204 



CONGRESS. (THE ELECTION AT CINCINNATI.) 



nation, the Congress confer upon him a suitable pen- 

 sion. 



Certain of the measures that seem to me necessary 

 and expedient 1 have now, in obedience to the Con- 

 stitution, recommended for your adoption. 



As respects others of no less importance, I shall 

 content myself with renewing the recommendations 

 already made to the Congress, without restating the 

 grounds upon which such recommendations were 



The preservation of forests on the public domain, 

 the granting of Government aid for popular education, 

 the amendment of the Federal Constitution so as to 

 make effective the disapproval by the President ot 

 particular items in appropriation bills, the enactment 

 of statutes in regard to the filling of vacancies in the 

 Presidential office, and the determining of vexed ques- 

 tions respecting Presidential inability, are measures 

 which may justly receive your serious consideration. 



As the time draws nigh when I am to retire from 

 the public service, I can not retrain from expressing 

 to the members of the National Legislature with whom 

 I have been brought into personal and official inter- 

 course my sincere appreciation of their unfailing cour- 

 tesy and of their harmonious co-operation with the 

 Executive in so many measures calculated to promote 

 the best interests of the nation. 



And to my fellow-citizens generally I acknowledge 

 a deep sense of obligation for the support which they 

 have accorded me in my administration of the execu- 

 tive department of this Government. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



WASHINGTON, December 1, 1884. 



The Section at Cincinnati. Dec. 2, 1884, in the 

 House of Representatives, Mr. Follett, of Ohio, 

 introduced, as a privileged question, the follow- 

 ing: 



I do impeach Lot Wright, United States Marshal 

 of the Southern District of Ohio, of high crimes and 

 misdemeanors. 



I charge him with usurpation of power and viola- 

 tion of law : 



In that he appointed a large number of general and 

 special deputy-marshals to serve at the several voting 

 precincts in the city of Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio*! 

 at an election for members of Congress held in said 

 city on the 14th day of October, A. D. 1884, and armed 

 said deputy-marshals with pistols and other deadly 

 weapons said to have been furnished by the War De- 

 partment of the United States Government; 



In that a large number of the deputy-marshals so 

 appointed and armed were notorious criminals and 

 men of known vicious and brutal habits and reputa- 

 tion, and many of them non-residents of said city of 

 Cincinnati and of said State of Ohio ; 



In that the said deputy-marshals, acting under his 

 orders and directions, aided, abetted, and encouraged 

 fraudulent voting, intimidation of voters, and gross 

 outrages upon the elective franchise and the rights of 

 the honest voters of said city in furtherance of the in- 

 terests of a political party and its candidates : There- 

 fore, 



Resolved, That the Committee on Expenditures in 

 the Department of Justice be required and directed, 

 as soon as the same can reasonably be done, to inves- 

 tigate such charges and report to this House : 



1. How many deputy-marshals, general and special, 

 were appointed and authorized by said United States 

 Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio to serve at 

 the several voting precincts of said city at said election, 

 with the name and residence of each and the voting 

 precinct to which each was assigned. 



2. What citizens, if any, of said several precincts 

 asked for the appointment of such deputy-marshals 

 with the names of such citizens and the reasons if 

 any were assigned, for such request. 



3. Whether any, and, if so, how many, of such dep- 

 uty-marshals have, prior to such appointment, been 



accused or convicted of crime, or were men of known 

 vicious and brutal habits and reputations. 



4. Whether said deputy-marshals were under the 

 direction and control of partisans, and used the pow- 

 ers vested in them in the interest of any political party, 

 and aided, countenanced, and encouraged fraudulent 

 and illegitimate voting in the interest of such political 

 party and its candidates. 



5. What number and what kind of pistols or other 

 deadly weapons were put into the hands of said dep- 

 uty-marshals, who furnished the said weapons, from 

 whence were they received, why furnished, uncl how- 

 many of such weapons have been returned, together 

 with the names of such deputy -marshals as have'tailed 

 to return the weapons furnished them. 



6. What amount of money has been paid to such 

 deputy-marshals, and by whose order was the same 

 paid, and at what rate per day. 



7. Any other matter or thing connected with or ger- 

 mane to the general subject of such investigation. 



Resolved, That in making such investigation the 

 said committee be empowered to appoint a sub-com- 

 mittee of three, consisting of the chairman of said 

 committee and such other two members thereof as he 

 may select, which sub-committee shall have full power 

 to meet and hold its sessions at such times and places 

 as may seem proper, to send for persons and papers, 

 to compel the attendance of witnesses and to require 

 them to testify, to employ a stenographer, and to in- 

 cur any and all such necessary and reasonable expendi- 

 tures as may be deemed requisite for the purposes of 

 such investigation, such expenditures to be paid out 

 of the contingent fund of the House. 



Mr. Keifer, of Ohio, objected to the consid- 

 eration of the subject, on the ground that no 

 question of privilege was presented. If the 

 resolutions were an impeachment, they were 

 privileged ; but if they merely provided for an 

 investigation into the official conduct of a 

 United States officer, they were not privileged. 

 And he claimed that these resolutions were i 

 simply designed to cover an investigation. The 

 objection was overruled, on the ground that 

 the paper presented by Mr. Follett followed 

 the form observed previously in impeachment 

 cases. On the motion to adopt the so-called 

 articles of impeachment the previous question 

 was called, and during the limited debate that 

 preceded the vote the Republicans urged the 

 necessity of extending the scope of the inves- 

 tigation so as to take in all the circumstances 

 of the Cincinnati election and cover the action 

 of State, county, and municipal authorities; 

 such a course the Democrats refused to sanc- 

 tion. Mr. Keifer, of Ohio, said : 



U I apprehend, Mr. Speaker, that it will be 

 no great risk at prophecy to say that when 

 these resolutions are adopted and when the 

 committee goes to work, when the sub-com- 

 mittee is sent out to the city of Cincinnati or 

 to the Southern District of Ohio to commence 

 this investigation, that committee will com- 

 mence a political investigation from the first, 

 and that it will there end in just such an inves- 

 tigation. Feeling that that is all that is going 

 to be accomplished, we were very desirous that 

 there might be considered here, by means of 

 the report that would come from that commit- 

 tee, the whole situation as it appeared in that 

 great panorama that was exhibited in Cincin- 

 nati on the 14th day of October last and the 



