Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-24
T H E G @ R @ N E R .
Antiquity Of His Office and the
Duties Required.
LAW IN THIS DISTRICT.
Some Interesting Points in Regard to In.
quests and Proceedings Following Them
Set Forth-The Number OF Jurors Defined
by Law-The Appropriation for Assistance.

In which he decided that there was no such off.
Ger in this District as the deputy coroner, gave
rise to not . little consideration among the
members Of the bar as to the exact standing OF
the coroner himself. his powers, the authority
under which he acts, the number of his Jury
and so on. The coroner has been not inaptly
referred to as the spleen Of the legal body, he,
like the spleen in the human body, being unable
to perform any duties or functions that could
not a well be performed by other judicial
officers. As rule the coroner in
this country is not by any means
the important officer he is in England, where
he appears to be as necessary as he Is i'm
portant. Until not 90 very many years ago
there was tradition in England that the body
OF = suicide or murdered person could not be
moved or even touched until after the arrival
OF the coroner, and it Is said that such q belief
was even prevalent in this country for many
years. An observance of this tradition obtains
in this District even today to the extent at
least that the authorities will not permit the
removal for burial Of the body Of person
dead under unknown or suspicious circum-
stances except by order of the coroner.
WHAT THE CORONER Is.
The coroner, "whose office" says Blackstone,
tbs of equal antiquity with the sheriff" is IAN
officer whose principal duty it is to hold an in
QUESTION, with the assistance Of jury, over the
body Of any person who may have come to Q
violent death, or has died in prison" In Eng
land the chief justice Of the kings bench is the
sovereign or chief coroner Of all England, al
though he does not perform the active duties Of
the office. There it is also the coroper's duty
to inquire concerning shipwreck, and to find
who has possession of the goods; concerning
treasure-trove, who are the finders, and whose
the property. Another authority says 1.-THE
Office has lost much of the honor which for
merly appertained to it, but the duties are Of
great consequence to society, both for bring
Ing murderers to punishment and protecting
innocent persons from accusation"
OFFICE ABOLISHED IN MASSACHUSETTS,.
The state of Massachusetts,. which in legal
affairs holds high rank in this country, does
not entertain SO high an opinion of the Office,
for in 1877 coroners were abolished in that state
by act Of the legislature, and the governor
given power to appoint in their place medical
examiners, linen learned in the science Of med
icine," whose duties are to make examinations
Of dead bodies. to hold autopsies upon the
same, and in case of death from violence to
notify the district attorney and a JUS
tice Of the district of the fact Such
was the procedure in the now famous
Borden murder case in Fall River last
August. the inquiry as to the murder being con-
Quoted by the district attorney before the dis
trict judge. and which inquiry resulted in the
holding Of Lizzie Borden for the action of the
grand Jury.
The office Of deputy coroner in this District,
by Chief Justice Bingham's decision. has been
abolished SO far at least as to the authority of
holding an inquest. There are many LAWYERS
who are inclined to favor the adjustment Of
the office of coroner itself. It is not easy, they
say, to conceive where any injury would result
from the adjustment OF the office here, but on
the other hand. they claim. there are instances
where an inquiry by the coroner really does
work iniurlously against the public safety.
For instance, the public inquiry by the
coroner often discovers the purposes
and resources OF the prosecution; and then
again, to any one familiar with criminal prose-
oution in the District it must be perfectly ap-
parent that often in the trial of the accused
counsel for the defense defeat the ends Of
Justice by comparing the testimony given by
witnesses ut the coroner's inquest and that
given on the trial through the inability to recon-
cile testimony given in a hasty and incomplete
manner at the inquest and that given by the
same witnesses at the trial under conditions
altogether moro favorable for the production
OF complete and mature evidence.
THE VERDICT OF coRoNER's JURY.
The verdict of the coroners jury is in no
sense binding and conclusive, for, whether the
verdict holds person responsible or bameless
for the death Of another. the grand jury may
and not infrequently does ignore the finding
and conclusions Of the coroner's Jury, as, for
instance. a few months ago O member of the
local police force shot and killed suspected
thief, and the officer. upon the verdict of the
coroner jury. was held responsible and COM
PEELED to give bail to await the action Of the
grand jury. Upon its investigation Of the kill
ing, however, the grand jury ignored the charge
and the officer was accordingly discharged
and relieved Of any and all responsibility. On
the other hand there have been instances here
where the coroner's jury held persons not re-
sponsible, and yet on the discovery Of subse-
quent evidence the grand juries have indicted
the same psrties and convictions followed.
Further than this it is not doubted that on a
prima facie showing person held bameless by
Q coroners verdict could be committed by the
Police Court for the action of the grand Jury
after the coroners jury is unable to find any
thing beyond the fact that death resulted at the
hands OF some person or persons unknown to
the jury. Such was the case in the inquest over
the body OF Peter Young, respected citizen,
who was found beaten to death on Capitol Hill
on the 22d Of last July. An Investigation by
the police authorities, however, resulted In the
commitment to Jail shortly afterward Of three
young negroes, two of whom were last Satur-
day convicted Of the murder. OF course where
person held responsible by the verdict 81 a
coroner's jury is committed to await the action
Of the grand jury, that commitment holds good
until the grand jury have finally acted in the
case and only in that sense and to that extent IL
the action Of the coroners jury conclusive.
NEED OF ASSISTANCE.
So long as the Office Of coroner remains In
this District it is conceded that either an addi-
tional coroner should be provided for by Con-
gress or that the coroner should be provided
with q deputy, fully authorized and empowered
in his stead during the coroner's absence from
the District or during his inability. through any
other cause, to perform the duties of his
Office. suggestion has been made that the
District should be divided into two districts
and coroner provided for each, each officer
to act only in the cases occurring in his par
ticular district. except when, during the alb
sence other inability of one, the other should
act for the entire District. In the days when
the District comprised the counties OF Wash
ington and Alexandria there was coroner for
each county.
THE NUMBER OF JURORS
Ono Of the questions lately raised here
respecting the coroner, and one which when
propounded by STAR reporter to several MEM
bers Of the District bar received several different
replies, was that relating to the number Of
jurors composing a coroners Jury in this Dis
trict. While it was generally conceded that six
was the legal number it was only after no little
search that member of the bar could be found
who was able to point at once to the law
authorizing that number. All the members Of
the bar questioned by the reporter were lawyers
Of distinction and prominence in the profes-
sion. One stated that the common law author