xperts?"

"Well, let's take another vote and see if we can't get together."

"I can't stay here all day. I've got to close something important at
four o'clock."

"You'll stay here if you have to; we want to get this settled right."

Another vote is taken. The result is the same and the two sides
gradually assume opposing positions. Each one takes a leader and
spokesman; the discussion is probably between those two and an
occasional interjection by the others. By this time the argument has
grown tense and after half an hour the original arguments of counsel,
the evidence, the instructions of the judge have become merged in the
minds of the jury with what has been talked of in the jury room. The
recollection of each juror includes the recollection of the discussion
that they are having. The mental picture is now a combination of what
each witness thought, each lawyer conceived it, how the judge
described it, what they imagined it during the trial, and added to the
mental concept is the recent present struggle between twelve points of
view.

They do not remember what it was the judge told them about their
verdict. Suppose they send out and ask him. No, they do not want to
appear like fools. It is plain. Their verdict must be for the
plaintiff or the defendant. But in that contract case where the other
side wanted something back from the plaintiff, how are they going to
find a verdict for both? They can't find a verdict both ways. They had
better send out and ask the judge. No. Well then they will send for
the pleadings, they will show.

"What," says one juryman, "do you think those pleadings would show
anything a reasonable man could understand?"

They decide that there was a bill that told the story. They knock on
the door. The court attendant opens it. They explain, he gathers in
the lawyers, and they go to the judge's desk. There is a thrill. The
jury have agreed so quickly it must mean a verdict for the plaintiff.
If they had been out longer it would have meant there was a
disagreement or a verdict for the defendant. The longer the jury stays
out the better for the defendant thinks the lawyer. But the actions
of the jury are uncertain and there may be no rule of arriving at
their decision.

There is the story of the judge who, after the jury had been out for a
long time, made a bet with the stenographer as to how the jury were
going to decide. The judge thought himself an expert in determining
the probable v