The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1885-02-19
"The Professional Juror"

DALLAS, Feb. H. Editor HERALp.l-
While the discussion of negro jurors Il
up IL would be vol 10 call attention /,
that worst and most dopraved Of all
"the professional juror"
You all know him. You have known
him all your lives. The judge, the sher
In, the attorneys, witnesses and citi
Gems of al countries are as famillr with
his countenanre in the court.h no use ant
lounglng around adjacent bar rooms
as they are with the town pump, Grim
inals know him too well and rely upon
"hxing him" aud beating the ends oI
justice by his aid, more than upon the
talents OF tho most cunning lawyer
they can secure for the money.
Court after court meet sin our county
duly arraign and overwhelmingly prove
prisoners guilty, ohI, Ia he defeated by
these prcjudiced ana hrihod scOundreis
when a wealthy rAsca' II TO be- brought
before the bar they rally around the
bailitls like hungry buzzards and boldly
and openly ask 10 be summoned. You
find them thickly stationed at the door
just outside, planted directly In the
walk, across the street, everywhere In
the path of the bailifi, summon,ng the
venire. Two-thirds Of them have al
roady "interyiewed" tho accused and
agreed upon the price. II IL only ne
ccssary 10 secure one To hang tho 9th
or eleven ri least and two or three
glib tongued fellows TO sway
the rest and swing them into an acquit-
tai. There IL no criminal lawyer In Dali
las who does not know they can he hired
for from So To 800 to bring In any kind
OF verdict, regardless of any and all tes-
timony. law, charge oil the judge or
sable effort of counsel for the state"
Place these dead-beats in the jury-box
and poor fellow without money on
trial, and they will find him guilty
every time, regardless of the facts IN
the case. They then consider themselves
working for nothing and blame him Tor
IL.
Here is the key to the Jury situation
the real corruption in our court-houses.
While not eXhonerating our public
officials whose dut, Is TO secure honest
men to try all causes, our respectable
citizens are not blameless. That class
most wanted rs jurors are men who would
willingly pay from $40 To SO per day To
rid themselves of the drudsery. They
are each term drawn and duly sum
moned, and each time pay no atten-
ton To the command of the court. The
court, in turn, pays no attention TO the
contempt, or If occasionally imposing q
fine, il is never collected. The writer
himself has been so summoned twenty
times since in Dallas, and just twenty
times threw the document in the waste
basket, and just twenty tunes heard
no more OF il. All this is wong, of
course. But as others who work legiti-
mately for living do that way, he does
so too, which il no excuse at all.
Publication must begin at the foun-
tain. Our judges should rid their
court. rooms of dead-beats-the profess
sional jurors. Perhaps it would be a
good idea 20 repeal the law allowing
pay for jurors. Members Of the British
parliament get no wages, and corrup-
ton there Is thing never heard OF, for
the reason men who can be inoculated
with the virus of money never "et seats
in that purest of all earthly legislative
bodies. Place our jury system upon
that basis, and then impecunious ras-
Gals will cease to be jurors.
We have plenty OF law-plain, unvar-
nished, stringent. Law to meet every
grade of crime, to punish every sort Of
criminal and to shield the innocent.
What we need is to kick loafers out OF
the court house and call upon the incOr-
ruptible grade of citizens to enforce it.
And we have law officers, a part of
whose duty is to perform this Identical
work. Let us demand this of them. AS
they are now running, the courts of our
cou airy are looked upon with more or
less contempt--spoken of as produce
exchange where you can bargain and
sell, purchase and barter, according to
the money you can command.
KICKING EAGLE.