The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-02-10
discharge Of the Jury. No formal order has

discharge of the jury. No formal order has
ever been taken. 1t is merely noted by the
Clerk IN in his minutes OF the Court proceed
ingS. In all my experience in the Court.
have never known such an order to be issued
by the presiding Judge. Judge Ward law says
when IL juror is excused he is no longer Il
member of the pahel, and occupies the slme
position as if he had never been drawn. The
balance Of the decision simply suggests n uni
form practice for the judges to follow in @ @eN-
cusing jurors. The question was Squareiy
made and decided in the case against Whit
man. and must be conclusive of this case.
Without that decision however should nave
no doubt. y legal jury can only be procured
by following specifically the statutory. pro-
visions of drawing by the jury comInSsloner,
&c. Your Honor would have as much right
to summons the first twelve men whom the
Sheriff would meet on the street to try this
case as to require these discharged Jurors 10
try it. 1t could only he tried by them by
consent, and if they rcfnsed.to serve, | don
think your Honor would have the right 10
make thOm do so.
Since DR.. Prcssly has made his appearance
the State is ready to go on with the c;lse, ana
the only matter for your Honor to determine
is your authority To do SO under the existing
facts.
Ilonors discretion. No minute of their dis.
charge has been made, and tScemS to me that
your Honor can recall anything done orally.
In the Edgetield case Of which the Solicitor
speaks tie law did not provide for jury.
The regular term Of one week had been eN-
tended to two weeks without making any
provision at all for jury. With your Hon
or's permission will read the act of 50. Tine
act was then read.] l think the law holds
ihe jury for the week. The defendant is will
ing to waive all objection to the jury which
may or can be raised to the jury because OF
your oral order. Your order In discharglng g
> fi,iS cI,
no more effect than if your Honor had cXcus'
ed them until tomorrow morning, and cir
cumsances should have changed SO that their
presence would have been required carrier.
Your Honor could have ordered them back
earlier, if they had been needed.
SOicitOr-ThiS very matter vas decided Dv
the Supreme Court, and cannot express 1t as
well as Judge Wardaw does In his opinion.
be member of the panel, and can act no
more than if he had never been drawn. This
is not question however, of waiver, as argu-
ed By the learned cOunSe! .On the other side,
but question of Jurisdiction which can al ,,n: ncy.
err bewaived. Any action taken by this Court
would not be voidable, but absolutely void
under my construction Of the law.
The Judge-When the case OF the State
AGAINST John C. Ferguson was called the w.t.: WI:
thought at the time that he could not he
brought into Court until tomorrow evening.
The question as to whether the State could be
was argued. l held that the State could not
be forced to trial under the circumstances.
The Solicitor informed me that he had no 9th.
CT business for the juries. 1 then turned to
petit jurors ana Informed them that tney
would no longer bc required to attend upon
the sittings Of the Court. In short time at.
ter diSclarging the jurors the Court was in
formed that Dr.. Pressy was present. [ was
Immediately requested to Sedd for the jurors,
which request was complied with.
if.D |
the convenience Of the jurors l made the or.
der. The importance OF the case ad!nonisheS
me that there should ac n0irreSularity, and
therefore set Monday next as the day for the
beginning of this trial. / wish it distinctly
understood, SO far as the State is concerned at
least, that the trial of the case will be com:
menced on Monday unless some very good
reason shall tEen be assigned for delay.
Solicilur.-I desire, your Honor, that Dr.
PresSly be called TO the front thai he may eH
plain his absence, and tell the Court how ne
came to be here al this time want the Court
and the counsel on the other side to under
stand that AIN IN no Wry 10 blcme 1or thls
occurrence.
The Judge-I attach no blame whatever to
the Solicitor in the matter. but If he desires ii
DR.. Pre- ssly may make the explanation.
DR.. PreSSly thercupOn came forward ana
said, substantially had 4 case III Court III
Augusta, which was to have been tried to-day,
anu had it been tried l could not have gotten
here before Tomorrow evening The case Wis
for the reason that was anxious to be here
as rruuircd The train yesterday was delay
ed and l did not get home until late last
night.
Court earlier this morning?
Dr. PreSsy-It was partly owing to the dis
tance which live from this place, and to the
bad condition Of the roads. The reads are
very muddy. got the Solicitors telegram as
soon as | reached bradley, and came OH rs
soon as possibly could.
And thus the matter stands. Court was ad'
journcd for dinner. The remainder Of the
week will be spent in hearing such cases as
do not require the presence Of jury.
From the imperfect reports of tie proceed
ings Of the Court which we have published In
this case it will be seen that the Solicitor and
his associates, and the counsel for the defence
are ably discharglng their duty with fidelity
to all the trusts imposed in them. The State
could have no more able representative than
the Hon. J. +. Orr and his associates in this
case, all of whom have the entire confidence
of the whole people, while the zeal and abili-
ty Of the defendants counsel is subject OF
remark by everybody.
Although this case has been before the Court
for more than a year. yet there is still much
interest felt in the result of the trial, and
many of our citizens believe that q verdict
will not soon be had. Everything which we
have published about the case has been eager
ly read by a majority OF our subscribers. and
as we have Published, as nearly as possible,
all the facts connected with the case up to
this time, we shall try to furnish the conclud-
ing chapters Of this long-continued story,
which has perhaps excited more general in
terest than any other in the history of Able
willie county.