The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-04-14
Letter from Washington.
THE IMPEACHMENT TRrAI

| WASHINGTON, D. c., April IL, 1868.
/ To the Editor ofthe Press:
The interest in the impeachment tr;a, CON.
tinues undated. The rush for tickets is even
greater than ever before and members are
worried beyond measure by applications. Yes
te1day, notwithstanding the inclemency of the
weathsr, the galleries were filled at an early
hour and hundreds crowded iuto the -otunda
OF tne capitol in the hope of being SO lucky
as 10 OBTAIN the coveted pastehoard open-se-
same. The well known fact that Gen. Thorn
the veriable I'D Interim himself-was TO he
put upon the stand, gave additional interest to
the proceedings and the anxiety to see the
old gentleman and to hear his story was in
tense. The former part of the day was con-
sumed by Judge Curtis in finishing his argu-
| neh', "nlch had occupied all the day before
| ana mere let me say that as piece of legal
suotlety and technical acuteness that arpu
ment probably has no equal in the jurispru
dence OF this country. Its delivt ~ was not
particularly interesting, for Mr.. Curtis never
aims at the m eritricious adornments of oraro.
tory, but it was delivered in a dispassionate-
| conversational tone which was equally befit-
ting the occasion and the grave body to which
1t was addressed. He was listened to throueb
out with the most respectful and marked at
tention by the Senate and the crowded GAL
ierles BY skillfully evading many of the ugly
accusations against The President and dexter
ousiy glossing the rough points on which the
managers promise to impale him, he managed
to steer so nicely between Scylla and Charyb-
dis That his argument almost gave one the i'm
preston that johnson was a model saint and
that all the people were unrighteousiy per-
sisting in forcing on his devoted head the
crown and anreola of the mar,yr. The man.
ayers were all the while taking notes and all
the weak points and illogical deductions
will be somewhat roughly handled when MIR.
Bingham comes to make the closing aigu-
ment of the trial
DO lar, the almost exclusive management of
the case has been confided TO Ben. Butler.
MS reputation as criminal lawyer entitled
nun 10 this precedence, and probably no man
IN America is his superior in the examination
Oh Witnesses and in detecting the nice critical
points OF complicated case like the present
but the creme de la creme of the whole trial
was IN the examination yesterday afternoon
OF Brevet Major General Lorenzo Thomas
AdJutant General U. S. A., by the grace of
God and Secretary of War ad interim, nv tho
grace of Mr.. johns on. Mr. Thomas ia q very
inoffensve, simple hearted, ine ffciept old oen.
temaD, the perfect embodiment of West Point
etiquette and who n 1 tell you that he enteced
the army in 1919, you can readily imagine that
he is somewhat sin the sere and yellow leaf"
In TACT he is supeJannuated and was long ago
recommended by General Grant for the "retir-
Gu hst, and it was sheer cruelty in johnson to
'aAe advantage of the dotage of such good
na'ured old victim His responses to ques-
'lonS put by counsel were given in sharp,
"u'noritative tone and profusely adorned with
eou'uiaeions. He attempted to assume a
soou zeal OF noncbalance and pass the whole
ana'f ON as pretty little piece of fun all
round; but when he fell into the hands of the
Fhliistine Butler on the cross examination and
ioundlihat his testimony and braggadocio state.
inents IN bar rooms were being rddled so mer.
ciiessiy by the Massachusetts lawyer who had
never been at West Point" he became inter.
confused and SO nervous that he reminded
anaS VI jumping-jack or a frog under the in.
his 800. o' galvanic battery. A great deal of
Iou,,ts nony convulseG the Senate with
fs'iaiiy the part relating to his