Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-09-26
Who Was Guilty?
By ]. B. ROLLINS.

From Milwaukee Gwisl Badger.
For conviction, ten; for acqult-
tai, two. l declare, gentlemen, il
is . shame. There s-neither sense
nor reason in this' stubborn resist.
ance-this absolute defiance of JUS
tice."
"And you, Mr.. Clogg." added
the foreman Of the jury, turning
and addressing ne angrily, sin
your mad defense Of . criminal.
you may have crime OF your own
committing to glory in before the
sun rises tomorrow"
''Let me tell you again, Mr..
Sprigg," / answered with spirit,
''that you cannot drive me. / am
not to be cajoled by your entreaties
nor coerced by your threats. Your
frequent comments upon the
guilt OF the prisoner made to me
while sitting beside you in the jury
box during the trial convinced me
that you had prejudiced him even
before the States weak evidence
was in.
"The crime was not witnessed
and no motive for its perpetration
by the accused has been given save
the quarrel they had months ago.
Because of this he is pounced upon
and charged with the heinous of.
fense. The over jealous officers of
the law (who must punish someone)
set about to weave a Iet- work Of
condemnatory evidence against him,
and upon this array of circumstan-
tial hodge podge you would hang
man. You or | could be as clearly
proven guilty of this murder as the
prisoner has been. have weighed
well every bit Of testimony offered
in the case; have closely studied
the accused throughout the trial,
and am absolutely convinced Of
the prisoners innocence. /, there.
fore, emphatically refuse to subor-
dinate my honest convictions to the
decision of your basely secured ma
jority. / deeply feel for orr nm
fortunate juryman, and would do
anything reasonable to alleviate his
sufferings, but, cone what may, /
cannot and will not have a hand in
staining the gallows with an inno-
cent mans blood"
As | ceased speaking, louder
groans came from q corner of the
room where lay one of our unhappy
twelve. He >was an elderly man,
by the name of Gaines, and had
just recovered from q severe illness
when drawn on the jury IN this
case. He began complaining short
ly after the trial was on and ex-
pressed fears of his inability to
stand the strain. The case had
been given us and We were locked
in the jury room just before TIE
usual noon recess.
In an hour or two Mr.. Gaines
became i'll, owing to the close con-
fnement in the little box of a room
in which We we're placed, with its
sitting atmosphere and q dense
cloud of smoke. A couple of jury
men persisted in putting away from
large-bowled pipes that contained,
evidently, q maximum Of quantity
and a minimum of quality. to say
the least.
This, in connection with the en-
forced abstinence from food and
our continual harangue and dis
cussion Of the case in review, prov
ed too much for poor Gaines and
be succumbed. The result Of our
first vote was six for scquittsI. four
for murder in the first degree, and
two for manslaughter. These last
named two finally changed to the
first degree, and we stood six to six
until the twenty seventh ballot,
when Gaines Joined the foreman's
side and voted for conviction, say
ing, as be did so, that he was go
sick that he would do anything to
to get oct.
He was Sprigg's first convert,
and as the hours slowly rolled by
one after another deserted us and
voted for conviction under the
stimulus of the foreman's goading.