Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-20
ANDERSON TO SCRUGGS.
An Open Letter from the Sheriff to the
Reverend Jud ge-The Question as
to the Responsibility of Col
Ored Jurors Disposed of.

REVEREND AND DEAR SIR-Your recent
speeches, as reported, on the subject of COL
ored men for special jury service in criminal
causes involving colored persons as defend
ants, convince me that your retirement from
the practice of one of your professions for q
time has rendered you unfamiliar now with
the statutes governing the subject. | pre-
sumo, too, that you have the same personal
regard for me as expressed the day before
your nomination-that you would do me no
harm by going on the mixed ticket, and that
you will correct the position you have a;
sumed, finding it injurious to me and unten
able to yourself. You have succeeded in
raising a commotion in the mind of the COL
ored voter regarding serving on juries. They
believe, under the gospel you have been
preaching to them, that l have in the past
treated them very badly in not putting them
on jury service. You have told them that in
some cases where men of color were defend
ants, and the law admitted of a special jury,
If the sheriff saw tit to summon them, you as
judge would not object to them, that the Sc
lection rested with the sheriff, and not with
the court. Now, Judge Scruggs, do you
mean, as one of your proposed measures of
reform, to make the sheriff superior to the
Judge? Luckily for the people, the law does
not permit such reform as this. l refer you
to the code:
Chapter 5, article l, section 1881 provides
that the county court shall designate twenty
five good and laa0fuL men to serve as jurymen
at the next succeeding term of the circuit
court.
3982-Provides that the number may be
thirty seven instead of twenty-five, if the in
terests of the county require it.
3991-A list of the Jurors designated shall
be made out by the clerk and delivered to the
sheriff, who shall summon the person desig-
mated, etc.
3993-If the county court fail to nominate,
or the persons nominated fail to attend, the
court shall designate other good and lawful
men, and direct the sheriff to summon them
as jurors, etc.
;}997-So, also, when special jurors are al
lowed by law, the sheriff shall summon the
jurors instanter from the body of the county,
IN the manner prescribed In section 1898.
If you want to put colored men on juries,
or to make them pledges in that direction, to
secure their favor now, what is the use of
winking and blinking about it? Why shift
the responsibility to the sheriff in such way
as to reap to yourself the applause and leave
him the odium? The way to do it Is to do
will do it. Read the whole chapter to which
l have referred you; you may not have read
it in twenty years, and must refresh yourself,
and then tell these people what you will do,
and don't worry yourself about the sheriff.
The law fixes him off nicely; he is nothing
but your waiting boy, and you will find me
very seryiceable one. Make out your venire,
let your clerk issue it to the sheriff under
seal of the court, and if | am sheriff, I'll sum-
mon the last one of them without any ques-
ton or right to question, as my duty is simple
obedience to the court. Very respectfully,
C. L. ANDERSON.