The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-08-05
AT THE HOTELS.

! "a LII liz LID.
There is no man in Oklahoma who en-
| joys the esteem and confidence Of ths
public in a higher degree than Senator
Gore" said William L. Crittenden. OF
/ Stigler. Okla. at the Raleigh. last night.
Mr.. Crittenden is a young lawyer. and
/ Is here on business in connection with
/ the Land Office and Indian Bureau.
Senator Gore would not make any
( charges without being able 70 substan-
( tiate them. There is absolutely no doubt
In our minds that what he said is true.
or, et least, that his charges are founded
on basis Of truth. do not believe for
one instant that he is striving for politi-
/ cal effect. because, IL he should not be
able to make good. his charges would act
4 Ike boomerang and be his political
downfall.
The passage OF the so-called grand
father clause in Oklahoma. which will
deprive about 80 per cent Of the colored
voters OF suffrage rights. will make the
State more Democratic than ever. Il
looks. even now, as If the AIuskogee dis
trict viii send a Democrat TO Congress IN
place Of the Republican now holding the
once.
Senator Owen. believe, will be re-
elected but I am inclined to think that
when HIS next term expires he win find
Gov. Haskell as his opponent in the field
Tor Senatorial honOrs. Haskell could not
/ be reelected governor. even II he had a
mind TO run. the constitution precluding
been an excellent executive. He has
MADE mistakes. it is true. but it must be
4 admitted that he brought order out OF
chaos There has never been a condi-
ton Of Affairs in any other new State
similar to that which obtained in Okla
homa at the time Of it's admission TO the
Union"
H. J. Baker. Of Cheyenne. wyo.. who
is at the Riggs. in speaking OF woman
Jurors in that State. said last night:
/ It seems TO be accepted as a fact that
a jury Of American men viii not convict
q young and good-looking woman OF a
crime where the legal punishment is
| death
I wonder how Il would work out"
continued Mr.. Baker. who Is a lawyer.
IF we had. commonly, juries Of women?
know Of one case in which half Of the
I jurors were women. and the man being
tried, a young and very good-Ioo<ing
/ chap. accused Of murder. lost entirely
( through the insistence Of the woman
I Jurors that he be convicted OF murder
/ IN the first degree The prisoner how
/ ever. was convicted for the reason that
| he had no better sense than 10 make
( tun OF the six women on the fury.
1t happened in Cheyenne. That place
had then been in existence only six
months as a terminus Of the first rail-
road built across the continent. and its
citizenship was Of course. as motley as
( that Of any OF the frontier towns OF that
I day. Chinese graders. Mexican sheep
/ herders, gamblers, and grafters Of all
ranks and degrees with schemes 10 make
! money were in the town. then known as
the Magic City. 1t had no sidewalks or
sewers, but from the very outset il had
woman voters and Jurors. A member Of
/ the first Territorial legislature said.
Woman suffrage viii advertise us and
I his idea stuck; so the lawmakers passed
a bin allowing women TO vote, hold any
ONCE 20 which men were eligible. and
serve on juries. even fin capital cases.
The first chief justice Of Wyoming.
sent out 70 the Territory by the Federal
government. was an easy convert 10 the
woman suffrage idea, and at the first
term Of the court over which he presided
the sheriff was instructed 70 summon as
ma
The first trial under regularly consti-
tuted legal forms IN Cheyenne caused a
commotion, not only by reason OF the
novelty OF the thing. but because women
served as jurors in the case That first
trial was. in fact the unique case that
started to talk about
The man on trial was Jim Baker.
charged with murder. No relative OF
mine if YOU please. Baker was an odd
character, but in no sense a bad sort OF
chap. His father was an artist. who had
lived for many years among the Indians
or the Northwest. He had married a
Canadian halfbreed woman, and this
woman was Jim Bakers mother. The
boy had receSved a few years education
in Eastern schools but had drifted back
west after the death Of his father. he
picked UP a pretty good idea OF faro, and
there were times when he consumed an
inordinate amount OF sagebrush whisky:
but he was always a gentlemanly sort OF
drifter. and. Notwithstanding his habit
ual carelessness in dress, was a most
picturesque and attractive appearing fell
low. He inherited his fathers talent as
an artist, and could sketch faces and
scenes rapidly and sl1illfully.
Baker had quarreled with a freighter
over a game Of cards. and had shot him.
Under ordinary circumstances he wouldn't
have been bothered for this, for the
freighter was a bad actor. The trial came
on, and, as I said, Jim was an artist, and
while the trial was on he sketched every
body in the court room. including the
judge and some Of the woman jurors, who
happened to catch a glance OF their car
features That settled Jim's fate He
was found guilty. The women did It. He
was hanged.
But the story Of those caricatures soon
got out, and Il had its effect. While wonl-
en- have voted and held Office in wyo-
ming from the time the Territory was or
ganized. the trial Of Jim Baker was the
first and last in which women figured as
jurors"
Franz Johann Strassny, OF Vienna,
Austria. a manufacturer Of leather wares.
&c at the Gbo~aher , A. Co f- -