Privileges, Duties

In the Federal Building on lower Broadway, in the heart of Manhattan's financial district, Federal Judge Bondy was holding court. A case was called and it was discovered that the jury panel had been exhausted. Morris Wilkenfeld and Louis Frankel, indicted for concealing assets from the trustee in charge of their bankrupt fur firm, were not to be thus saved from trial.

Judge Bondy ordered three deputy U. S. marshals to go down to the street and seize twelve citizens for jury duty. The marshals debouched on Broadway. Each seized an innocent passerby, flashed a badge. The seized ones protested that they were not bootleggers; a crowd gathered. The marshals seized three more, curious onlookers. All six, protesting, were carried up to the court. The marshals then went down to the street and in similar fashion seized many more.

The scene in court was peculiar. Clerks, bookkeepers, an accountant, a broker, a printer, a contractor and one resident of Park Avenue protested. Some laughed, others grew terribly angry, two waxed bellicose.

Said Judge Bondy: "This, of course, is an emergency measure, but the work of the United States court is of importance to the community and must be carried out."

He explained the privileges and duties of citizenship, and twelve good citizens and true were sworn in as jurors.