Richland beacon., 1885-03-21
The Jury System.

terlv wrr bless when 1T to the iner-
Cy "f LAWYERS, rs it usually is. SAWS
the New York Honr. Trial bv ones
own peers wss the blsis cf the svs-
TEN. In those days sol,iiers and
s,Ilbrs wArs Il lnpst ths only men
WAC ever laft their homes; the great
majority Of Intelligent men remained
alwaTs st or near their birthplace; !;
they knew every nHtive from his
Youth up, and strangers were 50 few
Any men selected for jury duty were
sure TO be- acquainted with accused
AMI accuser, and to know the char
acter and habits of each; to have
foymed an opinion WAS 70 bar to jury
duty, neither were any personal re-
latlOns hut those Of cOnsanguinitv.
Intelligence did not diSqualifv man
from serving Is A uror; on the CON
'rary, it vas supposed to specially
commend man.
But nowadays no mau--in the
I United State Sis tried bv a iurv Of
hls peers, nor by his personal sc-
Quaintances, nor men of intelligence
An American jury in a criminal case
is as stupid body of men rs TIE
combined ingenuity If the LAWYERS
on bOth sl.l-s can make it. Every
man who is summoned As a possible
juror is closely questioned bv one
side and then by the other: anv
knowledge Of the prisoner disquali-
fies him. An opinion already form
cd debars him. alt though the LAWYERS
well know that what most men cali
opinions are mere impressions that
the least bit of pertinent evidence
or argument will overcome; indeed,
so little faith has the court in the
tonaclty If men finally selected that
it usually prohibits the reading of
, newspapers and any conversation.
except with jurors, about the case in
question, the fear being that the i'm
pressions made by counsel will be
modified. With the men ordinarily
selected no man of self respect cares
to serve, 50 IT is customary to avoid
jury service bv admitting that a pos
itive opinion has already been formed.
What cannot lawyer do with
jury from which intelligence and
decision Of character have been ex-
cluded? Evidence, skilfully twisted
as it leaves the mouth % the wit
hess, is still more distorted by the
counsel on both sides The LAWYERS
conducting tie prosecution may, for
the tine. be regularly elected Off
crr Of the court but his term lasts
for only year or two, and he knows
lis Subsequent career depends upon
the skill h- di-plsyes in his address
while in olficr. 50 he seldom exhibits
more con-cieuca tnan the counsel for
the defence. Frequently he creates
much sympathy for the accused by
irving t. extract mountains OF guilt
from mole hills of evidence, and
thus, for prospective gain. weak.ns
the Cause of justice. The defence
then pr ,cee L. to bel:ttls all tes.imo-
ny that bears against their client;
the, quote copiouslv from the pro-
c-edings of cases that sometimes
bear no resemblance TO the one be-
fore them, anI they envelope and
Iilute everything Of Importance in
3 mass 10 verbisge 50 vast that the
jurors entirely lose perception and
memory Of the salient points of the
evidence. The mental strain to
which q stupid jury is subjected
would be exhaustive even to q panel
of LAWYERS.
Finally, in murder case, comes
the appeal to a jurors conscience,
his sympathy, his manliness. He is
told what dreadful thing it would
be to send an innocent man into
eternity. BY this time jurvmsn feel
ss if they were themselves on the
verge of dissolution, and their ver-
dict is usually a compromise be-
tween justice and apathy, and con-
ssqueutly entirely contrary to law,
winch requires Of them ONLY to de-
tsrluine whether tue accused is in
nucent or guilty, and, if the latter,
to specify the degree of crime.
1t is not the duty Of The newspa-
per press to devise a substitute for
the jury system, but it is impossible
for any Journal st not to sec and say
that the system as now existing is
doomed, and that, until remedy is
devised, lynchinSs and outbreaks
like that al Cincinnati, aud the less
violent but equally earnest protests
IN tIe Duke case in Pennsylvania,
! I 4 IL. I