The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-10-06
TRIAL OF BLACK.
Suddenly Ended by Judge Memminger
Ordering a Mistrial
JURY READ A NEWSPAPER

A Copy Of The State Found Its Way
Into the Hotel Room Occupied by
Jurors, and One Member Talked
Through a Window to One Of His
Employees.
The State Of Saturday morning
gave the following story of the trial
of John Black, which was brought
to an unexpected and sensational
termination Friday: Judge Mem
minger directed "mistrial" to be
written on the record IN account of
jurors having q newspaper contain
ing matter relating to the case.
The whole matter Is without parallel
in the history Of the courts Of this
State.
One of the tprors, J. D. Perry,
had had verbal communication with
the clerk In his meat market, C. M.
Dorm, and the latter had been ar
rested and put In che county Jail.
When court assembled Friday morn
ing, Judge Memminger made an Of
fetal inquiry into the matter. He
had questioned Perry and Sessions,
another juror, and was making in
quiries Of the foreman, j. David,
when 1t was brought out In the most
Unconditional way that a copy OF The
| State had been read by the jurors
in the rooms in which they were lock-
ed up Wednesday night to keep them
from reading newspapers and other
wise receiving information from the
outside world.
Judge Memminger was dumbfound-
FL. He had asked the question in an
apparently perfunctory manner, and
the reply was entirely unexpected.
| Mr.. David was unable to tell much
about the newspaper matter and
Judge Memminger had every juror
brought into the court room sep
arately and put through a search
ing examination.
1t was learned that: The State
| of that morning contained extracts
from other papers making caustic
| reference to the jury which liberated
]. S. Farnum, and there were also
pointed comments in the editorial
| columns of The State. The head.
! lines over the articles detailing the
| trial Of John Black were also refer
red to.
Judge Memminger ordered the
jury discharged without pay and he
held in custody J.. D. Perry and c.
NJ. Dorm until 1t could be determin-
| ed what to do with them. Later they
| were discharged from custody, but
were ordered tt be within call Of the
court at n time, for Judge MINI
minger will be in Columbia next
| week in the civil court and will then
announce his decision.
The trial of John Black, charged
! with bribery, ETC., was thus for the
| present brought to a conclusion.
The effect of Judge Memminger's
| action will merely mean another trl-
! al. There was speculation as to
whether or not it would not be tanta-
mount to an acquittal, technically, but
| Attorney General Lyon said that the
horn books of the law show hat
| directing a "mistrial" In an emer-
| geucy of this kind does not NEAR
| that defendant has had his liberty
put in Jeopardy before the jury, for
| issue was not given to the jury to
make final determination. But even
If the case should be declared to
| be at an end here, the commonwealth
would have no trouble to bring
another.
There has been some speculation
az to what was the attitude OF the
| Jury toward the case. Several ru-
mors were afoat. One was to the
| effect that the jury stood 8 to 4 on
the bribery charge. One intelligent
juro rtold a reporter Of The State
that the jury stood 7 to 5 for con-
viction on the bribery charge and
that it was even stronger for con-
viction on the corruption and rebate
count in the indictment. This juror
said there would never have been an
acquittal.
When the court took recess Thurs
lay evening, the prosecution an
nounced it's case closed. The defense
Friday morning would have an
nounced no witnesses and the argu.
ments would have started. The
prosecution would have sprung a sur-
prise by having Its principal speech
made by Solicitor w. H. Cobb, who
had been too busy with his own
heavy docket to prepare himself in
the Farnum case.
But as soon as court opened Fri
day morning Judge Memminger cal
led before him F. T. Grimsley, a
deputy sheriff, and inquired into the
matters of the night before. Grims-
ley told of arresting G. M. Dorm and
A. T. Keith Thursday night on Hamp-
I ton street under the room In Wright:
hotel occupied by the jurors In the
Black case. Dorm was employed by
one Of the jurors. J. D. Perry, and
was talking to him about matters
at their meat market
Judge Memminger then questioned
Dorm and Perry and also Juror Ses-
sions, who was In the room with Per
nv at the time. The foreman OF the
Jury, J. David, was sent for and
while under examination by JudgG
,Ia-r,inoa relafad the fact that the