Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1901-12-12
THE FOREMAN OF THE JURY
BY N. QUAD.
Icopyrist;. 1901. BY c. B. Levis.l

murder case that excited much inter-
est and as the defendant was fairly
wealthy man and had employed emf
nent counsel it was expected that it
would be hard fought case. No two
men on the jury knew each other be-
fore we took our places in the box. but
the newspapers We're pleased 10 say
that the panel was much above the or
binary in point of intelligence. As ii
was my first time on jury | was rath-
er curious. and it was n ddy or two be-
lore | had sized up my fellow jurors 10
my satisfaction. | was satisfied With
all of them except Dawson, the fore
man. and just why | was dissatisfied
with him l could not explain. He was
a real estate agent, stood high in the
community as an honest. respectable
citizen. and my idea that he would not
give the accused fair show seemed
absurd, When Nash was arraigned.
thought the two men exchanged a swift
glance and that both frightened theirlips
and CLEAN Of hate came to their eyes.
but | dismissed the idea as nonsense.
The case against Nash was almost
man about town, and it was known
that he visited a certain woman who
had once achieved quite a reputation
as an actress. One morning this wom-
an was found dead In her bed. she hav-
Ing been strangled. She occupied an
apartment. and the janitor had seen
Nash leave the place at midnight. The
people in the adjoining apartment had
heard angry words and recognized
Nash's voice Nash had entered his
hotel at midnight in a rather excited
state and when first questioned about
the murder had told conflicting stories.
There was no doubt in the minds OF the
| detectives and the reporters that he
was guilty. He was a jealous. hot
headed man. and the woman had done
| something TO arouse him 10 despera-
tion. When the state had closed its
case. was ready TO vote guilty" The
jurymen are always instructed by the
judge not TO talk of case among
themselves until they reached the jury
room for final decision, but neverthe-
less each juror has a pretty fair idea OF
how the panel stands at almost any
stage of the game. In our case when
good point was made in favor Of either
side it was passed along in whisper.
/ sat next 10 the foreman. and from the
first to last in a trial lasting fourteen
days / knew that he was inimical to
the accused. All other jurors knew 1t
as well. and won't say il didn't have
considerable influence when we came
to take ballot.
Nash made a wretched showing. and
the trial was spun out by legal SQUAD
bling. don't believe there were three
| people in the courtroom who believed
him innocent. When the case finally
| closed, my conscience would not have
permitted any other vote but guilty"
Five minutes after we were sent out by
the judge we took ballot. There were
eight slips marked guilty and four
blanks. There are always jurors who
wait for the majority before commit
ting themselves. After the ballot had
been taken Dawson asked if there was
any point in the case not made clear.
but no one sought for further informa-
ton. Then he said. and thought he
said it with suppressed satisfaction:
Gentlemen. there Is no doubt as TO
the result of the next ballot. Nash is
guilty without the shadow OF a doubt.
and such will be our verdict. For de-
cency's sake. however. we must use up
at least an hours tine"
We had been sent out at o'clock in
the afternoon. After the ballot we
smoked and talked and killed time for
an hour. During the last fifteen min
utes Of this hour | was talking with
the foreman on matter quite outside
of the case. but somehow as ! studied
his face it seemed TO me that he was
exultant over the fate of the prisoner.
l was going to vote for guilty" but
yet | pitied the man. AS we continued
talking | happened to notice what big
hands and strong fingers the foreman
had, and found myself saying that he
would make short work of a man IL
those fingers once got a grip on the
throat. Soon after 4 he raped for or
der and said that he would take anoth-
er ballot. The slips were prepared, and
on each of the twelve was the fatal
word Word was about to be sent TO
the court that we had agreed, and
there was a CLEAN of triumph in the
foreman's eyes. when he suddenly rails
ed his hand to his heart, turned white
as death and sank down in a chair. We
gave him water and worked over him
for few minutes and were about TO
send for a doctor when he rallied and
said:
do not send for any one. but listen
TO me. It's a case OF heart failure. and
It's bound to take me off. We have just
convicted Nash Of murder. but want
to tell you that be is Innocent | am
the guilty man.
Hes on: of his mind?' cried three
or four in chorus.
My mind was never clearer" he an
swered. II called on the woman after