The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-07-17

! Read.
Washington. July 13.-Overturniny
the majority of its own committee.
ana reversing its vote Of March I
1911. the Senate today took away
from William Lorimer his seat as
Junior Senator from Illinois, by Il vote
Of 90 to q. a member of the Senot,
since June Is, 1909, Mr.. Lorimer 20
day was declared to have been the re-
ciplent Of votes secured by "coyr,,n,
methods and practices" and his cleo
uon was held to have been invalid.
Technically, Mr.. Lorimer will pass
cue OF the records of the Senate as =
member Of that body, notwithstanding
ms more than three years occupancv
OF his seat. Facing his associates
with the declaration:
am ready" Mr.. Lorimer sat in
the chamber and heard his fate de-
creed as the roll call showed the adj
Luke Lea, of Tennessee. the Senate'S
youngest member.
The outcome of the vote WAS no,
a surprise: but the leaders of the nyht
against him had not estimated a
greater vote than 90 to 80. I.orimer
gained only one Of the men who vot-
ed against him March l. 1911. Sena-
tor Jones. of Washington: while he
lost the votes Cf his associate. Scna-
tor Cullom, and Of Senators Curtis. of
Kansas; i'rigSs, of New jersey: Sim
mons. of North Carolina. and Watson.
Of West Virginia.
Lorimer's fight for his own official
HE began in The Senate chamber early
Thursday afternoon. When he con-
cluded his eloquent declaration .ha;
ne was not II coward and would not
run in the lace of certain defeat" at
o'clock this afternoon. he had held
the floor for twelve hours with inflow
missions and recesses to restore his
strength.
Only two incidents marked the few
minutes between the termination nf
Lorimer's speech and the taking If
the roll-call which resulted in his de-
feat. One was the charge of Senator
DlNon' Col. Roosevelt's campaign man
ager. that the affidavits Lorimer had
introduced to show attempted cor
ruption of delegates to the Chicago
convention were malicious and de-
liberate falsehoods."
The other was the request of Sena-
Tor Tillman, of South Carolina. feeble
from the effects of paralysis, for per-
mission to have the clerk read a state
ment from him. 1t was an affirma-
t'on ol MS belief in LOrimer's inno-
cense, and pathetic statement of his
own feebleness. Tillman wept as it
was read and other members of the
Senate exhibited deep feeling
When it was first proposed to re-
open the LOrimer case" Senator Till
man said. upon the plea of newly
discovered evidence, although ! was
not in the senate at the time. I ia
vored the idea, desiring the fullest ex-
pose Of the corruption. if any existed.
But the more l think about it. the
more convinced | am that each sue
ceeding senate ought not to have the
power to exercise the right to reopen
cases that have already been tried by
their predecessors. There ought to
be some time when the case will be
my mind and come to believe that
the constitution ought to be interpret
e1 mean that the senate to which
a man is elected. shall be the Judge
of the elections returns and qualilica
tionS of its own members otherwise
Il mans title to his seat here will al
ways be in jeopardy. If it is worth
while, senators may he driven by pub
lie clamor and newspapers to pcrse-
cute rather than prosecute a senator.
The changing currents in our political
life are sometimes SO rapid and vio-
lent that there is danger i'm giving
away To them So rapid and VNiolcnt
rcligiously in the right of the pcop'v -
govern themselves and having faith
that ultimately they will corrrcr all