The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-18
CHARGES AGAINST
 JURY SYSTEM ARE
 UNTRUE, DECLARES SPECIAL GRAND JURY
In Lengthy Report, Grand Jury Completely Exoner- ates Jury Commission
 of Any Fraud or Mall
 feasance In Office

malfeasance in the selection o1 men for jury duty in the courts of Jefferson county, according to the special report made yes. terday by the grand jury after a thorough and complete in vestigation into the alleged charges of irregularities in the selection of jurors for service in the county courts.
 All judges of county, the sheriff and his deputies, the jury commission and the clerk of the commission were exon eraed of the alleged charges of fraudulent practices in the selection of men for jury duty, The special report, which is one of the lengthiest ever made by the Jefferson county grand jury was received by Judge Dan A. Greene of the circuit court In part it is as follows:
 LIST OF JURORS The grand jury had all the lists of jurors that were obtainable who had served in the various courts from April 30, 1917, to the end of the court term at the last of June, 1918, checked against the jury roll for that period, to ascertain whether or not jurors were called upon to render more service than is contem- plated by law. similar check was made of the jurors who had served from the time the jury box was filled in Au- gust, 1918, up to and including December, ls1s
 "We find that in number of instances jurors were summoned to serve more fre- quently than in the natural routine they should have been summoned, but a care full investigation of the jury roll, together with the list of those organized to serve, furnished in most instances it's own ex- planation of the way this occurred, an explanation that is natural and reason able. and in no way reflects upon the jury commission or any one charged with the selection. drawing and summoning of the jurors
 For example prior to the filling of the box, at each of its filings jurors have already been drawn for service to cover period of three weeks in the future. Naturally when the jury box is refilled these names. which from our best inves- tigation will number from 700 to 800, are again put in the jury box with all other names constituting the jury roll in the new filling, and it is entirely possible that these names or some of them will be drawn among the first, and summoned early after this new filling, when as a matter of fact there has been no dupli- cation. but a strict compliance with the law.
 IN BOX TWICE "On the other hand we find that some few names are in the box twice, and in nest instances is caused in this way: A man may vote and maintain his citizen ship in one precinct and live and do busi- ness in another precinct. Tn this way his name may be taken from the poll list of one precinct and his name may be pro- cured in some other way as being citi- zen of another precinct, and we have had before us several instances of this char acter.
 "It is doubtless true that there
 are n great many good citizens
 who have not been called for jury
 service. The fact that a man is
 not c0Ile0 upon ID EenOer JuTy
 service is not conclusive proof that
 his name was not selected and
 plnced on the jury roll and in the
 jury box. because. at each filling
 of the box, there are large num-
 Der of names thnt must necessarily
 he taken out of the box and dis
 carded before refil1fng the box.
 Just hoy many there are no one
 knows. For this renson 1t is pos-
 HA- NvsSs mi tn ha i'm
 the jury and on every jury roll for great number of years, and yet
 may not be called to serve on the
 jury.
 "It Is also doubtless true that there are a large number of good citizens whose names have been omitted from the jury roll This fact alone certainly would not make the jury commission or It's clerk guilty of fraud when. as 1t appears to us. they go to great pains and trouble to ascertain the names to make up the jury roll. We would suggest that any citizen whose name has been omitted report to the clerk of the commission his name, residence address. business address and occupation, so that the jury commis- sioners might consider the same at the next filling of the box
 USE POLL LISTS
 "In order to eliminate the danger of obtaining a mans name twice, once from his office or place of his work and again at his residence or voting place, or otherwise, we recommend to the jury commission that they use the poll list as the basis from which to constitute the jury roll, making such eliminations as are required and au- thorized by law.
 "In the selection of names to constitute the jury roll, we find that the jury com missioners have no regard for and that no question is ever asked a prospective venireman as to whether he is union or non-union man. Presbyterian, Meth. odist, Baptist or Catholic. or as to whether or not he has served on jury, as to whether he is employed by cor poration. ar as to whether he has ever