The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-03-29
The OBSTINATE JUROR,
STORY TOLD BY THE JUDGE.
A Tale OF Circumstantial Evidence
in q Murder Trial.
BY HERBERT ID. WARD,
Author Of Tho Silent Witness"
Copyright. ,,,.. D, Herbert D. ward

" OhOs Ehiu bo gOuhk kThuu hIo SCH
tontlously, think that the whole jury system
In q relic Of English barbarism. and the sooner
we get rid of the jury In this country the better
sor It," He tipped his chair against the pine
boards, and drew clouds enough out Of his
brentwood TO obscure the most lucid argument.
IL was q party Of four, made up OF a by.
draulio engineer, q Captain in the navy on q
furlouRh, a graduate Of Harvard going to
study law in tho fall, and an uncle Of the
young man, Judge Chambers. one Of the Jus.
tices Of tho Superior Court of Connecticut.
The Judge was tho patriarch Of the quartet,
the owner OF the camp, and caught more nsh
than all Of the rest OF the men together. lie
took of his glasses, and as he wiped them he
scrutinized his nephew with fond contempt.
The hydraulic engineer spoke quickly and sys.
tematically, like the pumping Of one of his
own motors:
IT myself think the juryman Is the most
eutraged free man l know of. While the
criminal is receiving bouquets from silly wo.
men and feeding like a Eamecock, the poor
juryman Is deprived OF wholesome air. of de-
cent food. Of exercise. and always OF sleep, UNI
til a verdict is agreed upon. ! would like TO
know what sort of verdict a man Is going to
give whose routine of life Is changed, who is
coerced by the lack Of food or sleep"
I'VE don't think of putting the officers OF a
court martial under guard or In irons until
thoJ pEihk III u NbIulCb. lIt Nhpbhlu . Ntu.
with the unconscious information Of superiority
into which the seaman always falls when In
the presence of the land lubber.
The Judge took his cigar out Of his mouth,
and the rest turned to him with Difference.
The young man started to say irreverently.
'Oh. you're prejudiced.' but for once held his
peace. The Judge was not o talker. but when
he opened his mouth his friends respected his
well-digested experience, II not his arbitrary
opinions.
'The jury system - he said, judicially. us
an abomination as p~ractised In England and
In most of our States. We in Connecticut
passed an act OF Legislature so that the jury
man serves as the other officers Of the court,
and goes from the jury room TO his home US
I do myself. To put a juryman, like IA school
boy. on honor, is to get the best results. l
have. known of but one case where a jury
penned up assisted Justice more than 1t would
have done had 1t been free. But in this case
justice was served In a blind, haphazard way.
at a terrible cost. It happened In my own
circuit twenty-let me see-it was twenty
three years ago. and a similar case might not
happen again in the century,"
The rain had now set in. 1t was chilly on
that May evening, and the fire and the tale to
come tempted the company to draw their chairs
in a closer circle around the chimney. For q
leaf from the Judges ponderous volume of
Experiences Oihb toNCiSu SOhi5 VI
fighting at the bar and ruling on the bench
was sure to need no further illustrations to
hold attention than his own genuine elocution.
The tale is paraphrased a little into continuity
by one Of its auditors, and will not DO given
precisely In the fraRmentary and converse.
tional form of its original narrator.
Broadfelds is one of the most picturesque.
one of the Oldest, and one of the loveliest vii
lagos In Connecticut. 1t consists of two
atraata ZACH ahopt q p,ta lone Intar.oott.-
each other at right angles. A double row of
elms planted in King Charles's time guards
each avenue. The town reminds one of old
Hadley, famous for its stately streets, its CO.
lonial homes, and undisturbed peace. On the
Goth of May. 1872, Broadfelds awoke out of an
insensibility that had lasted for over 200 years.
What politics, crops, war, marriage, debt, or
inheritance could not accomplish, had now
come to pass. At o o'clock at night, or per.
haps a little after. Mrs. Burns, the wife Of the
richest, the most Grabbed, and the most feared
man in this ancient community. electrified her
next-door neighbors by a cry Of MURDER"
Then Broadfelds. lethargic as a stone hitching
post. awoke to new and awful responsibilities.
The people of the town were all in their beds.
and Mrs. Burns would have been had she not
stepped out to the barn. 100 yards or so back Of
the house, to look for her husband. He had
taken his lantern and gone out there alone
about an hour before to do some simple chores,
and his wife, actuated possibly by some subtle
influence like that with which detected crime Is
able to draw a crowd out of the bowels of the
earth. felt anxious about him for the first time
in her life. When she found Mr.. Burns dead
in his own blood she ran to the front gate and
uttered into the blackness of the unlighted
streets her memorable cry.
II took Broadfields no little time to awake to
the consciousne ss of a crime of such high de-
urap Rut af last n QrOun of leading citizena