St. Paul daily globe., 1895-04-16

bCSll Sdi1tJ III dill tulIlS dpDTOXl1naUng
the construction of Justice Brewer.
Judge Ives was in a district in which
crime was rampant, and criminals
We're defiant and boastful of their abil-
1ty to escape punishment. Judge Ives
had right to grant immunity to any
criminal by whose aid he could reach
the greater and more persistent of
tenders. The speaker made the point
that the court was empowered by
law to entirely suspend sentence Why.
then, could he not commute or sus-
pend a part of the punishment or pen
atty as means of reaching other and
greater criminals. He cited authorities
TO establish the correctness of this
position.
1t would. be a grave, a serious and
an 1nexcusable mistake to impeach
Judge Ives on merely technical
grounds, where so little had been shown
to establish the theory of intentional
wrong. He was surprised, he said, that
in this attempt to impeach Judge Ives
so little had been submitted in the
form of eVindence to show an intent to
do wrong, and so little to show even
technical errors. There were few
judges of the district court who had
been upon the bench for any length of
time but had made errors, and if we
only knew it there were many good
judges who had made more mistakes
than Judge Ives.
Mr.. Johns followed Mr.. Cant, simply
correcting the statement that he had
admitted there was no evidence of
moral turpitude, and Mr.. Jones' ex-
plained the statement of Mr.. Gibbs
that he Cones) was willing at one
time to agree not to impeach. He
said Mr.. Gibbs was anxious to agree
on verdict to dismiss the impea CHI
ment proceedings, and find that Judge
Ives was incompetent, intolerant and
arbitrary, and he had been willing to
sign this verdict at that stage of the
proceedings.
FIEG STRIKES HARD.
There was some dispute as to wheth-
er others should speak for the minor
ity, but without waiting for the settle
ment of this question Mr. Feig, who
had been chosen to close for the ma
Jority, launched into the discussion
from his point of view. 1t was in
comprehensive, he said, why a mem
Der Of the judiciary committee, who
the testimony, should have signed the
minority report. He objected to the
| statement that East Grand Forks was
a sink hole of iniuuity, when not a
word of evidence was before the house
or the committee to show that East
Grand Forks was worse than any other
town in the state.
The language of Judge Ives letter to
Sprague granting immunity to GRIM
lnals was not immunity to one or a
dozen, but to hundreds, if necessary, in
order to imoeach and convict the
officials who were his personal and
political enemies. He was ready and
willing to grant immunity to all of the
criminals of the district in order to use
them as instruments to punish the
ofhclalS who were his enemies
Referring to the contempt proceed
ings In the Russell case, he declared
the incarceration and subsequent per-
Secutlon of Russell to be a most fla
grant and corrupt official act, for which
there was no justification or excuse.
Th1s man had been jailed upon the un-
supported charge of the court and had
been given no chance for his liberty
Some of the minority had cited author
tiles comparing this case to certain
proceedings in which the Russian this
tie had figured. The comparison he
said was ridiculous. What was the
Russian thistle compared to human
rights and human liberty? If he want
ed Russian parallel the gentleman
should have invoked the precedent of
russian atrocity and Russian oppres-
sion. The minority insist that no i'm
n limo ant hA 10
motive were shown. They would have
US wait until Judge Ives came into
court and confessed bad motive, since
that was the only way to satisfy the
minority.
Concerning the expediency of i'm
peachment it need only be said that the
house owed the state a duty, and that
was to find for Impeachment If the
evidence justified it, and then let the
senate do its duty. The expense
should not be considered; this was a
question of right and wrong, and no
mercenary motive should be permitted
to influence this house. But for fear
there should be any one who feared the
expense he read an estimate to show
that the expense would not exceed
$4,000, and this sum should not. he
thought, be considered for a moment.
Citizens of Fourteenth judicial district
went into court with fear, trembling
and doubt when their interests were at
stake, well knowing that not Justice
but only malice, revenge and personal
ambition would govern the rulings of
the court. These citizens were reputa-
BILE taxpayers, entitled to all the rights
of citizenship and it was the duty of
this house to grant these citizens the
relief they asked.
: SCOFIELD'S POSTSCRIPT.
Mr.. Scofleld closed for the minority
by agreement, repeating some dozens
Of variations on the sink hole of in
guilty business at East Grand Forks,
putting Mr.. Juliar to sleep in the first
round, and pretty nearly everybody
else before he finished. Judge Ives, he
said, had been his intimate friend for
years, and he was satisfied that Judge
Ives was simply inspired by a noble
desire to eradicate the evils of the
community in which he resided
He appealed to the house to protect
Judge Ives in his declining years,
when this persecution was following
him.
MI. Odil LIONeQ IHe previous QueS-
ton, but withdrew the motion on the
request of Mr.. Feig, and Mr.. Johns
urged that many members had gone
home on the supposition that no vote
would be taken.
Mr.. Jacobson said members had no
business to be absent, and insisted on
the previous question. Mr.. Feig tried
to induce Mr.. Jacobson to withdraw
the call for the previous question, but
he declined to do so, and Mr.. Feig
ripped out with, "All right, then; I'll
demand call of the house and hold
1t until every man is present"
This was vigorously cheered, and the
call of the house was ordered.
A LITTLE INTERMISSION.
Only about eighty-ive members were
found present and the sergeant-at-arms
was sent out on a scout through the
hotels, theaters "and other Places" as
the in StrI1otjOn h;,,o l.,