SECTION 138

Election and term of office of sheriffs; sheriff not eligible to succeed self; impeachment of sheriff; effect of impeachment of sheriff.

A sheriff shall be elected in each county by the qualified electors thereof, who shall hold office for a term of four years, unless sooner removed, and he shall be ineligible to such office as his own successor; provided, that the terms of all sheriffs expiring in the year nineteen hundred and four are hereby extended until the time of the expiration of the terms of the other executive officers of this state in the year nineteen hundred and seven, unless sooner removed. Whenever any prisoner is taken from jail, or from the custody of any sheriff or his deputy, and put to death, or suffers grievous bodily harm, owing to the neglect, connivance, cowardice, or other grave fault of the sheriff, such sheriff may be impeached under section 174 of this Constitution. If the sheriff be impeached, and thereupon convicted, he shall not be eligible to hold any office in this state during the time for which he had been elected or appointed to serve as sheriff.