Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/271

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that they kept Negroes off the juries because their presence "would be offensive to the white jurors," the indictment was quashed.[52] In a county of 11,000 voters in Texas, about 1,000 of them were Negroes, of whom 600 or 700 were competent to be jurors. No Negro had ever been on a jury there. The commissioners admitted that they would not put a Negro on if they knew it. The indictment was quashed.[53] In another case,[54] they said they would not put Negroes on juries because it would create a conflict between the races which would injure the Negroes. This was held a sufficient admission to quash the indictment. In a case arising as late as 1903, the commissioners undertook to satisfy the Fourteenth Amendment by putting on a Negro. They put on a Negro who had either moved out of the county or was dead. This was held to be enough of a race discrimination to quash the indictment.[55]

No matter how large a percentage of the population is colored, if it is not proved that Negroes were kept off the jury because of race or color, there is no ground for objection. Thus, it was found that a Negro had never been known to sit on a grand jury in Bexar County, Texas, where there were 7,000 or 8,000 possible jurors, of whom 600 or 700 were colored. It was not proved, however, that they were kept off on account of race or color, and it was held that there was no ground for quashing an indictment.[56]

The following interesting case arose in Utah in 1900: A white person refused to serve on a jury with a Negro, and wrote a note making a complaint. The Negro was thereupon excluded from the jury. Later, the Negro