KENTUCKY. 



only to continue to reside in the country and be 

 naturalized when of age ; and further, as Dr. Hun- 

 ter did not finally take out his naturalization papers 

 until 1865, having in the meantime served as a 

 surgeon in the army, he came under the special 

 statute permitting aliens who served in the army to 

 be naturalized without any preliminaries. A reso- 

 lution was introduced in the House, calling for a 

 committee to inquire into the matter, but the 

 Speaker ruled it out, deciding that this would be 

 for the United States Senate to decide in case Dr. 

 Hunter were elected. 



One of the Populists voted with the Republicans 

 most of the time, and the other with the Democrats ; 

 but at no time did either candidate receive the 

 requisite number upon the ballot, though Hunter 

 more than once lacked but one vote of it. Repre- 

 sentative AYilson had died on Jan. 10. and the Demo- 

 cratic members proposed to postpone voting till 

 after his successor should be elected and qualify, 

 which was agreed to. But 5 of the Democratic 

 members steadily opposed the election of Blackburn. 

 Secretary Carlisle was appealed to to use his influ- 

 ence to bring them to Blackburn's support, but he 

 declined to interfere. Scattering votes were given 

 on the various ballots to J. V. Brown. J. G. Carlisle. 

 Henry Watterson, Walter Evans, S. B. Buckner, 

 W. Ji. Holt, W. M. Reed, J. A. Ilazelrigg, J. R, 

 Grace, A. E. Wilson, C. E. Bate, J. B. McCreary, 

 and others. Later, 4 of the Republican members 

 withdrew their votes from Hunter. In February a 

 letter signed by Dr. Hunter was brought forward, 

 in which he agreed to "favor such legislation and 

 support such measures as will restore silver to the 

 position it occupied as primary or redemption 

 money prior to 1873, when it was the standard of 

 values." In explanation, Dr. Hunter said that he 

 had signed this pledge, but he did not construe it 

 as meaning the free and unlimited coinage of silver ; 

 but that it meant, just as the Republican national 

 platform said, that every dollar, whether of gold, 

 silver, or paper, should be worth 100 cents. He de- 

 clared that he was a sound-money man and for the 

 gold standard, and opposed to the free and unlimited 

 coinage of silver. It was agreed in caucus that 

 another effort should be made to elect him, and 

 should it fail the Republicans should unite upon 

 another candidate. Accordingly the next day. Feb. 

 29, Dr. Hunter withdrew from the contest. The 

 votes formerly given to him were at first scattering, 

 but finally St. John Boyle was made the party can- 

 didate. Senator Weissinger one of the sound-money 

 Democrats, died on March 9, and the report that 

 his colleagues had promised him before his death 

 to stand by their principles to the last destroyed 

 the hope that the Democratic vote would finally be 

 concentrated on Blackburn. 



The contested seats cases came up in March with 

 a proposition to consider the claim of a Republican, 

 Dunlap, to a seat in the House held by a Democrat, 

 Kaufman. The point was made that, as the con- 

 testant had withdrawn, there was no longer any 

 contest ; but the chair decided that the Common- 

 wealth was interested, and that it came within the 

 province of the House to decide the matter. The 

 vote was taken March 11. on the minority report of 

 the committee, in favor of unseating Kaufman, and 

 it was adopted by a vote of 49 to 46. The final vote 

 was then taken on the majority report, as amended 

 by this minority unseating report. All the Demo- 

 crats left the House, and Kaufman was unseated, 

 51 members being present. This was immediately 

 followed by retaliatory measures in the Senate, 

 where two Republican members, James and Walton, 

 were unseated amid wild excitement, and a crowd 

 collected around the doors, declaring that the two 

 unseated Senators should never go into the House to 



the joint session ; one of them, however, had slipped 

 in while the vote was being taken in the Senate. 

 The other was roughly handled when he was leav- 

 ing the Senate Chamber. When the roll was called, 

 the Republicans refrained from voting. Soon after 

 this, six outsiders were sworn in as deputies by the 

 sergeant-at-arms of the Senate Jack Chinn, Eph. 

 Willard, Jim Williams, John Williams, John Mc- 

 Elroy, John Sneed, and Walter Sharp. The Gov- 

 ernor sent word to the sheriff that it was his duty 

 to take such steps as were necessary to prevent the 

 collection of persons in the lobbies who were inter- 

 fering with the free access of members, and to pre- 

 serve the peace. The sheriff did not succeed in re- 

 moving the armed deputies. The situation on 

 March 14 was described by the Frankfort corre- 

 spondent of the "Courier-Journal." He said that 

 there was not a score out of the 132 members at 

 Saturday's session who did not have one or two pistols 

 concealed, to say nothing of knives and other 

 weapons. Kven the peaceably disposed legislators 

 were tempted to arm for self-defense, and both 

 parties had chosen leaders on the watch at com- 

 manding points about the hall. James and Walton, 

 whose presence was obnoxious to the Democrats, 

 were placed among Republican associates, and one 

 of the most fearless of the party, well armed, was 

 deputed to open fire on any one who attempted to 

 molest them. The Democrats had several trust- 

 worthy men in a position to cover this Republican 

 in case of a signal for close action. The Democratic 

 leader, seated in the center aisle near the door, was 

 another storm center. 



The next day, March 15, the Governor issued a 

 proclamation, reciting the facts and calling out a 

 strong force of militia. 



When the sergeant-at-arms appeared at the 

 Statehouse, with six deputies, they were refused 

 admittance by the officer in command. The pres- 

 ence of the militia caused excitement in the city, 

 and an indignation meeting was held. 



The proceedings on Monday went on without 

 violence, but both parties refused to vote. In the 

 House a Republican sent up resolutions approving 

 the Governor's action, and a Democrat offered a 

 substitute condemning it. After some disorder, 

 both were withdrawn. In the Senate, resolutions 

 were introduced, accusing the Governor of usurpa- 

 tion of power, and one was adopted, providing for 

 a committee to investigate "such contempt and 

 breach of privilege." 



March 17 was the last day of the session, accord- 

 ing to the constitutional limit of sixty days. Only 

 two members voted when the roll was called in 

 joint session for the fifty-fourth ballot, and the 

 adjournment was taken without a Senators having 

 been chosen. The Governor appeared before the 

 Senate committee and presented affidavits to show 

 that violence had been feared at the Statehouse, 

 and that the civil authorities were not in position 

 to preserve the peace. The committee brought in a 

 report censuring the Governor, which was adopted 

 by a party vote. 



'There was also a deadlock on the election of a 

 State librarian through the month of January, when 

 by law it, should have taken place. The Democratic 

 candidate was elected in February, but the right of 

 the incumbent to hold over was asserted. 



There was very little legislation during the ses- 

 sion. Less than 40 of the bills introduced became 

 laws. Nine resolutions were passed. It was im- 

 portant that provision should be made for revenue, 

 as the State is deeply in debt ; and two bills passed 

 the House, one to provide for borrowing money '' in 

 order to meet the existing deficit in the revenue of 

 the Commonwealth, and to specify the purpose for 

 which the same is to be used," and the other "for 



