No. 324.
Mr. Turner
to Mr. Evarts.
Monrovia, January 8, 1878. (Received March 1.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that James S. Payne, jr., a son of Ex-President Payne, was arraigned, a few days since, before the bar of the honorable the House of Representatives, on the charge of having conspired with a number of persons to assassinate three members of that House. The said House, after an investigation of the affair in open session, did, by unanimous vote, declare Mr. Payne guilty. The House imposed upon Mr. Payne a fine of $100 and a bond of $1,000, in default of which an imprisonment in the common jail until the said penalty was complied with. Mr. Payne escaped jail by compliance with the sentence.
[Page 522]I desire to inform the Department that the honorable the House of Representatives have preferred articles of impeachment against the Hon. B. J. K. Anderson, (suspended) Secretary of the Liberian Treasury, for malfeasance in office and using the public funds without the authorization of law. There are now, therefore, two trials of impeachment pending before the honorable the Senate of Liberia, viz, that of Ex-President Payne and that of Ex-Secretary Anderson.
I have made several verbal applications for the articles of impeachment in these cases, but without success. I shall have the honor to forward them as soon as copies can be obtained.
I have, &c.,