THE TYRANNY OF THE JURY LAW
Of course my wife knew I was having hard times, but she had no
idea of my terrible situation. At the end of July, 1901, in order
to reduce our expenses we moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, taking
a small cottage at a very low rental.
Another reason for leaving New York was that I might escape from
jury duty.
This had become a nightmare, and to a man situated as I was it seems
to me the jury law is tyrannical and unjust. My business required
my constant personal attention. There was no one to take my place.
A day's absence meant not only loss of money that might be made
that day, but possible loss of customers through inattention to
their orders and inquiries. I needed every dollar I could make.
The hardship to those dependent on me for support if I were taken
from my business to serve on a jury would be actual--I simply could
not do it.
During the previous winter I had been summoned four times, on each
occasion before a different judge. The first time I called on the
judge in his private room before the opening of the court, and was
excused. The next month I was again summoned. This time also the
judge excused me, but it required much argument to induce him to
do so. The third time it was even more difficult to escape, though
I succeeded again. The fourth time was a rather novel experience. I
shall not forget it, and if that judge reads these pages he will
remember it. I gave him a fright that startled him out of his
dignified composure.
When ushered into his room I found the judge seated at his desk,
there being three or four other men present. They stepped back as
I approached within a few feet of the judge.
In a low voice I explained why I wished to be excused. It was
humiliating to have to tell my story before others and I endeavored
to speak so low they would not hear me.
This judge was of a different type. The others had been most kind
in manner, even expressing sympathy for my unfortunate position;
but this man was brusque and unpleasant. When I ceased speaking he
turned around in his chair and in a loud voice said:
"Oh, no, I cannot excuse you for any such reason." I replied, "Your
Honor, what better reason could I have than those given you"? To
which he answered, "Don't come to me and ask me to give you reasons
for excuse from jury duty. You must serve; we want men that cannot
get away from their business." Then he turned his back on me.
For a brief moment I stood there silent. The judge commenced writing
at his desk. The other men were watching me. I thought of what it
meant in the critical condition of my affairs to take me from my
office for two weeks and the thought made me desperate.
Springing forward, I seized the judge by the arm, and while his
whole body shook with the nervous trembling of my grasp, I shouted
at him: "Do you know what you are doing? Would you put a man who
is almost at the point of nervous prostration or perhaps worse in
a jury box? Do you think I am in any condition to do jury duty"?
The other men gathered around and endeavored to calm me. The judge,
who had risen from his chair, dropped into it again with a frightened
look, and with a voice scarcely audible, said, "Your mental condition
will excuse you," and then asked one of the men to assist me out
of the office. And I needed his assistance. I was so weak I could
hardly stand. I wondered afterwards the judge did not commit me
for examination as to my sanity.
In the name of justice, why should a man be placed in such a
position? Why compelled to humiliate himself by laying bare to any
man, judge though he be, his poverty and then have to argue on that
point as an excuse for not doing jury duty? If a man is prepared
to prove that it would be a serious injury to himself to serve, he
ought to be excused. How could a man do justice in a trial before
him, when his mind is racked with worry over his own affairs? It
is unfair to all--plaintiff, defendant, and juryman alike.