The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-03-03
THIN AND NOW.
& Contract of Governor Jarvis Positions Con
corning Judge Furches

webster W eek
We were not a little surprised TO read
In the News and Observer of Feb 14th
an article from the pen of Ex-Governor
Jarvis Illuminating against the impeach-
ment proceedings begun in the House
against Judges Furches and Douglas of
the Supreme Court. The objections he
urged in said article were that the move
ment was ill-advised without sufficient
cause. and bad politics. It did not seem
10 us TO be lust the thing for a man of
Gov Jarvis influence TO seek TO deter the
peoples representatives from the dis
charge Of their sworn duty in inquiring
into the merits of this matter. We thought
the charges should be investigated in
spirit of fairness and that politics should
not be injected into the investigation. We
were not surprised when Prtchard, Pear
son and Linney charged that politics was
the moving cause in the investigation, bat
we were surprised to see Gov. Jarvis 60
into print to tell the peoples representa-
tives 10 shut their eyes TO facts forced
upon their attention lest a political blum
der be made.
The Governor gives the following cer-
tifcate OF character TO the Judges under
investigation:
while / differ with them in the ruling
they made, and agree with Justices Clark
and MONTGOMERY still | believe they
thought they were right and that they
acted honestly, / have known them for
many years, and while | have never
agreed with them in politics, ! have al
ways regarded them as honest. upright
men. My opinion of them has not chang
ed, although I have often differed with
them in their decisions
A few days after the communication
appeared we noticed in Col. Odds CORE
spondence that Gov. Jarvis was in Raleigh
attending the Supreme Court and that he
was indulging in strong talk against i'm
parchment. The Governor is entitled TO
his own opinion, but when he insists that
il is a sin to intimate that Judges Furches
and Douglas are capable of being iniu-
enced by partisan feelings, he is forgeo-
full Of some things he said in the cam
paign OF 1894. We remember very dis
tinctly how he ripped Furches up the back
in speech we heard him make that year.
That our memory is not mixed on the
matter. the files of the Weekly will show
concluSively We find in our issue Of
Oct. 20, 1894, very appreciative report
of a speech the Governor made in Reds
Vile four days previously, and in said re-
rort the following:
Zone Of the Senator's hanpiest hits on
State matters was his dissection of the
non partisan judiciary issue He brought
down the house when he said he had as
soon think of putting Breckenridge at the
head of female college as 10 put Fur
ches on a non partisan Supreme Court
Gov. jarvis was. at the time he made
the speech referred TO above, United
States Senator by appointment of Gov.
Carr and was a candidate before the peo-
pie for Senator Pansom's place. The
Breckenridge scandal was then fresh in
the public mind and Coy. Jarvis declar-
atiCn that he had as soon put that old lib
ertine al the head of female college
as to put Furches on a bipartisan SUI
preme Court created great merriment.
We remember that an intelligent Demo
crat remarked at the time, THAT sounds
like Vance.
And now il has come to pass that this
same Furches, whose rank craftsmanship
in 1894 rendered him, in Gov. Jarvis es
timation, as unfit for judicial position as
Breckinridge's immortality made him un-
fit for the presidency of a female college.
has been arraigned for having acted the
partisan on the bench, and 10 and behold
his chief counsel and trump card before
the Senate is Gov. jarvis. Can the
Ethiopian change his skin the leopard
his spots? No. but a greater wonder
Furches can, with two Republican asso-
cates, nullity the work of the Legislature
and defy the Constitution. and the Leg
islature be afraid to dissolve until the
August election lest the Amendment and
the election law be destroyed by these
Judges. and yet Gov. Jarvis would have
us believe that there was not even
tinge of partisanship in all their cruel
work OF multiplying the will of the people
of North Carolina.