The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-06-16
CIRCUMsTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

A Case in Which the Jury's Foreman
 Saved the Accused.
 Very eminent legal authorities agree that as to the facts of a case the jury is more likely to be right than the judge. This week, however, we have had another addition to the lengthy list of instances of the judge censur- ing jury upon ttS finding. As clear a case as had ever come before him, " he said, as he ordered the jury to go home. Possibly the judge was right. It is we'll to remember, however, that had all the eases which have appeared so clear io tha judges gone as their lord ships desired more than few innocent men would have been sent to the gall lows. An instance comes to mind, one of the most extraordinary in the his- tory of our legal system, the account of which we owe to the man who tried and presided over the trial Lord Chief Justice Dyer. This was "clear lease" of murder, The victim had been found stabbed to death in field wood, by his side the pitchfork with which the deed had been done. The man who owned the fork was arrested, and the blood stained suit he had worn was found hidden in mattress.
 Short of testimony from any one wh had seen the crime actually committed, there was not link missing from the chain of evidence against the prisoner. It was in vain that he pleaded not guilty; everything was so conclusively clear against him. A verdict of guilty was expected immediately from the jury, but the foreman asked that as the life" of fellow creature was at stake the jury might be allowed to re- tire. The judge did not understand why they should do so in so simple a case; still, the jury had it's wish. It did not return. The court adjourned for luncheon; the jury did not come back in the afternoon, and, in spite of several anxious inquiries from the bench, 1t had not made up it's mind when the court rose for the day-there was one man holding out. The jury was locked up for the night and in the morning was brought into court to re- turn a verdict of not guilty! This was poser, and the judge dismissed the jury, saying, "The blood of the deceas- ed lies at your door,
 Private inquiry by the judge elicited the fact that the foreman, man of un- blemished reputation and of consider able estate, had been the cause of the verdict, which the rest had been starv- ed into accepting. The judge sent for this gentleman, and in his private room begged him to explain the myst- cry of his obduracy and the amazing finding of his fellows, first pfedging | himself to preserve inviolate any con fidence which the other might repose in him. Then the foreman told hin Ihow he himself had met the victim foi whose murder the prisoner had beer tried, how this man had sought to take advantage of his official position and exact unjust titles, how they had guar. relied and fought, how the man had attempted to kill him with fork, ant how he (the foreman of the 1ury) hat killed his antagonist with his owr pitchfork, then lied. The prisoner coming along, had found the man dy' | ing, and in endeavoring to succor hin had got blood upon his clothes and 1T his confusion had taken the dead mans fork and left his own in it's place. Int
 was why the foreman had held out and, why the prisoner ped.-Londor Stnadard.