New York Daily Tribune

THE MURDER OF OFFICER ANDERSON

TRIAL OF MICHAEL CANCEMI

At 11 o'clock yesterday Mr. Justice Roosevelt of the Supreme Court took his seat in the Court of Oyer and Terminer to try the case of Michael Cancemi, who stands indicted for the alleged murder, in July last, of Eugene Anderson, a member of the Metropolitan Police of the Fourteenth Precinct. A numerous attendance of spectators was present in the Circuit Court room, where the trial is to take place, though the excitement growing out of the loss of the Central America has absorbed the public attention to such a degree that the interest in the case of Cancemi is not so great as it otherwise would be.

Cancemi was brought into Court in the custody of one of the officers, and was placed in a chair near the reporters' table. From the fact that Cancemi was not seated with his counsel, many were led to believe that he was not in attendance. His confinement in the Tombs has had a visible effect upon his personal appearance. He is not as fleshy as he was at the time of his arrest, and there is a lack of color in his face. He was neatly dressed; his hair was combed and his mustache and whiskers trimmed with due regard to the prevailing style; and, though perfectly quiet in his demeanor, he evidently watched the proceedings with intense interest.

Cancemi's senior and junior counsel, Mr. John W. Ashmead and Edmon Blankman, were both present. Mr. Ashmead was, until recently, a practitioner in Philadelphia. He is a gentleman of considerable legal reputation in Pennsylvania, and was the United States District-Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under the Taylor-Fillmore and Pierce Administrations. Mr. Blankman is a young lawyer of this city. A. Oakey Hall, the District-Attorney, appeared for the prosecution.

When the Court was opened, Mr. Vandervoort, the Clerk, proceeded to call the list of jurors summoned to appear in this case. The panel summoned numbered 250 persons, many of whom failed to respond to their names, and were fined each $25, by order of the Court, for non-attendance.

Mr. Blankman asked that the witnesses for the prosecution be excluded from the Court-room, not only during the taking of testimony but during the impaneling of the Jury. He said he presumed that one of the questions for the Jury to consider in this case would be the identity of Cancemi, and he did not wish the different witnesses to have their attention specially directed to the prisoner before they were placed on the witness stand.

Mr. Hall said he would have no objection to such a course, but he desired that the witnesses for the defense might be also excluded.

No objection being interposed, Judge Roosevelt made an order excluding the presence of witnesses until they were required to testify.

The impaneling of the Jury was then commenced, and was continued until the adjournment of the Court at 3 o'clock, at which time only five jurors had been selected. One hundred and twenty persons in all were examined under oath, but most of them were legally incompetent to act in the case, because they had formed or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. Others had reasons which were considered sufficient to justify their being excused.

Subjoined are the names of those who were accepted:

James Courtney, shoe dealer, No. 50 Grand street.

Wm. H. Bolton, oyster dealer, No. 203 South street.

Thomas Haight, No. 309 Ninth avenue.

Samuel De Arthur, provision dealer, No. 766 Greenwich street.

Anson Hubbard, dry-goods dealer, No. 7 Bond street.

An order was made for the summoning of additional jurors, returnable on Wednesday at 10 o'clock.

The Court then adjourned.