The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-23
IMPEACHMENT CASES.
THERE HAVE BEEN SEVEN SUCH IN
THE UNITED STATES.

The First Was In I7s. and the Latest In
Is7s-The Memorable Attempt at the
inpeachment Of President Andrew
Johnson-Two Successful Cases.
The removal of federal officers by i'm
peachment proceedings, under section 4
Of article 9 of the constitution. has been
attempted seven times.
The Blount case was the first. Will
ham Blount, United States senator from
Tennessee, was charged in 1897 with
conspiring with British officers to steal
part of Louisiana from Spain for Eng
lands benefit. The house prepared ar
ticles of impeachment. The senate ex-
PEELED him, after putting him under
bonds for trial. Blount's defense was
that a senator was not a civil officer
liable TO Impeachment, and on the ques-
mon of jurisdiction only he was ac-
quilted.
Judge John Pickering of thu federal
district court for New Hamrsh hire was
impeached in 1903 for drunke mess and
profanity on the bench. TIE defense
was insanity. On trial befC e the sen
ate. Pickering was convicte' by a party
NOtc anu TcLiDFfA lIbLl llS = .4ltt.
In 1904, Samuel Chase of Maryland, a
Justice of the supreme curt of the
United States and one of he signers of
the Declaration Of indie endence. was
charged with improper conduct on the
bench; among other things. with having
INDUCED in highly indecent and extra
judicial reflections upon the United
States government in the course of a
charge to a Maryland grand jury. The
impeachment proceedings, instigated
and managed by John Randolph of Vir-
ginia, were political in their origin and
animus. Judge Chase was acquitted
through the failure of the prosecution to
obtain a two-thirds vote against him in
the senate on any one Of the eight arti-
cles of impeachment. He resumed his
seat on the bench and held it as long as
he lived.
About a quarter of a century later.
James H. Peck. a federal district judge
in Missouri. was impeached for oppress-
i've treatment of an attorney. The case
was of no importance. The judge was
acquitted.
Thirty years afterwarl. at the Begin
ming of the war of tn- rebellion. JGa-r
West II. Humphreys ot the federal d..
trict our Of Tennessee sa!unl tay Con
federscy and accepted 1~r,.lr'r.l ui.sr ~
der II, without tHk.E- the treu-.. fo
send his re- -narInE 70 Washington. Ike
was impeached mainly In OrI.rtD vaclte
the office and convicted uu jun, %. 1862.
One of the witue>sr- summoned 10 aI.-
pear against Judge Humphreys was Au-
drew johnson. then governor ul TrnE"s-
see, destined himself to be the next sub
1ect of Impeachment proceedings lee
fore the senate. One of the four seua-
tors who voted not guilty on the article
charging Judge Humphreys with high
treason was William Pitt Fessenden.
whose vote five years later saved An
drew johnson.
Andrew Johnson was impeached on
March 4. 1S6s. the IL articles charging
the president in various forms with vio-
1atiOn of the tenure of office act, with
violation of the constitution. with con-
spiracy TO prevent the execution of the
tenure of Office act. with conduct and ut
terance tending Ito bring the high Of
fce Of president into contempt, ridicule
and disgrace, and with the public de-
claration in his speeches while swinging
around the circle that the Thirty-ninth
congress was no constitutional legisla-
rure. 1t Is not necessary TO recite the
history of the memorable tRal, which
lasted for nearly three months and in
which the hottest OF political passions
were enlisted. Thirty-six votes were
needed TO convict. No vote wa ever
taken except On the three strongest ar
ticles-the second, third and eleventh
and on a of these the senate stood g.
for conviction to - for acquittal, i'm
parchment failing by a single vote. One
of the counsel who defended President
johnson was the Hon. William NJ. Evarts
of New York.
The seventh and last federal impeach-
meat was that of William w. Belknap,
Grants secretary of war. He was charged
in 1873 with corruption in Office, and the
house voted unanimously to impeach
him. He resigned hastily a few hours
before the passage of the impeachment
resolution, and his resignation was
promptly accepted by Grant. The trial
proceeded nevertheless. Belknap's de-
Tense was a denial of jurisdiction, based
On the circumstance that when the i'm
peachment resolution passed the house
h had ceased to be a civil officer of the
United States. The impeachment pro-
csslings failed by the lack of . two
thirds majority in the senate for convic-
-.
e Win b observed that in only two
osns hsve impeachment proceedings
aGnfnst Q civil officer of the United
G1nAss been prosecuted successfully be
- the senate by the house of repre-
nnfatives. One Of these was for the re-
Doval Of Q drunken and profane judge.
Whsss presence upon the bench was a
unblic scandal. The other was a purely
1uemal proceeding to yacate the Office of
. judge actually engaged in open rebel