Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1914-11-13
The Twelfth
'Jurywoman
By DWIGHT NORWOOD

as men. They were drawn as jurywo
men and were eligible to sit on the
bench. Different experiments In jury
duty were tried. one of which was the
making up OF jury of mixed men
aud women.
The case of Grace Fleming against
Francis Iddeston for breach of prom
ise attracted universal attention. The
law as 1t stood at the time required
that all cases of breach of promise
should be tried before jury of I'M
married persons. six being males ana
six females. There being great rush
for Ambulance to hear the piquant
evidence that 1t was expected would
be brought out. number of young
men and women strove to be impan-
eled ON the jury. The result was six
young men and six young women were
drawn and accepted. all OF whom
were Of the better class, and the
young women were all good looking.
II was proved conclusively on the
trial that Iddeston had proposed to
Miss Fleming and that she had accept
ed him. but the defendants counsel
brought in evidence to show that she
had been engaged to another man at
the same time The judge charged
that If the jury were satisfied that the
defendant had proposed to the plain
tiff they were to return verdict in
her favor But If they were satisfied
that the plaintiff had engaged herself
ed to Iddleston they were to find for
the defendant.
One of the jurymen gave an account
of the proceedings In the jury room
while verdict was being considered,
Of which the following Is synopsis:
"On reaching the jury room we ar
ranged ourselves In n circle. men and
women being placed alternately, and
proceeded to consider the case. At first
there were remarks from men and wo-
men alike. but gradually the men drop
ped out Of the discussion. leaving it to
the women. Two women considered
Iddleston's offer binding on him: two
women considered that he was absolv-
ed by Miss Fleming's being engaged to
another man. while the other two jury
women took the ground that Mr.. Iddle.
ston had been treated very badly by
the plaintiff.
THE discussion on the part of the
jurywomen lasted so long that some
of us began to yawn. First one WON
an. then another dropped out Of 1t I'M
til but one woman remained to combat
for her opinion. Then one of the wo-
men asked another If she had seen the
new skirt. This switched the CONVEX
sation on to another track than the
case In question, and in few minutes
the women were debating the fashions
Seeing an opportunity. we men began
to consider the breach of promise ease
We discovered that we all agreed that
the woman. having been engaged to
another during the time she was en-
gagged to Iddleston. had no claim.
I'VE announced to our fellow jury
women that half of the jury were
agreed on verdict. requesting the
other half to follow our example. They
ut once turned their attention to the
matter in point. but as there were
three different opinions among them
and each woman stoutly maintained
her own view time passed without a
verdict. At 4 O'Clock in the evening
supper was brought in, and after that.
since the women could not agree and
were tired Of the subject, we paired
off. each man with woman. and sat
tiirting till 10 O'Clock. when we were
marched of to separate hotels for the
night.
THE next day messenger went
from us with note to the Judge, who,
supposing 1t to contain question of
law. called the court together. His
honor was much astonished at u re-
quest for clergyman. Since there
was no reason for denying the request
dominic was sent to US. and two of
our number were married.
There is something contagious about
matrimony. and as the parson was
leaving he was called back to marry
another couple. That afternoon one
Of the men who had been making I'D
to another Of the jurywomen pro-
posed that We make it unanimous and
all be married. This was rushing mat
tiers. and the only woman left I'm
pledged declined to take the only re-
naming unpledged man. While we
were trying to persuade her the Judge
sent to know If we had reached a YER
dict The foreman sent back word
that we had n case OF an obstinate
twelfth jurywoman, but we hoped
soon to bring her to an agreement.
Half an hour later We all filed into
the courtroom and were asked the
usual question:
"'Have you agreed to a verdict?
I've have agreed to something else
replied our foreman.
What do you meanr asked the
judge, surprised.
-Four of our twelve have been mar.
ried In the jury room. and we have
agreed to make it unanimous, the rest
to be married here by your honor In
court
but the verdict in the case that
has been tried before your exclaimed
the astonished judge Were you un.
able to bring the obstinate jurywo-
man to an agreement?