Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-01
PRINTER AND SENATOR.
From the Case to the Senate, and Then
Back to the Case.
Checkered Career of Edmund G. Ross-The
Part He Played at the Impeachment of
President Johnson-setting Type Again.
New York Star.

the fact that Edmund G. Ross, late gov
ernor eff New Mexico, is now a common
printer III the Office of a Santa Fe news
! paper. Ross has not been popular here
since the time when, as United States
senator from Kansas, he saved Andrew
johnson from being ousted from the
presidency.
In the impeachment trial only one vote
was needed to make the two-thirds
| necessary to convict Johnson.
! The Kansas Republicans expected Ross
! to cast this vote, but he failed
/ 20 do SO, and Immediately incurred their
deadly enmity. cold JIM Lane had
| previously lost prestige in Kansas through
! his friendship for johnson, and he COM
mitted suicide because he fully realized
| that his political career was at an end.
/ Although hated by a majority of his con-
| stituents, Ross remained in the senate
| until the close OF his term. and then
! quietly resumed his former occupation as
! a printer.
/ Most men would have been untitled by
! congressional life for this radical change,
! but Ross regarded it as the most natural
| thing in the world, and frequently told
! his Washington associates that he would
| be found at the case when his senatorial
| duties were over. His career certainly
furnishes some striking illustrations Of
! the ups and downs OF life. The secret of
this may be found in the fact that money
! has no particular value TO him. He was
| born a spendthrift, and up to this time
has manifested the most supreme CON-
tempt for the,almightY dollar. .Izr
This child Of tickle forEQse' vas born in
| Ohio in 1926 ,and thirty years later when
he joined the Kansas ''free sellers, - was
tiTst-class printer with strong journal
istic tendencies. With his brother Will
| liam he established the Kansas Tribune,
and for two years it was the only free
soil paper in the territory, its pTedeces-
sors having been destroyed by the pro-
slavery men.
In 1858 Ross became editor Of the State
Record of Topeka, and year later was a
member of the convention which framed
the present constitution of the state
The State Record passed into other hands
in 1862, and Ross entered the army as q
private. He came out major in 1865,
with a most creditable record, and took
up the printers "'stick'' again. Tine
following year Senator Lane committed
suicide at Fort Leavenworth, and Ross
was appointed by Governor Crawford TO
fill the vacancy until the next session of
the state legislature. January %, 1867,
he was elected to succeed Lane on the
fourth ballot. PomeToy was at that time
the senior Kansas senator.
The beginning of the impeachment
trial found Ross indisposed to regard
Johnson as guilty, although the Repub-
ncans afteTwaTd claimed that he had
promised to vote for conviction. After
the evidence was all in 100 representa-
tive Kansas Republicans, the noted Dan
r. Anthony among them, caused this
dispatch to be sent to Senators Pomeroy
and Ross:
"Kansas has heard the evidence and
demands the conviction of the presi-
dent. -
Senator Ross replied to this as follows:
Cd. R. Anthony and Others: 1 do
not recognize your right to demand that
l shall vote either for or against convic-
ton. 1 have taken an oath TO do impair
tial justice according to the constitution
and laws, and trust that l shall have the
courage and honesty to vote according to
the dictates Of my Judgment and for the
highest good Of my country.
The supreme moment Of the famous
trial came soon afterward, and Ross
ballot was thrown for acquittal. The
vote stood 50 to 10. Soon afterward he
received this dispatch, signed cd. r.
Anthony and Others
Your vote was dictated by Tom Ewing,
not by your oath. Your motives are In
dian contracts and greenbacks. Kansas
Tepudiates you as she does all perjurers
and skunks.
L. w. Bailey of Leavenworth tele-
graphed to Ross as follows:
-. -.
changed himself is lost, but the pistol
with which Jim Lane committed suicide
is at your service.
The gear 1871 came and with it Ross
last day in the senate. He quietly dis
appeared from the capitol, and a few
months later was heard from as editor |
and proprietor of Ross Paper at Coffee !
vile, Kan. In 1873 he was a printer on |
the Lawrence Journal, and subsequently |
he started the Lawrence Standard. He |
moved this paper TO LeavenwOrth in |
1875. He was now Democrat and |
preached Democracy for some time in the |
Standard. Kansas finally becoming dis |
tasteful to him, he went to New Mexico, |
and his friends soon learned that ne was !
following his old trade on an Albuquer- |
que paper.
Soon after Cleveland became president |
Kansas awoke one morning TO discover |
that the much maligned Edmund G |
Ross had been made governor of New |
Mexico. A number of his old friends, |
Republicans at that, including Senators |
ingalls, and Plumb, George R. Peck, eX-
Governor Crawford, Charles s. Gleed |
and T. A. Osborn, aided materi- |
ally in securing this fine office |
for the oldtime printer. Nj. Ross en-
tered upon his duties unostentatiously, |
and made an excellent governor. Kan
sans who visited Santa Fe during his
term were Hospitality received by him,
and many reversed their opinion of his
character. Now, after four years
service at the head of the territorial
government, he has dropped back to
the obscure place which is always open
his5,. and which ne appears to regard
witBsAs Smuch satisfaction as the other
and hikher ones he has filed.
Fry our coffee breads, doughnuts and
cakes Il No authorizations inz
our>sgoods% Calksend hgs thirty.
bread tieKsfs for .s.sssss -.