The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-08-10
De BOLT WANTS
BETTER JURORS
fFrom saturdays Advertiser.l

fFrom Saturdays Advertiser.l
The incident of one of the jurors who
are trying the conspiracy case getting
drunk yesterday morning and making
it necessary to postpone the continu
ance of the trial until next Monday
morning has had the effect of causing
Judge De Bolt to announce that here.
after he intends to have better jury
material than he has been getting of
late.
1t has been noticeable for a long
time that the general character of the
| Federal court jurors is much higher
than that of the veniremen who are
| summoned to try cases in the Circuit
Court. This has been remarked upon
number of times, but the incident of
yesterday made it more plainly appar-
ent, and Judge De Bolt has determined
that the Circuit courts shall no longer
suffer the invidious distinction.
Yesterday, after he learned that
Juror Yarick was too much incapaci.
tated to appear in court he sent word
to the Jury Commissioners that he
wanted to see them and talk over plans
Of getting better jury material.
81 have been noticing for some
time,' said the Judge yesterday af-
ternoon, "that we are not getting the
kind of men we should have as jurors.
Some of them, of course, are good
men, but there are too many who are
not fitted to sit in judgment on case,
| The Jury Commissioners are good men,
but IN afraid they have not been pay.
| ing the attention to the work that it
| deserves. In my opinion, in selecting
| jurymen, they should look up each man
whom they do not know and assure
themselves that he is suitable for a
juror before allowing his name to be
! placed in the box. There is no reason
why we should not have as good juIies
up here as they have down stairs, but
we are not getting them. However,
| this is the first instance that l know
of that a juryman has been too drunk
| to appear in court. We shall have to
let him finish trying this case, but III
see to it that he does not sit on any
more juries. And III have something
to say to him Monday morning.
ga man is entitled to trial by
jury of his peers, but l IN afraid some
not think they were getting it,
trouble coming the way of Mr.. Yarick
about Monday morning Judge De Bolt
apparently feels that Yarick has dis
graced the court by his conduct, and it
is possible that he may punish the man
severely. He intimated that, if he could
find way to do so he might turn over
to Yarick's old mother the money due
him as jury fees and send him to Jail.
There is also strong possibility that
the saloon keeper who sold Yarick the
liquor to get drunk on may find himself
in trouble, for Yarick is one of the
tabooed boozers. He has been convict
ed more than twice of drunkenness, and
the law provides that saloon keeper
who sells to man who has twice been
convicted of being drunk commits an
offense for which he is liable to severe
punishment.
Yarick was able to get to the court
house about IL clock yesterday morn
ing though he was still pretty unsteady
on his pins. He confessed to Judge De
Bolt that he had been delinquent. See
ing that the man was not in condition
to be dealt with at that time, the Judge
told him to 90 home and return not
, one minute later than $3.50 a. m. Mon
day, when he would have something to
say to him in court
Meantime the baiiff has received in
structions to keep his eye on Yarick
as well as he can, for fear the juror may
again fall by the wayside and be unable
to 90 on with the trial Monday.
Jury Commissioner Waller says that
the trouble is with the law rather than
with the way the Commissioners carry
it out in selecting jurymen. The law
provides that jurymen must be drawn
impartially from the various politica,
parties. The same men cannot serve
two wears in succession, and so many
E of the better class of citizens are eX
empt from jury duty, such as clergymen
druggists, printers and others, tina
a often it is impossible to find enough
a men of the right sort. The Federal Law
= is different and wider latitude is allow
: ed the Federal Jury Commissioner.
- In the ease of the strike trials, es
pecially, large number of the mel
who would make the best jurors wer
Q ineligible because they either knew to-
l. much about the cases, or had some con
l. nection with the sugar plantations. II
II find men who were not disqualified ol
o one ground or the other, it was peces
s. sary to use material which, in som
l. instances, as that of the intoxicate
Juror, was not all it should be.
"It is the law that ought to b
changed" says Commissioner Waller
. 'We are doing the best we can unde
"a the circumstances.
The Jury Commissioners will have
conference with Judge De Bolt mex
Tuesday and see if any means can b
found of remedying the situation.