THAT SKIDROW JURY

THAT SKIDROW JURY

In a J. P. Court in Sangamon

In the year of '56,

I witnessed "Blindfold Justice" done;

Reactions seem to mix -

With red hot anger, sheer disgust,

Sensations sickening;

Or ludicrous emotions sprung

In joyous quickening.

The case was called by the august Judge,

The counsel in their place;

The plaintiff and defendant sworn,

Each witness full of grace.

And then, six men all good and true,

Oh spare my heart from fury;

Each time I close my eyes I see

That dirty "Skidrow Jury".

McDougal and McClanahan,

O'Brien and Shaughnessy,

McFadden & O'Flaherty;

Oh, Life's strange mystery.

Just one of them straightway excused,

His age was 68;

The younger members gratified

And thanked a kindly fate.

I thought "Somehow somebody'd lied",

To me it now appears;

The five could not that dirty get

In 60 or 70 years.

Of course there may be some excuse

For those down on their luck;

Could not afford to wash for a job

That only paid one buck.

'Twas a wondrous day for the "Famous Five"

Their minds on a detached path,

And thinking of the long ago

When they sometimes took a bath.

The witnesses their stories told

Under questionings concise;

The Jurymen with saddened mien -

Their fee, "What A Stingy Price".

And watching all, they saw not,

And listning did not hear

The evidence clear, staunch and strong;

I almost dropped a tear.

They know not that they knew not,

Yet, drunk with new found power,

They signed a verdict right or wrong

In one-sixth of an hour.

They disregarded evidence,

Those low-geared tools of fate;

'Twas little use when they'd been SEEN -

It seems a sorry state

When Justice hides behind a cloud,

Malicious, petty, furies

Defeat the pleas of honest men

With derelict "Skidrow Juries".

By: H. B. Austin

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