The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1894-04-18
INTERVIEWING A jury.
How the Verdict for Miss Pollard
Was Arrived At.
NO DIFFERENCES OF OPINION,
After the weighty Evidence Of Mrs.
blackburn It would Have Been Hard
to Convince the Jury That Breckin-
ridge Had Been WronRed.

ridge Had Been wronged.
WASHINGTON, April 1s.-A number Of
members of the Breckenridge Pollard jury
have been interviewed as to what had been
the influential factor in influencing their
verdict. 5. G.. Hunt said;
"We had a first class jury, and we got
down to work on reaching the jury room.
The first vote called for by Foreman Cole
was as to whether the jury stood in favor
of Mr.. Breckenridge or Miss Pollard. The
vote was unanimous for Miss Pollard. So
far az the jury were concerned there was
an unanimity Of opinion, and l do not
think that | would be astray in saying
that the minds of all were thoroughly |
agreed that the testimony of Major Moore
and Mrs Blackburn respecting the prom
Use of marriage was the leading feature
that led strongly to the unanimous YER
dict There was very little said in the |
jury room respecting the case.
Each man had apparently made up his |
mind how he would vote. | do not think |
that any one could have voted otherwise (
than we did. | considered Major Moore's |
and Mrs. Blackburns evidence as very |
strong and pointed. The delay that we
had was due to reaching the amount of |
money that would be given the plaintiff.
There were several amounts suggested
| One juryman named 81, another $4,000;
the sum of $4,000 was also mentioned
Finally it was agreed that $4,000 should
| be the figure and that sum was accepted"
Dr. A. NJ. Green would not talk about
his impressions of the case, but remarked:
81 don't see how else the jury could have
acted"
Joseph H Wyland said "To my mind
the whole weight of the evidence was in
| the plaintiffs favor. After sitting the
mass of testimony that was taken it
| seemed to me that Colonel breckenridge
had a very weak case. The evidence of the
| plaintiffs witnesses was apparently of the
| most straightforward kind. When the
testimony was looked at in the light Of the
law, as defined in Judge BradleY's charge,
do not think that it took any member of
the jury long to make up his mind that it
was one of the clearest cases of breach of
promise imaginable The only question
was az to the amount of damages. When
! l come to think of it, am of the opinion
| that the strongest evidence brought out
was that of Mrs. Blackburn and Colonel
Moore When they left the witness stand
| it would have been hard to secure any evil
| dence that would have weakened the eff
feet that their statements produced Miss
GOllHTu , testimony was dlSO very Cbu-
vincinE. / do not think she attempted to
act at all, but appeared very much as any
one else would under the circumstances"
William c. Gwynn discussed the in
timation on the part of Colonel Breckin-
ridge that Miss Pollard had trapped him
into promise of marriage, and said that
on this point he thought the evidence of
the plaintiff as good as that of the de-
fendant. He expressed the belief that
Colonel Breckenridge had seriously prom
ised to marry Miss Pollard, but that Mrs.
Wings attractions had swerved him from
this purpose.
Charles h. Cole, the foreman of the Jury,
said that there had been no evidence that
the plaintiff had been intimate with any
other men while she had known Colonel
Breckinridge, or even before she had
known him. He thought ~ she had
! loved him, and he, to have acu',l rs he did,
must have thought very highly of her.
This, together with the fact that Breckin-
ridge had taken the best part of her life to
himself, had led him to his verdit. He did
not believe Colonel Breckinrdge's ac-
count of the episode in the carriage
George b. Sheriff, Jr., said chat the
matter which had impressed him most
was the testimony of Mrs. Black burn
Major Moore Claude De la Roche Fran
els and Mary Yancy. This had not been
disproved by Colonel Breckinrdge, and
therefore he could not but believe that
damages we8' proper for the plaintiff
Seduction did not enter into the question
with him.
Those four witnesses were likewise in
huential with l.. G.. Denman. He said
that Colonel Breckenridge having AS
serted the engagement was pretended
one, the burden of proof rested upon him.
But he had failed to prove it, Moreover
Breckenridge had said ON the stand that
5 such thing (meaning the relations be
tween them, while only injurng man,
ruined the woman, and as he had run !
Miss Pollard he thought damages should
be awarded,
f. A. Heitmuller thought that the testi-
mony OF Mrs Blackburn who had moth
ing to win or lose, was the strongest sub
mitted Major Moore and Mary Yancey
only served to strengthen the impression
left on his mind by Mrs. Blackburn.
Mr. Heitmuller added that he had never
been convinced that it had been proved
that Miss Pollard had had intercourse
with any one but Breckinridge He did
not believe the testimony of Kaufman
and others on this point
Allen Dale thought Colonel Brecllin-
ridge had no shadow of defense from the
very start Said he; 81 think the whole
thing from the first evidence given by the
plaintiff to the last argument by the coun-
sci was the plaiuest case l ever heard
against q man. Breckenridge had no de
o. fense for any action he committed.
! Whether Miss Pollard was guilty or not
4 could not see that that should have any
\ thing to do with the defendant, consider
ing who he was. 1t is the most probable
thing in the world to think that a lI-year-
old girl would voluntarily yield to a man
of age, power and station like the de
fendant. She would naturally think such
a man would ask only what was right"
Hugh Refill said that he had dismissed
from the case the testimony regarding the
Lena Singleton matter, and had based his
decision largely upon the facts presented
1 by Mrs. Blackburn, Major Moore, Claude