Show ANOTHER STEP THE LAW FROM the proceedings which took place in the paneling impaneling im of the grand jury for the february term of the third district court it is very evident that an arrangement bad been made that no juror with an even number should be allowed to go on the panel in other words that for grand jury service no mormon need apply A step further was taken on the road to judicial sovereignty the tons loos of jurors are defined by law they are not supposed to be left to the will of courts or the dictation of prosecuting attorneys if a juror possesses the qualifications prescribed by statute he Is eligible no new qualifications can be added by the court or its officers neither is it lawful or proper to make class distinctions ions tiona and require qualifications in one class that are not required of another but in the paneling impaneling im of this grand fraud I 1 jury u rv these restrictions were entirely ignored gordon S beckstead was put through a rigid cross crogg examination both by the district attorney and the judge on the bench beach it was shown that ne lie possessed all the statutory qualifications that he was a citizen of proper age a taxpayer who had bad resided in the district six months next preceding the time when he was selected by the probate judge was not disabled in mind or body had bad not been convicted of any high was not sublet tto to military control cout cont iol was not a bigamist or mist tnora nor a colia bIter wita more than one woman and aad did not believe it was right to be either or to violate the laws of the united states no other qualifications can caa be lawfully required of a juror uror they constitute tut I all that is prescribed by the local and 1 national statutes bath but be e was as able to answer questions going beyond this such as no one has the right to ask juror but which are propounded for the purpose of re acting all members of the mormon burch church he did not believe in the revelations elat ions to that church he was a member but not in good standing he had acted as a teacher but had been removed from office more than a year he was willing to indict men for violation of the edmunds law the president of the church as much as any one else but he had not been cut off the church and still attended meetings once in a while aud and occasionally took the sacrament and because of this semi attachment he was set aside by the judge who treated him to a lecture which however well deserved descried it might hive have been from a minister of of the church and however appropriate from a moral standpoint was quite out of place in a judicial and as a legal disquisition it jurors are required to stand the test of consistency in religious conduct and of moral character and obligation as intimated by the judge in excusing this thia juror it is something nut not to be found in the 11 laws aws defining their qualifications and must be considered as judicial legislation for a special purpose ose some of the jurors were excused because they acted asgood as good cormons mormons Mor mons vs are expected to act beckstead Becka tead was set aside because beci Luse he did not so act they were sound in the faith and con iu in their course an ancl therefore were unsuitable he was neither sound nor consistent aud and therefore he was unsuitable if there is any consistency in this we fail to see it and it if co cousis tency teacy is a essential in a j juror u it certainly ought te t be equally so in a judge then this rule ought not to be be confined tp to one class it rigid cross ques es dioning is right to jurors with even numbers why not to those with odd Is it not as essential that odd num bared jurors shall be men of moral principle and good conduct as that the even numbered shall be immaculate Immacula fe there are persons who passed without scrutiny either of the attorney or the judge simply because they were non mormons cormons I 1 who would not have compared wil with mr beckstead in morality of character or conduct we know what weare talking g about and however much we te trecate deor ecate the course of the rejected juror we think he be would far outweigh in the balances of moral conduct some that could bo be named who passed master without a murmur we are not defending the juror by any means I 1 out but we are opposing the unfair and inconsistent course of the attorney and the judge jude we know that what we say will not effect the constitution nor action of the grand jury but we consider the course pursued in its organization a tit fit subject for criticism 00 and oo if similar proceedings had boccut occurred red in any other martof part of the world they would have caused such a burst of indignation from the pulpit press and public as would be likely to deter in future any public official from such a partial highhanded high handed and improper method of im paneling a jury from one class of citizens to the exclusion of others possessing all the qualifications required by law |