Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-05-19
IA MAKER OF HISTORY DEAD
Death of Ex Senator Edmund G. Ross Whose Vote Saved President Andr ew Johnson from Impeach- ment.

loaded with bound volumes of the annals of congress, and other pub lie documents. On a table by a window were piles of manuscript. For the past few years he has been at work preparing a volume of The Impeachment and Trial of President Andrew Johnson,' upon which he had recently put the finishing
 touches It will shortly be turned over to the publishers and will pc a valuable contribution to the his toric literature of our country.
 MT. Ross is a ready conver- sationalist on the subject of the Impeachment trial of President Johnson. He was senator from Kansas at the time of that im- peachment, being at first appointed and subsequently elected to fill out the unexpired term of General
 Lane. At the time of his appoint
 'nent he had just returned to Kan sas from a successful campaign with the Eleventh Kansas cav | airy in southern Missouri and
 northwestern Arkansas, having par | ticipated in the battle of Prairie Grove and had been mustered out
 with the rank of major.
 In speaking of the impeachment trial he said: "The Impeachment
 movement was in very large sense, if not entirely, partisan enterprise. It had it's origin in partisan differences, and WAS based
 mainly on differences as to public policies at issue between the two great parties of the country-- and l while it was expected that every political friend of the president
 would vote against Impeachment, it was demanded and made test of party fealty, that every Re
 publican senator vote for his con-
 viction. It was largely instigatcd by a desire for spells President Johnson was stubborn, impolitic and unyielding. His predecessor had let the members of congress have pretty much what they wanted Had President Johnson pursued the
 same policy of granting patronage
 to members he would not have been impeached. The entire patronage
 of the government was promised
 and farmed out in the interest of
 Impeachment and Senator Wade's
 elevation to the presidency, who
 was president pro tenn of the sen
 ate and in line of succession
 During the trial Washington
 city was filled with office seekers,
 all for impeachment. Resolutions
 and petitions for impeachment
 were sent in from almost every
 Union state. The Republican press
 was unanimous for the president s
 conviction. The force that was brought to bear upon Republican senators was tremendous. Through ont this period Senator Ross had
 remained non-committal, but the
 impeachers believed he would vote with them. But the senator wa; more patriotic than partisan, and
 had secretly made up his mind to
 vote according to his sworn duty to support the constitution, and try
 the defendant upon the evidence.
 While he had secretly resolved to vote mot guilty he communicated
 his intention to no one. He says
 the reason that he was non-com- initial was because he feared being
 kidnapped or assassinated. poll
 of the senators had been made. r.
 was known that the Democrats and
 three Republicans would vote
 against convictions; three Republi-
 cans Grimes of Iowa, Henderson
 of Missouri, and Ross Of kansas)
 were -committal, and the rest