The San Francisco call., 1909-02-27
YFNIREMEN ARE
QUICKLY BOWLED
OVER IN PAIRS
Twenty=eight Possibilities for
Calhoun Jury Rejected at
One Session
Barring Speed, the Proceedings
Are Nearly Barren of
Feature
Two Sympathizers With Higher
Ups Air Views Under
Examination
By W. Russell Cole

AS practice is supposed to point the
way to perfection the attorneys in the
Calhoun case may be credited with
having passed well beyond the novice
stage in the game of disqualifying
possible jurors. II the goal of the
contest is the prolonging of prelimi-
naries beyond all former records of
any court these same attorneys have
victory already well in hand. The
struggle that is in progress day after
day no longer. bears likeness TO a jury
impanelment proceeding, but rather has
become case Of anti-Selection.
Yesterday served as a good example
Of answering purpose. for. in the most
businesslike way in the world the at
torneys committed ruthless slaughter.
wiping out almost an entire jury panel.
The only thing that made it different
from dozen other days was that this
slaughter was more general than ever
before. Twenty-eight talesmen were
placed, two at time, in the vacant
seats in the jury box and then prompt
. ly bowled over and replaced by other
pairs The number established a new
record for a single days session.
AT A sTANDsTILB
It was a disappointing day from the
spectators standpoint for as one of
-.the regulars" remarked on leaving
!. the courtroom at . o'clock. they didn't
even go backward AIoreovek, the
fireworks We're OF the baby pinwheel
variety. with not a single verbal
i. .skyrocket to shower sparks through
the gloom. The talesmen were called
and dismissed with painful regularity,
except on an occasion or two when
some particularly unopinionated sub
5ect drove the lawyers 10 the task
of looking for loopholes before the
usual result was accomplished
William McWhirter. Scotchman
with a typical Scotch steadfastness of
belief was one Of those who precipi-
.tated such a tussle. He said that be
was master plumber. but had been
z union man and had favored the union
side OF the contest in the late Garments
strike. This made him undesirabl bic from
the viewpoint Of the defense. but he
rbaf1ed an immediate attempt to elimi-
nate him from the running by ex-
pressing himself as standing absolute
. ~ for a verdict based on law and evi-
dence alone This. he asserted he
could find IL taken as a juror. and
holding fast to this statement he with
stood all attacks made on his state
OF mind by Attorney Stanley Moore.
The manner Of McWhirter's eventual
disqualification was an Illuminating
commentary on the kind of legal pos
sibilities by which the procedure in
the case is hedged. Soon after the
supervisors of the Schmitz board con-
fessed their crimes TO the grand jury,
z transcript Of their testimony on that
occasion was published in The Call.
and yesterday Mcwhirter was dis
charged from the jury box because he
would not swear that he had not read
some portion of that transcript. The
taleslnan was perfectly willing to
testify that he had not read all, or
even the bulk, OF the transcript and to
state under oath that if he had read
any part of it he had forgotten it
completely. That was not enough. how
. ever. He must swear that he had
not read any portion of the matter
which looked so unfamiliar TO him, and
this he would not do.
The defense demanded McWhirter's
dismissal on this ground. Judge Law
Tor signified his belief that the ques-
tion had not been finally ruled upon
by the76alifornia courts and that there
was doubt in his mind as to what
the decision of the higher courts might
be- The prosecuting attorneys said
that they were unwilling to take
chances Of making the present action a
test case. SO McWhirter was dis
missed-dismissed because he would
not swear that he had not read some-
thing. which. il read. had not remained
in his mind. This was the only ques-
tion involved when the actual ques-
tion Of the challenge was submitted
A few minutes before McWhirter had
said:
IL I believe that a man is guilty.
but still the evidence fails to establish
his guilt. ] would vote To acquit him.
I can give the defendant the presump-
tion Of innocence in this case and I
can be fair and impartial to both Sides"
RELATIONSHIP AN EXCUSE
Nat T. Messer. a real estate sales
man. was under examination when ad-
journment was taken last night and
already had drawn more than his pro-
rata share OF the attorneys time and
attention. He stated frankly at the
outset Of his examination that he
thought he should be disqualified be-
cause OF his relationship to Attorney
Oliver Dibble, who is counsel for for