Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-19
DIFFICULTIES OF A JURYMAN
Some Reflections ON His Hard Lot
Why Not Lock Tn the
Judges.

A writer in Scr1bner's, evidently one
who has been through the mill, hands I'D
a few reflections on the treatment of Jury
men without the hopeful remark, may It
please the court" Possibly he doesn't
care. Listen to his plant:
The juryman, from his first entrance in
response to the courts peremptory sum-
mons, finds little in his treatment to i'm
press him with an idea Of special dignity
In his position, even If he has no overt
cause of complaint. He is herded with his
fellows, ordered about by the tipstaves or
bailiffs of court, addressed In peremptory
tones; sometimes, II in his unfamiIiarity
he is going the wrong way, he is grabbed
by one of these gentry of the badge and
hustled as If he were the prisoner in the
dock. He sits in the court room with an
ever-present sense, II he be sensitive, that
he must be careful not to get into trouble;
the feeling of liberty is gone, he is envel-
oped in an atmosphere OF restraint. Really
he is placed more on an equality with
the prisoner at the bar than with the
judge on the bench, yet he is as essen
TALLY a part Of the court as that august
potentate and may have at any time a
greater responsibility imposed on him.
In some court rooms, when d~isengaged
from the actual trial OF any case and
awaiting ummons to the jury-box, the
Juror is often forced to sit among Grim
inals, witnesses. ~loafers, and ill-smeiling
persons attracted to the court by business
or curiosity; though in some court rooms
separate seats are provided for the tenn
porarily d~isengaged jurymen.
The juror is sworn to render his verdict
according to the evidence submitted to
him and the law I'm the case. In PennsyI-
vania, at least, by decision Of the supreme
court OF that state, the jury is declared
the Judge OF the law as we'll as of the
evidence in criminal trials. BY what fine
spun reasoning the administration of Jus
tice in civil causes may be CONSIDERED tc
Involve different principles, the special
logic OF the legal mind will no doubt dis.
cover; but in criminal trials In Pennsyl.
vania, II Il is not so elsewhere, II would
seem as If the supreme court has RELOCATED
the sitting judge TO the position of a sort
OF presiding officer OF chief clerk or up.
per bailiff, TO keep order in the court and
see that the jury II not interfered with IN
It's duties. Yet often the judge still prac,
tically directs the verdict. and perhap,
commonly, and properly, influences It.
TIL locking up OF iuries, actually i'm.
prisoning them, may be necessary; buI
any agreement reached In that way ap
pears to correspond pretty closely in term!
TO what the law books call an agreemen.
eNtorted under duress of Imprisonment.
which Is fraudulent and invalid. The au
thority for il rests on the very old prece
dent OF court practice, and no doub
judges would find the most ample justltl
cation in law n the right were questioned
especially as there is nobody to decide OF
their own powers but the Judges them
selves. IL is an indignity for a free citi
zen, acting as a part OF a court OF jus
tce, TO have his liberty taken away by
show Of torcc-tor he is taken into custody
| led into a room and locked in forcibly b
? court officers-and he might we'll ask him
self whether he Is capaoie Of rendering
r strictly impartial verdict under restraint
Perhaps that Is one way Of convincing tn
y prisoner At the bar that he Is being ''trie
by his peers" In a recent murder trial /
a New York City, notorious over the Who'll
civilized world, each Juror was placed TN
E der arrest as he stepped into the iury-bo1
even before the case had opened. and h
' was kept a close prisoner-unless f~ortunSt
enough 10 be rejected as a juror-throuEh
out the wearisome weeks ~ that trial, TIL
excuse offered for this indlgnity-tor
: Is certainly that, disguise it how you wi
was that It was necessary 20 prever
some juryman being bribed; but II doe
e not seem unreasonable for an honest ma
a 10 ask why he should be suspected OF vii
a ingness TO b. corrupted any more readil
a than the Judge or district attorney. Judg,
Z and district attorneys have been know