Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-25

matter Il brought suddenly before the
court on an attachment. That means that
shall and required to show cause why he
should not be held for contempt Of court.
Upon the day when the new 5uries ap-
pear in court, the Judge first proceeds to
satisfy himself that each and every man
is qualified to serve as a juror. Each man
is first sworn by the clerk of the court to
make truthful answers to such questions
respecting his qualifications as the Judge
may ask. Very often, to save time, the
judge explains to the first man called the
required qualifications of a Juror, request
ing the others to carefully listen, that the
to every man examined. AS rule, the
Judge first decides Just what men are quail
fed before listening to any requests to be
excused.
Many Excuses.
But the moment the examination is con-
cluded, he finds. as a rule. that nearly half
of the jurors declared qualified wish to be
excused. All manner Of excuses are made,
but the two most generally urged are i'll
health or pressure Of business. OF course,
some of the judges are much more lenient
than others, and Chief Justice Bingham
hearted judge that a man has very poor
excuse, indeed, when he cannot induce the
chief justice to excuse him. Judge Bradley
is, perhaps, the Judge before whom man
and he must possess an excellent reason
for urging a request for release to induce
Judge Bradley to excuse him.
Judge Cole is another member of the
court who IS exceedingly slow in excusing
a man, and yet he is one of the most APP
proachable members of the court Judge
McComas believes that business men are
just the enes needed for jury service, and
they generally the ones least likely to
be excused by him. The Judge, nevertheless,
is always very popular man with his
juries. Judge Cox. like Chief Justice Bing-
ham, has the reputation of being very
kindly disposed toward jurors asking to be
excused, but Judge Hagner Invariably in
fists that where it is not absolutely i'm
possible every citizen, when selected, should
perform jury service.
Character of the Jurfes.
This question is often asked, Are the
juries of today composed of better material
than years ago? While there is unoues-
tionahly a great divergence of opinion, the
answer Of the majority of those competent
to know would be in the affirmative The
reduction of the term of jury service in the
Circuit and Criminal Courts from three
months to about a month undoubtedly did
much to induce good men to more readily
serve. Having served twenty days on one
jury, man cannot be required to serve
again for one year. The present manner Of
selecting Jurors prevents, of course, any
such thing as repetition OF the profess
SIGNAL jurymen, observable here some years
ago. Jury duty is not nearly SO irksome or
unpleasant as is generally imagined, and
Is really valuable school Of instruction.
1t is sought now and then, but the fact re-
mains, nevertheless, that by the great ma
jority of citizens, particularly the class of
men who make the best jurors, jury duty
is stunned and avoided whenever it is pos
sible, and yet, as was once remarked by a
disguised member of the District Supreme
Court, those very men are the first to COM
plain when poor material is observable in
the jury box.