The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-08-20
WILL AMEND
ARTICLES
CHARGES IN SCHIVELY I'M
PARCHMENT TO BE
CHANGED.

Close Vote, Which Stops Pro-
ceedings on Half the Charges.
Duwamish Bill Passed.
| Seattle, Aug. 1.-THE senate on
Friday sitting as court of impeach.
ment in the case of j. H. Schively,
state insurance commissioner, yester-
day sus stained the objection of the de-
PENDANT to the first charge in the ar
ticles of Impeachment, prepared by
the attorney generals office and a
committee from the house of repre-
sentatives. Schively's demurrer at
tackled the first article on the ground
that it did not allege that an offense
had been committed when he charged
five insurance companies $235 each
of which only $35 went into the state
treasury.
The result of the decision is to stop
proceedings on fully one-half the
charges until the house of representa-
tives prepares amended articles and
presents them to the senate. The vote
came at the close of day given over
to long and tedious arguments. The
house managers will prepare articles
of Impeachment which will be pre-
scented to the house probably Tuesday.
The lawyers in the senate, save for
Senator Ralph Metcalf, voted to sus
tain Schively's demurrer, while the
laymen were divided in their opinion.
In sustaining the demurrer, w. B.
Presby, who was presiding, said:
1.-THE grounds set forth in the de-
PENDANTS demurrer. were originally
two; that the article does not state
facts sufficient to constitute a cause
of action and that the statute of limi-
tations applies to the transactions.
The defendant has abandoned the po-
sition that the statute of limitations
is bar and the question is, are the
facts stated in article I sufficient to
constitute a cause for action?"
1t was on this issue that the deci-
sion was rendered by Senator Pres by.
Senator J. J. Cameron called the at
tention of the presiding officer to rule
21, which provides that questions as
| to the sufficiency of the complaint
shall be decided by the senate by yeas
| and nays.
Senator Presby replied that wheth-
er the senate appealed from the Achair
or whether a vote was taken upon the
question to sustain the demurrer, the
result would be the same.
For the purpose of debating the
question, the house managers and the
defendant and his attorney were re-
quested to withdraw.
Senators Fatland, Metcalf, Allen,
Stevenson and Fishback spoke
against the demurrer. The position
taken by Senator Presby was support
ed by Senators Ruth, Rosenhaupt and
| Knickerbocker.
Following is the result of the vote:
Vote Is Close.
Against sustaining the demurrer
Allen, Anderson, Arrasmith, Blair,
Brown, Cotterill, Cox, Davis, Fatland,
Fishback, McGregor, Metcalf, Myers,
Paulhamus, Poison, Rydstrom, Steven
son, Stewart-18.
To sustain the demurrer-Basset
Booth, Bryan, Cameron, Eastman,
Hutchinson, Huxtable, Kline, Knicker-
booker, MCGOWAN, Minkler, Piper,
Potts, Presby, Roberts, Rosenhaupt,
Ruth, Smith, Smithson, Whitney, Will
liams-21.
Senator Rosenhaupt moved that the
house managers be given until this
morning to amend the articles of i'm
parchment.
Speaker L. o. Meigs announced that
he had consulted several authorities
on the question and that he had found
that only the house itself had the right
to amend the complaint.
1.-THE house has adjourned until
Monday afternoon at o'clock" said
Speaker Meigs, land we should have
at least until Tuesday morning"
| Senator Cotterill suggested that as
the same objections to the sufficiency
of other articles in the complaint
would be raised, the better procedure
would be to ascertain what amend
ments would be necessary before the
matter was brought before the house.
Attorney George c. Israel requested
that further proceedings go over until
tomorrow. The senate adjourned un-
til $3.50 o'clock tomorrow morning.
Material Mems Lien Law Amended,
An amendment to the material
mems lien law was also passed by the
house yesterday. The law passed last
winter required material men to fur
nish detailed statements of material
to the owners of property where the
material was delivered. The amend
ment does not require detailed state
ments of material furnished to con-
tractors, but provides that due notice
shall be given the owners that the