
defence continually to wriggle out of meeting
the issue squarely. With all the delay the
trial came on at last, and the prosecution, who
believed they had strong case, must lay the
blame, if any, for its miscarriage upon
themselves, since they cannot condemn
the sifted jury for not possessing
a discrimination unvouchsafed to beings
with minds composed of the negative
qualities necessary to their selection. The
defence did all possible for its client, and must
be applauded for performing its duty consci-
entiously. If these men had acquitted Stokes
we should feel bound to acquiesce in their
opinion; but the report that they stood seven
for murder, two for manslaughter and three
for acquittal, involves the whole question in
such unsatisfactoriness that keen disappoint-
ment seizes ON the best balanced mind in re-
garding it. Notwithstanding that fresh trial
is in prospect, the public will find itself cogi-
tatng whether killing in New York is murder,
Or in fact, anything definable at oil,
The Alabama Claims Arbitration in