422 



GEORGIA. 



declaring all these sales bad under transferred 

 fi. fas. null and void, as some of the courts 

 have already decided, and another to with- 

 draw all protection of any statute of limitation 

 or law of prescription from all such titles, or 

 others founded on them or emanating from 

 them; and this committee beg leave to con- 

 tinue their organization for the purpose of pre- 

 paring these bills, and reporting them as soon 

 as possible." The minority report opposed such 

 a kw as unconstitutional, and said : " But the 

 greatest objection to the course recommended 

 by the majority is, that to pass such act would 

 be to usurp the prerogative of the judiciary, a 

 coordinate branch of the government. This 

 we can not do. The Constitution forbids it, 

 and any such act, if passed, would be ipso facto 

 void. It would be far wiser to attempt no re- 

 troactive legislation, but leave all these intri- 

 cate legal questions to be decided by the courts, 

 the tribunals established by the Constitution 

 to interpret and administer the law." The 

 Comptroller then addressed a letter to the com- 

 mittee, in which he said : 



I do not propose to discuss the legality of the trans- 

 fers or the recommendation which you make to de- 

 clare them void, because these recommendations are 

 concurred in by a majority of your committee, and be- 

 cause, if they are valid, no legislation can make them 

 void, and, if they are void, no legislation can make 

 them valid. The law of 1874 fixes their status, and 

 what that is the courts, I presume, will determine in 

 reference to the law as it then existed. Being doubtful 

 myself as to the transfers, I applied to the Attorney- 

 General, and acted on his opinion. If the transfers 

 are declared void by the courts, I shall have no sym- 

 pathy with any one except such bpna fide purchasers 

 as may have beenj under the opinion of the Attorney- 

 General, misled in the investment of their money. 

 Beyond this, I shall rejoice with the committee in the 

 defeating of any frauds'that may have been perpetrated 

 by any one. 



The portion of your report that does not express 

 what I understand to be the views of a majority is the 

 omission to state that it was in evidence that before 

 the appointment of your committee I had taken official 

 action through the Solicitor-General in Dodge and 

 Montgomery Counties to compel the sheriifs by rule 

 to account for the entire sales in those counties, less 

 the legal costs and amount of taxes paid to the State 

 by the transferees ; and at the time of your investiga- 

 tion it was in evidence that I had directed rules to be 

 issued against every sheriff who had failed to make 

 proper returns. In doing this I exhausted my power 

 as Comptroller, and if any unnecessary delay has oc- 

 curred, the faulty if fault there be, is not in my depart- 

 ment. These views, I understand, were concurred in 

 by a majority of your committee, and were to be em- 

 bodied in the report. If these facts were stated, I 

 should have no complaint ; but their omission leaves 

 an inference that I had left undone what I ought to 

 have done, in order to compel an accountability by the 

 sheriffs. 



I also understand that the committee agreed to 

 report, instead of what was reported, that, " after 

 thorough investigation, nothing could be found to im- 

 plicate the Comptroller- General, directly or indirectly, 

 in any fraud or speculation whatever." All these facts 

 are borne out by the evidence and my statement be- 

 fore the committee, and I understood were to be cov- 

 ered by the report. They have been omitted, and as 

 the omission subjects the report to misconstruction, 

 I ask you respectfully to indicate by your concur- 

 rence in this statement the truth of the facts set 

 forth. I make this request because I feel confident 



that it will be your pleasure to do for me this act of 

 justice. \V. L. GOLDSMITH. 



The paper exonerating the Comptroller, of 

 which the above is an extract, was presented 

 to members of the committee with a request 

 for them to sign it. Two of them did so, two 

 refused, and the chairman was not approached. 

 A friend of Goldsmith went to the two mem- 

 bers who refused to sign the paper and pleaded 

 with them to do so. They still refused. He 

 then offered one of them $250 and the other 

 $100 and a suit of clothes, to sign the paper. 

 They indignantly refused, and reported the at- 

 tempted bribery to the chairman. The com- 

 mittee made a supplemental report, stating 

 among other matters that an attempt had been 

 made by bribery to induce two of its members 

 to sign a paper prepared by the Comptroller. 

 "This paper had for its object the acknowl- 

 edgment by the members of the committee 

 that certain things had been omitted in the 

 report which ought to have gone into it, and 

 that certain other things embraced in the re- 

 port were couched in language different from 

 that in which a majority of the committee had 

 agreed should be employed, thus doing the 

 Comptroller-General unintentional injustice." 

 He reported it to the Legislature, and the 

 whole city was soon greatly excited over it. 

 The House of Representatives ordered the 

 arrest of Hinton Wright, the man who had 

 offered the bribes, and appointed a new com- 

 mittee of investigation. In a few days this 

 committee reported that they had discovered 

 a series of gross frauds in the office of the 

 Comptroller-General, and recommended the 

 impeachment of that officer. The House elect- 

 ed six managers of the impeachment, who pre- 

 sented at the bar of the Senate the following 

 series of charges : 



ARTICLE 1 . That "Washington L. Goldsmith, Comp- 

 troller of the State of Georgia, did, on the 1st day of 

 October, 1877, illegally, wrongfully, and corruptly 

 collect fifty cents on alyi. fas. against wild lands. 



ART. 2. That said Goldsmith, on the 25th day of 

 September, 1877, did, illegally, wrongfully z and cor- 

 ruptly, issue writs of fi. fa. against lands in certain 

 counties. 



ART. 3. That said Goldsmith extorted from W. P. 

 Anderson $4 on eight fi.fas., although said lots had 

 not been advertised thirty days according to law. 



ART. 4. That said Goldsmith did, illegally, wrong- 

 fully, and corruptly, refuse to receive from W . P. An- 

 derson taxes on wild lands, compelling said Anderson 

 to pay $4 on eight fi.fas., although said land had not 

 been advertised the requisite thirty days. 



ART. 5. That said Goldsmith did, on or before the 

 31st day of October, 1877, for and in consideration of 

 $100, paid bv Daniel Lott, issue fi.fas. on the lands 

 of Eondeau & Co. 



ART. 6. That said Goldsmith, on divers occasions 

 after October 11, 1877, did illegally pay out to divers 

 parties money aggregating in amount $8,175.73, with- 

 out the consent or warrant of the Governor. 



ART. 7. That said Goldsmith, unmindful of his du- 

 ties, etc., did illegally issue to the sheriffs of the State 

 circulars delegating to the same certain trusts and du- 

 ties intrusted to him by the State. 



ART. 8. That said Goldsmith, on the 1st day of 

 June, 1879, without the color of right, and in disre- 

 gard of the duties of his office, did fail to turn over to 



