Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-25
Citizens Not at All Anxious for the
Honor.
EFFORTS TO ESCAPE SUCH DUTY
How the Jury Boxes Are Filled in
the District.
EXCUSES OFFERED

| ant duty as can we'll be imagined. Hence,
| a summons to serve as a juror is almost
| invariably much dreaded as II it were
| summons to appear in court to receive
| sentence. And when the jurors-to-be ap-
pear in court, rarely, indeed, Is 1t that the
| Judge is not besought and implored and
| deluged with all manner Of excuses, that
| the duty of jury service may be avoided
| At the commencement Of every new term
| of court a grand struggle is made to es-
cape the duty. Usually the more intelli-
gent, responsible and otherwise competent
| the citizen is, the more persistent Is he In
| his cndeavors to evade jury service.
The term of service here since the act OF
| Congress of March l, 1889, has been but
| month"; grand jurors and Police Court
Jurors excepted this limited term OF serv-.
| ice being provided for among other things
| to render the duty less unpleasant by rea-
| son of the reduced length OF the term,
| which, before that time, had been about
| three months But the hope that such
reduction of the term of service would not
only secure as rule, more competent
| Jurors, but would also reduce efforts to
| evade service to a minimum, has not by
| any means been fully realized. In fact,
| there seems to be a rapidly growing feel
| ing among the members of the District
| bar that the term of jury service is too
| an effort will be made during the coming
Congress to extend the term Of service.
How Jurors Are Chosen.
The manner of selecting jurors, their
qualifications, duties and experience are
matters of no little interest. In the first
place, no person (male, of course) shall be
competent to act as a juror here unless he
be citizen of the United States resi-
dent of the District, over twenty-one and
under sixty-five years of age. and good
and lawful man, who has never been con-
Vlcted felony mlSd6neanOr
ing moral turpitude And the courts have
held that man residing temporarily here
is subject to jury service here, even though
he retains right to vote elsewhere. The
jurors are selected by what are known as
jury commissioners; that Is, these commits
sioners, nine in number. are appointed by
the District Supreme Court from the sew
eral sections of the District, and they,
from time to time, select names of compe-
tent citizens. which names, written on
separate and similar pieces of paper so
folded or rolled up that the names cannot
be seen, are placed then in a box provided
by the clerk of the court. These names are
selected, as near as may be, from the citi-
zens of the several sections of the District
in proportion to the number of inhabitants
residing therein, respectively. From 500 to
LOCO names are placed in the box, which
| is then sealed and placed in the custody of
the clerk of the court The seal is broken
only when 1t becomes necessary to draw
| names therefrom to impanel new juries or
to fill vacancies in current ones.
Many Men Exempt.
Quite number of classes of men are, by
law, exempt from jury duty here. The
provision of law in question reads as fol-
lows: "All executive and judicial officers.
salaried officers of the government of the
United States, commissioners of police, and
those connected with TIL, police or fire de-
partments, counselors and attorneys-at-law
ministers of the gospel and priests of
every denomination, practicing physicians
| a nd Of ifo1c
lums, almshouses, or other charitable in
situations created by or under the laws
relating to the District, captains and mas
| tiers, and other persons employed YES
| sells navigating the waters of the District
| and keepers of public ferries. shall be ex-
empt from jury duty, and their names shall
not be placed on the jury list" Magis-
trates, delegates, coroners, schoolmasta-s,
oVerseers of highways and constables We're
also exempted during their continuance in
their respective stations or business, under
an old Maryland act, that of Ills, and
under the English statutes of and Z,
| William and Mary, apothecaries were eX-
empted, and their apprentices were, too,
unless they voluntarily consented to serve.
| But apothecaries or druggists are longer
| exempt here. The aboye-named qualifica-
| tons and exemptions apply, of course, es-
| pecially to grand jurors, jurors in the
circuit and criminal branches of the Dis
| trict Supreme Court, and to Police Court
| jurors, it being doubted whether they all
| apply in cases of juries in condemnation
coroner's juries
Available for Duty.
According TO the best obtainable data
in the matter, it is estimated that the num-
Der of men available for jury duty in the
District today runs from 10000 to %, 900.
| Fully 1900 otherwise available men are,
1t is estimated, exempted because of their
employment by either the general or Dis
trict government Physicians and the
| members of the legal profession form the
next largest exempted classes, clergymen
| ranking next highest. Those disqualified
by conviction in criminal cases are, 1t is
gratifying to note few indeed, and to the
credit of the jury commissioners it can be
| said that the name Of such disqualified
man is rarely, if ever, found on the list of
those summoned for jury service.
| AS has been already stated, the jury COM
missioners place from about $40 to 1000
names in the box, and they endeavor to
keep that many constantly in 1t. At least
| ten days previous to the day on which the
| new juries are required the clerk of the
| District Supreme Court is required to pub
| licly break the seal of the box and draw
| the names of the persons who are to serve.
The grand jury is composed of twenty
| three members, and a new grand jury is
| drawn three times year, serving during
January, February and March; April, May,
| June, July, August and September; and
October, November and December, reSpec-
| lively. The juries serving in the circuit
| and criminal branches of the District Su-
preme Court begin their term OF service,
respectively, on the first Tuesday in each
| and every month in which jury trials are
| had, and, unless sooner discharged by the
| court, their term of service terminates on
| the Monday preceding the first Tuesday of
| the following month. The Circuit ard
| Criminal Court panels consist of twenty
| six persons, does the panel for the Po-
| lice Court, but the jurors drawn for serv-
| ice in the last named court serve three
| months, new jury being drawn at least
| ten days previous to the first Tuesday in
| January, April, July and October, at which
| times the terms of the respective Police
| Court juries begin. But when any jury
| has been actually empaneled for the trial
| of cause the jurors composing it shall
| be liable to continue in service until they
| have been discharged from the further
| consideration Of the case.
Summoning the Jurors.
When the clerk of the court has drawn
| the names of the men needed for the new
| juries he forwards the lists to the marshal
| Of the District, and that official formally
| notifies, as he is required by law to do
each man drawn by serving on him, at
| least five days before the beginning of the
| term Of service, written notice of his Sc
l I1% Il