Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-06-08
MAY IMPEACH KELSEY.
New Jerseys Secretary of State
 Is Deeply Entangled.
GRAND JURY ASKS INSTRUCTIONS.

A Return Will Probably Be Made on Mon
 day, and Kelsey's Name May He One of
 the Indictments-u His Friends Are Active
 Iy at Work.
 TRENTON, June s.-It is not only the question of Secretary of State Kelsey impeachment that agitates the public mind from one end of New Jersey to the other, but his indictment as well. The trend of events today indicates. with some element of certainty. that he is in danger of both. It Is now n question whether the thread that holds the sword over the secre- tary's head will be cut first by tho Mercer grand jury or the house of assembly. In all probability Monday may be a black day for Henry c. Kelsey. for 25 years the secretary of the state of New Jersey.
 The members of ths assembly have de- cided to mako the impeachment the spe- cial matter for next Monday night. To make it binding on the members Q specific caucus call was signed by more than one half of tho Republican majority. As the charges must be formulated in the house and presented to tho senate for trial, the fact that a majority of the members of the house have signed the call looks signif- cant.
 Explaining to the Grand Jury.
 Tho Mercer grand jury has been consid- ering Secretary of State kelsey's case for several days The laymen were a trifle misty on the law. and Justice J. =. Gum mere S original charge did not deal with the sccretary's shortcomings as much as with the other. so they prepared several questions and submitted them to the jus tiCe, who asked the jurymen to como into court, and he gave them n supplemental charge which left no doubt in their minds NNE EIafu I,,kf, N,.L -,H- = II, n in part:
 The wrongful conversion of the states funds must necessarily precede the res titution thereof. The first will be com plete before thcre is any possibility of commencing the second. and so. whatever may be the purpose of such officer ulti- mately to du the offense prohibited by the statute is complete when a fraudulent in tent to make full appropriation of the money intrusted to him is carried into effect. When this is done, a resolution to make restitution at some future period, no matter how honestly entertained, will not relieve him of criminal responsibility. livery public officer who, in the dis charge of the duties of his office, commits any fraud or breach of trust, is guilty of official misconduct. and he may be indiCt- cd for malfeasance in office. So, too as I l have already stated, any state officer who has, With fraudulent lntont converted the moneys of his state to his own use may be indicted for embeZzlcment Kelsey's Friends at Work. Influences arc already at work to get those who signed tho assembly petition to withdraw their names
 They had originally 4U signatures, but | eight were withdrawn after certain Re publican lobbyists had seen them. Sccre- tary of State Kelsey and his friends give 1t | out that signatures were obtained by fraud, and that by Monday night tho SC | cGders would leave the call imperative Assemblyman Gindor of Mercer, who does not live very far from where Secre- tary of State Kelsey boards, was one of the first to havo his name withdrawn. As | sCmblyman Wilbur of Mercer refused to | sign the call. The Essex county dclega- tion all signrd it. whilc Asscmblyman skinner of that county is one of tho most jealous advocates of the impeaCh- ment IrrCccGings. llo l. a,kcd up by | AssemhyHnn Drake of ll.Gsun. Both arc men uf force on tho floor of the house. All the senators arc silent except Uncle | Daniel Packer, the amiable old Quaker who represents Gloucester county. He fa- vors Impeachment. The others decline to make a statement because they will be asked to sit as judges should the articles be prepared