Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1884 — OSTRACIZED. [ARTICLE]

OSTRACIZED.

Hie Jury in the Emma Bond Case Having a Stormy Experience. Hanged in Effigy, Charged with Bribery, and Their Personal Safety Threatened. [Hillsboro (Ill.) Telegram to Chicago DaUy News.] Although it has been nearly two months since the termination of the Emma Bond trial, public Interest in the case has not abated. The mystery is still unsolved, and people wonder whether the guilty will ever be brought to justice. As is well known, the Jury has been condemned In scathing terms for acquitting Montgomery, Pettis, and dementi. The vsrdict was and is still considered a second outrage. The jurors themselves have had a hard time Bince the trial. They have been hanged in effigy, charged with bribery, and at times their personal safety threatened. Only a few weeks ago one of them was attending a big public sale in this county, and as soon as his presence was known the crowd became so infuriated that trouble was only avoided by the juror’s hasty departure. The fact that some of the Jurors have apologized for their verdict only serves to intensify the bitter feeling toward him. One of them Is reported as saying that he would give thousands of dollars if he had never had anything to do with the case. He talks about the trial constantly, and looks ten years older than he did since he sat in the jury box. Another one weeps a great deal of the time, can’t sleep at night, -and seems sorely afflicted In body and mind because the verdict was not received with favor. The juror, Peter L. Davenport, looks much older since the trial, ans had almost become a hermit, rarely leaving his house, and avoiding people as much as possible. But the greatest misfortune has befallen Boone Isaacs. He was engaged to a hbndsome and accomplished lady of this county, but she has discarded him since the verdict, and he refuses to be comforted. Mr. Bond has suooeeded in getting the names of the five jurors who voted at first for conviction, but were subsequently induced to vote for acquittal, and is after them with a sharp stick. In fact, all of them have trodden a thorny path since the trial. Judge Jesse J. Phillips, who tried the case, has not escaped the storm of public indignation. He has been hanged in effigy at Pana, Taylorville, and Vandalfa, and has received numerous threatening letters from all parts of the country. It is said that his connection with the case will probably injure his political aspirations in tbe future. The late defendants, Montgomery, Pettis, and Clementi, have been practically ostracized since their return to their home in Christian County. Resolutions declaring that their names be dropped from the roll of decent society have been passed, and merchants and business men have refused to have any dealings with them. In retaliation Montgomery and his friends have threatened . their persecutors with terrible punishment. It is claimed that the dastardly attempt a few nights ago to wreck a passenger train, on which were several hundred people returning home to Taylorville from Pana, where an entertainment had been given for the benefit of Miss Bond, was the work of the late defendants or their friends. The Wabash Railroad Company has offered a big reward for the apprehension of the would-be wreckers, and it is hoped they will be captured.