The Indianapolis journal., 1903-02-16

Scenes at Times Were Exciting Dur
ing the Arguments.

Scenes at Times Were Exciting Dur
ing the Arguments.
The Alexander case was argued in the
jury room I'm about the same manner as 1t
was argued by the attorneys in open court
before the jury. There were long and i'm
passioned speeches made by jurors repre-
senting the two factions-those for ac-
quittal and those for conviction-and at
times the argument waxed warm and Wig
orous.
1t was William II. Gimble. foreman of
the jury, who led the argument for ac-
quittal and who worked hard to convince
the other eleven jurors to acquit the
cused physician. James ID. White spoke
in favor of convicting Alexander, and he
voted for verdict of guilty until he was
taken III and won over to the side for ac-
qutttal by the argument made by Foreman
Gimble. The scene in the jury room while
the jurors had the case under consideration
was at times one of great turmoil. accord
ing to the story told to Journal reporter
yesterday afternoon by Foreman Gimble.
The time We spent in that room was
anything but pleasant" declared Foreman
Gimble. Personalities were INDUCED in
frequently and there were times when the
balloting on the fate Of DR.. Alexander was
exciting, while the arguments made for and
against his acquittal were bitter. made
the same argument In favor of acquitting
the physician that Attorney Spaan made in
open court.
HUNG THE JURY
ut was w. j. Lister who prevented DIR.
Alexander from being acquitted. II was he
who hung the jury and held out to the last
The last ballot stood eight to four for ac-
quittal, but 1t was Lister who prevented a
final verdict for acquittal. Stephen Cook
and Timothy Hussey also voted for
viction on all the ballots, but they told me
/ that they would vote for acouittal IL Lis
ter would change his vote and make it
Lister hung the jury all the time, and
when We took our last ballot, short time
before We went into court this morping,
another plea was made to Lister to have
him vote for acquittal.
% Il will stay here until h freezes over
before l will give up my convictions de-
clared Lister.
I'VE then realized that it would be i'm
possible for US to agree upon a verdict.
Some of the jurors thought it strange that
Lister did not enter into the argument
when he was so strongly in favor of the
conviction of DIR. Alexander, but he never
said word in explaining his vote until this
morning.
There were nineteen ballots taken from
the time we adjourned to the juryroom on
rrday morning ba AZ, until we & left IT Sunday lay
acquittal and five for conviction. The next
ballot stood eight for acquittal and four
Tor cOnVlcuOn. 1nen DeSan the long drgu-
ments. White argued in favor of convict
ing DR.. Alexander. and Friday evening 1
made my long argument in favor of acquit-
II went to see him in another room and
he looked like a sick man. felt his pulse
and realized he was sick. You know /
studied medicine and was able to know
when a man was sick. 1 advised that
physician be called, and when White grew
better he said he would vote for acquittal.
..Then the balloting continued, and with
"a Cfn
nine to three. Many ballots were taken
with no change. and on Saturday. when we
went into court and told the judge that we
no chance for a verdict. The request for
instructions certain points was not
bluff, but was desired by several members
RETIRED AGAIN.
1--WE retired again to the jury room and
argued on the question of Alexanders
guilty knowledge OF receiving stolen body.
| There were many arguments on that ques-
ton; in fact. it was the real point at issue
before the jury. 1 think 1 convinced the
other members Of the jury that Alexander
did not have guilty knowledge. but 1 could
not change the convictions of Lister.
"The men who were against acquitting
| Alexander are not married, and they did
| not care how long they stayed in the jury
| room, eating meals paid for by the county
and drawing pay as members OF the jury.
others who desired TO acquit Alexander.
| and We did not see the need of remaining
away from our families any longer. 1 am
| a month TO board my horses, and have
lost money while sitting on that jury"
| Other jurors talked in much the Same
strain as Gimble. One OF them said last
night that Lister had avowed his intention
| of standing for conviction until doomsday
| II necessary, and had expressed the wish
oil nf fhn nr rharo xyOfa for ffol and
he would hang the jury with his vote. The
reason why this was not done, according to
| one OF the jurors. was that the men were
| afraid to go into court with that report, as
they feared the Judge might send them
back for the rest OF the day.
WHITE EXPLAINED.
Juror White explained his position by
saying that he was for Alexander's convic-
tion all through. but that he changed his
| vote Saturday morning in the hope that
the others would switch around. Later
he talked with Cook. who promised him
| that he and Hussey would vote not
guilty If Lister could be convinced. White
says Lister was beyond reason. and was
| obdurate To the last. He says that for
| this reason he with Cook and Hussey
wanted to put themselves on record as
| for the conviction of the accused ply
sician.
Talks of attempts at coercion of the
| jurors were frequent last night. All Of
| them. with the exception of two three.
claim to have been approached before the
| trial was ordered. One juror said last
night that man had called on him on two
/ different occasions and tried to talk to
him of the impending trial. The man had
| first asked him If he was Mason. and
when he replied no suggested that he was
| an old soldier and member of the G..
/ A. r. and could keep a secret. The man
1 Is then said to have tried TO say some
/ thing to the juror about the trial of Alex
| ander. but was stopped before he had pro-
/ ceeded far enough TO become criminal
| ly liable. This is the only specific instance
/ known of any attempt being made to in
| fiuence a juror, although the Masonic
/ order seems to have been represented on
/ the jury in four men.