The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-02


by either of the foregoing sec
tiOns" of this bill. "lS or ever has
BEEN
r Mr.. President, your experience on ju-
diciaI tribunals and in constituting and
observing laws is very great. Did you
ever know a jury law which Went back
on the whole course of a mans life and
disqualified him for sitting upon jury
unless he would swear that he is not
NOW, and never has been guilty of any
of the acts defined as crimes in the law?
He may have been bigamist; he may
have been a pOlygamiSt; he may have
abandoned all those beliefs; he may
have abandoned all those practices; he
NAV have, either by death or divorce or
otherwise, been entirely freed from the
obligation which the martial relations
imposed upon him, and yet according to
this bill he is forever deprived of the right
of sitting upon jury in these cases.
Where is the justice of that: Where is
locus p9uitentiR; You deprive him of
the induCement to abandon that which
yOu define as a crime; YOU say that If he
has abandoned what you have now for
the first time defined to be crime, or
at least now do define TO be a crime, h.
shall not sit upon jury. Do you do
that in relation to any other man? \
man goes into the penitentiary after
conviction of crime, and in some States
he is disqualified from sitting on a
jury; hui if he comes out upon a par
don he is competent to sit upon
jury; but he would not be competent
under the provisions of a statute like
this. The pardon, while it may wash
away his sins so that he shall become
as white as snow, can not override pro-
vision of the statute that preScrlbeS
that ne shall not thereafter sit on a
jury.
Now, sir, l do not think this extreme
ly important; | am perfectly ready to
admit that, but | do think il shows the
auimus and spirit with which this bill
in that | mean no reflection upon hon
Orable Senators who sit upon the Judi
Ciary Committee. | think it is the out
growth o a spirit which is abroad in
tn land which means to stigmatiZe
these people as criminals, as outlaws, as
beyond the borders not only of civili-
ZatiOn, but of the protection of the Con-
stitution of the United States.
am not to be misunderstood. will
coincide with any gentleman who en-
deayOrs to go the faTtheSt, within
UrGper limits. to crush ont this crime of
pOlygamy. / believe that the home is
the fountain of the purest civilization;
that il presents the safeguards by which
society is to be secured; that the sweet
charities of cOujugal and parental and
hiiIl love are those which guide and
guard our civilization. viii DO what
can property tu relieve all our people
from influences so dalpteriUuI rs / be-
NsEe these pDlygamOuS marriages 10 be.
avn now striving TO perfect not to de-
feat this bill. But, sir. / believe still
9 a. Of I1
right. which the Constitution has pro-
yiird, the great provisions securing To
every man the enjoyment of life, lIber-
ty, and the pursuit of happiness; that
he shall not be punished, except after
Indictment and trial by jury and con-
victiOn, after being confronted with
witnesses; believe these are more inn
pOrtant to ha preserved through all the
ages and under all conditions than That
we shall crush out in a day any evil
practices prevailing in nelghbOrhOod
and community, However evil those
practices may be.
But find here, Mr.. President, in the
eighteenth line of this section, that
among the causes Of challenge shall be
the belief that a man can rightfully
"have more than one living and undi-
vOrced wife" or live i'm the practice of
cOhabiting with more than one woman"
that is to say, if being married to a wO-
man according TO our homogeneous in
stitutiOns. man deserts her, abandOnS
her and lives with prostitute in daily
cOhabitatiOn; he shall be a proper jury
man to sit in cases Of this kind; but if
ne believes aud faithfully lives up to
the doctrine of purity in his relations
with the wives with whom he has been
married, he shall be utterly incOmpe-
tent. You pay a premium upon vice
which paradeS itself as vice throughout
all the country, and you put prOhibi-
tiOn upon that which preteuds to be
virtue.
Mr.. Hoar-I think, if the Senator will
pardon me
Mr.. PendletOn-Ce
Mr.. HOaT-He will see that this crit
iciSm on the bill is hardly just one.
Mr.. PendletOn--I shall be very glad
to correct it if it is not true.
Mr.. HOar-The Senator says that the
bill leaves men who are III the open
practice of immortality in the method he
has described to sit upon jury. The
bill does not prevent the ordinary
method of filling up jury list which
prevails everywhere, which secures the
selection from the body of the cOmmu-
nifty of men of high character and
standing. 1t does not prevent the Ter
law ludh4IS lllC lllNlllpu VI Illt
territorial marshal exercising his dis
cretiOn.
Mr.. PendletOn-I understand very
well, Mr.. President, that this bill does
not prevent the doing of other things
than that which it pTescTibes shall be
done; but here you press this bill and
YOU undertake to define the causes of
challenge against jurors who are to sit
in these particular cases; you prescribe
just this, that the prOfessedly immoral
and licentiOus may sit on the jury, but
the prOfessedly viTtuOus may not
Mr.. Hoar-That is my precise criticism
on the Senator's statement, which he so
cOurteOusly permitted me to make. This
bill does not undertake to define the
causes of challenge, neaving the Ordi-
nary causes of challenge to be settled in
the ordinary manner. This bill does
not say that man indicted for murder
shall not sit on the jury that tries him;
that is left to the ordinary action of
the law. So in the case the Senator re-
fers to.
Mr.. PendletOn-This does not pretend
to be a general law defining the quail
ficatiOns of jurors who are to be called
at all times and upon all cases, but it
undertakes to define the qualification of
those who shall sit in these particular
l.. 4 4. II