WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1859
258
the part of the judge, to favor one party or set of parties, at the expense and to the injury of others, which is inconsistent with an upright, honest, and im- partial discharge of the judicial functions. And this, we believe, constitutes a breach of the 'good behavior' upon which, by the Constitution, the tenure of the judicial office is made to depend." It appears that a decree was rendered in the Cavazos suit, in the month of January, in favor of Cavazos and others. After the rendition of the decree, suits in ejectment became necessary. At this juncture we find Judge Watrous again act- ing and making a wrongful and tyrannical order for the exclu- sion from jury.service in his court (on the regular panel) of the citizens of the four Rio Grande counties of Cameron, Hidalgo, Shaw, and Webb. By the deputy marshal, whose.term of office depended on the pleasure of the judge, furors are selected-not taken from the jury list of the State, as the law requires; not even drawn or balloted for-to attend the United States court at Brownsville; all from Galveston, a distance of several hundred miles. They are taken from this distant place, that is the home of Judge Watrous, and of his confederates, Hale and League. These Cavazos suits had been pending in Galveston, and adjudica- tions had on some of them. They were a subject of notoriety there; and had naturally given rise to much popular discussion and conversation, with reference both to the questions and the interests involved. Thus, it appears that to accomplish the purpose of the judge more fuJly, the citizens of four counties were dishonored and deprived of important civil privileges, and the law was violated. They were not taken from different parts of the State, as is the custom in the United States courts, but from the narrow circle of the judge's own home and neighborhood. A schooner is chartered by the deputy marshal, to carry them to the court at Brownsville. There are also selected by the deputy marshal, a company of strolling players to serve as jurors, and placed on board this schooner. Judge Watrous himself, is a compagnon de voyage. Honorable Senators may imagine the scene, the small, coast- ing, .gulf schooner freighted with jurymen and players, and the United States district and circuit judge. I have, in a brief manner, referred to the collusion in the Cavazos suit, which Judge Watrous knew, and which he coun- tenanced to the prejudice and betrayal of at least one of the
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