The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-23
TEN NEUTRALS ARE FOUND FOR
 DR. BUENz JURY
Rigid Questioning by Both Sides of TaIeSmen In
 Hamburg Case.

l SAuCS Ol uACS11ACA AAA
 Hamburg Case. ] New York, Nov. 23.-What amounts 1 to the first important occasion-a Fed i eral trial of German citizens charged 1 with conspiracy to injure the United 1 States by fraud-since the world war ] began in which American citizens were compelled to answer under oath 1 whether or not their foreign sympa- thies for any warning nation would | unfit them to act as jurynen, resulted yesterday in an thrilled jury box after 1 two court sessions, the exhauSting of the panel of talesmen before dusk and unusual precautions in examining the l talesmen.
 1 Buenz. managing director of the Ham l burg American line, \. ho was indicted with other Hamburg American off, cials on the charge of conspiring to defraud the United States by obtain ing false clearance papers for vessels carrying supplies supposed to be 1 transshipped secretly to German war ships, once the vessels had got safely to sea.
 The ta1esmen of cosmopolitan birth or lineage called when the trial was begun in the, United States District Court before Judge Harland B. Howe, instead of being sworn in groups, as is usual in Federal cases were called to the stand fsingIy to be sworn and then questioned. Tn so many cases counsel for one side or the. other were con vinced by the manner of answering, or even by outright biased state ments by the talesmen, that man would be unacceptable as a juror that the jury box was markedly slower in filling than is usual in government cases.
 German Names on Panel.
 An unusual number of men with German names were on the panel When, however, court was adjourned for the day with ten men in the jury box--twof of whom r- y be Challenged today-none of the accepted jurors was of German birth or descent.
 The foreman of the jury, on the other hand, proved to the satisfaction or both sides that whatever he may think of the case it will not affect his verdict. even though he is the Ameri- can born son of Irish born father and an English born mother. All the oth- CTS except one who were accepted upon showing that they could act without prejudice were either old American stock or the sons of Eng fish, Irish or Scotch. born parents The exception was born in Ireland
 One talesman showed a tendency toward street corner war time oratory. while being examined. As he talked on and on William Rand of Jerome, Rand 6 Kressel, who with Howard s. Cans and Edward S.. Sandford of l1aight & Sandford represents the de- fence, felt inpelIed to remark;
 You understand don't you, that the question to be settled at this trial by a verdict is not which side is right and which side is wrong in the war in Europe ?,'
 Again we'll dressed young busi- ness man, George Herbener, Jr., of 45 West Ninety-f1fth street, who was horn here, took the stand
 sTo be frank with you, Mir. Her 9bener, Jr, would begin his answers again and again during that part of hin examination which had to. do with the possibilities of his foreign war sympathies directing his verdict in a case brought by the United States against German citizens charged with coHspiring to defraud the govern meht.
 Confesses to Prejudices.
 Then the potential jurors answers would take the form of a certain hes itating manner of reply, which finally caused MT. Rand to ask inpressiveIy:
 DO I understand you to mean, Mr. Herbener, that if you were called upon to render a verdict on this uJes- ton of Germans charged with de- frauding the United States you are a wholly impartial way ?''
 MT. Herbener replied that he was afraid that he couldn't keep his pre- judices wholly apart from his yer dfct?'s
 You were born in the United States. MT. Herbener ?'s
 MT. Rand. who questioned the talesnnen for the defence. was quick to ask after the usual perfunctory queries not only wheer the talesmen was born, but the nationality of his wife as well. Had the taIesnan. form ed an opinion about the European war and, if so, would that opinion influence his verdict? were the ques- tions that MT. Rand usually asked next. Where were the talesman,s parents born? Would he give the de- fendants the same fair treatment that he would expect himself if he, an ArnericanS were on trial on the same charge in Germany.?s
 Assistant United States Attorneys Roger B. Wood and Garret w. 3Cotter sat on the governments side of the table. MT. Wood, whol did the oues-s tioning for the prosecution, wanted to know whether the talesnen were ac-7 quainted with the German anbassa- dor. with Capt. Boy-Ed, German naval attaehe. or Capt. von Papen, German military attache.
 In the same fashion MT. Rand's questions included queries as to whether or nor the ta1esmen @naw the British ambassador or Sir Court enay Bennett, form er1y British consul here. MT. Rand caused momentary interest once by asking George W.Pal- mer, later made foreman of the jury, whether or not MT. Palmer knew any one connected with the firm of J. P. Morgan.
 The ten jurymen seated in the box when court was adjourned at 30 o'clock are:
 George W. Palmer, foreman Born here of Irish English parents. Tenn porary corporation inspector for the city; home 1S4 Alexander avenue
 John J. Morris, 265 West 125th street; retired milk dealer. Born in