The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-05-28
ATTORNEY SAYS
VENIRE LISTS
WERE NOT FAIR
DEMANDS THAT TALEsaEN BIZ
CHOSEN FROM ORDINARY
MASS.
HAYWOOD Jury IS 4 PROBLEM



BOISE, Idaho. May 27.-The Steu-
nenberg murder trial has again been
interrupted by the exhaustion Of the
! jury panel. The last man Of the sec
/ 0nd special venlre disqualified early
this afternoon and Judge Fremont
/ Wood postponed the trial until Fri
day morning, when Sheriff Shad Hold
gin Is to produce another special We
nire of sixty-one men. The odd
number was jocularly asked for by
the defense In the hope of changing
the luck that has dogged the even
numbers used
The work of jury-fiIling Is stopped
at the vacancy created by the seven
lteenth peremptpry challenge, so that
there remain three more peremptory
challenges. Besides that, there Is
chance that Juror Tourtellotte, who
objected to the infiiction of the death
penalty save in war or anarchy, will
be excused when 1t comes time to
finally swear the jury, and Juror A.
p. Burns is suffering from lumbago.
These circumstances leave the date
of the completion of the jury in
d0ubt. They may accomplish the
trick Saturday night and clear the
decks for the action of the trial on
Monday morning and again the jury
may not be completed until some
time next week.
Prior to the issuance OF the new
venire, q. f. Richardson, for the de-
Tense, strongly intimated that the
previous lists had been made up In q
manner unfair to the prisoner. He
said that of the 5000 citizens avail
able for jury duty, fully twelve hum
dred were members of labor unions
One hundred and sixty talesmen had
been before the court, yet only one
of the number was a member of al
labor union and only two others were
working men. He said that there
were only so or so bankers in the
county, yet nine of them had been
found In the lists. He said that the
figures made another singular coin
cidence and protested against the
talesmen being drawn from the farm
er and mercantile classes rather than
from the body of citizens.
Judge Wood in reply said that he
had absolute confidence in Sheriff
Hodgin and that he would make no
suggestion to him as to the manner
in which he made up his lists
Scruples against capital punish
ment and prejudice against the ac-
ceptance of circumstantial evidence,
rather than opinion that gave bias,
we're the stumbling blocks of the
talesmen examined today.
Man after man averred that he has
prejudice against taking human life
under any circumstances and they
all successfully resisted attempts to
show that the belief had been recent
ly or conveniently advanced.
There was long and at times pic
turesque fight over the qualification
of Juror Harmon Cox, veteran who
gave up carpentering to fight three
and one-half years In the Civil war,
then joined the gold rushes of the
late eos and then farmed for sol
years The defense claimed that Ju-
ror Cox did not have sufficient mem
tai qualifications to sit in so grave
a case and tried for nearly two hours
to disqnalify him. The juror got on
dangerous ground several times, but
wherever the examination led and
however bad things got mixed up, he
always went back to the simple mar
ration that he did not have an opin-
ion. that he was without bias, and
that he would give the prisoner q
fair trial. Throughout the examine
ton there was running FIRE, anus
ing and serious by turns, by Clarence
barrow and Senator Borah, and the
former alternately demanded and
pleaded for the removal of the juror. |
Once the juror said that he would be
guided by what his eleven associates
did. but he took that back and falling
back on his old declaration, kept his
place.
Juror Tourtollette made another
protest against his retention on the
jury. He said that he had various |
doubts about his ability to take the |
oath. that he thought both sides were
foolish to hold him on the jury and |
asked that he be given a chance to |
excuse and qualify one OF his ans
pers given on direct examination. /
Judge Wood put him OF until Friday
when some action probably viii be
taken as to his presence on the jury /
Only corporal's guard of spec |
tators came to the trial today. The |
prisoner was again an active menu /
Der OF the constant conference at the |
defense's table. His wife and young +
aet daughter sat with him at the af- /