The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-08-16
WOMEN ON OUR JURIES.
THEY WOULD DE SURE TO CON-
VICT GUILTY SISTERS.

So. Frederick Upham Adam declares
Criminal System 10 Wrong-Au-
thor of "1ottom of the Well"
Makes scathine Attack Upon 1t.
In his recently published novel,
"The Bottom of the Well" Frederick
Upham Adams makes a scratching at
tack ON the jury system, and turns
his batteries of sarcasm on those m
questionable New York jurymen who
find it impossible to convict a pretty
woman regardless Of the weight or
testimony pointing to her guilt. The
author places these sentiments In the
mouth OF amos buckingham" the
eccentric millionaire, who was sus-
pected, arrested, tried and convicted
for his own murder-a striking sit
uation intended to show the worth
lessness of circumstantial evidence.
In his address to the trial judge, Amos
Buckingham says:
"a juror should have intelligence:
he should be a man Of reading and
one almost abreast of his times-we
disqualify him for those very traits.
We. make jury service a perquisite
for billiards and incapables. We drag
the ignorance Of an emotional and
unintelligent community for the
twelve men who know the least OF
what men should know, and then
commission them to pass on questions
of life or death! II a guilty woman
with a pretty face smiles at them n
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 trial
Is a disgrace from which a self-re-
speeding man shrinks and attempts
to evade."
Mr.. Adams was asked il these were
his views, or whether they were writ
ten for the purpose of a~ccentuating
the strange character of the fictitious
"Amos Buckingham"
"The paragraph cited expresses
fairly well views / have held Tor
years." said Mr.. Adams. Our entire
system of trying persons accused of
high crimes is a mockery Of justice
and intelligent foreigners are unable
to understand why we cling to 1t. Our
judicial machinery is cumbersome,
expensive, and faulty in every essen
tial particular. 1t is impossible to
make a defense Of the jury system
as exemplifed in modern practice and
results. The average metropolitan
jury Is composite Of ignorance and
emotionalism. The jurymen are
swayed by a mawkish sentimentalfty
rather than by a proper conception OF
the demands of justice. Recent YER
diets in which women have been tried
offer encouragement and incentive to
those Of the weaker sex who find
themselves tempted to commit muir
der in requittal for real or fancied
wrongs. Any one who has kept track
of the murder trials of the past twelve
months can instance a dozen or nor
cases in which pretty murderesses
have been ~exonerated by jurymen
who were influenced by their eyes,
rather than their ears, in arriving at
q decision"
"When asked to suggest a remedy
for this state OF affairs Mr.. Adams
said:
1.-The proper remedy will be found
in the abolition Of the jury system
and in ~delegating the right Of decis-
ion to the trial Judge. The worse Of
judges are better than the best Of
juries in all such cases as we are
now considering. If WI insist on
preserving our antiquated jury sys-
tenn, I suggest that it be modified SO
that a woman accused of murder shall
be tried by a jury Of her peers-in
other words, by a jury Of women"
But will not women jurors be too
likely to convict one of their sex?"
Not unless the one accused is
shown to be guilty by the evidence"
replied the author. IF murder is to
be considered a capital crime, muir
derers should be convicted and pun
ished, and no discrimination should
be shown because of sex There is
valid reason for asserting that wo-
men are better qualified to judge Of
the guilt of an accused woman than
are men. Beyond doubt there would
be more verdicts of guilty, and that
Is just what we need at the present
time.
"The wholesale acquittal Of de-
PRAYED women and adventuresses has
had a ~demoralizing effect on the
morals of the entire community, and
calls for some drastic remedy. A
guilty woman would not escape at the
hands of a jury of women. I do not
believe in the death penalty, but do
hold that murderers of both K
should be put where society is safe
from q repetition Of their crimes. At
present we reward women criminals
with a notoriety deareto their hearts.
Turn them over to the tender mer-
cies of their own sex, and the female
murderer will no longer fill the pages
Of sensational papers"