Evening star., 1896-12-19
IMPEACHMEN LIKELY
Two Georgia Judges Whose Conduct is to Be
Investigated.
r"p"iist" in the Legislature Will
Force the Democrats Into TAX
ing Definite Action.
correspondence of The Evening Star.

Correspondence of The Evening Star
ATLANTA, Ga, December 1S. 1896.
The populists will force the democratic
legislature to investigate the conduct OF
some of the judges. and Impeachment pro-
ceedings almost sure to follow in at
least one case. An effort was made last
week to pull Yancey Carter, a populist
senator. Off the trail, but 1t did not sue
ceed. Tom Watson was appealed to by
friends of one Of the judges. and urged to
use his influence with Carter to get him to
suppress the name of one judge whom 1t
was suspected that he would name as en-
braced in the list of those whom he had
declared to be worse than the convicts they
sent to the penitentiary This appeal was
made in behalf of Judge Seaborn Reese of
the northern circuit, who has since been
charged by Carter on the floor of the SEN
ate with being drunk on the bench. The
appeal to Watson did not avail, Mr.. Wat
son replying that he had no influence with
Carter, although the latter had brought
about the nomination of Watson at St.
Louis last summer for Vice President.
Other pOpulists were also requested to ask
Carter to let up. but the democratic ma
jority i'll the Senate either thought that he
could be bluffed or that there was nothing
in his charges, and it forced him to name
the men whom he had accused of being
corrupt.
The accusation against Judge Reese was
DFOnpteu Dy tne COHCfuSlCH Oh n remark
able charge which he delivered to a jury
down in one of the populist counties of his
circuit few weeks ago. Three or four de-
PENDANTS We're on trial for burglary, and
after defining the law. the judge remarked:
Now. d-n you, l have charged you ac-
cording to the law; go out and give them
HI"
Carter says these words were taken down
by the court Stenogra pher and appear as q
part of the record in the case.
Othar UuLDa
Judge Joel Sweat, the other judge who
has been named by Carter, presides over
some coast counties in the southeastern
part of the state. Carter charges him with
conduct which caused a young woman's
father to hunt for the judge with a gun,
declaring that he would make vacancy
OH the bench If he could get a bead on his
honor. There were several scandalous sto-
ries connected with Sweat's name, and the
Investigation, so far as he Is concerned,
will not be printed. Sweat has not much
pull, and there is no purpose among the
men who control to shield him from the
evidence and the results of folly. Wide
publicity has been given for the past year
in the state press to various escapades of
his. but as the people of his circuit did not
protest, nobody else cared to interfere un-
til the populists took up the cases for DO
litical capital. Carter makes his case won
derfully strong by quoting from ex-Gov
| HeSSdSe Oh three years ago.
when the governor called the attention of
the general assembly to some of the yerv
things which Carter is now forcing upop
public notice.
Judge Sweat has made a statement de-
nanding an investigation. Judge Reese.
who Is here. says nothing. He intimates
that he will make a staten sat over his own
signature In d few days. His answer will
be read with much interest, as there Is
general curiosity to know what his defense,
viii be. However, 1t Is nothing new for
members of the Georgia judiciary to nod a
little on the bench, and when they were Off
the bench some of them made the red
paint fly. This has been as true Of the an,
preme bench as of the inferior courts
About six years ago there was talk of i'm
peaching the whole supreme court bench
because the justices were Temporarily in
capacitated during a visit to the coast.
Two or three other justices than Reese
and Sweat were suspected Of being on Car
ter's list, but he may not have been sure of
the facts and did not name them. The
charges have made great sensation
throughout the state, and the democrats
say there must be an Investigation ana
promise to make 1t deep and thorongn
Carter Is sort OF Felix Holt When fha
democratic senators pushed him into a COR
ner. thinking that they could blur him
they forgot that he used 10 hunt monn,
sinners. and that they used to hnnf hin,
over the mountains OF north Georgia when
he was deputy MARSHAL. and the man " ho
VAS slow on the trigger mad to be carried
back home. -