The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1902-03-15
THE FOREMAN OF THE JURY
BIZ n QUAD.
roopyrisht, 1901, BY @. B. Levia1

murder case that excited much inter-
est, and as the defendant was a fairly
wealthy man and had employed emil
lent counsel it was expected that 1t
would be a hard fought case No two
men ON the jury knew each other be-
fore we took u places In the box, but
the newspapers were pleased to say
that the panel was much above the or
binary In point Of intelligence. As 1t
raj my first time on a jury was rath-
er curious, and 1t vas q day or two be-
fore 1 had sized up my fellow jurors to
my satisfaction. I was satisfied with
all Of them except Dawson, the fore
man, and just why I was dissatisfied
with him I 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 a fair show seemed
absurd. When Nash was arraigned, l
thought the two men exchanged a swift
glanceand that both frightened their lips
and a CLEAN Of hate came to their eyes,
but l dismissed the idea as nonsense.
The case against Nash was almost
circumstantial. He was a bachelor and
a man about town, and 1t 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 to despera-
ton. When the state had closed its
case, l was ready to vote guilty" The
jurymen are always instructed by the
judge not TO talk of a case among
themselves until they reached the jury
room for a 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 a
good point was made in favor Of either
side it was passed along In a whisper.
l sat next to 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 l won't say it didn't have
considerable influence when we came
to take a ballot.
Nash made a wretched showing, and
the trial was spun out by legal squab-
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 a ballot. There were
eight slips marked guilty" and foul
blanks. There are always jurors who
wait for the majority before commit
ting themselves. After the ballot had
been taken Dawson asked IL there was
any point in the case not made clear.
but no one sought for further informa-
ton. Then he said, and l 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 time"
We had been sent out at 3 o'clock In
the afternoon. After the ballot we
smoked and talked and killed time for
an hour. During the last fifteen min
the foreman on a matter quite outside
of the case, but somehow as / studied
his face 1t 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 II
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 a few minutes and were about to
send for a doctor when he rallied and
said:
do not send for any one, but listen
10 me. It's a cast of heart failure, and
it's bound to take me OF. We have just
convicted Nash of murder. but / want
to tell you that he Is innocent. I am
the guilty man"
Hes out Of his mindv' cried three
or four In chorus.
my mind was never clearer" he an
swered. 81 called on the woman after
Nash left. No one saw mi as l entered,
and after I had choked her tn death I