John Roberts did not do well after he was expelled.
A footnote in "Ante-Bellum North Carolina" by Guion Griffis Johnson paints a sad picture of the Carteret County senator, who was kicked out of the legislature in 1816 for fraud.
Roberts had been appointed assistant pay master of the militia during the War of 1812, Johnson writes. In 1816, misconduct charges were levied against him and he was imprisoned without bail awaiting trial, he writes, citing a Nov. 28, 1822, manuscript in the House's legislative papers.
After six years these charges were still being prosecuted "and his person not only frequently imprisoned but even loaded with irons, and the most galling and unprovoked indignities, insults and contumely offered, and in some instances, a wantonly brutal, and unnecessary cruelty indulged in to him, by men assuming to have him in charge as a Prisoner.
In 1822, Roberts was still in the Wake County jail, without a bed, warm clothing, a fire or other provisions, Johnson writes.
Hat Tip: Lamara Hackett
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