As we have given the names of the members of the Court which tried the
mother, we may be pardoned for giving the names of the jurors who tried
the son. Although there were no major-generals among them, they are
entitled to the honor of being within, and not without, the aegis of the
Constitution.
The jurors were W. B. Todd, Robert Ball, J. Russell Barr, Thomas Berry,
George A. Bohrer, C. G. Schneider, James Y. Davis, Columbus Alexander,
William McLean, Benjamin Morsell, B. E. Gittings, W. W. Birth.
They were thus spoken of by the District Attorney:
"It is a matter of mutual congratulation that a jury has been selected
agreeable to both parties; the representatives of the wealth, the
intelligence, and the commercial and business character of this community;
gentlemen against whose character there cannot be a whisper of suspicion.
I would trust you with my life and my honor; and I will trust you with the
honor of my country."
The scene which the court-room presented, when the Assistant District
Attorney arose to open the case for the United States, afforded a speaking
contrast to the scene presented at the opening of the Military Commission.
The Court was not held in a prison, and there was an entire absence of the
insignia of war. The doors of the court-room were wide open to the
entrance of the public, not locked up in sullen suspicion, and the keys in
the hands of the prosecuting officer. The counsel for the prisoner
confronted the jury and the witness-stand upon an equal line with the
counsel for the United States; and there was neither heard, seen, nor
surmised, in the words or bearing of Edwards Pierrepont, the leading
counsel for the prosecution, any of the insolence and supercilious
condescension shown in the words and bearing of John A. Bingham.