Hanway. Not guilty.
Clerk. How will you be tried?
Hanway. By God and my country.
Clerk. God send you a good deliverance.
The counsel who appeared in his defence were: John M. Read of Philadelphia, Thaddeus Stevens of Lancaster, Jos. J. Lewis of Westchester, Theodore Cuyler of Philadelphia, and W. Arthur Jackson, ditto.
On behalf of the government were present: John W. Ashmead, District Attorney of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Geo. L. Ashmead of Philadelphia, James R. Ludlow, ditto; and in the phonographic report it is stated that “the State of Maryland was represented by Robert J. Brent, James Cooper and R. M. Lee.”
Why such a statement should appear in the only report of the case printed by authority is totally inexplicable. The government of the United States had no right to admit the State of Maryland as a party to the record. If Hanway had offended against any State authority, it was against the State of Pennsylvania. The statement, then, must be a mere dictum of the reporter, and the entire array of counsel for the prosecution must have been by permission of the United States government.
The counsel for each side having been formally recognized, the clerk proceeded to call a jury. The government submitted a series of six questions, which it was proposed to ask each juryman, touching his competency to be sworn. The first related to conscientious scruples on the subject of capital punishments—the usual question put in capital cases; the second, third, fourth and fifth asked, in different forms, whether the juror had formed an opinion of the case; and the sixth asked his opinion of the Fugitive Slave Law. After remarks from the counsel on both sides, they were amended by the court, but not materially altered. The rest of the day was spent in selecting jurors, and discussing matters which arose from time to time upon their answers to the several questions put to them.
The third day passed in the same way, Minor points were raised by the counsel and decided by the court, but nothing of general interest occurred. It was, however, by this time, evident that the trial would occupy much time, and arrangements for the accommodation of the jury, witnesses, &c., were made accordingly. By three o’clock, eleven jurors had been sworn, as follows:
1. Robert Elliot, Perry county.
2. James Wilson, Adams county.
3. Thomas Connolly, Carbon county.
4. Peter Martin, Lancaster county.
5. Robert Smith, Adams county.
6. William R. Saddler, Adams county.
7. James N. Hopkins, Lancaster county.
8. John Junkin, Perry county.
9. Solomon Newman, Pike county.
10. Jonathan Wainwright, Philadelphia county.
11. Ephraim Fenton, Montgomery county.