The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1895-09-19
ARSON CASE BEGUN.
MOST OF THE DAY SPENT IN
GETTING A JURY.
METHOD OF GETTING A JURY.
The Proceedings of the Day in the Fa-
nous Conspiracy and Arson Case
of the Chicago Bedding Co.
All Very Tedious.
OF GETTING A JURY.
(From Mondays Daily }

charged With conspiracy TO Durn ana
with burning the plant of the Chicago
Bedding company as was apparent last
Saturday. When the hour arrived this
morning at which court had been adj
journed to there we're the jury and de-
PENDANTS present, with those who had
been drawn in on the special venire,
but very few others. The court room
had a very deserted look. Even the
Judge was not on hand. The rumor
was spread about that his honor had
missed his train. That made him
about an hour late in reaching the
scene of action. The sheriff and his
bailifs were on hand all right and they
busted themselves about the small
comforts Of the room for the benefit of
| the attorneys, who most of that hour
| walked backward and forward within
the bar or cracked jokes through a
cloud of smoke which they raised in the
judges chamber.
The court room had a sterner look
than ever this morning, if one were to
draw comparisons with its appearance
Friday and Saturday The clouds
hung heavy over the sun and cast a
general gloom everywhere. 1t seemed
to have the effect of putting everybody
to frowning, and frowning in many
court rooms seems to be almost syn
onimous with stern Justice.
1t was 1905 before Judge Fish made
his appearance in the court room. By
the time he arrived a large number of
spectators filed into the seass. Prompts
| " at 1905 the judge mounted the
bench and commanded the clerk of
court to call the roll Of the jury. All
the jurors responded, and S. N. Barber,
who had disqualified himself as a juror
Saturday, was dismissed and the work
of selecting jury proceeded with in
| the usual manner.
There were no ladies in the court
room this morning.
After one more juror had been select
ed Attorney Cavanagh returned to the
questioning of Juror Schwartz con-
corning the alleged conversation he
was supposed to have had concerning
the disposition of the case Of Barney
Bloch. Mr.. Schwartz said he could not
remember any talk. Then the per-
emptory challenging began again
where it had been left off Saturday.
The challenging was tedious and eX-
ceedingly monotous procedure and was
relieved only by the occasional small
pleasantly of the counsel, which was
confined entirely to tone not calcu-
lated to let other parties hear it.
The Method of Selecting Jurors
To the uninitiated the peculiar meth
Cd Of selecting jurors is almost outside
of Understandable affairs. The pro-
cess, though not very lengthy in itself.
is capable of being stretched to an al
most unlimited extent. One not famil-
lar with the small bubbles upon which
a great portion of the legal fabric of
courts depend would find it difficult TO
account for the fact that a long list of
jurymen may turn out not tn be a
juryman at all. The questions asked
of the jurors run about as follows:
Where do you reside ?"
In Wheatland."
"Did you hear the statement made
to the jury this morning 2"
81 did"
"Did you hear or read Of The case
before 2"
"No, SIR"
"Do you know what the case is
about?"
"No, sir"
Have you met or are you acquaint-
ed with the defendants or either of
them 2"
No, SIR"
Are you conscious of any bias or
prejudice for OF against these defend
ants or either of them with reference to
either their guilt or innocence? 2"
No, sir"
Then you know of no reason why
you cannot sit here and try this case
according to the facts as brought out
on the witness stand and according to
the law as laid down by the court 2"
No, SIR"
But that is the direct road. Not
often does a man answer all these
questions this way. For instance a
man replies that he has read of and
discussed this case. Then the attor-
neys want to know what paper or pa
pers he may have seen the account in,
whether it purported to be a statement
of the facts or not, and if the reading
of it left any impression on his mind.
Then if this impression would amount
to an opinion; if this opinion has ever