New-York tribune., 1901-08-04
WHEN A JURY is LOCKED UP
HOW THE BISSERT TWELVE WERE
WATCHED AND GUARDED AND
PROVIDED FOR

The confinement of jury during a trial. IN
the recent case of Policeman George Bissert, Is
comparatively II is done the discretion OF
the court. and is a Indication of the courts
opinion of the gravity OF the case. This resort
conserve the ends of justice is common IN
capital cases than cases where the life OF the
defendant is at stake. The last previous jury
TO be confined in the course of a trial in New
York court in the case Of r. B. Molineux.
accused of the murder Of Mrs. Adams. The
hnement of jury in trial Of the Bissert sort is
so rare that court officials readily recall
former instance.
Jurymen naturally resent being abruptly torn
away from their families and deprived of their
liberties, not only account of the personal In
convenience and sometimes physical suffering in
volved but because of the insinuaton that their
probfty and discretion mistrusted. No doubt
the sequestration of a jury during important
trlal does cut of the opportunity for the bringing
of improper Influences to bear upon the members
with view to influencing their decision. but there
are many other considerations involved entirely
apart from the jurymen's personality that their
confinement cannot be construed as a reflection
upon their character. On the contrary. the court
by this really throws the mantle OF its protec-
tion around the jurymen for their sakes. and
saves them from many inadvertences and from
many natural and uncorrupt influences which
might affect the state of their minds and bodies
and tend 10 pervert the ends of justice.
THE PRECAUTIONS TAKEN
protection of a jury in a case like Bisserts. Last
Monday, after the jury had been empanelled, the
court permitted the jurymen to go home for the
night. and it probably not merely in their
Imagination that a shadow followed each jury
from the time he left the Criminal Courts
Building Monday night until he was in the Jury
box Tuesday morning.
AT the noon recess Tuesday. Recorder Gof an
nounced TO the jury that the officer of the court
would conduct them to their luncheon. This
meant that the jury prisoners until the trial
ended. and there was a fiutter of hasty prep
aration for nocturnal comforts. Word was dis
patched by telephone, telegraph and messengers
for night rCbes. brushes and combs. tOOthbrushes
and other necessities; families advised that
jurymen would be home and partners and
clerks were adjured look for the jurymen's
business. The court afforded every facility for
these communications, sending them without
pense to the jurymen All these messages. how
ever. as indeed all mail passing TO from the
jurymen from that time until the close of the trial.
passed under the personal scrutiny of the presid-
ing Judge
As soon as the courtroom was cleared FOUR court
officers. who had doffed their uniforms for citi-
zens clothes appeared and invited the jury to fall
in and march BY ''twos." The captain of the de-
tail escorted the foreman of jury in front and
the three other officers secuted along the edge Of
men to be counted readily, and any possible de-
serter instantly detected The twelve good
men and true" were now a sacred body. No one