The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1900-12-01

were ready to report and upo
their sending word through til
Sheriff at the last hour that the
had not yet agreed, the Juda
ordered the Sheriff to adjourn coul
till Nov. 3Oth.
After the Sheriff had performe
this duty he appr cached tn
Judges stand, when Judge Foste
instructed him to see that the jur,
was properly cared for; that thei
room was kept scrupulously clean
that they should be kept therein
that they should not be allowed
any reading mater of whatever
character, and that they
should not be allowed to
separate.
To the Iberian the Judge stated
that this jury must not entertain
the opinion that they alone could
be stubborn that he was deter
mined that they should render a
verdict; that the law left it
entirely to the option of the
presiding Judge as to how long
he should hold any jury for a
verdict; that he wanted, very
early in his administl alton, to es-
tablish the precedent of no mis-.
trials; that mistrials were, in a
great measure, a very great
expense to the taxpayers of the
parish, which he would avoid
if possible; that he would hold this
jury i'll their room sixty days, but
they should come to some con-
clusion in the shape of verdict
aye, he would hold them there
through his term of Office, if they
did not agree sooner upon some
form of verdict.
Hon. Robert F. BrOussard,
leading counsel for the defense,
was seen the next day and asked
if the jury came to verdict be-
fore next Friday could they not in
scribe their findings upon the
Indictment, deliver it to the Clerk
of Court and be dismissed He
replied that such a course might
be pursued where the Judge, the
District Attorney and the counsel
for the defense would agree to it.
But that in this case no such
agreement had been formulated
and that the jury must remain
locked up till next Friday.
Judge Foster left on last Sun
day afternoon for Lake Charles in
obedience to a summon of the
Supreme Court, returning on
Thursday. This being a legal holi-
day there was no help for the
Jurors. We can better surmise,
than record, the quality and
character of the thanks they
offered over their Thanksgiving
Dinner. On Thursday afternoon
the rumor was out that juror
Walker had been taken
Ill, in consideration of which fact
the Judge agreed to convene
court at Z o'clock a. M, Friday
morning to receive the jury.'s re-
port and to dismiss them.
On Friday morning at Z O'Clock
Judge Foster was at the Court
House for the purpose of cOnven-
ing court and of receiving the ver-
dict Of the jury. The hour was too
early for many others and there
was a wait. The Clerk, Mr..
Maumus was on time. Mr.. Brous-
sard was even ahead of the
hour. The District
arrived somewhat be-
hind time, when court was
opened at 7:42, minutes were read
and approved. The accused
being in court, the jury was
called in.
The jurors stated, in reply to the
query, that they had
been unable to agree upon a
verdict.
Judge Foster then stated to the
Jury chat there was no intention in
the law to punish the jury from
whose hands justice was expected.
One juror being sick aud having
in hand a certificate Of a physician
that he was too i'll to further
serve, he was compelled to order
the dismissal of this jury. The
Clerk was then ordered to enter a
mistria1