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Collection: Books and Periodicals
Three Years in California by John D. Borthwick (1857)(LoC) (423 pages)
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Page: of 423
A JURY TRIAL.
do, as the creek had fallen sufficiently low to admit
of it; but they were opposed by a number of
miners, whose claims lay so near the race that they
would have been swamped had the water been turned
into it.
They could not come to any settlement of the
question among themselves ; so, as was usual in such
cases, they concluded to leave it to a jury of miners ;
and notice was accordingly sent to all the miners
within two or three miles up and down the creek,
requesting them to assemble on the claim in question
the next afternoon. Although a miner calculates an
hour lost as so much money out of his pocket, yet all
were interested in supporting the laws of the diggings ;
and about a hundred men presented themselves at the
appointed time. The two opposing parties then,
having tossed up for the first pick, chose six jurymen each from the assembled crowd.
When the jury had squatted themselves all together
in an exalted position on a heap of stones and dirt,
one of the plaintiffs, as spokesman for his party,
made a very pithy speech, calling several witnesses to
prove his statements, and citing many of the laws of
the diggings in support of his claims. The defendants followed in the same manner, making the most
of their case; while the general public, sitting in
groups on the different heaps of ‘stones piled up
between the holes with which the: ground was
honeycombed, smoked their pipes and watched the
proceedings,