The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1914-07-16
The Twelfth
Jurywoman
BY DWIGHT NORWOOD

When equal rights for women tri-
dmphed In 1925 they not only gained
the franchise. but laws were passed
imposing upon them the same dnties
as men. They we're 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
and women
The case OF Grace Fleming against
Francis Iddleston for breach Of prom
ise attracted universal attention. The
law as II stood at the time required
that all cases of breach Of promise
should be tried before jury of un-
married persons. six being males and
six females. There being great rush
for admittance to hear the piquant
evidence that 1t was expected would
be brought out. a number Of young
men and women strove to be fmpan.
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.
1t was proved conclusively on the
trial that Iddleston 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 II the jury were satisfied that the
defendant had proposed to the plain
tiff they were to return a verdict In
her favor. But II they were satisfied
that the plaintiff had engaged herself
to another man while she was engag.
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 a verdict was being considered
of which the following is a synopsis:
ION reaching the jury room we ur
ranged ourselves in circle, men and
women being placed alternately, aid
proceeded to consider the case. At first
there were remarks from men and WI
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. lddle
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 w''ln
an, then another dropped out Of 1t 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 conver
sation on to another track than the
case In question. and In a few minutes
the women were debating the fashions
Seeing an opportunity, we men began
to consider the breach of promise case
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
agreed on verdict, requesting the
other half to follow our example. They
at 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 n
verdict At 8 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
of, each man with woman. and sat
flirting till 10 o'clock. when We Were
marched OF to separate hotels for the
night
THE next day a messenger went
from Us with note to the judge. who
suppOsing It to contain a question OF
law, called the court together His
honor was much astonished at 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 parsOD was
leaving be was called back to marry
another couple That afternoon one
of the men who had been making up
to another of the Jurywomen pro
posed that we make 1t unanimous and
all be married. This was rushing mat
ters. and the only woman left IN
pledged declined to take the only re
naming unpiedged man. While We
were trying to persuade her the judge
sent to know II we had reached yer
dict The foreman sent back word
that we had 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 verdictr
ave have agreed to something else.
replied our foreman.
"'What do you meanr asked the
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