KENTUCKY. 



375 



A. Hazelrigg, John \l. Grace. Thomas II. Paynter, 



George Durell. and I?. L. I). Guffy all Democrats 



i t lie two last named. .ludge Grace died Feb. 



20. is!i<>. and Joseph I. Landes was appointed to suc- 

 Siim. Judges Pryor and I andes retired Dee. 1. 

 and \\rre Miceeeded by A. It. Burnam, Republican, 

 and .1. D. Wliito, Democrat. 



Finances. At the end of the fiscal year June 

 :',0. ls I.'), i here was a deficit in the treasury of 40.- 

 9C.S.17 and s::0.!)si.?7 to the credit of the school 

 fund. On Dec. 531. 18!)5. this deficit is said to have 

 been S19.:!55. There was at that date xllo.r>s:!.<t4 

 in the sinking fund, set apart to pay military bonds 

 and interest then due. The sheriffs had paid in all 

 taxes due the State except 85.922. The bonded in- 

 debtedness of the State was as follows: Military 

 bonds, $174,000; certificates of indebtedness, $500,'- 

 OlMi: railroad securities past due. s:>94 ; thirty-year 

 of is:].-). $5.000: also old issue. 1841 to" 1846, 

 si. MHO x<;.:!94 ithe la-t-named bonds supposed to 

 be lost or destroyed): bonds held by the Board of 

 Education, *2.:i 1 2.591 i. ] (j : total indebtedness. S2.992.- 

 990.16. As the revenue bill which passed the House 

 was lost in the Senate, no relief was provided, and 

 the debt was larger at the end of the year, when the 

 total outstanding warrants amounted to more than 

 $1,000,000. 



Products. The total product of bituminous coal 

 in is!).-) was :-.!.] :js.u-j:> tons, and of cannel coal 69.- 

 747 tons. The total value of both was x2.455.406. 

 The number of employees at the mines was 10.0;!7 ; 

 the average number. 7.865 : and the time they worked 

 averaged 146 days of ten hours each. 



The acreage of tobacco in 1895 was 22o.574. and 

 the product 179,753,000 pounds. 



The acreage and yield of the various crops in the 

 for ISIK;. as compiled by the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture from the reports of the county assess- 

 ire: Corn, 2.47o.:-j21 acres, producing 63,550,093 

 bushels; wheat. 790.061 acres, producing 10,441.806 

 bushels. Of oats there were produced 4,025.614 

 bushels; tobacco, 298.614 acres, produced 229,972.- 

 482 pounds: hay. 409.830 acres, produced 924.9*2 

 t.ns. The total for the hemp crop is 8.840.717 

 pounds. There were produced 99,067 bushels of 

 barley and 272.257 bushels of grass and clover seed. 



The Tax OH Whisky. All but 6 of the 300 dis- 

 tilleries in the State closed in August for a period 

 of eighteen months on account of the depre'<l 

 market. This was due partly to overproduction 

 and partly to the increase in the tax from SO 

 cents to 1.10. The revenue bill, which passed the 

 Legislature several years ago. contained a clause 

 providing that owners of whisky in bond need not 

 pay the State, county, or city taxes on it until it 

 was withdrawn from bond or until the eight-year 

 bonded period expired. The Franklin County au- 

 thorities concluded to test the constitutionality of 

 this law, and brought suit to compel several distill- 

 ers to pay taxes on their whisky at the same time 

 they paid on other property, and the Court of Ap- 

 peals decided their point well taken, declaring the 

 law unconstitutional. The present assessed valua- 

 tion of whisky by the State Board of Valuation is 

 8 a barrel, and at this rate there are several million 

 dollars' worth of whisky upon which two or three 

 years' taxes are due the State and the cities and 

 counties where the warehouses are. 



Destruction of Toll (ates. In many of the 

 counties the people have declared in favor of free 

 turnpikes. The county authorities have delayed 

 carrying out the will of the voters and buying the 

 toll roads, and this has been the occasion for a dis- 

 play of mob violence in many places. Bands of 

 men have g. me out at night and broken down the 

 gates, burned the tollhouses, and warned the gate 

 keepers to collect no more toll, on pain of death. 



Presidents of turnpike companies were also threat- 

 ened, [n SOme COUntieS all toe gates were dest roved: 

 The I'liited States Supreme ( 'ourt decided against 

 the State in a case involving the Constitutionality 

 of the law of ls!K) prescribing rates of toll. 



Mob Violence. A street battle \\.-i- fought at 

 Winchester. Nov. 4. between a po-se of policemen 

 and a squad of negroes, in which 9 people, (i colored 

 and -j white, were shot. 3 negroes being fatally 

 wounded. The real cause of the trouble can hardly 

 be a-cu'tained. 



A mob of 500 masked men lynched a negro who 

 had been arrested charged with assault. Dec. 20, at 

 Mayfield. 



Monument to Pioneer Women. The Lexing- 

 ton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revo- 

 lution, on Aug. IS. held a memorial service and un- 

 veiled a monument at Bryan's Station to the women 

 of that place who. as the inscription records, " faced 

 a savage host in ambush, and with heroic courage 

 and sublime self-sacrifice that will remain forever 

 illustrious, obtained from this spring the water that 

 made possible the successful defense of that station." 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 Jan. 7, and adjourned March 17. William Goebel 

 was President pro tern, of the Senate, and Charles 

 Blanford Speaker of the House. The Republicans 

 had a majority in the House, and the Democrats in 

 the Senate. On joint ballot they were tied, each 

 having 68, while the Populists had 2 representatives. 

 There were some contested seats in the House. A 

 committee of 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats was 

 appointed for considering these cases. It was re- 

 ported that the Senate would take measures to un- 

 seat some of its Republican members if the llcuse 

 should unseat any Democrats, and the following 

 resolution was adopted by the Senate. Jan. 16: 



" Whereas. It has been published and openly 

 charged that certain Senators now occupying seats 

 in this body are ineligible, by reason of holding in- 

 compatible offices, and also by reason of having for- 

 feited their office of Senator by accepting and using 

 free passes up< n raihx ads; now. be it 



' /.V.Wfv /{. That a special committee, composed of 

 William Gcebel. G. S. Fulton, Rozel Weissinger, 

 Fenton Sims, and C. J. Bronston. be and the same 

 is now created, and said committee is now em- 

 powered and directed to investigate and determine 

 whether any Senator or Senators are ineligible to 

 seats now held by them, and to report by resolution 

 what disposition shall be made of such Senators. 

 In order to make thorough and effective such in- 

 vestigation, said committee may summon Senators 

 and witnesses, with books and papers." 



As the 5 Senators named were all Democrats, a 

 motion was made to add 2 Republicans to the com- 

 mittee, but this was defeated by a vote of 16 to 21. 

 The House committee reported in favor of the Re- 

 publican contestant in one of the cases where elec- 

 tion fraud was charged : but it does not appear that 

 changes were made till near the close of the session. 



The election of a United States Senator to suc- 

 ceed J. C. S. Blackburn, whose term expires in ls!C. 

 was in order. From the Democratic joint caucus 

 14 members opposed to the renomination of Mr. 

 Blackburn, the candidate of the "free-silver" wing 

 of the party, absented themselves, declining to be 

 bound by it's action. Those present gave <J7 

 to Senator Blackburn. 13 to J. B. McCreary (the 

 " sound-money " candidate), and 6 to ex-Gov. ,[. y. 

 Brown. The Republicans nominated Dr. W. God- 

 frey Hunter. Some question arose as to his eligi- 

 bility, and it was found that his first step toward 

 naturalization was taken in 1859, when he was eight- 

 een years of age and therefore a minor: but. on 

 the other hand, it was claimed that the statutes do 

 not require a minor to make any declaration, but 



