Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-05-29

ca5sIu''y scrotIoiSe toe' dolngs OF each
Of these officers aud it 10 exceedingly |
fi6cult to h rmonise the action Of the
Treasurer, with the idea Of official
purity, on the part ofthe other officials |
nsmeI. Neither has this difficulty !
been obviated by what has transpired
since the treasury investigation began.
Upon the presentation Of the report
Of the Committee last winter, Seeger
would have resigned but for those who
controlled him. They thought i'm
parchment proceedings would not be
instituted, and they could not we'll
afford to relinquish their hold upon the
srs.sury, hence they said NO.
~ But tho ghost vouldr't down. See-
ger VA impeaehed. The Senate took
order for biz trial, and adjourned to
mest on the Goth inst. In . few days
che work Of letting dow" began. 1t
VA announced that the defendent vas
TOO poor to pay eoausel-that he must
abandon the defense-that he had re-
signe3-that the Governor was oousid-
er;og O. his iresignation-that he had
accepted it-that there Wa nothing
lift for the Senate to do-that there
Was no Tseasurer-thst there had been
thrown icto the Executive receptacle,
all that remained Of the Treasurer
chat the crime charged had been con-
dooned BY gubernatorial clemency-
that tho Court had no jurisdic.ion-
that neither tho crime, the criminal nor
the power to punish had survived
that Seeger and the Governor were
masters Of the situation, and that
everybody else was NIL.
This view Of the case was promul-
gated down to the time that the Court
met. The managers who, six weeks
ago, we're determined to SEQ but one
thing in the whole bueiness, had evil
IDENTIFY been made to "see it," for there
w.s not drop Of impeachment blood
in the veins Of single ono of them,
last Tuesday. Every Senate or was seen
a soon ~ he arrived, and informed
that there Ms nothing to do except
vote that the Court had no jurisdiction,
and then adjourn. The very air seem-
ed to echo the impulse-of st. Paul, that
there should be no trial Of Seeger.-
Fen appeared to care what bis sentence
might bs, but al were unanimous in
saying he should not be tried. When
the Court held that it would proceed
at once to trial, the managers sought to
have defendant pronounced guilty upon
the evidence contained in bis letter Of
resignation. This the Court refused to
do.
It vas At this point that J. Ham
Davidson appeared with his paper,
which he said "some gentlemen
gave him, to have seeger sign -
He did not say that the "gen-
tlemen alluded to were the i'm.
peaehment managers, but Why he did
not is scarcely clear to the unsophisti-
Gated. He might as well have told tue
whole story, as part Of it,
1t was upon the admissions contained
in this paper-prepared because all
others had failed to stop the trial
prepared not by seegsr, nor At his re-
quest, but at the suggestion and in the
interest Of his con/reres-that the de-
PENDANT was adjudscd "guilty"
It is no doubt as we'll for the public,
and for private Individuals, that the
trial did not proceed. the majesty Of
the law has been vindicated, and cor.
rnpt officer found guilty and sentenced
by m incorrubtible Court. The men
who managed to enrich themselves by
using the treasury, and who compelled
Seeger's confession Of guilt to save
themselves, have escap ed, it is true, the
penalty Of the law, but many Of them
ire known, and can never escape the
odium which attaches to their disgrace.
fal proceedings.