Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-02-15
TROUBLESOME JURORS.
Some Remarkable Cases Of Obsti.
nate Talcsmon.
One Man Hly Have tho Other bleven At
he Mercy -Flattery Sometimes
Used rs Means of
(anyIcIiou

! 'nrymcn are sometimes quite unCon-
selous 81 their OWL Diet, rIniuatipu IF
spirit. One OF them. >ay> the London
illustrated News. trOaiic .am.s tells
Ia. once explained t. the Recorder.
who had noticed his p-cHliar.ty. that
his behavior was entirely mioundrr-
stood. NO man. sir. j. more open
than | am to conviction. and Ia dp
what j right in every ca-.. hut ! have
not met with the same cunSid, ration
from others 1t has generally been my
lot To bc on jury with eleven If tn.
most obstinate men Imaginable. whu
Will not listen to reason" 1t is fair 10
say that once in a hundred times or 50
this minority Of one proves to be in
the right. Lord Lyndhurst mentions
a case III which. through the opposi-
ton of single individual the jury,
who were otherwise all for verdict
OF guilty. could come to no agreement;
but on the prisoner being tried again
he was unanimously and. as it turned
out, justly acquitted. On the other
hand, some jurymen have too low an
opinion Of what some philosophers
call their ego, and are willing 10
w PueN NubAtS ~ al aiiSi tSo'
When Justice Gould had been about
two hours trying a ease at York he
noticed there were but eleven jury
men in the box. please, my lord"
replied the foreman. in answer to the
judges natural inquiry, the other has
gone away about some business he had
to do, but he has left his verdict with
me-" ~
The most remarkable case of n jury
standing out against what seemed
unrefutable testimony, and all through
the resolution of one man, oc-
CURED before Chief Justice Dyer. He
presided at murder trial in which
everything went against the prisoner,
who on his part could only say that on
his going to work in the morning he
had found the man dying, and tried to
help him, whereby he had become COW
cred with blood, but when the man
presently died he had come away and
said nothing about it, because he was
known to have had a quarrel with the
deceased, and feared that he might get
into trouble. The hay fork with
which the man had been murdered had
the prisoners name on it. In other re-
spects his guilt appeared to be clearly
established, and the chief justice was
convinced of it. When this is the case
judge likes to get a conviction.
have sat beside one myself. who on
the second day brought his black cap
with him, neatly folded, and placed it
in the drawer before him ready for
use, and very much annoyed he seemed
to be when the jury returned verdict
OF mot guilty" This was Chief JUS
tice Dyer's case, and when. notwith-
standing their being locked up all
night without fire and candle, his
jury could come to no deci-
sion, and eventually came to the
wrong one, he put some searching
questions to the high sheriff. The
cause of the acquittal, said that Off
cial. was undoubtedly the foreman, a
farmer of excellent character, es-
teemed by all his neighbors and very
unlikely to be obstinate or vexatious.
"Then," said the judge, 81 must see
this foreman, for an explanation of the
matter I will have" The foreman
came, and after extracting from his
lordship a promise of secrecy proved
at once that the prisoner had been
rightly acquitted, for" said he, "it
was myself who killed the man." 1t
had been no murder, for the other had
attacked him with the hayfork, and
(as he showed) severely injured him;
but in the struggle to get possession
of the weapon he had the misfortune
to give the man a fatal wound. He
had no fears as to his being found
guilty of the murder, but, the assfzes
being just over. his farm and AFFAIR."
would have been ruined. by comics.
sion, through lying SO long in jail, SC
he suffered matters to take Their
course. He was Mortified to find one
of his own servants accused of the
matter, supported his wife and chill
dren while in prison, managed to be
placed on the jury and elected fore
man, and resolutely held out in favol
of the prisoners innocence. He added
that if he had failed in this he would
certainly have confessed to his owl
share in the business, and the judge
believed him. Every year for fifteeI
years his lordship made inquiries as Il
the foreman's existence, and at last
happening to survive him, he consid
cred himself free to tell the story.