The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-06-21
EDITO RIAL
NJ, RIDER BY JURY.

Nj
Necllcnburg County, North Carolina, nome
] If the Declaration of Independence, seems TO De
afflicted with spirit Of personal liberty that re-
cards life only as it still lives, and has no re-
I rard to life that has been snuffed out.
{ Within three years three cold blooded muir
1ers have been committed in or about charioue'
And three mries have exerted their arbitrary pow
er to free the slayers.
Ia each case, now that the verdict mas peeh
rcdered and the accused cannot be preludiced IN
any RICH, which they may have under the law
ii nav be said that there was no evidence that
cnght to have been considered by the jury, tha'
indicated anything except murder.
One of these gentlemen, -Biggers, by name,
NE nk.-having sighted another gentleman
walking along the highway, approached him by
flank movement. placed the muzzle OF re-
solser carefully behind his left car, and thus
blew out his brains upon the public street.
This gentleman was honoraby acquitted, up
on the acceptance by the jury of his plea that, at
lie time of the shooting, he was suffering from
s,ssnfusiona insanity''-a term that so far as
:Ie English language, legal encyclopedias, or
spurt precedents disclose, is as unique as the
I afecklenburg Declaration itself.
The other two cases referred TO did not even
have this excuse Of novelty 10 justify the verdicts
with which they greeted. In passing on
The guilt of the prisoners in these cases the jury
simply adopted modification of the dictum,
be way to resume, is to resume. and, desiring
80 aequit, acquitted.
In saying so much we disclaim any intent of
giving to Mecklenburg County any other no.
t,riety than that which the chance gives it. What
has happened there. happens all over North Car
plina. happens in New York, in South Carolina,
ID Tennessee. and in Virginia. The chief con
ssrn Of juries is to find the pleasing opportunity
gof acquittal. Their oaths constitute merely the
most formal sort Of lip service. Their sense OF
5s,stice is calculated, not upon their duty under
%tlt evidence and the charge of the court, but
upon whether the public will stand for" the
violation Of their oahs. To them in their
dilemma the most fragile sophistry, the most
fragrant departures from logic, the most sense
less appeals 10 scntimentality or passion are
welcome as affording the fimsy grounds for the
carrying out of premedtated purpose In a
time when custom has robbed the jury lawyer
UT the effect which be once had on real men, the
soft self-corruptibility of juries has avaied to
make the trade of this class of mental blow
B PCS more cficacions than ever Grce the Law
yer sednced the jury; now the jury is ready to
d aT SsuHNtH ~ tIe uFop VI an oEabOTiChl
kerchicf. or the suggestion of way in which 10
scoinproinise without publicly prostituting honor.
The remedy for this abuse which makes life
cheap, which hunts excuses for murders, which
seeks 10 paiatc crime and thus to engendcr
! crime through example, is not TO strike at the
jury system, but TO strike at the system by which
Jnries are selected 1t Is 10 demand that for q
high service the prerequisite be no longer ig-
x&y.ra .tx-x IS Il
10 open jury service To men of intelligence and
moral courage, and TO make the possession OF
these qualities no longer bar to the performance
/ Of that service. 1t is to take from the prisoner
already guarded by the presumption of innocence
the added power of selection of jurymen whose
cress ignorance is not capable of proceeding be
yond that presumption. These conditions ot
jury service almost universally prevail. They
make for acquittals. Acquittals make for muir
der. Murder with acquittal, makes for lynch
ing. Lynching makes for disregard of law ir
general. Disregard makes for that contempt Of
law which like sneer from court room
70 dive, from halls Of legislation TO the alleys
1 where outrage is Matched,
II has come 10 the pass where the who
cannot become confusionedlv insane after hav
ing committed murder is a congenital idiot
he need Is 10 make certain sorts Of idiocv pun
ishable with the same penalties as murder, Al
least after 1thoph LSvo demonstrated that murde
& Is their preface, If not their result