Evening star., 1933-12-12
Jury LEGALITY HIT
IN CRAWFORD CASE
Defense Attorney Questions
ConstitutionaIity and Files
Motion to QuaSh. ~
BY a STAFF Correspondent of The Star.

SAs0y va, A%NSSAA6SA ~~N
newing his attack on the constitution
ality Of proceedings in the indictment
and trial of his client, Defense Counsel
Charles H. Houston filed motion to
quash the Loudoun County jury venire
today, as George Crawford, colored, ex-
convict, went on trial in Circuit Court
here for the murder of Mrs. Agnes
Boeing Ilsley, Middleburg sportswoman.
Houston's motion is based on the con-
tention that Negroes are excluded from
jury service in this county because of
race prejudice. There were no colored
persons included n the jury list pre-
sented for use in the Crawford trial.
Previously the colored Washington
attorney had aSSailed the indictments
under which Crawford is charged on
similar grounds. His motion at the
former hearing was denied.
Excitement Lacking.
In sharp contrast to the tense excite
ment which pervaded this entire sector
following discovery Of the bodies Of Mrs.
Ilsley and her maid, Mrs. Nina Buck
ner. in a cottage on the 1lSley estate
January 13, 1882, the scene here today
was quiet and orderly. There was even
a suggestion of boredom in the attitude
of court room spectators and the de-
fendant himself as the hearing went
forward.
Only a handful of friends of the slain
society equestrienne were present this
morning when court opened at IL
O'Clock after an hours delay to permit
counsel for both sides to confer with
J,Idpe James 7, Mel IemOre the preSid-
ing justice.
There was no demonstration as Craw-
ford, f1anked by a guard OF heavily
armed State troopers. was brought to
the tiny red brick building and seated
near his four lawyers. Once during the
deliberations when the spectators burst
into laughter at laconic remark with
which Judge McLemore settled dis
pute between Houston and Capt. Frank
Wray of the prosecution counsel, NE
gray-haired jurist raped out sharp
reprirand.
IT want quiet in this room" he said.
"I do not want any demonstration or l
will clear the court room. This is not
a laughing matter. A man is ON trial
for his life, and will not have the
proceedings turned into a vaudeville
show"
Houston's line of questioning this
morning was almost parallel to that fol-
lowed in the prior hearing Instead of
Judge ]. R. H. Alexander, Loudoun
County circuit Judge, who was examined
at that time in regard to his method of
selecting the grand jury here, the prin-
cipal witness, however, was G. A.
Whaley, a member of the jury commits
sion which formulated the list Of 300
names from which the Crawford jury
was to be drawn.
Whaley's Answers Similar.
Wnaley's answers when he was asked
why there were no names of colored
persons on the petit jury list were
strikingly similar to those. given by
Judge Alexander in explaining how the
grand jury panel likewise did not con-
tain names of Negroes. Questioned
about his standards of selection in
choosing names from the voting list OF
the county Whaley said the commission
tried to pick honest. fair minded and
intelligent men"
Then you say there are no such
Negroes in Loudoun County," House
asked
Il did not say that" Whaley re-
piled. There may be-"
The Jury commissioner went on to
say men of good reputation. capable
of judging a case fairly, were sought
for jury service. When Houston per-
sisted in pinning him down to a more
precise statement of the standards en-
ployed by the commission, Capt. Wray
rose to object that the answer already
had been given once by the witness.
Houston replied that Whaley was
constantly interchanging the terms
"fair- minded" and intelligent" with
out defining either one of them. Then
Capt. Wray rose to object that the wit
ness already had answered the question
as to standards. At that point Judge
McLemore interjected into the argu-
ment:
well, ask the question one more
time and then stop"
1t was the laughter following this re-
mark that brought the judges repri-
mand on the court room spectator.
In addition to Commemorative At
torney John Galleher, chief Of the
prosecution, and his two assistants.
Capt. Wray and State Senator Cecil
Connor, seated at the prosecution coun-
sci table today was Flynn Andrews, a
New York attorney representing the
Boeing family.
The colored suspect, who was at one
time chauffeur for Mrs. IlSley was
captured in Boston year after Mrs.
Ilsley's death when he was arrested
there on HOUSEKEEPING charge and
his identity learned through his finger
prints.
Since that time his eXtradition to
Virginia has been the center of heat
ed legal controversy started when the
late Federal Judge James A. Lowell
granted a writ of habeas corpus free
ing Crawford. Judge Lowell said. why
send this Negro back to Virginia when
every one knows the Supreme Court
will call the trial illegal. OF course,
Negroes are not allowed to serve on
the jury in that State" The United
States Circuit Court of Appeals re-
versed the Massachusetts, jurist's deci-
sion, however, and the United States
Supreme Court denied review OF the