The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-04-26
Written Tor the Sunday Sentinel.
THE PROFEssIO NAL JUROR.
By MoUNTJoY.

am always sorry to hear my brother Jaw
yers abuse professional Jurors. have
deep sympathy for shem. When-I hear q
young sprig of lawyer ask an old broken
down merchant the question. "Mr. Brown,
have you served on jury during the last
year, and, before half the words are uttered,
poor old Brown reaches convulsively for his
hat un der his chair, and starts for the do,r
i pity Brown. regret. too, the inhuman-
ity of the profession. The worn out steam
boat captain, the bankrupt commission mer.
chant. the retired railroad conductor, the
shabby old assessor, the respectable German
who owns his own house, but has no bust
ness, the man whose wife has small To-
come on which and the jury sfees he lives,
the man who lost HE leg in threshing ma
chine-these are before me now as they are
in person nearly every day In the jury box.
Gould there possibly be better material to
decide cases? They are absolutely impartial.
They dare not decide cases contrary to the
right because their occupation would then
be gone. Their reputation is like Caesars
wife's. ] appeal 10 the Indiana polis bar
did enc CT them ever hear of q professional
Juror having formed an opinion? Was ever
an affidavit filed against q professional
Juror charging that he had been offered moR-
ey, that he had talked to q witness or .Coun-
sci? Such thing is unbeard Of There is
nCkuse Of ever Ne or Gordne's attacking one
of them because he read a newspaper CON-
tanning an account of the murjeI. Toey new
er read newspapers AS men they may have
Incidentally eeard that a man and his wife
and their four children were found we,ter.
| ing in their bloOd-but as jurors they knew
no hing of the case Ooe thing always strikes
me ss marvslous-tte professional 1ror
hae 10 kin. There never were any parties in
| court to whom they are relatai nv blood or
marriage. | have advised s. ~ al letigious
| persons 10 put up and marry the daughters
OF professional Jurors, % as to keep out of the
| courts.
What wisdom they possessl Their verdicts
have built up Indiana as she has marched
| from wilderness to an Empire. Tney are
too old at the business to be cajoled by law
yeys. They have heard all our fine bursts Of
eloouence so often, that, sgains. their CON-
| mon sense the stream trickles harmlessly
| away. How they temper justice with money
| There is no use OF saying to them that man
| who killed the adulterer or the seducer is
| gsilty of murder. They know better than
that. They know that he Is not even guilty
| of granddaughter. They listen to the judge
very respectfully. He and they are old
Il
Then they 60 out, and, after waiting long
enough to get their dinner at the expense of
| the county, they come 10 with mot guilty
| as charged in the Indictment" A righteous
verdict rays all the press and the people
Shall We begrudge them their dinner? Is not
! the laborer worthy of his aire? Will you
muzzle the OK that treadeth out the grain,
| etc?
! As to impartality was ever a Sc. of men SO
impartial? There was one old fello9-on
whom in the rare cases in which he was not
eligible to sit as juror, We always had to
1 swear to the reason. He would try case one
term with some rustics, who did what he
| never did In his life, hung the jury. The
/ next term he would answer all the formal
/ questions showing perfect qualification. 1t
| was necessary to show by the record that he
/ had served as q Juror in the same case at the
preceding term. Then we had to let him go,
and both sides were sorry. On one occasion
| when the jury went out this Juror immeii-
stely moye ed that I'VE find for the plaintiff !"
| A country man suggested that they should
discuss the case q little. Tnereupon my
| friend Immediately moved that I'VE find for
| the defendant" Upon being demonstrated
with by "tenderfoot." he said he wanted to
get home, he had chicken for dinner. Isub.
| NIT that there is no finer example in history
| of absolute impastiality. / oncs tried a case
two days in q rural district. AT the end OF
that time the jury were cent out. and, after
i
were asked if they had agreed ON verdict.
The foreman answered yes. and handed to
the Clerk this verdict: We the Jury, cam
agree" Would q professional jury have
ever done such silly &C. as that? Your pro-
fessionsl Juror is like your professional poll
tican. He IS honest because his honesty IL
| his capital. L lock over Southern Indiana
for thiiiy ocd years / see in every county
the men no ruled their fellows politically.
They were always In office. sometimes clerk,
son etimes assessor. sometimes township
| trustee. They fixed eve y county coaven-
ton. They handled the pablic moneys, bat
they di d po)r-ss Ton Benton said a
pu bile man ought TO die-as Madison, jet
| fersop, Monroe. Clay, Benton, and host OF
| others died. They co1ld not afford to steal
1t would have destroyed the only capital
they bad. And 80 With the professional
| juror.
There was one objection 10 the professional
I politician which in these modern q avs would
have operated sgaist him. he was "a "ot.
| fensive partisan" IL he was Democrat he
| was dyed in the wool. HIS wal anti-tarif
/ states rights and hated an Abolitionst. II
he was Republican every Democrat was q
copperhesd and trsitor. He did not know
the meening of the phrase Bureau of Ofen-
| sive Psrtisanship." but he did know that q
Democrat or Republican who failed to vote
straight ticket ought to be shot. He didn'
understand how IN Q popular Government
1 yuH tJuit SAoueo bAc oorctAUcde uuAc
you chan ged the men who administer public
J affairs. For thai matter, We, his SUCCESSORS,
| are no wiser than he was. The great bulk OF
| us don't see any use in having elections ~
all if the same old cusses are to run the Gov
| eminent. II we can't put the rascals out. "
| and II, having won office by being offensive
partisans," We are to be turned out because
we continue 10 act on our principles. we will
| omit olitics altogether and go into the one
protetaion which is purer than even 'civil
service reform"-that of the professional
| iuror