KENTUCKY. 



325 



pared an agreement by which, if the Legislature 

 should ratify their action, the Republicans should 

 submit without further protest; that all parties 

 should unite in an effort to bring about such 

 changes in the laws as would secure free and fair 

 elections; that the troops should be removed from 

 the Capitol; and that the Republican officials and 

 officers of the State Guard should have immunity 

 from charges of treason, usurpation, or any such 

 offenses. This agreement Gov. Taylor refused to 

 sign; the injunction suits were consolidated into 

 one, and it was agreed that both parties would 

 abide by the decision of the courts. The case was 

 carried to the circuit court of Jefferson County, 

 where a decision was given, March 10, sustaining 

 the contention of the Democrats that the Legisla- 

 ture is, under the Constitution, the proper tribunal 

 for the settlement of such contests, and that, al- 

 though the Legislature was not in session, the 

 showing of the records that the reports in favor 

 of the Democratic contestants were adopted by a 

 quorum of each house was sufficient. Appeal was 

 taken to the State Court of Appeals, where the 

 decision was affirmed; and lastly the Republicans 

 carried the case to the United States Supreme 

 Court, where judgment was given, May 21, that 

 that court had no jurisdiction, Justices Brewer, 

 Brown, and McKenna dissenting from portions of 

 the opinion, and Justice Harlan from the whole. 

 He said in part: " So that, while we may inquire 

 whether the citizen's land or his mule have been 

 taken from him by the legislative, executive, or 

 judicial authorities of his State without due pro- 

 cess of law, we may not inquire whether the legis- 

 lative or judicial authorities of the State have, 

 without due process of law, ousted one lawfully 

 elected and holding the office of Governor for a 

 fixed term, and put into his place one whom the 

 people have said should not exercise the authority 

 appertaining to that high position. When the 

 ^ourteenth Amendment forbade any State from 

 ipriving any person of life, liberty, or property 

 ithout due process of law, I had supposed that 

 e purpose was to guard citizens against being 

 eprived of any legal right in violation of the 

 fundamental guarantees that adhere in due pro- 

 cess of law." 



As soon as the decision was made known, Gov. 

 Taylor directed D. R. Collier, Adjutant General, 

 to dismiss the militia from the Capitol and sur- 

 render his office to Mr. Beckham's appointee as 

 soon as the mandate of the court should be filed. 

 The Goebel Murder Trials. The Legislature 

 offered a reward of $100,000 for the apprehension 

 and prosecution of the assassin of William Goebel, 

 and warrants were issued for men suspected of 

 mplicity. On March 10 Gov. Taylor issued par- 

 ns to these men. The pardon to John L. Powers 

 as respected in Barboursville and at Harlan 

 urthouse, where he was arrested, but the 

 wer of the ex-Governor to grant pardons was 

 not generally recognized, as the Legislature had 

 then decided against his claim to the office. Ex- 

 aminations of the suspected men were held at 

 Frankfort, and the grand jury returned indict- 

 ments against ten. The principals named were: 

 Henry E. Youtsey, who was a clerk in the office 

 of Auditor Sweeney; James and Berry Howard, 

 usins known in connection with the old Howard 

 ud ; Holland Whittaker, who was alleged to have 

 n in the room in the execvitive building from 

 hich the shot was fired, and " Tallow Dick " 

 oombs, a colored man who went to the Capitol 

 ith the " mountain men." Those indicted as ac- 

 ssories before the fact were: Caleb Powers, the 

 Republican Secretary of State, and his brother, 

 John L. Powers; Charles Finley, Secretary of 



State in Gov. Bradley's administration; W. H. 

 Culton, a clerk in Auditor Sweeney's office; and 

 V. Wharton Golden, a member of the State Guard. 

 Finley went to Indianapolis just before the war- 

 rant for him was issued. An indictment against 

 Gov. Taylor, who, together with Green Golden and 

 John W. Davis, special policeman at the Capitol, 

 was mentioned in the indictment of the other 

 accessories, was found by the grand jury about the 

 same time, but was not made public till about 

 June 1. 



Requisition was made on the Governor of In- 

 diana for the return of Taylor and Finley, but he 

 refused to honor it, saying in his letter: "I de- 

 plore the assassination of the late William Goebel, 

 and would not for a moment refuse to return Mr. 

 Taylor or any other man charged with complicity 

 in that crime if I could persuade myself that the 

 party so charged, under existing conditions, would 

 be accorded a fair trial. I do not believe a fair 

 and impartial trial can or will at this time be 

 given Mr. Taylor. When Judge Cantrill, of the 

 trial court at Frankfort, declares that he would 

 not subject a sheep-killing dog to a trial under 

 such circumstances as exist, may I not justly re- 

 fuse to send Mr. Taylor back to be subjected to 

 a trial with this prejudice intensified and fanned 

 into hate? When a man who is a controlling 

 spirit in the prosecution, witness in this case and 

 prominent in its counsels, uses the monstrous lan- 

 guage that when they should get control they 

 would hang Republicans ' like pigs to a pole ' (and 

 the anarchistic words have not to my knowledge 

 been denied), the question of guilt seems of little 

 consequence in this conspiracy against innocent 

 men, the furtherance of which is indicated by in- 

 dictments found by a partisan grand jury. Upon 

 such finding is based the requisition papers which 

 I now refuse to honor. I regret the fact that the 

 peace of your State is marred by bitter political 

 strife. When partisan rapacity leads to acts that 

 endanger liberty and jeopardize life, it is time to 

 remedy the cause by reforming the evil instead 

 of persecuting the wronged. Of the law that has 

 caused this strife in your State, while its passage 

 was pending, the Louisville Courier- Journal said: 

 ' The Goebel bill will never be enacted into a law. 

 The Democrats of Kentucky have not sunk so low 

 as that. There is a limit even to the fury of fac- 

 tional passion. There are bounds set upon the pros- 

 perous rapacity of sectional leadership.' It seems 

 that this prophecy was not fulfilled and the ' limit 

 even to the fury of factional passion ' did not 

 find its bounds in the ' prosperous rapacity of 

 sectional leadership.' This bill thus denounced 

 was enacted into law, and under its iniquitous 

 provisions the people of Kentucky were deprived 

 of their will expressed at the ballot box." 



A change of venue for the trials was granted, 

 and that of Caleb Powers began at Georgetown, 

 July 9. Several of the principal witnesses for 

 the prosecution were among those accused of hav- 

 ing been in the plot F. Wharton Golden, W. H. 

 Culton, Robert Noakes. Their testimony was to 

 the effect that the " mountain men " that went 

 to the capital were brought there at the instance 

 of Powers and others; that they were to start a 

 riot in the legislative chambers and kill Democrats 

 enough to leave the Republicans in a majority; 

 that this plan was given up, and that it was de- 

 cided instead to have Mr. Goebel shot from the 

 office of the Secretary of .State. Powers admitted 

 that he organized the mountaineers, but said that 

 he brought them to Frankfort to petition the Leg- 

 islature, not to intimidate or to commit crime. 

 On Aug. 18 a verdict of guilty was rendered 

 against Powers, with the punishment fixed at im- 



