Newspaper Tidbit: Impeachment of Judges

Alexandria Gazette
24 January 1876

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGES

The Richmond Enquirer of this morning says: A sensation was created in the House Saturday, where Mr. Purcell, Delegate from the county of Prince William, arose from his seat with a formidable-looking document in his hand, and said:

"Mr. Speaker: There has been placed in my hands a petition and affidavit as a part thereof of a respectable member of the bar and citizen of Prince William, asking that charges of a grave character against Aylett Nicol, Judge of the County Court of Prince William county be investigated. As a very humble representative of that county, it is my solemn duty this to present, and ask that it be referred to the proper committee, and in so doing so I desire to say that I am prompted by no feeling akin to the partisan, but by a desire to afford every opportunity for vindication and exoneration on the one hand, and on the other to forever preserve the judicial ermine in this Commonwealth in its spotless purity."

Mr. J. J. Davies, of the Prince William bar, brings these charges against Judge Nicol, and they are of the gravest possible nature. It is alleged, among other things, that through his court he has speculated in Carboro lots in Potomac City, that he has bought claims from his clients while holding their funds in his hands as judge, and that he agreed to accept a bribe of five hundred dollars to influence him in the appointment of commissioners to condemn certain lands. Judge Nicol is a native of Rappahanock county, but has resided in Prince William for thirty years. This is the first time in our journalistic experience that a Virginian judge has been accused of corrupt practices. The paper was referred.

The Whig, in alluding to the affair, says: -- The paper presented in the House of Delegates on Saturday, by Mr. Purcell, in regard to Judge Aylett Nicol, of Prince William county, is the affidavit of James J. Davies, charging Judge Nicol with being interested in certain lots in the town of Carbero, which were condemned for the use of the Potomac and Manassas Railroad, and damages assessed by commissioners appointed by him; that in co partnership with another person he fraudulently obtained assignments of the interests of other parties in the condemned lots; that having obtained a judgment for over $1,600 for a female client in the Circuit Court, he obtained an assignment of her right to the same for $300, one third of which was to be his fee for services, when he had in possession funds exceeding $1,600 subject to the said judgment; that as a judge he agreed to accept a bribe of $500 to appoint a new commission to assess damages for land belonging to a certain party which had been condemned for the use of a railroad, when the owner of the land and the attorney for the railroad company compromised the matter and the $500 bribe was not paid, etc. Upon this recital Mr. Jas. J. Davies prays an investigation, and gives a list of persons and papers that he desires to be sent for, including himself.

The Dispatch says: The impeachment of Judge Stevens, of Nelson, who won a considerable amount of money from Delegate Fowle at draw-polka, is talked about.  Friends of Stevens intimate that if such proceedings are commenced Judge Stevens, by summoning members of the House as witnesses in his behalf, can put those members in an embarrassing position.