The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-30
FIXING LURES.


 FIXING JURIES.
 Tn A recent issue of The Indianapolis Sentinel we find an editorial on the SUD- ject of Jury Fixing in Chicago" from which we take this paragraph:
 The recent indictments of prominent men in Chicago for jury bribing have produced tremendous sensation Tn that city. There is no doubt that this crime one of the worst in all it's aspects that can be committed-has fiourished in Chi- cago for many years. There are plenty of men in that community populariy known as ''iury fixers." They constitute, in fact. a sort of guild or profession. and 1t is through their agency that frequent outrageous miscarriages Of 1ustlce' usually in the interest of great corpora tions, occur in the Chicago courts 1he conviction of few of these rascals would undoubtedly have wholesome CT feet and go far toward removing one or the chief causes of complaint whlch tne poor have against government especially in large cities
 If there is one crime which. more than all others, is calculated to poison and correct the very fountains of justice 1t is the crime of tampering with the juries of the country Trial by juries impar- tially selected was one of the stars which Thomas Jefferson placed in "the bright constellation which has gone be- fore us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation" and the. experience of the century which has followed his declaration only confirms the truth of his assertion.
 But jury impartially selected by hon. est and conscientious officials may be tampered with, and such a jury Is travesty on justice and menace to so- ciety Judges may be pure and upright and attorneys fair and honest, but the jury is the final end of justice between man end man, or between the State and crime. Shakespeare wrote:
 The jury, passing on the prisoners life, May in the sworn twelve have thief or two
 Guiltier than him they try,
 but even thief might be an impartial juror with regard to all crimes but steal 1 ing. Not so with juror who has been or may be bribed. Under our judicial system, the verdict of petit jury must be unanimous. Whethe- that is a good UT bad system, 1t is the law. and thus 1t Is that one juryman who has been fixed may defeat the ends of justice as cer- tainly as if the whole pannel was cor rupt. When money or spite or revenge can control a verdict, justice is both blind and helpless.
 Not less dangerous and culpable is the | 6ya ha official who finds | the weak place in the jurors nature and | takes advantage of it. There are the men who furnish the money and the ras- calls who use that money to corrupt juries and make farce of the solemn work of the courts. They are more to be feared and more to be condemned than is the man who suffers himself corrupted. The i latter may be weak and may fall through that weakness, but those who furnish the money with which jurors are bribed, and those who make it their business to seek out men who can be bought and buy them, are the ones wEo should be watch ed and punished. For such men the eye those who administer justice should seek | out ana ueal With tnlS class or criminals, who are more dangerous to society than are those who are brought up before the | bar.
 Chicago, unfortunately, has no mo- nopoly of this disreputable business. Wherever there is much wealth an(
 much crime, there will be jurors who car | be bribed and men who will bribe them | Whether the courts of Alabama are en tirely free from this taint, we do not
 know, but sometimes even in our owr own halls of justice verdicts are rendered
 which no impartial observer can account | for, and it may be that the hidden hand | of the "fixer" has at times been held out ] to those who would take it. But if such crimes are committed in our State. they have, at least, not become the talk of the public and the reproach of the courts. | Chicago and other large cities have a monopoly of conspicuous jury fixing, and it is encouraging to note that in Chicago an effort has been made to abate the evil. or to punish those who practise N | An occasional conviction, followed by sure punishment. will have a salutary | effect.
 | tn t16 Ik Nay