The sole point presented in this case is as to whether the jury was kept free from contact with the public and from improper influences, the case being capital.
The circumstances of the crime were of a nature to arouse strong public sentiment against the two accused. They had gone to their homes and armed themselves, one with a rifle and the other with a shotgun, and sought out the decedent, and set upon him unawares, and, while one of them was beating him on the head with the rifle, the other had shot him dead. The reputation of the accused having been already not of the best, considerable public excitement attended the trial, which lasted from the morning of Tuesday, July 14th, to some time during the day of Tuesday, July 21st; and, as we gather, the courthouse was crowded during its progress.
While it .was going on, a stranger stood near the jury and had conversed with one of the jurors before his presence was discovered. The jury were marched several times to and from the hotel and to and from the picture shows along the more or less crowded sidewalks, with no precaution taken against their contact with the public, except their being accompanied by two officers. At their meals at the hotel they seem to have been allowed to converse freely with the waitresses; and the situation was such that conversation at the other tables, even in an ordinary tone of voice, could easily be heard by them. Packages and valises with no, or
The verdict and sentence are therefore set aside, and the case is remanded for trial according to law.