, 1879-03-11
A JUIsYN1AN.
nscolleottons Of an Old-Timo Expert
er1oe Recalled by Recent
Events.
How Certain Caso Was Contested In the
Courts Of California,

q word Of my experience as juryman.
No one as set in this uEo Of many
phlRnthropics has taken any action towards the
relief Of these poor, prosecuted creatures. Be-
cause, III the FIRST place, nine jurynen out Of
ten lose all track Of case after tho second
days evidence. Whatever they do know nt the
commencement Il often completely bemuAllcd,
bcfogrel, and twisted into snarl by the law
yers. l presume the poor man on the trial in
question was conscientious and tried to re-.
member the evidence, This nas too much, and
broso 1is brain down. Most jurors arc not cou-
ecicnttous. They give up the ship after the first
two hours Of evtdencc-hearing aud let the casc
drift, All Jurors know this to DO truc, but no
man likes to acknowledge II. 50 they look wise
IN their chairs, and the farce goes on from year
to year.
In 1861, at the commencement Of tho War, I
served my country a. a juror In the
GREAT TABLE MOUNTAIN TUNNEL CASH
1t Sonora, Tuolumus County, Cal. It was
Tabfo Mountain Tunnel Va. New York Tunnel.
Tho opposing claims had drlftcd into opposite
sides Of the great mountain, which here de-
zcribed a scmiclrc1c.
Table Mountain Is a wall forty miles long,
from go to 600 feet In length, nbout 500 yards
wide, aud NTH top as level as barn floor.
Sides, top, and bottom arc Of rock, aud IN tho
some claims the tunnels bored throtiuT the "run
rock arc II 400 feet in length mud cost years Of
lAbur. The top rock Ia volcanic and spongy In
appearance. The bottom IL bard blue granite.
soma pariod It was the bad Of q river. II the
Palisades could be flushed on the Jersey side
md then plckel up and set down IN eome
comparatively leycl country farther inland, they
would glyo fair Representation Of Table Mount
a7 ass 1as'""s liz ssT e9a9Y's YSsie and robo Mountain
Companies first took VI. their claims they sup-
posed, as every one else did, that the pay streak
1GlioWeq the =, mountain 1t; Sc Il !a eseFywhere
shot straleht across a small mt part
" inclosed by tho mountain wall. The
two compsnes, ~ :they followed the. lead
from from siti,eF end 81 horse.shoo surys, found
The farther they tunneled tic richor
grew the streak Of pay dirt. Every rod held
small fortune; OF coptso , both parties claimed
known Of the richness Of Humbug Fiat. Both
wanted tho onttro fat The law was called uput
to settle The difficulty. Tho law sas glad, So
nora, the county town, was then full Of lawyers.
length, altcsnatcd thus store, saloon, law
Office la~.oIllcc store, SALOON. store, lawoflce.
Tho sonora lawyers ran their tunrlels Into
both Of uleso claims, and never stopped until
- IL.
The opposing miners did the work, and
Trln LAWYERS TOOK THE FEES.
Year after ycar tile Table Mountain rs. New
York Tunnel case cnmo into court. It com.
menced IN tho County Court, ron into tue Dis.
, t Ge1 ,, esan ssnt s 1R to e he cqt
tstct Court would take another shy at II, give
Judgment for ono side or tho other, and away it
would 10 to the Supreme Court nga!n, come
haek with some new Kinks IN the legal twist, aM.l
1Ff7tt7 n ri ri fTf1,1ef
went on year nfter year, with Judgments rem
dcrcd first for one side then for the other then
appealed, then Supreme courted, thcn sent back
TIM, District 96Nrted until ut last 1t had become
cobwebB, mold, afllday'ts, rulings, dry rot n,ui
counter rulings thatnobody but thu lawyers knew
Or pretended to know auCht OF tho natter As
for the contendlng miners, they simply worked,
paid their attorneys. T'hcre were about thirty
men In each company, and tho lawyers Ind
these Meh well trafnc1 mud under thorough CON
troll. They were perfectly content to work so
and the semtannual trial of Table Mountain
rs. Now York Tunnel Company made more cx-
citcment, drinking, cutting, shooting, md loft
more money in Sonora tinn any Fourth Of July
at each trtal m average OF thirty witnesses
each. These nnd the sixty contestants filled Tic
hotels and thu saloons for five or SIX days
Monte, iaro, Keno, nnu poker, fired up anew
Now York Companies. It was
A. NguuLAR CELEBRATION.
The town prospercd. Tile population incrcnsc]
They made OF sunora city With Common
Council, bought Q lire-enginc, and built three
neW churches: Ille case bccamc county instt-
gruw dropsca1 With af!ldayts mid documentary
evidence. Men died ant! With their last breath
lett some word still further to complcatc, corr
fuse, aud pcrpetuate the grcot Table Mountnin
n An fn q as At{f
serves were brought ln to fill the vacancies, uld
these could swear to anything, una 30 hi up ali
the gaps In their respective claink Of cyidcnce.
but at last Jurors competcnt for trying this
living Within aftcon ,n!ca of soaora l,ai "eat
on It." and WINS. therefore; incompetent to ajt
on i aga!th But the lawyers, as well rs thu
resident population Of tho county town, did
50 long Us there was any dust lelt In the pny-
streak worked by the parties In 1Ablc aiountatil.
30 thu Sheriff aid his deputies were scut 10 thu
more diatant mountains and guc'las Of Tou-
possessed Of tho necessary ignorance. III tl,is
way they found me, at it,ut time tcaI and
buried to tho outside world, On Bwett's Bar, u
remote corner Of the county.
IWas
suMMoNED As 4 JUROR.
obcyed tho sutnnlons, borrowed coat, md
went to Sonora. The great day came, the towp
Fas full as usual Of contestants ull,l witnesses,
Inc ealoons tnfoFe, ro!u clnieil, null few went
to bed tlht n!Cllt. Iu the morning /, Will, ttc
remaining eleven, was sworn 10 trY' tie cass
to this best Of my ability. 30 sworc. I fiji
very ridiculous. / felt guilty; knew i,aa no
ability as Juror. thought thel, that ability
Of sone sort was necessary.
The case was called. 1t seemed 10 mo they
commenced iu tho middle ar ut soMo uo!ut Of
leaving Oft IN some previous tra!. i couldn't
get auy clear idca whLcl, was plulntln mud Wild,
defendant It Is doubtful tlsat understood thu
e1act meaning Of those terlus At il,t time,
The Judge VIVA noted for hla cnIura.lcu
~ sitter. lie sak twclYe hours ner
dny. twenty-five Witnesses on 0nn si,ir
testified to something; thirty-asc On lilo otl,cr
hworo It nll down agnin. The trial lasted 1.-Two
days. Tho opposing counsel, tlsu rival clainl-
pns, and even tl,c witnesses, lnl:long, gaus'iy-
soi1sca maps Of this e'llms, which they unrolc1,
held before Us, nnd swung tlrliaully at each
other. Ills 1rht Two days OF tcstimunY, lnYoly-
:''E certain nnclent mining laws n,,d anriGnt
lonnsarses from 1SaU up to 1851, wcro, when
canc!u.esl, trnwn out AZ irrelevant to tho case.
l'nt how cntt!A It bo thsuwn out Ut my heatl It
ten's!ncu '!rsc, uni inturicGeA with ut thv re-.
inaiH'nls testimony had only u,.o eiuglu fact
. :,s: the Initial boundary point for botn Claims.