, 1880-04-07
THE TWELVE PEERS.
How Juries Are Gathered In in
Cook County.
What tho Law Describes as Qualified
to Act az Jurymen.
Too l1any "E1ensed" and Challenged Citizens
Ltayc Tho l'o1 Pillcd with Scrubs.

rlso to an inquiry as to who Is reRp0nsiblu for
tho evil, anil why Tint responsibility Ia not
properly recognized alld lilGt by tll0se OIL
whom 1t falls-to-wtt: tic board of Cornty
Commissioners. THO Jury law fs 10 rInfn
aud specific TINT 1t would seem perfectly
feasible to secure n better c1nss Of jnrors
than now iniests tho courts, provided always
that the Inv we're carefully executed. III
view Of tho general complaint tint lis exec,i-
tion llas not bcen Of That desirable character,
reporter for this napcr looked into tho sub
icct somewhat extensively yesterday to SEQ
what truth, It my, there WIS In tho charge,
md, It possible, to locate the difficulty.
III order to graphic with tho subject prop
TO tlie directions for tic seieetion Of lures lis
furnished Iii tho Jury net. Tho first ArGttOtl
Of that net provides that till County l3oaui
f eacll county shall, ut ur lef0re tho titMe Of
Its ,crtfng Il, September, Id cnch ycnr, or Mt
nlly time thereafter, wlacu necessary. for u.e
purposes Of t!lls aet, mike n list OF 4 suf..
ttcient number, not less than onc-tel,ttl, Of
the lcgnt voters of cnch town. nr precinct liz
eaeli .nalll,e5 On Tie list to bo known Us a
Tho SECOND section provides that In .Caok
County tho lhArt shall select froM slieE, list
tie Circuit md Superior Courts md 100 for
eacll trial term OF the Criminal Court, to
serve us peitt jurors nlul tint iii making sucl,
selection tho Board shall choose Il pr0pnr-
t!onatc humber from t,e Residents Of Each Il
sucll only as nre:
Fit1t-l1labltant of tho town or precinct not
exempt from serving IN !.tr!cs.
Sse.',Ml-Of ad tlg 9se of u yoars or upwards and
.T&ini-ia tl!e M'sscsslon Of ttcr natural fac-
uftLea md pot tn!lr,n nr M tdtecreplt.
chnr1utGr. nf approved Integrity, uf sound titfE-
Mcnt. well informed, mud who understand the
English lanEllbEc.
THE Mopus opERASp1
Of selecting turlcsIthe p practcal application 1T
tho reporter found to be Ms follows:
! Tho county Is. first divided up ausong tho
fifteen Commissioners, the five country mem.
'hers takng their respective Co'nllnls;sieners'
named by statute. Tile ten city, members
take tho eighteen wards. 70 si.nw
lrst , hoy od tho ,a tlSsion o Worss sf Or did
Coburn took the First anu Seennd War!!s,
burlington tie third and part 0f the Fifth.
| Stewart tfle FGHrtf! and the rcnlaltllng por-
eitl,. eS spafar poi to T EgStI It'll 9 ai Twe!fti, T
teenth and Fourteenth, Burllng the Fifteenth,
lshetnWnid the Sixteenth, and Bacse the Sty-
enteanth nnd Elgltcent: The .ll diy!SoE wns
!
Ward wouit! appear to llnVe gone a-bcgglng,
though such was not exactly the case. It
was what might be, cul1ed the ,"orpl1nn !" ,,
Wnr and W&s "aopteHi", by tS t,.oI sevGra Sta
duties.
rho division once agrcct1 npon, each Com,
| missioner calls upon tllo County Clerk nnd
secures tic poll-book for Ills division. Tlnn
commences the process Of selection. From
the names 0,, his po!-bpok he cu!ls out one
| tenth. III doing 80 he nt.ns-0r processes to
aim--to select such parsons ~ lie knows to be
reputable men n1,d to come within tho statu-
! rHferretl TO-. In order to secure tho required
! 10 per cent, however, 1t frequently happens
TINT leis obliged to go outside Of those whom
lie knows. personally or by reputation, and to
eases l,e ettteAv0rs tn nscertnln the standing
| OF tile people about whose Illness or unit.
ness lle Is personally ignorint, and ls guided
by the best light lle Gnil obtain on the sub
Iy one OF tie methods resortea To !n order to
ohtnIn the desired Information, md tho City
Directory
Is DY NO MEANS nEsr1sED
rs an MD in this process Of selection. Having
secured his 10 per cent l1e turns f'S ~ se,ectetE
who copies each name In tho, list ot' Il
this, the. Clerk has, or hal list
th aes nest on s eaff9 " H. cgP gsP,SsSai Sosns u
Cook, County. These cartls nlp pnt int9 !.
wheel, MI arrangement something like that
used In u lottery, or, not to speak IT pr0fane-
soothnE ate5 ot the u tsys n q 9f e rs GoEss
wants n Jury hu goes to tlle Hoarsl-roonls, the
machine Is given n few lively turns, md lie
draws ont tlle required number Of nAlneg.
The persons owning thoso namcs nuke up
Interviews with seycralof the Commission.
ers brought Oltt tho llnyAryfng statement that
the work Of selection was done. with all eye
Sg;G5 5 to III His paSr pStod 'sesHss &c ts IL
aearly oycry cpso to tllat Just described.
In one cusc, thta of Commissioner Hurling,
tho selected list WIS submitted to a gcntlo-
man In the lsccortler's Office WHO Was ~, Mc.
teentll Ward, alld whose opinion OF the fit:
HESS or unlitreHs OF ti}g persons I'll tic list
was regarded us the best tint cou.l 10 had.
The bther city members pr0fcsscl to llnyG
missioner Woot!, onle IT tho conntry mem.
bcrs, Hnitl he l,at obtained fran the Super,
visor III each town In his tlistrict Il list Of
one-tenth Of THO .votcrs III his town, adinoll'
lie could pick nut. III this way he hntl slc'
ceet.al In getting tho best llalnes ohtninubEe,
and was. aatis!ietI tint mono Of Ills lIst lind
ever odsa+ 1ssn refctca Inv In otsco te Courts ni
thclr part Vt tho statutory qualifications.
IN Ills opinl9il, utmost entirely conilslcd tu
tho city, whore. tho indivtaMal Was lcss
Was Increased By whit occurred nitor III
names wore drawn from tho wheel. The
Sheriff sAll,nonetl nll l!e could find, mud
freaaently missed ,seyefal.Ipcr!Iaps tl,e oest
sonle Of tic summoned failea to came IN, n,t
tila panel wnsl,'t full, others nsketl To bl
excused, aid Courts sometimes .grut!ted TIC
request whery thy ought to rvftss i; T!!e