356 



KENTUCKY. 



than in any year except 1893, and is only 18,488 

 tons less than" in any year. The report yet to come 

 in will materially reduce these figures. The great- 

 est hindrance of" the year was the prolonged strike 

 in the Jellico district. It commenced about May 1 

 and continued with most of the mines until late in 

 the fall. There were numerous other hindrances 

 that seriously retarded operations in different sec- 

 tions and prevented a much larger output. Not 

 .Miniating the few missing reports, the State's prod- 

 ucts in 1897 was 3,283,702 tons, 100,284 tons more 

 than in 1896. 



The war in the Philippines, and consequent 

 dearth <>f Manila cordage, will, it is believed, restore 

 prosperity to the hemp industry of Kentucky. 



The figures of the collector of internal revenue 

 for the year ending June 30 give the total amount 

 of whisky in bond in the district as 35,220,735.3 

 . gallons. 



Centenary Celebration. The city of Nicholas- 

 ville and Jessamine County celebrated their hun- 

 dredth anniversary Sept. 16 with a parade, ad- 

 -es, a dinner, and a ball. Excursions from 

 Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, and other cities 

 brought great numbers of visitors, and the proces- 

 >ion which paraded the streets in the forenoon was 

 a mile long. 



Water Ways. Work on Tradewater river is 

 completed, but not permanently, as obstructions 

 formed from drifts need constant removal. 



Appropriations remaining Feb. 1 for work on the 

 rivers were : For completing Green river improve- 

 ments, $15,272.23; Kentucky river, $208,387.87; 

 Cumberland, above Nashville, $124,030; below 

 Nashville, $23,400.55; Louisville and Portland 

 Canal, $70.116.41; falls of the Ohio at Louisville, 

 $269,828.45. 



The Lottery Closed. The Kentucky lottery 

 was closed Jan. 1. Following is an account of the 

 litigation that ended its existence : " During Gov. 

 Blackburn's administration indictments were found 

 against some of the officials and employees, and 

 true bills were drawn up against 140 men connected 

 with the company. When the case came up for 

 trial the attorney for the defense exhibited pardons 

 for every one of the defendants. The company 

 carried the case before the Court of Appeals and 

 gained the decision. Thrice the State tried to take 

 away the company's charter and thrice the Com- 

 monwealth was defeated in the courts. In 1891, 

 after the adoption of the new constitution, quo 

 trarranto proceedings were instituted against the 

 lottery. Judge Toney decided in favor of the com- 

 pany, following a former Appellate Court decision, 

 but the latter tribunal reversed itself and Judge 

 Toney. The company then carried it before the 

 Supreme Court, which recently handed down the 

 final decision, giving the death blow to the Frank- 

 fort lottery." 



The Toll-gate Raids. These continued during 

 the earlier part of the year. In January the State 

 offered of $200 for the apprehension and conviction 

 of each of the mob that raided the toll gates in Nel- 

 son County on the night of the 24th inst. Jan. 28 

 a mob visited the toll gate, near the Fair Grounds, 

 on the Louisville turnpike, and blew up the toll- 

 house with dynamite. Four guards were in charge 

 of the gate, but at the raiders' orders they left the 

 scene. Three gates were destroyed near Shelby- 

 ville, Feb. 4, where, it was said, excessive tolls were 

 collected. There was an encounter near Perryville, 

 in Boyle County, March 20, between raider's and 

 two guards who were on duty at a gate between 

 that town and Harrpdsburg, and both guards were 

 shot; one of them, it was believed, would be crip- 

 pled for life. A dispatch of Aug. 12 said: "The 

 third raid was made last night on the toll gate 



about one mile from town on the Eminence and 

 Mulberry turnpike, the raiders using dynamite with 

 telling effect for the second time." 



Other Lawlessness. A lynching and white-cap 

 raids took place early in the year at Mayfield, and 

 a colored man was taken from jail by" a mob in 

 Russellville, June 25, and hanged. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature convened 

 for its regular session Jan. 4, and adjoined March 

 15. J. C. W. Beckham was chosen Speaker of the 

 House. 



The Governor's message recommended the repeal 

 of the law requiring separate railway coaches for 

 negroes ; the enactment of a law to place the con- 

 trol of the charitable and penal institutions on a 

 nonpartisan basis; amendment of the ballot law to 

 prevent voters from losing their votes through mis- 

 takes ; the abolition of useless offices ; a law to 

 make counties responsible for damage by raiders ; 

 the establishment of a higher standard for admis- 

 sion to the bar ; and a tax of one half a cent for 

 the better equipment of the State militia. 



A resolution calling upon United States Senator 

 Lindsay to resign, on the ground that he no longer 

 represented his party, since he refused to support 

 the Chicago platform, passed the House by a vote 

 of 55 to 35, and the Senate by 25 to 10. Five Demo- 

 crats in the House and one in the Senate voted 

 against the resolution. Mr. Lindsay made a speech 

 in the United States Senate in regard to this reso- 

 lution, in which he said : 



" The substance of the complaint is that I am op- 

 posed to the free and unlimited coinage of silver at 

 the ratio of 16 to 1, and that I opposed the election 

 of the nominees of the late Chicago convention, 

 and by so doing betrayed the trust reposed in me 

 by my constituency. I shall not discuss the presi- 

 dential campaign of 1896. It is not necessary to do 

 so to meet the charges that I betrayed the trust of 

 my constituents by opposing the election of the 

 Chicago nominees. My constituency is made up of 

 the people of Kentucky, and that people voted 

 against these nominees, and 12 out of 13 of the 

 electoral votes of Kentucky were registered against 

 them." 



The most important act of the session, probably, 

 was the election bill introduced by Senator Goebel, 

 for creating a State election commission or board, 

 to be elected by the existing Legislature and to hold 

 office for four years ; this board is to appoint an- 

 nually three commissioners in each county, who in 

 turn shall appoint all the elective and registration 

 officers for their respective counties. If a vacancy 

 occur in the State board when the Legislature is not 

 in session, the other members have power to fill the 

 vacancy. The State board can remove a member of 

 a county board at any time without showing cause. 

 The State board may be all of one party ; but the 

 county board is required to select the officers of 

 elections from the two leading parties; the county 

 board has the power to count the votes and issue 

 election certificates. These certificates will be sent 

 to the State board, whose duty it shall be. " when 

 returns are all in, or on the fourth Monday after 

 the election, whether they are in or not, to make 

 out in the office of the Secretary of State, from the 

 returns made, duplicate certificates in writing over 

 their signatures of the election of those having the 

 highest number of votes, one certificate to be re- 

 tained in the office and the other sent by mail to 

 the person elected." In the event of a tie in an 

 election, the result is to be determined by lot. ac- 

 cording to any plan that the State board may select. 

 The bill makes election contests impossil>l> 

 there is no going behind the returns of county 

 boards. After a long struggle the bill passed the 

 House by a vote of 57 to 42 and also passed the 



