The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-25
QUEER JURY PROCEEDINGS
Strange Results Accomplished by
Twelve Good Men and True"
some Occurrences When the Dozen
Have Been Locked Up-Deciding n
Case with n Pack of Cards-The
Kentucky Method and Others.

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IT,, ,,t,.,
door Of tho i,,r,, -, 49,. -, -, -
not sIxavs Of +ha+ - 80 a;,,,,,e1,5
character accrad,,ad 60 -, H., ,,o,,,,I.,
on;ninn Opl,, ~, ~, ,,r.,. ,,-,oo.,o,,, a.,
ANYTHING Of what GOES or, T., tha ;,,r,,-oo,,,
become a ,,a++ar 90 ,o,u,I n,,r,i, ,.,o,,I
edge, for the average iurvman IL as mum
as an oyster about the cases which no had
been called unon IN decide hu, there a 70
occasional Ieakapes from the iurvroom
calculated to shake the faith of the most
conservative. in the institution of the
twelve good men and tr,,e"
| On this order was a recent DAMAGE sniff
in an Indiana town. whore the i,,rv was
called upon to decide whether the plaintiff
| was entitled Tn damages for ,ni,,rias nj,
legged to be due to the negligence Of the
| city, a telephone companv- ann an asnbalt
corporation Annarent,v tho t,,rv uas of
| average calibre Iita MANY other turtles
! of all caIibres thew couldn't agree After
they had been ont fortv-e,pbi hours the
| status of oninion was saven 10 five In Ia
| vor of the platntiff Some eight hours
| later ona of tho sax,an ob.~gad bic wind
| and the Jury stood evenly divided at six
! to six There was every nrosnect of an
| indefinitely prolonged deadlocx when one
! of the pro-plaintiff Jurors had a brilliant
/ idea.
Wen never do any business this way"
| he said. Lets get a pack of cards and
| play for it, the losers to accept the decis-
ion of the winners"
AS sporting proposition this met with
instant favor. As a scheme for adjusting
| differences it was hailed joyousiy. Seven
up was agreed upon as the form of arbi-
tration The Jurors sent out for cards
and divided up into three sets of two
pairs each, the side which should win two
out of three matches to be declared vic
tor. Each side had won a game, and the
third quartette were just starting in
when the officer who had been sent after
the cards reported to the judge A bailiff
broke up the game and the jury was DIS
charged without reaching an agreement
More definite of result, if common re-
port is to be believed, was the arbitra-
ment of chance in murder case in a
Pennsylvania town. One Juror. who stood
out for an acouittal against eleven for
conviction in a minor degree. offered to
throw dice for his vote against any one
of the eleven The offer was taken up,
and the story runs that the man won five
Jurors. one after the other for acauittal
lost three of them back. then. after a
great deal of seesawinp landed the entire
eleven The result wos an aco1ittaI.
where the actual sentiment of the Jury
was eleven for decision of suilt and one
for n decision of ,npocence
somevbat similar transaction In the
iurv room is told bv a LAWYER of Chicago.
who claims to have evidence that his cli-
ont was convicted after six of the Jury
had nIaved ninocble against the other six
for murder in the first degree while the
tho other civ favored a verdict of murder
j., ne second degree which would have
go, ,r,,,,isonn,e,t for life instead of
hargirg tn f,rst-tIseree crowd won the |
80 o.. "a +ba man who was beinp
80, h,, ,bis a,,e,,,st bodv was hanged
r1ta, NC o clever scheme which a |
p.1I,I,.,, o,,oI,,ad last snrin, IN avoid |
81, ,,,,,,taasa,,. oorseo,,en,es of an inabit |
,.,, =. ao-ra sf,ar he;pe, ont for aisb, |
49, the,, renortad to the court that |
-, -, ,,s, ~ tha,r deIiberatinp fur
tbsr rs tbev wo,,ld never be able TO
ro,cb common ground The court told
tbeu to 90 hack and deliberate some
80 A niybt In the inrv room was in
nrosnect That wasn't to the taste of the
Jurors one of their number evolved a
man They notified the court that they
would band in a scaled verdict The
..vardict., was duly handed in and the i'll
,,,,,,,, sap+ horne When co,,rt convened
on tho foIIovvinp morning the sealed en-
velope was opened. and to the Indignation
of the iudee the ..verdict' was found to
no n statement that no agreement couId
he reacbed Beautifully as the MAN had
worked II had UNPLEASANT consequences
for tbe iudee hauled the turvmen I'M. and
O. r.o,.ar,,, 1o,,,,r,,cr tto,,, ,r,ia,o, = !
five NO., o,ch and .,,a,,,
,,,n
Tn L<er+,,cl,v tbev have a method of set
t,i,,g d,ffarences of oninion which is no.
er,nlovad in tho i,rv room
,,,, ,,,r,aa L-arr NOS on triaI for faloni
orc aesar1t ard aftar tho iurv had haan
~, fo. ,hraa hours soun5s uara hoard
from, tho i,,rv room, indicative Of gonna
thing more strenuous than moral s,,asion
SbortIv aftar the iurv filed in and the
foreman with a wild eve pIeaminr from
,rder a nurnlisb cushion of swollen flesh
sssa,,ad To render tho vardic,
.tZburv fff-fza defen't issutt no
snuttered
..T-be court fairs IN understand the war;
die, said the indigo with dignity
..Tssutt zh,,rv tize'rn issutt insisted the
foreman
T,ba irdiciaI bror, n,,s ,ro,,;ro, b,,ct
,,,bar IN i,,r,nad No .
..pIao -, IT,,,,.. tho .,.a,,,,, r.
=. .s -. - -, al, ~. $500.
49,. t,a,r,,,,, -, II,,,.l,,,
a.. -. IT., ,1,e - ~ IL
,,or,. ~ a,Iui. -, 80 $500 -, s
,o.. g., ~. 80. 80, :.
yvha-a,,,,a,, ~ 5aso,do,,t ,,,,,,, A.,
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