Herriman Saturday

October 14 1909 -- A bit of history was made in California yesterday as the first woman has been called to serve on a jury. Before you start thinking that this is an important sign of emancipation, here's the problem -- it was all a mistake, and both the court and the woman called are in a tizzy. She initially refused to serve, then changed her tune and said that she would serve but would insist on the innocence of anyone she was called to judge. The court wants no woman jurors, and is trying to figure out how her name ended up in the pool.

A month later she ended up being called for a trial, and was challenged by attorneys on the basis that she's a woman. The judge would not remove her on that basis alone, so one of the attorneys used up a peremptory challenge to remove her. As far as I know, that's the end of the story of the first woman juror in California.