Image: Los Angeles Times page showing story and photos of first woman jury in Los Angeles County, November 1911

Description: Los Angeles Times, portion of first page of second section, showing the following: Watts had the distinction of being the site of the first all-woman jury impaneled in Los Angeles County, and perhaps the state, when A.A. King, editor of the Watts News,was tried on a charge that he printed indecent language in his newspaper. Justice of the Peace Cassidy ordered 36 women who lived in San Antonio Township to report for service. They all reported as scheduled. At trial, the testimony was that one of the Watts city council members had vociferously used indecent and obscene language against King while visiting the Watts News office and that King had repeated the language in a story he wrote about the incident, not naming the councilman. The crowd that gathered in the courtroom for the trial was so large – about 100 people – that it had to be moved to the City Council chambers. The jurywomen were "Mmes. Nancy Steiner, Nellie Moomau, Mary Bower, A.H. Trimble, B.G. Wallace, Mary J. Hill, Essie Finnecy, A.D. Leavitt, Carrie A. Ray ["forewoman"], Florence Brainard, Eva F. Carolus and Bertha Scherner." They were allowed to wear their headgear during the first half of the trial, but when they returned from lunch, they were asked to remove their hats so that everybody could see they were the same women who were there in the morning. The jury was out for just twenty minutes and returned a verdict of "not guilty," to the cheers of the spectators.
Title: Los Angeles Times page showing story and photos of first woman jury in Los Angeles County, November 1911
Credit: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. (Original text: Original publication: Los Angeles Times, November 3, 1911 Immediate source: http://search.proquest.com/docview/159659988/ (library card required))
Author: Los Angeles Times (Life time: Not applicable.)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No