The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-17

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New York City, Jan. 17.-Im-
pressed b. the ability Of women
juries in New York Is now consider
Ing the advisability Of introducing
women Jurors into its courts. A
bill amending the present Jury law
to include female citizens Of the
United States" as we'll as male
ones, is to be submitted to the New
York legislature this month, and,
~ the legislature is known to be
favorably disposed on the question,
It II believed that It will be only q
short time before Ladies' and Gen.
tlemen of the Jury will be an es-
tablished form in the courts.
With the change In the law, jury
service will become an obligation
on the part Of women just as much
as It Is today with the men, and
they will be subjected to the same
strict rules. The present law pro-
vides that any person subpoenaed
for jury duty who fails to respond
is subject to punishment for con-
tempt Of court, and may be fined to
the extent of 500. 1t is doubtful
whether this compulsory feature Of
the law will prove any more popu-
lar with women than with men, aft
er the novelty of jury duty wears
of, but for the first few years
there will probably be few attempts
i at evasious.
Under present conditions, the
courts are having more and more
difficulty in obtaining competent
juries of men. No man, it seems,
will serve on . jury il he can pos
sibly avoid it. Already masculine
ingenuity has been strained in in
venting a large assortment Of ex-
cuses from Jury service, and it may
be that In the future a long list OF
feminine excuses will be offered,
headed by necessary shopping
and bridge club meetings"
But, so far, women have shown
themselves much more interested
in jury duty than men.
1t was Judge Daniels A. Dugau
Of Essex County Court, Orange, N
j., who first tried the experiment
in this part of the country. In No
vember, the judge suddenly found
his panel Of 900 men jurors drawn
for his court at the beginning Of
the year running out, all of the
men finding excuses Of one kind Of
another to relieve them Of ths
work. So, being more annoyed
than usual, he took the radical al.
Tentative of drafting the newly en-.
franchised New Jersey women.
An AristOcEauc Jury.
The women chosen were care
fully picked, and represented some
Of the best families Of Orange
Much to the surprise of the court
they appeared promptly in answer
to the summons, and none Offered
an excuse to avoid serving. At tht
last moment, it is true. Mrs. Thoma:
A. Edison telephoned the judge ant
asked to be excused because hel
husband was i'll, but she said thai
she would find some way to come
if he could not ind someone elst
to take her place.
| According to Mrs. Everett Colby
who was appointed forewoman O.
the jury, the women talked the mat
ter over and decided that since the1
had gained the ballot after such {
long, hard fight, they ought not t
object to fulfilling its responsible
ties; when the call to jury dut!
came they would accept it withou
complaint.
! "1t was the most interesting ex
perience," Mr.. Colby declared whe,
the trial was over, and the ladie
were discussing its features in tn,
domestic atmosphere of an Orang
tea room. 1T was the first time
have ever had the chance to watcl
the operations Of a court, and Their
were lots of things we didn't un
derstand, but of course We couldn
interrupt to ask questions.
i THE most astounding thing t
me was when two witnesses swor
to exactly the opposite thing on tn
same point. We had to decide be
tween them as to which was tell
ing the truth, and we had nothin,
at all to go upon. We knew moth
ing about their history or what kim
Of people they were, and yet W
had to determine which one wa
lying, and which one was tellin
the truth. OF course, one of then
was lying. But he was permitte
to come into court and swear to
lie that he knew was a lie, and tn
jury decided against him, decide
that he was lying, but he was al
lowed to 60 without anything bein
done to him."
! Our case, Of course, was a sim
pie one" continued Mrs. Cob,
There was a dentist who cam
from . family Of hucksters. Their
were three brothers, and the den
tist had taken one of his brother
and kept him in school, sendin
him through high school. After
ward. the boy became a huckste,
but also helped in the Office of hi
; brother. the dentist. One of tn