The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-04-21
Our.Jnrv svstam. J

There Is one man in the world to-day
and perhHps only the one -Rhn can say
with any degree of certitude whether
the eleven jurors In the Hayden lease
who declared fer acquitted were justiF
ned py, the fsct-zEe say nothing OF the
/ eYidence-or IL the one recuSant memF
Esber9 of the panel who refused TO- lean
! to mercy's side, and held out TO
/ the last for conviction had taken and
cIung to the true Interpretation of the
4 question he was sworn to trys On this
\ matter the public win remainperhHps
t,foreVenuncertain and uninfBrmeds and
INDEED we feel that the publicIregaFd
I the close of the abOrtive trial SIS a great
)reIief, and will he happy to hear no
bln0Fe of ".the great oyer of poisoning y
! inc Connecticut, either in private dis
/ custom or in judicial developh1 eats.A
Z What has the .community-pubI
| justice or private interests-gained by
the pFolonge dEheaEfngR AJusties has
not been satisfied in its demands for
retri button. Innocence is not sustained
in the interests efAtheE individual Time
has been wasted money expended, and
| excitement. of unhealthy moral nature
kept up for months. and the ONLY re-
suits we see IN this turning of a court of
law into a scientific lecture ROOM Civ
ing the public easy lessons in medical
jurisprudence, creating Z royal rOadP
to acquisition Of the chemical cOnstitu-
ents5Of mineral poisons. and giving the
criminal classes practical instruction OF
the means and mannerO of covering UP
tel-tale tracks should they be dispose
to Indulge at any time In arsenieal ex-
speFiments on the human system. These
the results so far, save tue disappOint-
plent of the prosecution alta miscarriage
lof Justice, and the long continued sus-
peDse sof the accused man and his fam-
lily, which can hardly be said to be
atoned for by an ending which brings
with it q suspicion and astain. ,7>a-5s
g l. is plain, as we said a few days ago.
that the jury system demands some
change. Here is machine of which
the purpose IS to discover facts aud
elicit truth, Amid COnfusiony false,
hood and mystery it is to detect the
secret crime and expose the criminal.
How often does it fail in this object? i
not as often as it succeeds, at least SC
frequently that it cannot be relied on.
Uncertainty is almost its characteristic.
What then does it avail that the main,
/ spring of its movement was forged by
Magma Uharta itself and that the du-a
bility of its materials is testedlby the
1 ceaseless action of several hundred years
in England; and here, since subiectiOn
. to Law became the recognized bdwark
) Of American institutions? We answer
all this by pointing to results, and by
further asking is it not clear that trial
by Jury is desperately out Of order or
altogether worthless?
Getrid of the necessity of unanimous
verdicts. The required unanimity in
ninety-nine cases out Of hundred Is
nothing more or less than a required
falsehood and perjury. Had the one
juror in Havden's case yielded to sell
tishness or surrendered on c0mpUlsioB,
the accused would be wholly free at this
mOment-free Of present stains as of
worry; but then the juror would have
sacrificed his CONSCIENTIOUS judgment
and violated the sanctity OF his oath.
BY accepting-as in the Scotch Law |
the verdict of the majority, the result |
would be all the same to the prisoner |
and no man on the jury need look int |
his own heart there to find recorded the |
cons eionsness of perjury. IheGaw in |
teRds the unanimous verdicts to be
accopdant with the oath, but what does !
justice get in most cases? A verdict |
against the evidence and the oath, die |
tated by the prejudice and Obstinacy Of |
one man, and submitted to with The
false pIetenses of Rnanimity. q ..-W |