The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1920-09-03

that list.
The six committeeman selected
each two names and the twelve thus
selected were written down.
The committeeman knew nothing of
the antecedents of these prospective
jurors.
Riccardi looked at the list selected
and said that jury composed of
those twelve men would bring in a
verdict of disagreement in any case
no matter what the evidence.
He told the committee that he
would have those twelve names drawn
first from the box in open court
at the trial the next day.
The committee selected one man
to sit in at the trial with the list
of the twelve selected names and
check off each name as it was drawn
from the box.
These distinguished citizens, famil-
lar as they thought they were with
every detail of court and jury syS-
TEN, of course, thought that Riccardi
was mad, that such an unheard of
manipulation of the sacred instru-
ments of justice was utterly impos-
sible, corrupt and powerful as the
McDonough ring might be, But
The committeemen's agent went to
court with his list and
The twelve names were drawn from
the box one after another just as
Riccardi said they would be drawn.
And
When the trial was ended the jury
disagreed just as he said it would!
The demonstration was complete.
The most amazing control of the
processes of justice was established.
Then it was that the Bar Associa-
ton appealed to the Governor and At
torney General Webb was brought
into the graft cases.
The whole story is told in adj
joining columns by Riccardi himself
in what The Call considers the most
important story ever given to the
citizens of San Francisco.
For some days Riccardi refused to
make public how the trick was per-
formed. He kept the city in a fever
of suspense Finally he told.
Jim Groom, the court clerk, was
handpicked names come out of the
box as Riccardi wanted them.
Jim Groom supplied Riccardi with
an advance list of the jury panel in
violation of the law.
Before court opened Jim Groom
went over the thirty-two slips in
the jury box and separated the names
Riccardi wanted from those he didn't
want.
jim Groom made a bundle of the
names Riccardi didn't want and
bound this bundle up with a rubber
band.
The only slips loose in the box
were the slips carrying the names
of the twelve handpicked jurors.
The law required that all of the
slips be loose in the box.
The law required that the box, a
revolving affair, be whirled around
before the drawing so that all of
the names therein would be jumbled
up as in lottery.
The law required that each name
be drawn out blindly and at random,
The law required that chance alone
should decide what twelve names
were to come out of that box.
Groom whirled the box all right.
He went through all the motions of
an honest jury drawing. But the
cards were stacked. They were only
twelve slips loose in the box. The
rest were segregated by a rubber
band. When drawing out the last
slip of the handpicked twelve, Groom
released the names in the bundle by
slipping off the rubber band. He
palmed the rubber band and with a
twist of his fingers scattered the
names that had been segregated.
Groom, mark you, was the man
who picked the Mooney jury out of
this self same box.
William Randolph Hearst's San
Francisco Examiner printed the story
of how Riccardi did it in advance of
all other papers.
EXAMINERS STORY
Portions of the Examiners story
follow:
"Handpicked Juries Secured With
Aid of Clerk"
The story of how twelve jurors
could be picked in advance of a Grim
inal trial and verdict of acquittal
or disagreement absolutely guaran-
teed in the courts of San Francisco
was told by c. Vincent Riccardi yes
terday to Foreman w. H. Harrelson
of the Grand Jury.
1t is one of the most astounding
revelations that has ever confronted
an American city. Justice has not
been administered by courts and
juries, but has given place to injus-
tice dispensed by bail-bond broker