Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 177, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1911 — JUROR WITH WHISKERS. [ARTICLE]

JUROR WITH WHISKERS.

Why He is not Favored by Lawyers, for Defence in Criminal Cases. Is a Juror with whiskers apt to be old fashioned in his ideas in a criminal case and “soak” the defendant upon the principles embodied in the ancient Mosaic law? Or does the fancy of the old Greeks that a man with whiskers naturally was endowed with bravery still exist, and are bearded jurors feared as pitiless? The remarks of Judge Willard M. McEwen before the State’s attorneys’ convention in Chicago to the effect that lawyers for -the defence in criminal cases do not trust whiskered jurors’ decisions called forth these suggestions by State Attorney John E. W. Wayman and Attorney Charles E. Erbstein. "It is true that a feeling exists among lawyers to the effect that a man with whiskers is an undesirable Juror,” said Mr. Wayman. “I confess I don’t know the specific reason for it, and in fact must admit that the best case I ever won was a case where the foreman of the Jury had whiskers all over his face. So did the man who hung the jury for the defence in the first Cronin trial. The ancient Greeks believed that a man with whiskers was endowed with bravery, and perhaps the present superstitutlon is traceable to the ancient belief.” “All men wore whiskers in the old Bible countries in the days when judgments were- unrelenting,” said Attorney Erbstein. “A strict adherent to the ancient laws of Moses might be unyielding and be stern. It is on the principle that a Jew with whiskers is likely to be orthodox. I don’t want men with whiskers on juries that try cases for me."' The jury experts went far In the way of sweeping aside the impression that benevolence goes with “old gentlemen with whiskers."