Sunday morning globe., 1901-09-29


further incident, and the case gwen 10 W
the Jury after the delivery, by Judge
Pugh, Of "a hanging charge" 1t was
so viciously unfair that even the vet
eran lawyers at the bar were astounu'
ed at its ringing malice and deterHlh-
ed purpose to secure a verdict lot the
highest grade charged. The usual eX-
ceptions we're fled by my counsel 10
not only the charge but to the refusal
of the iudge 20 lay certain matters be-
fore the Jury which counsel for the de.
fense offered. The jury retired, and
the universal opinion, outside the
rewgpaper Offices appeared to be thaJ
fbe Jury would disagree, my immediate
friends alone hoping for an acqulttal'
while the radical among my enemies
led by Booth, Of the prosecution, pre-
dicted a first degree verdict.
had q line on the jury which | i'm
parted to my counsel some days before
the close of the trial, and on which
they and myself relied for a disagree
nent. IL was this: The foreman OF
t. Jury knew me favorably, as he was
deputy sheriff under a preceding ad-
ministration. He lived on his farm
few miles from the city and was what
might be termed a professional juror
That is. his spare time from the farm
was spent in the jury box, as his name
was invariably drawn from the box or
he was summoned when some juror
disqualified In my case he was Sc
Iected by the Judge in one of his made
up lists, and my counsel knowing MIN
to be a fair, honest man, agreed with
me TO let him qualify. His wife and
daughter were acQuaintances Of my
wife, and during the trial they became
closer friends. This lady on several
occasions took a seat near my wife, op-
posite the jury, to impress her husband
with the friendship that existed, 1t
must be stated that the jury was lock-
ed up each night at the courtroom dur
ing the three months the trial lasted.
Beds were provided, and the jurors
were marched out three times daily
TO their meals. under guard Of court
balifs. Twice during the trial some
of them were excused from Saturday
Until Monday to attend to their private
business, after being instructed by the
Judge to neither discuss the case with
anybody nor read the newspapers. The
second time the foreman was excused
the State had it's case all in. While
at home he discussed the case with his
wife. who was anxious that for my
wifes sake, should be acquitted The
foreman impaired to his wife this in
formation;
about aCquittal l think 1t is a
little doubtful, owing to the strong
nublic opinion against him. | am sat
isfed. however, il will be a mistrial
and the jury will disagree. The State
has made a very weak case, so far as
testimony is concerned, but it Is strong
enough in the newspapers, where the
State has tried Mr.. Elliott. He viii
never be convicted by this jury Of any
grade OF murder. II was street duel,
aad it Is a question whether Osborne
or himself ired the first shot Os-
borne and Levering were out to kill
Aim. and so informed numbers Of wit
nesses whose testimony stands unim-
Reached. II Elliott hadn't fred quick
he would have been killed sure by Os-
borne, who was a dead shot You can
tell Mrs Elliott that the jury will dis
agree in my opinion, at least ! VIII
never vote to convict him"
It may easily be inferred with what
pleasure / received this information,
AS a disagreement would be a practical
acauittal The judge would be forced
to grant a change Of venue, and knew
that In any other county in the State,
outside OF Columbus l could secure a
fair and impartial trial, introduce the
vile article of Osborne and be acquit-
ted to a certainty, as my brother was
subsequently acquitted in Fairfield tan
adjoining county, on his second trial,
80. s.HH nt MO
to the jury. But Pugh was on deck
and had his hand on the lever. When
the jury remained out two days and
gave no intimation of agreeing, the
State took the alarm The papers be.
came more violent by instruction from
the Judge and the States counsel. Cop
les of these articles reached the jury.
Still II held out. Finally, on Thurs
day, the foreman sent to the judge for
an Interpretation of the law on a
minor point in the case. This is what
the Judge was waiting for He sent for
the jury and delivered a second charge
Of over an hours duration, which he
lad prepared and which left no choice
for the jury but to bring in a verdict
Of guilty Everybody looked for a YER
dict that night or Friday morning, but
the jury still stuck. Now there was
genuine alarm In the press and among
counsel for the State. The Ohio State
Journal led the assault followed by
the Evening Despatch and the black
mailing Press Post A riot was threat
ened, and the burning down Of the
courthouse, the same as had a few
years previously occurred in Cincin-
natl in a murder trial Copies Of the
newspapers mentioned, with scare
headlines, containing these blood-curd-
ling stories, found their way to the
jury room, and on Sunday some Of the
pulpits came 10 the rescue. The Chris
tian preachers expressed surprise that
the Jury should have taken a whole
week and failed to agree "iH such a
plain cdse.'
The jury was weakening, and under