Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-01-04


The work of empaneling a jury
in the circuit court for the trial of
| Geo. Meyers, charged with the mur-
der of Night Patrolman Thomas Ec-
kert last fall was commenced yes
terday afternoon before q crowded
court rOom-in fact so crowded
that orders were issued by the court
to the bailiff to admit no further
spectators. The crowd was mostly
made up of men, but a few women
entered into its composition and
while the work of empaneling a jury
is generally dry and uninteresting,
it was listened to by those in at
tendance with the keenest interest.
District Attorney McNary appear
ed for the state, and Attorneys Car
son, Richardson and Darcy ap-
peared for the defendant The de-
fendant was seated between attor-
ney's Carson and Darcy and while
at first he seemed nervous, as the
proceedings went on grew more
calm and collected, and took an ac-
tive interest in the work of empan-
cling the jury which is to render a
verdict as to his guilt or innocence
of the crime with which he is
charged. The work of securing a
jury consumed all of the afternoon
session, and when five o'clock ar
rived the regular panel had been ex-
hausted, and the court directed that
an extra venire of IS men be issued,
and court was adjourned until
o'clock in the morning.
Serious Matter Says Judge.
The work of examining the jury
went forwards solemnly during the
afternoon with one exception, and
that was when a prospective jury
man made a reply to a question put
to him by one of the attorneys,
which caused a ripple of laughter to
spread over the audience. The jury
man had been am'ned at length
by counsel for both the state and
defense-eXa mined as to his quail
ficatiOns in almost every respect and
finally in reply to a question by one
of the attorneys stated he would
rather not sit on the case. There
was not anything witty about the
remark, but it came Unexpectedly
and the audience was in a right hu-
NOR, and it was greeted with laugh
ter and noise. Judge Burnette
brought his gavel down as soon as
it started and after rapping for or
der several times, announced to
the audience that any one who de-
sired to remain in the court room
must be orderly-that the proceed !
ings were not a show, but a solemn |
matter-the cause serious, and that /
if there followed a repetition, he |
would have the officer eject from |
the room the offenders, and from |
that time there were no further out
breaks.
Self Defense BE Invoked.
It became apparent as soon as At.
torney Carson for the defense took /
up the examination of the venire-
men that the fact whether Eckhart
Overstepped the law in arresting
Meyers VIII figure prominently in
the trial, and that the attorneys for
the defendant will rely greatly, If
not solely upon the law OF self de-
fense, to acquit their client. Each
yenireman was examined carefully
as to whether he had any prejudice
against the law of self defense by
Carson, and also asked as
10 whether he believed hat an Off
,er owned the same obed ence to the
aw as a private citizen or whether
he juryman would be willing to
overlook negligence on his part I'm
observing the law. Another feature
IF the examination Of the jurymen
vas that as TO whether they had
ormed an p'nio mas to the case
rom the reading of accounts con-
.ernirg il in the newspaper
whether that opinion was such that
[ would be necessary for evidence
o remove 1t.
Opposed TO Capital Punishment.
II the sent ment expressed by the
eniremen yesterday afternoon with
elatlon TO capital punishment is ,
ny criterion by which to measure
he sentiment as II ex SITS among the ,
eople generally with relation TO