Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-26
GOV. CoLoUITr ExONERATED.
Report of the Senate Committee On the
Impeachment Trials Printing.


ate Committee appointed TO inquire into
the reasons why the proceedings in the
Goldsmith and Renfroe Impeachment
trials in 1863 were not published;
nv President; The Comm ttee ON Printing
have had under consideration senate eao-
iUtl0n req uestlng the Committee on fu"iic
Printing 20 investigate and report TO she son
Hte how much money was pad TO any one lot
reporting the Impeachment tldis lh the y'dI
1873. ana why the proceedings OF the hBH
court OF Impeachment were never repur,C4
and published, as was designed ana lhlehutu
hv the General Assembly, ana beg leave 10
sEhmith the following report;
Acting under authority Of supptemeHli al
resolution empowering the committee 70
send for persons au1 papers anu elnp,u4
such other means a. are ltkIllh-tO GU
necessary y the making OF the Te4uHSu ~
Vp-tiuati0p " we suhpu.nacd James 4. haTIl-
son, state Printer; S.W. small SIeEoErapHer'
A. h Colquitt, Governors >. W htuIroe'
Treasurer. N no appeared before the couhlhit-
Zee and made such dispositions IS were ger
mane To tha matter under investigation.
Rv reference to the journal OF the Senate Tor
the year 1879, we find the following resolu-
..Resolred That the sum Of $1,000, or so much
thereof as may be necessary, be, ana the same
is hereby, appropriate TO pay me expenses
Of the trials of W ashlngton l.. Goldsmith late
Comptroller. and john W. Reniroe, Treasu-
rer. 10 be paid upon itemlzed accounts under
path
ment OF a steuOgrapher and specifying the
compensation TO De allowed.
Upon investigation, we find that the sum so
appropriated was disposed OF as follows
on accounted witnesses. .............S 600 20
On account Of stenographer .......-. 400 co.
On account OF state printer .......... 900 W
Total. ......................... Sl420 %
Balance Nov. 4, 1880 400 "a
Mr. James p Harrison, state printer. being
examined, testified that be had printed III
pages of the proceedings Of the impeachment
trials, and was obliged 60 suspend because the
official stenographer would not iuIhish MN
with the manuscript to proceed further; that
he had made repeated efforts To Obtain tho
manuscript copy needed TO complete the
work. but without avail. In proof of TINS ne
introduced a letter from the stenOgrapher OF
date Oct. 81, 1879, replying to a communica-
ton from the State printerln which the stenO-
grupher stated that be was at work upon
the trials IN their regular order, and would
complete them by NOV 10 OF that year. -Four
months thereafter, 20 wit: In the "a day of
March, 1850 the state printer directed com
municatIou 30 the Governor IN winch he com
planned Of the dercnctiuno OF the stenORrapher,
and urged that some steps be taken 10 induce
or compel him to proceed with his work and
furn ish manuscript copy Of the proceedings as
might be required BY the state printer TO ex-
pedite their early printing. "a copy OF the
letter " as offered IN eyldence.l
1t appears the efforts of the Governor TO
inuuce the stenographer 70 complete the WORK
equally unavaInng, as was shown bv his tes-
rim0ny before this committee, as well as
letters written by his secretaries to the State
printer.
Mr. }. W. Renfroe, former treasurer, made
. statement corrobOrating substantially the
circumstances and testimony recited above.
Mr. $. w. small. the official stenOgrapher,
testified that he abandoned the work because
the Governor was dlvertIng the special apprO-
priatlon set apart to pay for reporting the inn
parchment trials for other purposes than was
authorized by the resolution under which he
was employed and he f0resaw the fund would
be exhausted before he could complete the
work 70 which he had been assigned; that the
amount remaining would afford insufficient
compensation for the laUOr required of HIM:
that lac protested against the payment of any
part of this sum, either 20 defray expenses OF
witnesses or printing, and upon failure to
respect his protest he finally abandoned the
work, etc.
After summing up all the testimony. of
which the above is brief abstract, the com
mittee are forced to the conclusion that the
reason sand proceedings were never reported
and published was on account OF the failure
or refusal Of the stenOgrapher To furnish
manuscript copy OF the proceedings 10 the
State printer; and that, SO far from being
UDstructed IN has work, he received every rea-
6Onabie luducement 20 proceed with it-not
only from the Governor. but from the state
printer.
We lind, upon examination Of vouchers OBJ
tanned for the use of this committee from the
Executive department. that 5. W. small re-
Celyed for hrs services ~ official stenOg-
rapher, the sum OF S400-S300 on the 18th of
October, 1879, and 500 on the lth of November.
ISs0; that only $500 &c was paid on account OF
witnesses, and that $909 "A of the appropriation
remained untouched for a period of nearly
ten months at any time during "a hich nnriod
the fund would have been subject TO the stem
Dgrapher's draft whenever no performed the
work required OF him (Which, added to
the amount already drawn as aforesaid,
would have aggregated Sl,309 14); that $500
was paid the state printer on the 18th
Of August. 1850, nearly ten months after the
work had been abandoned by the stenogra-
pher, and at time when the Governor be-
heved II would not be resumed; that the $500
30 diverted would probably not have been
paid out of the special appropriation vt all but
Tor the fact that the general printing fund, as
wei as the contingent fund, had been ex-
hausted, and there was no other fund out OF
which this sum could have been paid; that
tllr advance was made 10 the State Printer to
cover the expenses of work already per-
formed, and WAS so diverted in conformity
with custom that has long been observed
in the State.
We further find that S4O9.7l of this special
Appropriation remained untouched and un-
drawn for period of nearly eleven months
after the $500 was paid TO the State printer
and that 1t finally reverted to the treasury,
July list, 1881.
We suggest and direct that the state
Printer submit TO the Governor an itemized
account of the expenses already incurred IN
printing ~ pages of the proceedings OF the
Daniel be authorized 10 make final settlement
with him for the work actually performed in
printing tue proceedings referred 10.
We further recommend that the sum of s3l
be paid a. i. Coolidge FOR stenographic SER
vice rendered In taking testimony before this
committee, whose employment was author
lied by the resolution directing the inyesti-
CATION.
We cannot close this report without depre-
eating the circumstances that prevented the
publication OF the proceedings of the I'M
parchment trials. the value and Importance
Of which cannot be too highly estimated by
the state; and We therefore recommend that
u the stcnOgrapher will furnish complete
transcript OF mis- notes. and deliver the same
20 me Governor, that he be paid the sum of
5000 for such service.
Whether printed or not, the proceedings
and details of the impeachment trials should
be deposited among the archivee, and pre-
served as the record Of "a most important
event IN the history OF the State--an event
without precedent in the proceedings OF the
General Assembly of Georgia.
JAS. r.. BROWN, Chairman.