The Irish standard., 1893-12-16
Il )lJBL ESQ NJ e ] URORS.

IR Out BE ESQ II e ] URORS. /
Come Remarkable Cases Of Obstj.
3 s5 nate Talesmen.
one Man May Have the Other Eleven ct
r. His Mercy-Flattery Sometimes
Used as Means Of
III. Conviction.
Jurymen are sometimes quite uncon-
scious of their own determination of
spirit. One of them, says the London
Illustrated News, Croalse- James tells
us, once explained to the Recorder,
who had noticed his popularity, that
his behavior was entirely misunder-
stood. mo man. sir, is more open
than am to conviction. and to do
what is right in every case. but have
not met with the same consideration
from others. 1t has generally been my
lot to be on jury with eleven of the
most obstinate men Imaginable, who
will not listen to reason. 1t is fair to
say that once in a hundred times or SO
this minority of one proves to be in
the right. Lord Lyndhurst mentions
q case in which, through the opposi-
ton Of single individual, the jury,
who were otherwise all for verdict
of guilty. could come to no agreement;
but on the prisoner being tried again
he was unanimously and. as it turned
out, Justly acquitted. On the other
hand, some jurymen have too low an
opinion of what some philosophers
call their ego, and are willing to
depute their duties to an alter ego.
When Justice Gould had been about
two hours trying a case at York he
noticed there were but eleven jury
men in the box. please, my lord, =
replied the foreman, in answer to the
judges natural inquiry, 'the other has
gone away about some business he had
to do, but he has left his verdict with
me-
The most remarkable case of jury
'.standing out against what seemed
unrefutable testimony, and all through
the resolution of one man, &C.
Cured before Chief Justice Dyer. He
presided at murder trial in which
everything went against the prisoner,
who on his part could only say that on
his going to work in the morning he
had found the man dying, and tried to
help him, whereby he had become COW
cred with blood, but when the man
presently died he had come away and
said nothing about it, because he was
known to have had quarrel with the
deceased. and feared that he might get
into trouble. The hay fork with
which the man had been murdered had
the prisoners name on it. In other re-
spects his guilt appeared to be clearly
established, and the chief Justice was
convinced of it. When this is the case
a Judge likes t. get conviction. l
have sat beside one myself. who on
the second day brought his black cap
with him, neatly folded. and placed it
in the drawer before him ready for
use, and very mrch annoyed he seemed
to be when the jury returned verdict
of mot guilty" This was Chief JUS
tice Dyer's case and when, notwith-
standing their being locked up all
night without fire and candle, his
Jury could ONE to no deci-
sion, and eventually came to the
wrong one. he put some searching
questions to the high sheriff. The
cause of the ac4uittal, said that Off
cial, was undoubtedly the foreman, a
farmer of excellent character, es-
teemed by all his neighbors and very
unlikely to be obstinate or vexatious.
Chen said the Judge, 81 must see
this foreman, for an explanation of the
matter will have" The foreman
come, and after extracting from his
lcrdship promise of secrecy proved
at once that the prisoner had been
rightly acquitted, for" said he, lit
was myself WHO killed the man." 1t
had been no murder. for the other had
attacked him will, the hayfork, and
(as he showed) severely injured him;
but in the struggle to get possession
OF the weapon he had the misfortune
to give the man fatal wound. He
had no fears as to his being found
guilty of the murder, but, the assizes
being Just over. his farm and affairs
would have been ruined by a confes
sion, through lying SO long in Jail, SO
he suffered matters to take their
course. He was Mortified to find one
of his own servants accused Of the
matter, supporteq his wife and chill
dren while in prison, managed to be
placed on the jury and elected fore
man, and resolutely held out in favor
Of the prisoners Innocence. He added
that if he had fa2ed in this he would
certainly have confessed to his own
share in the business, and the judge
believed him. Every year for fifteen
years his lordship made inquiries as to
the foreman's existence, and at last,
happening to survive him, he consid-
cred himself free to tell the story.
EASILY EXPLAINED.