The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-08-03
THE sEMIWEEKLY MESSENGER: Tuesday, AUGUST 8, 1897

- NAA0t
they turn up their wistful faces, move
around, stand up, or amble from one
! place to another. These professionals
are both white and colored, and the
presiding judge has ever remarked
that the thing is a fragrant imposition
and a menace to the public good. A
member of the bar went so far yester-
day to say IN of this class of jurors
are controlled by the lawyers and they
can count on them to stand by their
cause when they once get into a Jury
room.
Judge Sutton referring to this matter,
said:
There has been a good deal of talk
and comment on the number of mis-
trials and alleged miscarriages of JUS
tice during the recent term of the GRIM
inal court of New Hanover county just
ended. There is one reason, it seems
to us. to be a more potent factor in
this direction than any other one. In
the city of Wilmington there are more
persons exempted from jury service, it
seems, than in any other city or town
in North Carolina. There are numbers
of special acts Of exemption by which
almost every class, and especially the
business men and the merchant class,
OF the population are exempted from
jury service; thus. to a very great ex-
tent intelligence is excluded from the
jury box and by the act Of the very
people who wonder why it is that there
are SO many mistrials. If all the in
telligent men get excused from jury
service, either by enactment or special
plea, then intelligence is driven from
the jury box and the sheriff is forced
to fall back upon the professional
jurors. So that if the intelligent men
Of this community, the property own
ers n business men, desire to see
fewer mistrials and fewer miscarriages
of justice, they should be willing to
serve on the jury at least once in a
they should not complain at the mis-
trials referred to. Jury service is
not only a privilege; it is a
high duty of the citizens, and the more
intelligent the jurors are the more cor
rect and just will be the verdict. When
this is not SO n intelligence excludes
itself from the jury box, no one ought
to complain at the consequences"
Judge Sutton states the case in it's
proper light so far as this aspect of
the case goes. A lawyer who was
discussing this matter with a Messen-
ger representative went SO far as to
say hat at his term of the court
there were more colored jurors than
whites who owned property Inc could
qualify as jurors.
In one cas- there has been a great
of unfavorable comment on the
of the solicitOr-viz., in mol pross-
ing without consent the case against
r. F. Holmes, colored, for committing
the outrageous assault upon Mr.. r. F.
Hamme on the 7th Of February, 1895.
This was one of the cases in which the
color line was the factor. It came to a
trial twice and in each instance there
was a mistrial. At the first trial the
jury, composed of eleven white men
and n cOlOred, stood eleven for con-
to one who declared he would
before he would agree to a verdict
of guilty. AT the second trial the jury
was composed of nine whites, demo-
Gratis, one white republican and two
negroes, and they stood nine for con-
viction to three for acquittal. In mol
pressing this case and putting the costs,
to more than 800, on the
the solicitor did so in face of
the fact that at a previous term the
accused was willing to put in a plea
Of nolo contendere and pay the costs.
The case was mol pressed without the
or consent Of Jno. D.. Bel |
lamy, Esq, attorney for Mr.. Hamme. |
Mr.. Bellamy was not in the court /
house at the time and did not learn of |
the disposition of the case for two
hours afterwards. It is believed to be |
true, however, that it was impossible |
20 have secured a verdict in this case, |
to ~summarily mol pross it, without |
notice to Mr.. Hamme or his attorney. |
and to put the costs on the county.
vas an injustice to Mr.. Hamme and
imposition on the community and
Well, the court has adjourned and
everybody is heartily glad of it.