The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-30
GETTING THE JURY.
Fourteen Hundred Citizens Called
In the Durrant Case in
TWentY-Nine DAYS.

The case Of the People vs. Durrant was
called for trial Monday, July %, in
Superior Court department 3, Judge Muir
ply presiding. Last Monday began the
sixth week OF the proceedings, and in the
five and a half weeks there have been
twenty-nine trial days, of which twenty
one have been actually occupied in the Sc
lection of jury. Owing to the widespread
notoriety OF the murder of Blanche La
mont, and incidentally the murder of
Minnie Williams, the great difficulty of
securing a fair and impartial Jury was
fully anticipated by District Attorney
Barnes and his assistant, Mr.. Piexotto,
and by counsel for the defense, General
John Dickinson ana Eugene Deuprey, as
well.
early in the proceedings and the fear that
the selection of full panel would be
a tedious matter was soon dispelled.
and the public or that portion of
In all there have been drawn in the
the people who manifested an interest in
the trial by constant attendance at court
was inclined to the belief that the hearing
OF testimony would soon be begun. The
attorneys were not SO sanguine. They
were aware that in the long list of citizens
whose names were in the trial-jury box in
the County Clerks Office there would be
found large percentage of men who
would never be sworn even as to their
qualifications to sit as jurors. Indeed the
counsel considered that, under all the cir
cumstances attendant upon the trial, the
new evidence that was daily cropping out
and the intense interest in the case the
difficulty had not been surmounted even
then. And their hope OF securing a CON-
plete jury within the present month was
not great until the tenth and eleventh men
were secured last Monday out of possible
100 veniremen summoned.
Durrant case 1850 names from the list of
1900 citizens subject to jury duty in the
several courts, and the last 100 was ex-
hausted last Tuesday, leaving but thirty
names in the box. Added to this 1850
there have been two special venires drawn
from the body of the county of seventy
five citizens each. The first seventy-fiye
went in and out of the courtroom on
Wednesday last like water through sieve,
but of the second seventy-fVe names re-
turned yesterday only four were examined,
and the fourth man was Mr.. Dutton, the
last Juror chosen.
OF the 400 citizens drawn for jury duty
in the Durrant trial only 500 were exam
ined touching their competency and quail
fcations to sit as jurors. The prosecution
exhausted only four of the ten peremptory
challenges permitted, and the counsel for
the ueIenSe USED only eleven OF tnelr twenty
peremptory challenges. Thus fifteen were
excused peremptorily and 4S2 for cause and
twelve were chosen.
The remaining 900 found plausible ex-
cuses from jury duty upon application to
the court and escaped the Undergraduates
of the attorneys as to their condition OF
mind, their prejudice or bias, their knowl-
edge of the facts, their opinions as to the
guilt or innocence of the defendant, their
scruples as to the infiction of the death
penalty, and their objections to sending a
fellowman to his death on circumstantiaI
evidence.
These 1908 citizens presented all man.
ners OF excuses. Some were lame, others
were Ill. a large proportion had sickness
in their families. A great many would
have suffered loss in business way. There
were quite number of deaf men, who
came in punches of half dozen in a
bunch.
OF the 497 who were excused after being
compelled to undergo examination as to
competency, large proportion had formed
opinions as to the guilt or innocence of the
defendant, which they declared would re-
quire strong evidence to remove. The
number who were conscientiously opposed
to capital punishment or who objected to
circumstantial evidence was very large,