re-elected in 1863. But his character and habits unfitted him for a
judicial position. He was addicted to gambling and drinking, and he
consorted with the lowest characters; and the same tyrannical temper
and conduct which he had exhibited towards me in Marysville, were
displayed in his new district. Accordingly measures were taken by
citizens of Trinity to secure his impeachment by the Legislature.
Mr. Westmoreland, a member of the Assembly from that county in 1867
offered a resolution for the appointment of a committee to inquire
whether articles of impeachment should be presented against him for
high crimes and misdemeanors, with power to send for persons and
papers and report articles if warranted by the evidence. In offering
the resolution Mr. Westmoreland charged, that during the time Turner
had held the office of District Judge he had been grossly tyrannical;
that he had imprisoned citizens, depriving them of their liberty
without process of law; that he had neglected and refused to perform
the duties incumbent upon him by statute; that by a standing rule he
allowed no witness to be called in a case unless he was subpoenaed
and in attendance on the first day of the term; that he had used the
power of his position for the furtherance of his own ends of private
hate; that he was an habitual drunkard, with rare intervals of
sobriety, and had upon occasions come into the court-room to sit upon
the trial of causes so intoxicated as to be unable to stand, and had
fallen helplessly upon the floor, whence he had been removed by
officers of the court; that upon one occasion, when engaged in a
trial, he had in the presence of jurors, witnesses, and other persons
attending the court, deliberately gone out of the court-room and
openly entered a house of ill-fame near by; and that by his
disgraceful conduct he had become a burden upon the people of that
district too grievous to be borne. These things Mr. Westmoreland
stated he stood prepared to prove, and he invoked the interposition of
the Legislature to protect the people of the Eighth Judicial District
who were suffering from the deportment and conduct of this officer. The
resolution was passed. Finding that articles of impeachment would
be presented against him, Turner resigned his office. After this his
habits of drinking became worse, and he was sent to the Asylum for
Inebriates, where he died.

In thinking over my difficulties with Turner at this distant day,
there is