The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-19
A Iunr or ranonAncn.

SVHt 0E t8N08ANCMs
 After much waiting and delay the Tennessee court thst Is trying the ai- iegsd carmack murderers succeeded in empanneiins Jury which. as The New York Globe says. would seem to be about as Ignorant e set of men as any one could be tried by. Four of the jurors. 1t Is stated. are unable to read or write: two more understand English only indinerentiy. while every one of them swore that he he'd not read . newspaper since the kiliing. and some had not read one for a decade. Not that the attorneys are to be criticised for this result. If the laws of the State make all persons incompetent who had talked with witness or with any one who had talked with witness. and newspaper that prints verbatim testimony is to be regarded as having talked with . witness, clearly iuries are not often to be found among the literate or those interested in matters Ot huy puDtiC COuCofu.
 How can such jury be expected to give . just verdict in case of SO much importance? whether the Coop CTS and sharp are guilty or innnocent can any one claim that they are being tried by jury of their peers? And yet under the laws of the State and the ruling of the Supreme Court of Tennessee q well Informed and intelli- sent man would not be competent to serve on a jury. That court has ruled that. any man is incompetent who had talked with e witness of the murder. or had talked with any man who had talked with witness, or had read the newspaper reports of the evidence brought out in the application for bail. I9 short. any man with enough intel Iigence to read . newspaper, or who cares enough for what is going on in inc community to look into q news paper, or to talk about what has oo- cured. is not competent 3uryman.
 Such is the law of Tennessee. as de- fined by the highest legal tribunal of the State. Can jury composed solely of men who appear to have been chosen for their ignorance and want of information be expected to deal out that "equal and exact justice'' guar snteed to all citizens? Can shsy be called good and true men," or does such q jury carry out the Idea that . man accused of crime shall bs tried by "a jury of his peers"? There can be but one answer to such questions.
 The fact is, the law and the Supreme Court decisions place a ban on intelli- Eence and put 8 premium on ignorance and lack of information. This Is a day of newspapers. and most men who can read at all arc newspaper readers. To hold that man who has read the accounts of a crime. or who has heard some one speak of it, cannot be trusted to do justice as . Juryman is an in- suit to the best citizenship of the country. It is as much as to say that only c thorough ignoramus is 1t to serve on . jury. Our entire jury system and proceed urs is largely in need of renovation and improvement. There are too many exemptions. To a great extent the men of any community who are best fitted to perform jury duty are exempt for some reason or another. When to this we add the apparent efforts of courts and lawyers to put only the most ignorant men on the panel 1t is no wonder that so many findings are little else than . travesty on justice. What will be the outcome of the Cooper case cannot be foreseen, but certainly not much is to be expected from such jury.