The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-01
THE JURY COMMISSIONERS.
The Result of Their Investigation of
the Jury List.

statement is made that there is no little
complaint among the officials Of the superior
and city courts Of the inadequate number
OF names in the grand jury box, and of the
large number OF names of exempt persons
and minors in the petit jury box, the latter
class, minors, being estimated at fully one
third" Of the whole number.
In your issue of July "A the matter is
treated at greater length. Interviews are
reported with several of the court officials,
but the principal charges made against the
jury commissioners, in addition to those
already referred to, are that sufficient care
was not exercised in the preparation of the
lists IN excluding aliens and exempt persons,
and that the city directory was used to get
names for the jury boxes The statement
made in the first report, that fully one
third" Of the names in the petit jury box
| were minors, is, however, so far modified
by the clerk of the city court. who we infer
made the original statement, that "he adj
mitted that he had claimed most too high a
ratio"
That portion Of the law necessary TO refer
to here, under which the Jury lists have
been made up, is as follows: land on the
first Monday in August, 1889, or within
thirty days thereafter, and bi-ennialiy
| thereafter at the same time they 1.-THE jury
commissioners shall revise the jury lists,
as provided in this article" And
shall select from the books OF the tax re-
| ceiver upright and intelligent mon to serve
as jurors" Il sit shall be the duty Of
said jury commissioners to select from these
a sufficient number, not exceeding two
! fifths of the whole number, of the most ex-
| perienced, intelligent and upright men to
serve as grand jurors, and the jurors left
after such second selection shall constitute
| travers jurors"
The three points to be observed here are:
| Eircf obal onIx In 81 -
ennially; second, that the names shall be
taken from the tax books, and third, that
the number of grand jurors to be selected
is within the discretion of the commission
erI, provided it does not exceed two-fifths
of the whole number of jurors.
| In the selections of jurors for this county
we have tried to do 50 in strict conformity
with the law.
Knowing that the lists could only be re-
vised biennially, and recognizing the ardu-
business Of jury duty, trying to divide the
| labor as well as possible, and not have it
fall too heavily upon a few, we have not
| left off the names Of good men because
they held positions which seemed to be tenn
porary, and which for the time would ex-
empt them from the service. Every name
put upon the jury lists will be
found upon the tax books We often
used the city directory, as we did not hest
| tate to get information from any source
deemed reliable, to ascertain the occupation
and fitness of man for the duty. when he
was not personally known TO us. In our
| examination of the tax books four years
ago we found they did not contain the
names of large number of good men in
the county. We furnished list of
some of these to the tax receiver, and re-
quested them put upon the tax books. We
| then placed them on the jury lists. We
may and doubtless did make mistake in
| our last revision, two years ago, in putting
too few names In the grand jury box. We
| reduced the number considerably from
what it had been before, at the instance
| of an officer OF the court, who assured us
| the duties were comparatively light, and
that about 200 were ample.
The names of the aliens put in the boxes
were taken from the tax books, were men
known to rs as residents of the county and
we supposed were citizens. In regard TO per-
sons exempt, we have no means of knowing
except by accident unless it is In the case
| of persons whose professions or regular
duties place them in that class. Such names
we leave on. AS to the minors, of whom
it was charged thaJ fully one-third"
of the entire petit jury list was com
| posed the statement seemed too absurd
| to claim notice, but when it was practically
| repeated in your second article upon the
authority of the clerk of the city court, he
ouS nv, &c vuaS nl' .t :. was iot
pmniei 49, ~ ,t "ien ~ enoukn Oh
,nati+;n W. Vo tS 70 nu'no,ide an III
&C.. I 49, " " uN.l $50
W eaoi; VI yne Odor NO "a 'ne hsA
s 10. ~ So, H. -; L i hai.loo
n oooh -, Jun Srio Ju, ooNs. iS
ono pa'U wv y o'.r uo clo' " . Tue Su
peli1Ils uoui p tL IespoiIued T Snuu n7
"ouiu iisn .ne ne c.eLA
a., Sno ~ nut =, Ao ~ 1na' uo
ulu nv 10 ~ ~ ~ ou0 'na' hA'
oUUNs WI ei op p., ~ oIt iisp
| opon .lie lep 70 nllaae ny MI; .: N. I.
- Carr' ciern Vi ono superior courC, % nahes
Gi o sdo ECU 80 OtS VI tUIai uIaw
inSS VI 10y na,nos oil, Ch9 pot,s July oo6'
pm ono LopoiS ,.,aIe pS Mi: W. u
.t WV W." w uo w OK
aui,io cue oo 'j..s ~ W. "a imp M hnsoeh,
Vi ono 70 ~ .e'lI?S ot cr9
are lePol 'ou Ju' VI eOeol Ui q Wings vi o'o
IlaIiles lioln Oue at'liio ooA: w inIuoiS "eie
ieRoi Uou Ioiil WIG l' a {1Iy poA'
~ i. .t asSul liz o0uDly SURF We CON-,
paIGu C1o n siea euus Si WIN Cne
OdA oooNal a. oiIi "li'Ou One lIst9 nau oeeh
Ilrt'ue an. 1nei eveiy sieIe holhe;
We 0iSv 1H1n.I upoli d 00' eluI examination
t thaU an Ulio nt'"e1 ~ IePolteu were hoS
ehose ol llilhors' We aAso Iounu some Oh
.se naiiloS uton JUG disC VI aesisIe'eu Vooers
Vi iaV 81 uaee, su9"."S sIao oiiey were very
hearly - year oIu az tiie tiule cneir names
were puy upon cue f Ua1 LOOKS anu lloo tne Jul y
Do&' "eaiso loullu Al several instances
/