The Sentinel=record., 1916-11-26

The pr sent jury system in our courts is all right for ignorance, butt it is an insult to intelligene.
 Are you thinking citizen willing to profit by example? Would youI step out of the way to better condi. tions when they are bad? Then if so here is an example worthy of deep thought.
 Over in Alabama county judge was murdered in the basement of al court house and his body weighted and thrown in a river. Other officials of the county were implicated in the crime. The sheriff himself commit. ted suicide shortly afterwards. There was such sensation over the affair that probably every citizen of the county had heard something of the crime.
 There was jury to be selected to try two persons accused.
 The county there was not scouredI for its most ignorant citizenship to serve as jurors, as would have been al necessity in Arkansas Here the sher, if would have had to go far into the back woods to try to find a qualified juror.
 -.-----..-a aae the court had loo citizens as sembled Tn the jury box The judge of the court asked them honest and fairly stated questions as to their competency to serve on the jury. The judge did not try to entangle this one 10 disqualify him, or question that one lightly to save him for a juror. Att torneys for state and prosecution here would have been considered dere. l!ct of duty if they had not done these unreasonable things.
 The court questioned the hundred men himself. and found 5S who were qualified as jurors in court of jus tice.
 With 5S jurors qualified to serve. the state was given the right to mark off one juror to be excused, and then the defense was permitted to mark off two jurors to be excused; and then the state marked one more and the defense two more, and so on down the line until there were just twelve men in the jury box That twelve men tried the case.
 Simple, wasn't 1t? Yet if one of our c<@ntx officials was murdered and other county officials were impicat cd. and politics was involved, think of the cost Garland county would have to pay to get q trial jury in such a cause
 The Alabama system is fair. Our system gives the defense 20 peremp tory challenges, or challenges with out cause, and gives the state but half that many or ten The Alabama system gave the defense the right to peremptorily excuse two jurors from large number every time the state excused one. The same rule of fair.l ness to the defense Eermeated the atmosphere Of the court room.
 The difference was that the court qualified the jurors. and the astute attorneys fer the state and defense did not. No lawyer for either side was permitted to question any juror. All the attorneys could do was tol sit and listen to the courts's question. ing, and to the jurors answers andl from that make up notes as to which jurors the peremptory challenge wasI 10 be exerclzed on No sane man wants the constitu tionai rights of accused persons inyad ed. Bat neither should a sane citi- zenship be satisfied with q system of jury drawing which is inadequate to the ends of justice. The jury is the! bulwark Of the courts The courts would be useless and vain if the juries were not there to follow the evil dence and to apply the law in an s n. est manner. The situation is 2 Doc and { ought 10 receive some atten6 6sd "G if sps yo,
 lgs,I