The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-04
Jury Box Appears to Have Its
Secrets.
Difficulty i'm Securing Men Who
Are Eligible.
rHEY CAN'T BE FOUND.
Names of People Who Are Not
Here Drawn.
County Clerk Wonders How Box
Was Supplied.


charged with the enforcement of the
laws and are therefore participants in
the interests of the state in the crini-
nal trials in the district court are more
thar. vexed over the conditions which
they have found in the jury lists that
have been drawn for the April term of
the court.
Conditions have developed in these
lists which have interfered with the
prompt conduct of the business in the
district court this term. When the term
started at the beginning of this week
the assignments on the calendar for
this week and next were the trials of
q dozen or Is alleged 'jointists'' whom
J. ]. Schenck, the county attorney has
worked up cases against for selling Ii
ql1or in violation Of the prohibltory law.
It has been the custom in the dis
trict court when a number of cases
have been set for trial for the begin
ming of a term to draw a double jury
SO that while one jury is out deliberat-
ing On a case the business of the court
can be expedited by the calling of an
other case before another jury.
But this course could not be pursued
in the district court during this week
responded from those drawn to have
two juries working in the court at the
same time. The jurors drawn have
not respond because the sheriff and
them and serve them with subpoenas.
And these prospective jurors, strange
to say, have been men whose residences
were supposed to be in this city, Out
of "a jurors drawn by the county clerk
during the first of the week as an adj
ditional panel to the jury already drawn
for the term. the sheriff and his depu-i
ties were able to locate only eleven of.
them. The majority of the missing ones
were supposed to live in Topeka but at
the addresses given with their names,
they were either not known or had
moved away. And in some instances
they had been dead for some time.
These jury panels were drawn from
the jury box which was filled by the
the county clerk. 1t is the custom to-
fill up this jury box in April of each
year with new set of names for the
year. These names are furnished by
the mayors of cities in the county and
the township trustees. These officials
make out a list of taxpayers from the
assessm ent rolls for jury service at the
ratio of one man for each fifty Of the
population. Under this circumstance
the great majority of the jurors for
service in the district court would
come from the city. of Topeka, be-
cause of the $4,000 population in
10000 of it is in this city.
Mr.. Zimmerman, the county clerk,
stated today that he was at a loss to
know where the names of the To-
pekans in the present jury box which
was filled by his predecessors in the
office came from. He has looked over
the records Of his office carefully and
can find no list of men to serve as
Jurors form the city of Topeka since
1902 Lists from the township trus-
tees for the last few years are on file,
but the Topeka lists are missing.
cit may be possible said Mr.. Zim-
norman, .'that no list has been re-
ceived from the Topeka auth critics
since 1902, but that does not seem
probable. Where they are L do not
know I can not find them in this
Office and the chaces are that the
names of the Topekans in the jury box
from which we have been drawing
panels have been there for number
of years"
An evidence of how this pA&city
OF Jurors binders the expedition of the
business of the district court occurred
yesterday. After the Vilott case had
been given to the jury no other case
could be taken up for trial because
there was not enough extra jurors on
hand to complete a jury and give the !
attorneys any leeway in the way of
challenges. So the business of the |
court was at a standstiH until this jury |
returned. This jury was out for three !
hours and a half and there was just
that much time of the court wasted
Mr.. Zimmerman says that he will
see to it that the filling of the new
4l1ry box for this year will contain the
new names that are furnished by the |
township trustees and the mayors of
cities. including a new list from To- |
peka No panel of jurors can be |
drawn from the new box until those |
are needed for the September term of
the court.