Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-12-06
FExAs TniAi,
A CuIprit sitting on the Jury
that Tried Him.
rs,., sindnu.


4 Ii is very difficult to distinguish on,
Mexican from another. They all lool
as il they had been cast in the sam
mould-a mould very much out o
repair.
There was & case OF horse stealing
tried in the District Court in Sau
Antonio in early days. that was very
peculiar. There was not very much
style about trying cases then, snc
particularly horse stealing cases,
Where a Mexican was accused oil
stealing q horse, pretty much sll that
was necessary was to say: "Gentlemen
of the Jury, there's your Mexicanl,
and they would cry out: Guilty Of
murder in the first degreel' without
leaving their seats. Maybe, it was not
quite so oeremonious, but there was
not much time wasted in cOnsigning
him TO the p%enitentiAry.
One day a Mexican named jose
Maria SOmethiueorother, was brought
into court to be tried for undue reck.
lessness in the transfer of live stock.
The court had appointed = leading
lawyer to defend the Mexican, be be
ing without funds to employ Que, but
the lawyer had been prevented by
more important business from consult
ing with his Mexican client. In fact
be neyer saw his client until tie
deputy sheriff brought him INTO cour
and dumped him down into a chair
alongside of his attorney. Now the
deputy sheriff had been lately appoint
ed snd did not know one Mexican
from another. and as the venue had
run short aud the jury box had to be
filed, he picked up all the losfers in
the court room. and actually took the
prisoner himself and put him in the
Jury box 10 try his own case. The
prisoner was not familiar with the
ways OF the courts, so he cid not ssy
anything, aud as another Mexican
strolled in and took the vacant seat
Of the prisoner. his counsel was none
the wiser, particularly as be himself
had been out in the meantime, aud
had taken several drinks. The jury
was impaueled aud sworn, among them
OF course, the prisoner, who lifted up
his hand with the rest.
The prisoner attorney now turned
to his client aud not knowing Spanish,
asked him in English it be really stole
the horse, as charged in the Indictment
The Mexican understood not q word
and, as sometimes happen when Nexi
cans are asked questions they do not
understand, the answer was: Isl,
senior" (yes,sir), w%hereupOn the lawyer
got up and told the court that his un-
fortunate client pleaded guilty, but
that he, the lawyer, would like TO ad.
dress a few words to the jury. The
District Attorney not Directing, the
lawyer made the greatest effort OF his
life. He proved that his client was
descended from a noble Castilian
family that had shed their blood like
water in holding this country against
the Indians, how bad company had
ruined him. how his family was in
distress, aud much more OF the same
kind Of eloquence, until all the jury
we're more or less affected, except the
prisoner 10 the jury box, who, being a
Mexican, and not understanding
English, was not much moved. 1t
was not his funeral. The jury brought
in a verdict of guilty, and assessed the
penalty at FIVE years imprisonment.
The jurymen, among them the real
culprlt, we're dismissed, while the
Sheriff put handouts on the innocent
man in the chair, and led him of to
jail. No doubt be had been guilty Of
some ~rascslity, fer he went along with
out murmuring. The upshot Of it
was, that the guilty jurymaD got wind
of it, aud made his escape. In the
meantime, the friends Of the missing
Mexican hunted the town all over for
him, but in vain. At last be was dis
covered in Jail with hobbies on. As
he owned several carts and oxen, and
was a msu Of wealth and influence
among the Mexicaus, a lawyer gut him
out on a writ OF habeas corpus. On
the examination all these facts came
out, and the lawyer who defended the
Mexican had a great deal of iun poked
at him. judge Thomas j. Devine,
before whom the Mexic IN was brought
on a writ OF hsbeas corpus, and Judge
John H. DuDcan, city attorney Of
Houston, will cheerfully substautiate
the facts contained 10 the foregoing.