The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-10-10
TH. COLOR LINE DRAWN.
An Uhohual lncident in tbs curt
of Sessions.

COLUMBIA, $. c., OFT. An incl.
dent much out of the ordinary occur
red in the Court OF General Sessions
Yesterday. 1t was while the case Of
Ell. Green AID John Brown, colored,
charged with breaking into AID robbing
a railroad car, was being tried. The de-
feadants were represented by John Nc
Master. The testimony was that the
stolen goods had been found in the pos.
session of ths prisoners, but Green
proved an alibi by three witnesses.
The jury in charge OF the case had
for It's foreman j. Frank Smith and
there was Que colored juror, Tobias
Derrick. The jury was In Its room for
SONS time and fin ally reported that 1t
was unabla to agree upon verdict.
Judge Benet asked the foreman of the
jury what was the trouble that yer
dict c,u) not re arrived at. Mr.. Smith
stated that the coiored member OF the
jury had drawn the color line and was
the only juror who stood for the acquit-
tai Of the prisoners, all the others being
in favor of verdict Of guilty.
judge Benet became somewhat
aroused at tnis and made few remarks,
the substance of which were as folio rs:
"If such conduct Is indulged In 1t
will necessarily lead to the Jury Com
missioners excluding colored people
from acting as jurors, which they have
a perfect right to do under the law.
The law requires that the names In q
Jury box shall be Of men qualified to
serve as jurors. No colored man ls
qualified to serve as juror who will
allow himself to decide a case on q
color line. Without saying word as
to the guilt or innocence of the parties
In this case, 1t Is great misfortune,
especially In the interest Of colored peo.
ple, that q colored man should refuse to
agree to q verdict because the party Is
a negro and he is one himself. There
is no principle Of justice in q matter
like that and such action would justify
Commissioners In excluding ell colored
mems from the box. / can assure the
cOlored people on my own responsible.
lity that In my long residence Of tweR-
ty.six years 10 this State and my expert.
ence as q lawyer and ajudge, white
men 999 cases out Of 1000 give colored
prisoners full justice"
81
had known of lawyers paying the ex-
penses Of cases for negroes and spend
ing hundreds of dollars for poor color
ed men and that there was not shadow
of reason for the action Of the colored
Juror. He said that there were colored
men on the panel who where capable
of acting as Jurors and who had acted
fairly and without prejudice.
In conclusion he said: "Mr. Clerk,
you will excuse the juror and strike Q
his name from the roll"
Attorney McMaster stated to the
court that 80 far as the testimony was
concerned he thought Derrick had acted
right. He did not know what had oc-
CURED In the jury room.
Later In the day Derrick went to
Judge Benet and said that he had not
raised the color line in the jury room.
He had simply insisted upon the ae.
quittal Of Green, who, he felt satisfied
was innocent. He had voted, he said,
for the conviction of Brown. Judge
Benet accepted the statement, remark
ing that Derrick was apparently sincere
in what he said.
Judge Benet stated that If he had
known that Foreman Smith was going
to speak Of the color line he would not
have allowed him to talk.
A mistrial was ordered In the case
and Judge Benet ordered that It be
tried again today. Attorney McMas-
ter had bench warrents. taken out Tor
William Sheppard, w. II. Richter,
George Cannon and Frank Robinson,
witnesses the defense, who had not
appeared at the trial.