The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-23

The third section of tho Article on Impeachment says. The sheriff. Clerks of the Circuit City or Criminal Courts. etc., and all other county of- .ficers may be removed from offics, fox any ok the causes specified iu Section 1 of this Articic by, the Circuit. City For Criminal Court of .the County. pro-
 vided that! the right of trial by Jury
 ana appeal in such cases be secured" Now you d6 hot propose to giye-him this rixht untii you remove him from office and debar him of the presumption of innocence to which he is entitled | have been Forced in the adoption
 of this report to vote agninst many of the sections offered and ! want tn say in justice to myself that I was present at but one meeting of the Committee
 and ssat was when the sssoa so eos.s a. ss cred. I had other Committee meetings at the same time and was not able to get to this Committee and have voted conscientiously on every question.
 Mir. Soliie--{ am in the unfortunate attitude of having again to oppose q section of report brought In bx the Committee on the Executive Depart
 sment. approve in this instance of the spirit of the thing attempted obs w. fl nient underlying the effort made. Tha whole of the moral bearing of the ar gurnent eoincides with my Judgment but when it comes to the measures employed. the manner and methods of l,curink the evil. in my judgment they are not the best that could have been
 reserted to-. S0 far from thatI consid- CT that the evil thet will be created
 by this contemplated act viii we'll nigh . <r sl 4~.@ ~E [ fa directed. Fer that reason. although |'so greatly desire to zee mob vio- Ience in AlaDama come to an end. so greatly desire to see the day come when almost every newspaper will not | contain report Of a lynching of some
 person In our State, although do so much desire this, s,--and 1t is an earnest desire that goes with me through my life,--yef when we come to the read Ing of this Section of the report of Ethe Committee And see how broad 1t 4s. how farlreaching 1t is, how many |Hof sEhe ordinary rights of the citizen Fit 3ntrenches upon. fl cannot give my |Qssent to 1t. I believe with the gen F4feman who has preceded me that 1t las fwrongfully made to single out the sheriffs in the counties, sixty-six men in the whole State. and on that
 small body of men visit punishment
 that should ba visited upon the whole citizenship of the State of Alabama
 with. respect to the crime of lynchins. We bring forwerd and emphasixe the fact that the sheriff must stand be- tween the prisoner and the mob at any
 and every cost to himself. netwtth-
 standing he did not start the mob vio- fence. notwithstanding he did not con nive at 1t. FTsiie whole vengeance of the
 law is thrown on him while the Con- stitution says not . word condenhnihg
 any other citizen. It does not direct
 any court to take any step, and does not set out any system. In making a reaching all parties. I submit that the
 effort here Is too much against the sherifes. Some constltutionat provis- ions require legislative enactmentset to put them in force, others need no leg
 islative enactment, but are self-exe- cutting. There Is at feast one feature of this provision that ls self-executing.
 and although 1t is very vague and in- definite. it. does not. call upon the Leg isiature to do anything with 1t. That
 part Is this: And the Governor. when
 satisfied, after hearing the Sheriff. that he should be jmpeached. may suspend him from efllce for such time as he may
 think proper.,' After hearing him" How is he to be heard. what right of hearing is he to have? Is the Governor to hear; him by letter or simply by cofi-
 versation between the Governor and him2 Is he to hear him upon affidavit
 or iEl some other way or how is. he to
 hear him? The Section Is silent as to all ,these matters, and I. presume they would be left to. the. discretion of the
 Governor.
 Now what has the Governor power to
 do at this point? He has power to
 suspen the Sheriff to take away a Con-
 stitutional right of his, that is. to hold
 his office until he has been condemned
 by, the judgment of some court and
 held, to De unworthy of it. It not only
 takes from him the right of trial by
 jury, but it takes from him the right
 to be heard by any form of court pro-
 cedure, and puts him at the caprice
 of -the Governor, because gGovsrFiers,
 notwithstanding their greatnesss may
 be capricious. sv-,,., r. ~a I say such far-reaching provisions as these, provisions covering so broad a.
 field. so limitless, left to the discretion of one man, provisions, the penalties for the violation of which are so se-
 we're; and the odium growing out of which is 50 great, should not be made
 we know as q matter of fact. as the I.Rentlemat, who has preceded me we'll said, that in most cases where prison CTS are taken, from sheriffs the force of the Hleb Is such that if the Sheriff 1 did his very best to keep the mob from
 taking the prisoner, they would get I him anyhow.e4 ..- .~.
 Then ,"Eop-. any neglect of
 duty" I !, would construe that | to mean 4 for the slightest
 neglect of duty.--it provides that
 he shall be impeAched. And impeach-
 ment under these provisions of the -Const1tutionlqNould mean removal from office. "Negaact of duty on the part of the Sheriff ceanected with the prison- erIs being taken from the jail or from lotheb Sheriff or his deputy. It Is too FBroads It puts upon, the Shetif the ne- l cessity to be free from all neglect of duty, tot he always wide-awake. Sup 1 pose SsserAMSHnot expecting a mob. | puts. fafiWeA1e deputy in charge of the I fail, one Vafo would be strong enough | for ordinary occasions. but in view of l'the. fact; that a mob may arise. not a proper mah for all occasions. The l Sheriff puts him there, and every hon. | est and 4a2Jelid mind. though disposed to shield feItg Bhertff, when called upon | to speak Huaere oath. and say whether 1 the Sheriff had neglected his duty.
 would be compelled to say ne had.
 Here is the law directing his inlpeach | ment for that Ana 1t puts him. out
 of ofiice. The provision puts too severe penalties and burdens upon the sher- i iffs.
 cannot say that I entirely agree
 with the amendment. It undertakes
 to leave the matter entirely open. | atrAa As in thA evil of rnnh violence