The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-10-13
WOMEN ON OUR JURIES,
THEY WOULD BE SURE TO con
VICT GUILTY SISTERS
SO Frederick Upism Adam Declares
Criminal System is Wrong-Au-
thor Of BOTTOM of the Well
Makes Scathing Attack Upon It,

The Bottom of the Well" Frederic
tpham Adams makes a scratching al
tack on the jury system. and turn
els batteries of sarcasm on those i'm
pressionab!e New York jurynen whi
md 1t impossible to convict a pretU
woman regardless of the weight o
testimony pointing to her guilt. Thu
author places these sentiments in The
mouth of Amos Buckingham" til.
eccentric millionaire, who was sus
pected. arrested, tried and convicted
for his own murder-a striking sit
uatlon intended to show the worth
iassness of circumstantial evidence
In his address to the trial judge, Amos
buckingham says
A juror should have intelligence:
re should be man of reading and
one almost abreast OF his timeS-we
disqualify him for those very traits.
We make jury service perquisite
fer billiards and incapabIes. We drag
the ignorance of an emotional and
anintelligent community for the
what men should know, and then
commission them to pass on questions
Of life or death. If guilty woman
with pretty face smiles at them and
rustles her silk skirts in their ears
no testimony is damning enough to
convict her. To be accepted as a
juror In a metropolitan murder tria!
is a disgrace from which a self-re-
specting man shrinhs and attempts
to evhde."
Mr.. Adams was asked if these were
his views, or whether they We're writ
len for the purpose of accentuating
the strange character OF the fictitious
Amos Buckingham"
The paragraph cited expresses
fairly well views | have held fo-
years" said Mr. Adams Our enLlre
system of trying persons accused of
high crimes is a mockery of justice
and Intelligent foreigners are unable
to understand why We cling to it. Our
judicial machinery is cumbersome,
expensive, and faulty in every essen
tial particular. 1t is impossible 70
make a defense of the jury system
as exemplified in modern practice and
results. The average metropolitan
jury is composite OF ignorance ana
The jurymen are
sWayed by mawkisE sent!mentality
rather than by proper conception Of
ho fnv,,anar, Of
!icts in which women have been tried
,fIer encouragement aid incentive to
hose of the weaker sex who find |
themselves tempted to commit MIR
Ter in requittal for real or fancied |
wrongs. Any one who has kept track |
# the murder trials Of the past twelve |
months can instance a dozen or more |
cases in which pretty murderesses
lave been exonerated by jurymen
Who were influenced by their eyes,
ather than their ears, in arriving at |
decision"
When asked to suggest remedy
or this state of affairs Mr.. Adams
aid:
THE proper remedy will be found
n the abolition of the jury system
nd in delegating the right of decis-
On to the trial judge. The worse Of
Judges are better than the best of
lries in all such cases as we are
ow considering. If we insist on
reserving our Anticipated jury sys-
EN-, | suggest that it be modified so
lat woman accused of murder shall
e tried by jury of her peers-in
Their words, by'a jury of women"
But will not women jurors be too
kelly to convict one of their SEX"
Not unless the one accused is
lown to be guilty by the evidence"
.plied the author. IF murder is to
, considered capital crime, muir
arers should be convicted and pun
he'd. and no discrimination should
, shown because of sex There is ,
Hid reason for asserting that wo.
zen are better qualified to judge of
e guilt Of an accused woman than :
e men. Beyond doubt there would
, more verdicts of guilty, and that {
just what we need at the present I
ne.
THE wholesale acquittal of de-
aved women and adventuresses has s
ID demoralizing effect ON the {
Orals of the entire community, and c
lis for some drastic remedy. A +
lily woman would not escape at the i
lnds of jury of women. l do not
lieve in the death penalty, but DO '
Id that murderers of both sexes t
ould be put where society is safe c
I'm a repetition of their crimes At n
esent we reward women criminals d
tn notoriety dear to their hearts. b
Turn them over to the tender mer-
IS of their own sex, and the female q
lrderer will no longer fill the pages e