The Populist Jury and the Banker
A Walla Walla banker is convicted of taking deposits while insolvent, with the defense blaming the jury's 'Populist hatred' for the verdict.
North Yakima, June 8—After deliberating twenty-four hours and taking forty ballots, the jury in the Edmiston trial brought in a verdict against the defendant at 1:00 this morning. The jurors stood six to six until late in the room when one left his associates who stood for acquittal, upon the promise that the verdict for conviction should bear a recommendation for mercy to the court. The same reasoning brought the other five around on the last ballot, although Edmiston's friends cannot understand what benefit he can derive from such a plea for judicial clemency. Attorney Snively, for the defense, will move on Monday for a new trial. Edmiston appeared greatly cut up, but stated to a reporter that he would fight the case to the bitter end. He seems to think the Populistic influence in the jury box effected the result, because of the Populists' well-known antipathy for banks and bankers. The charge against him was accepting deposits in his Walla Walla bank when he knew it to be insolvent.
“He seems to think the Populistic influence in the jury box effected the result, because of the Populists' well-known antipathy for banks and bankers.”
This case captures the intense class conflict of the 1890s, where the Populist movement's distrust of financial institutions often bled into the courtroom. Today, while the rhetoric has shifted, the tension between public anger at banking failures and the legal system remains a recurring theme in American civic life.
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