Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-04-24
Voting on Specifications Will
be Interesting
Many Outside Incidents are
Brought Into the Case
Possibility oof Case Going
Oyer to Next Week

Within q wsek or ton days the trial
of John F. COwan before the high
court of impeachment will have been
concluded, and one of the states most
interesting bits of history will have
been closed.
This afternoon the court convened
for the purpose of hearing the hebuttal
evidence and unless all signs fair, this
should be concluded both upon the
part of the prosecution and defense by
Wednesday evening or Thursday noon.
Then come the arguments and the
voting.
Five Hours for Argument.
Under the present rules of the court
total of five hours is allowed each
side for the presentation of the final
arguments, so that if the rebuttal evil
dence con be completed by Wednes-
day evening, there is a fair chance
that the case can be closed by Sat
urday evening. Should the rebuttal lap
over into Thursday then it will require
the first day or two of next week to
reach the end.
For rebuttal the state has subpOen-
aed about thirty-five witnesses, but
not more than about twenty-five Of that
number are expected to go on the
stand to testify. There is no manner
of indicating as yet just how many
witnesses will be brought to the city
to testify on behalf of the defense in
rebuttal.
Voting to Be interesting.
When the time for the voting comes
there will be enacted the most inter-
esting feature of the entire trial. Each
and every specification in the articles
OF Impeachment must be voted upon
independently, but of course in some
instances this voting will be mere
matter of form in view of the fact
that no evidence was submitted on be-
half of the prosecution. These include
both the charges of drunkenness, fre-
OF decisions in cases.
EIat Demands Made.
One feature that demands unusual
attention in the Cowan case is the
manner in which the several charges
of the state have been met by the de-
fense. In each and every instance
has been a fiat denial of the charges
made-Where witnesses for the prose-
cution have sworn that the jhrist was
intoxicated ,others have just as stoutly
maintained that he was sober. 1t is
this series Of fiat contradiction that
cannot but have it's effect upon the
ultimate result Of the case.
Impeachment Not Popular.
That this case has resulted in the
creation Of spirit or sentiment an
tagonistic to the principal OF the i'm
peachment there is no doubt, and such
sentiment will without question be
found in the next legislative assembly
in the introduction of bills that will
propose new methods Of dealing with
questions of this nature. That the
bringing of an impeachment case into
the state senate, purely political
body cannot bring about the divorcing
of the political phase Of the situation,
is admitted, but just waat method can
be determined upon as substitute is
difficult to say.
Outside Features.
There have been so many features
injected into the proceedings that in
reality have no connection with it,
that in some instances the real issue
has been befogged Through certain
newspapers of the state attacks have
been made upon different members of
the court, and marked copies of those
papers find their way regularly into
the court chamber In fact, an attack
published upon one member was mail
ed to every other member Of the court.
Practically everything that has hap
pened in Devils Lake in the last two
Or three years has in some manner or
other cropped out during the trial, and
anything from an ordinary dog fight to
A near-murder seemingly has been
into the limelight as having
some bearing upon the Impeachment
If the impeachment court
'ecord serves no other purpose, it
night be found invaluable at some
uture day in the chronology of the
.ity's history.
Journal Bulky Affair.
The Impeachment trial record will
'e a decidedly bulky affair." Already
here ] $50 printed pages of the jour-
lal, meaning that it contains approx
tiOn of witnesses still to come. and
n the closing arguments, an addition
i 100000 words doubtless will be
sed, and as consequence the journal
will be decidedly larger. The COX i'm
eachment case in Minnesota necessi-
ated three big volumes. requiring
fty-twO days for trial, while in this
(Continred m naoe ~