i26 



KENTUCKY. 



from the jail of that county a man there con- 

 fined to answer an indictment, and hung him 

 to death within the limits of the town." The 

 Governor also mentions instances where the 

 dwelling-house of an aged and exemplary citi- 

 zen was burned because his son had resisted 

 their authority, and made a successful defence 

 against the party sent to arrest him ; and a 

 gallant soldier was notified to leave the county 

 because he expressed a determination to stand 

 by and defend a younger brother who had been 

 ordered to leave under penalty of death. The 

 Governor concludes with the following recom- 

 mendations : 



Under the existing laws no reward can be offered 

 for the apprehension and conviction of these crimi- 

 nal?, except upon "the petition" of the circuit or 

 county judge of the county in which the crimes 

 were committed. No such application has been 

 made. As I cannot suppose that the judges sanc- 

 tion or connive at this criminality, the conviction is 

 enforced that the fear of personal danger restrains 

 them from applying for rewards. The laws should 

 be so amended as to meet this state of the case, and 

 authorize the offering of rewards in such cases with- 

 out awaiting the petition of the judge. A fear of per- 

 sonal danger restrains the judge from acting, and thus 

 an apparent sanction is given of this form of crime. 



Society will be disorganized and civil government 

 overborne in those communities where mob-law pre- 

 vails, unless some speedy and effective remedy be 

 provided. Ample rewards should be authorized for 

 the apprehension and conviction of these lawless 

 men ; and power given the executive and civil 

 authorities to pursue and hunt down to condign 

 punishment these terrible offenders against govern- 

 ment and law. The responsibility of making pro- 

 vision by law to meet this evil is with you ; my duty 

 to call your attention thereto is now performed. 



The same lawless spirit manifested itself in 

 daring robberies of railroad trains. These 

 were committed under circumstances of the 

 greatest atrocity. Early in October, one dark 

 night, a gang of robbers removed a rail from 

 the Louisville and Nashville Railroad near 

 Bowling Green, and piled up some loose rails 

 on the track for the purpose of throwing off 

 the "pay train," and plundering it in the tu- 

 mult and excitement which would ensue. The 

 plan was successful. The engine and "pay 

 car " were thrown off the track, and the con- 

 ductor seriously injured. Fortunately no per- 

 son in the train was killed. As soon as the 

 locomotive rolled down the bank, the gang 

 rushed up to the train; and a portion of them 

 entered the cars, and searched and robbed the 

 passengers, who offered no resistance, while 

 the others watched outside. The safe was rob- 

 bed of its contents, amounting to between 

 $12,000 and $15,000. In November a larger 

 gang in the same manner threw a train on the 

 same railroad off the track near Franklin. No 

 one was injured, but the passengers were rob- 

 bed of their watches and other valuables. The 

 express car took fire, and the plunderers did 

 not succeed in extricating the safe which it 

 contained, and thereby lost the prize for which 

 they had committed the crime. Six of the 

 gang were afterward arrested, and sent to 

 Franklin for trial by the civil authorities. 



An organization known as "Skaag's men," 

 rendered itself notorious during the fall by at- 

 tacks upon colored citizens residing in Marion 

 County. These outrages being reported to 

 General Davis, commanding the Military Dis- 

 trict of Kentucky, he appointed a commission 

 to investigate and report upon them. The 

 commission reported that one branch of the 

 organization consisted of between twenty-five 

 and forty mounted men, and gave the names of 

 ten of their number. These were guilty of as- 

 saults upon the persons and property of colored 

 people in and near Lebanon, Ky., on the night 

 of October 19th, when about twenty houses 

 occupied by that class of the population were 

 broken into, robbed, and greatly injured. The 

 roofs and chimneys were torn down in several 

 cases, and the occupants driven out and abused, 

 though none of them were killed or wounded. 

 The whole gang .was reported to number one 

 hundred and twenty men, a majority of them 

 fully armed and mounted, and summoned to- 

 gether by regular cavalry bugle calls. The 

 captain was known as "Skaags" (an assumed 

 name). The effect of these attacks was to drive 

 away colored inhabitants from that region. 

 The commission recommended that the detach- 

 ment of United States troops stationed at 

 Lebanon be increased, in order to secure proper 

 protection for frcedmen in that neighborhood. 

 This was done, and the outrages soon afterward 

 ceased. 



One of the most disturbing questions of the 

 year was that involved in the proposed consti- 

 tutional amendment. Governor Bramlette in 

 his annual message (January, 1867) argued the 

 subject at length, and opposed any change in 

 the Constitution, in strong and unequivocal 

 language. He said : 



The just balance of powers between the State and 

 National Governments is sought to be destroyed, and 

 the centralization of powers to be established in the 

 Federal Government, through amendments to the 

 Constitution, which, if successful, will destroy those 

 rights reserved to the States and people, and which 

 are essential to the preservation of free government. 



In the language of my inaugural address : " A de- 

 parture from constitutional faith is the foundation 

 of all the evils now upon us; a return is the only 

 permanent remedy." 



Kentucky has ever kept this faith. She has given 

 her blood to maintain and enforce the obligations of 

 the Constitution upon her own people of the South- 

 ern States ; and will not now falter in demanding 

 and exacting a like obedience from others by all ap- 

 propriate means at her command. We cannot con- 

 sent to the overtbnny and destruction of our govern- 

 ment in the hour of its triumph. The constitutional 

 unity of the States, and the rightful obligations it 

 imposes, have been successfully asserted and vindi- 

 cated by the valor and blood of our sons ; and we 

 will not now consent to the destruction of States 

 whose stars gem our national flag, and whose people 

 are our people, whatever may have been their past 

 errors. True allegiance now is the only proper 

 test of loyalty to the existing government. Let this 

 test be applied, admit or exclude whom it may. 



To make the support of a proposed change in the 

 forms of government the test of loyalty to the exist- 

 ing constitutional government, is far more iniquitoui 

 and unjust than to make the past disloyalty a por 



