Page:The World's Most Famous Court Trial - 1925.djvu/22

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18
TENNESSEE EVOLUTION TRIAL

ask any more questions, are you sure?

A—Yes, sir.

Mr. Darrow—All right.

The court—What do you say for the state?

Gen. Stewart—Sit down.


Tom Jackson (23), being duly sworn and examined on the voir dire, testified:

Examination by the court:

Q—Are you a householder and freeholder in Rhea county?

A—Yes, sir.

Q—Are you related by blood or marriage to Walter White, the prosecutor, or John T. Scopes, the defendant?

A—No, sir.

Q—Have you formed or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of this defendant?

A—Well, I do not know. I expect I have.

Q—Have you talked to any witness that professes to—

A—No, sir.

Q—Any person that professes to give the facts, Mr. Jackson?

A—No, sir.

Q—Do you think you have got an opinion in your mind as to whether or not he is guilty or innocent, a definite opinion?

A—No, sir, I don't know about that.

Q—You have no fixed opinion either way?

A—No, sir.

Q—You have not heard any of the proof?

A—No, sir.

Q—Just heard rumors?

A—Just rumors and newspaper reading, yes.

Q—Newspaper accounts?

A—Yes, sir.

Q—Did you read any account of the evidence that may have been given in the preliminary?

A—I don't think so.

Q—Just read the newspaper comments?

A—Yes, sir; just comments.

Q—You do not know whether they knew what the facts were or not?

A—No, sir.

Q—Don't know?

A—No, sir.

Q—Now, Mr. Jackson, could you go in the jury box, and wholly divest yourself of any impression you have and go in the jury box and try the case wholly upon the law and the evidence, being fair to both sides?

A—Yes, sir.

Q—You think you could?

A—Yes, sir; I think I could.

Q—Now, if you were chosen, Mr. Jackson, on the jury, could you just make up your mind before you hear any proof taken, whatever you read, you do not know whether it was true or not, would you go in the jury box with an open mind without leaning either way?

A—Yes, sir.

Q—You think you could, before hearing any proof?

A—Yes, sir.

The court—All right.

Mr. McKenzie—You live up near Spring City?

A—Yes, sir.

Mr. McKenzie—Pass him to you, Colonel.

Examination by Mr. Darrow:

Q—You are a farmer?

A—Yes, sir.

Q—You have lived most of your life in Tennessee?

A—Well, sir, I have been all over the United States, I suppose, almost.

Q—Where else have you lived?

A—Oh, I have not lived, I have traveled around, just from one state to another.

Q—What is your kind of work?

A—Farmer.

Q—When you traveled around, was that just to see the country, or working?

A—No, sir. I was in the United States army.

Q—And when did you get out of the army?

A—1912; December, 1912.

Q—When did you go in?

A—Oct. 9, or October, 1909.

Q—1909?

A—1909.

Q—What is your age now?

A—Forty-three.

Q—You went to school here in Tennessee?