“The following incident happened in one of our courts and may help to shed some light on the subject-matter wanted: A Negro was indicted for manslaughter. He was too poor to employ counsel to conduct his case, and it not being a capital case, the court could not appoint counsel for him, and told him so. He said he would do the best he could without a lawyer, and the court told him of his rights under the law, that he could look over the jury, and of his right to challenge four of them if he was dissatisfied with the panel as it stood. There were four Negroes on the jury, and he very promptly advised the court that he was not satisfied; the court told him he had a right to object to four of them, and he very quickly told the court, ‘Ef dat is so, dem niggers can stand aside.’ They were excused by the court, and the sheriff was ordered to complete the panel from the very best citizens to be had, which was done, the jury being, when complete, all white men. The defendant addressed the jury in his own defence and was acquitted.
“In my county ... we have had no Negroes on the jury for the past 15 years or more. We have some 30,000 colored population in this county, ... and we have only about 175 registered in the county. The board of supervisors, as a rule, does not place their names in the box, for the reason that, as above stated, they will not serve if any way out of it can be found.”
County No. 7, 1,000 white people, 4,000 Negroes: “... we have no Negro jurors in this county at all.”
County No. 8, 8,000 white people, 12,000 Negroes: “There are only 400 white qualified electors in this county, only about 30 qualified Negro electors. We never have a term of court without having several Negroes on it, besides we always have Negroes on the trial juries. It is not often that they sit on a case unless a Negro lawyer has one side of it. They do not believe in convicting one of their color. They are objectionable in every sense of the word. They are not regarded by the other members of the jury. Negro jurors are on the increase in recent years....”
County No. 9, 4,000 white people, 12,000 Negroes: “No Negroes have served on jury in this county since Republican party.”
Missouri.—County No. 1, 24,000 white people, 4,500 Negroes: “... As far as I am informed, and certainly since I have been connected with the court here, no Negroes have served as jurors either in our court or in any justice of the peace court in this county. While probably under our laws Negroes would be legal jurors, the county court of this county will not draw them as jurors, and the Sheriff, when he has to get jurors, will not summon them. And I do not believe our lawyers here would permit a Negro to remain on a jury before which they would have to try a case. Further, I am sure that no white man here would serve on a jury with a Negro, even though his refusal to so serve would subject him to a jail sentence....”
County No. 2, 21,000 white people, 4,000 Negroes: “... we have never known of a Negro juror in ... county.”
County No. 3, 28,000 white people, 4,700 Negroes: “Negroes never have this burden heaped upon them in this State.”
County No. 4, 540,000 white people, 35,500 Negroes: “We do not have many Negro jurors. I have occupied this post but six months, and in that time we have had but two Negroes called for service. Our jury canvass is made biennially. All names placed in the wheel are taken just as drawn from the same on orders from the various divisions of court. A few of the more intelligent Negroes are placed on the jury list. I made inquiry when two Negroes served on a jury last week. The other jurors did not seem to feel any antipathy. Of course, a little surprise was manifested at seeing them in court when their names were called. Neither the attorneys for the plaintiff nor [for] the defence challenged them but accepted them on the jury. My predecessors never placed many of the Negroes’ names in the wheel as I understand from them.” This letter was from the jury commissioner, not the clerk of the court.
North Carolina.—County No. 1, 6,800 white people, 8,000 Negroes: “... of late years very few Negroes serve on the juries in this county for the reasons that they are an illiterate race and moral character not what it should be. Further, he is easily influenced, deciding with a juror whom he may like instead of weighing the evidence and deciding accordingly. The number of Negro jurors has decreased for the past few years on account of the Negro of to-day [being] morally not as good as the Negro of several years ago.”