KENTUCKY. 



409 



After the election, Nov. 7, a Louisville paper 

 said: "Following closely upon a series of .whole- 

 sale murders in the State's ' feud district,' where 

 a man's life is not safe, we are now shown the 

 sickening spectacle of 15 American citizens mur- 

 dered outright at the polls while attempting to 

 exercise their right of suffrage. That number 

 were instantly killed in election rows and riots 

 in different parts of the State, and the news comes 

 that a dozen more are likely to die." 



On Dec. 6 a young negro, Richard Coleman, 

 the confessed murderer of the wife of his em- 

 ployer, was burned at the stake in Maysville, 

 after suffering frightful torture at the hands of 

 a mob.- The report said the husband and the 

 brother of his victim fired the pile of wood and 

 kept up the fire, and that none of the crowd was 

 masked, the lynching having taken place in day- 

 light. 



The Kentucky Monument at Chickamauga. 

 This was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies 

 on May 3. In accepting the monument and trans- 

 ferring it to the Government Gov. Bradley made 

 an address, in which he said : " This shaft is 

 dedicated not alone to those who died on this 

 and surrounding fields, but to the gallant sur- 

 vivors who, when the frowning clouds of war 

 were dispelled by the bright sunshine of peace, 

 returned to their homes to repair broken for- 

 tunes and are to-day numbered among the best 

 and most distinguished sons of the Common- 

 wealth. Kentucky has evinced no partiality in 

 this evidence of loving remembrance. It carries 

 with it no heartburning, no jealousy, no invidi- 

 ous distinction. It is not an emblem of honor 

 to the victor and reproach to the vanquished, 

 but an equal tribute to the worth of all." 



Political. The campaign for the election of 

 State officers this year was the bitterest prob- 

 ably in the history of the State, and, although 

 the Republican candidates were declared elected 

 on count of the returns, and were inaugurated, 

 contests were entered, on the claim that fraud 

 had been used, which were still unsettled far into 

 the year 1900, after the excitement of the cam- 

 paign and the subsequent struggles had cul- 

 minated in the tragic death of Senator Goebel, 

 the candidate of the Democratic party. 



The Democratic convention was held in Louis- 

 ville in June. The contest between the partisans 

 of William Goebel and those opposed to his can- 

 didacy was long and determined. A permanent 

 organization was not effected until the third or 

 fourth day, and the nomination for Governor was 

 not made until the sixth day. The principal can- 

 didates w r ere William Goebel, ex-Gov. P. Wat 

 Hardin, and William J. Stone. After many bal- 

 lots had been taken Senator Goebel succeeded 

 in securing the adoption of a resolution, declar- 

 ing that after the twenty-fifth ballot and each 

 one following the candidate showing the least 

 strength should be dropped. This resulted in 

 the elimination of Mr. Stone's name, and on the 

 twenty-sixth ballot, June 27, Goebel was nomi- 

 nated by 560A, against 530 for Hardin. The 

 completed ticket was: For Governor, William 

 Goebel ; Lieutenant Governor, J. O. W. Beckham ; 

 Secretary of State, Breck Hill ; Attorney-General, 

 R. J. Breckenridge ; Treasurer, S. W. Haeger; 

 Auditor, Gus Coulter; Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture, J. B. Nail ; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, H. V. McChesney. 



The platform reaffirmed the principles of the 

 party as formulated at Chicago in 1896, favored 

 the nomination of William J. Bryan and the 

 election of J. S. C. Blackburn to the United States 

 Senate, and approved the Cuban war, but de- 



nounced the Philippine policy of the Administra- 

 tion. Further the resolutions said: 



" We call attention to the incornpetency of the 

 present Republican administration in Kentucky; 

 to the abuses and scandals in the management 

 of penitentiaries and asylums while under Re- 

 publican control, and we commend the wisdom 

 of the last General Assembly of Kentucky in the 

 enactment of laws which secure the wise and 

 economical administration of the penitentiaries 

 and other public institutions of the State under 

 Democratic control; to the increase in the rate 

 of taxation; to the vetoing of all Democratic 

 legislation favorable to the interests of the peo- 

 ple and hostile to the oppressions and extortions 

 of organized wealth. We declare that after four 

 years of trial it is well established that the Re- 

 publican administration is incapable of uphold- 

 ing and maintaining the laws and of preserving 

 peace and order in the Commonwealth, and we 

 especially condemn the present Republican Gov- 

 ernor for surrounding the State capital with the 

 military arm of the government in time of pro- 

 found peace, thus attempting to influence and 

 terrorize the General Assembly, pending the elec- 

 tion of a United States Senator. 



" We indorse the amendment to the State elec- 

 tion law passed by the last Democratic General 

 Assembly of Kentucky over the veto of a Repub- 

 lican Governor. We declare the amendment to 

 be in the interest of fair and honest elections." 



A conference was called of the Democrats op- 

 posed to Goebel for the purpose of organizing 

 the opposition. It met at Lexington, Aug. 2, and 

 called a State convention, which assembled there 

 Aug. 16. The resolutions that were adopted de- 

 clare the Louisville nominees not nominees of 

 the Democratic party; demand the enactment of 

 a law giving force and effect to section 151 of 

 the State Constitution, which provides for depri- 

 vation of office of any person who to secure his 

 nomination or election has been guilty of the 

 unlawful use of money or other things of value, 

 or has been guilty of fraud or intimidation, 

 bribery or corrupt practice; approve the prin- 

 ciples and platform of the Chicago convention 

 of 1896, and Bryan for President in 1900; de- 

 nounce the Goebel election law; favor the regu- 

 lation of railroads so as to prevent extortion; 

 demand the abolishment of the Chinn book bill; 

 and condemn President McKinley for alleged ad- 

 vancement of the trusts. 



The party was called " The Honest-election 

 Democratic party," and the ticket was: For Gov- 

 ernor, John Young Brown; Lieutenant Governor, 

 P. P. Johnston; Secretary of State, E. L. Hines; 

 Attorney-General, Lawrence E. Tanner; Treas- 

 urer, John Droege; Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 G. W. Vandevere; Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, Rev. E. C. Overstreet; Auditor, Frank 

 A. Pasteur. 



The Republican State Convention was held in 

 Lexington, July 12-14. Candidates for the guber- 

 natorial nomination were Attorney-General W. S. 

 Taylor, Auditor Samuel H. Stone, and Judge Clif- 

 ton J. Pratt. The two latter withdrew, and Tay- 

 lor was nominated by acclamation. 



The ticket was : For Governor, William S. Tay- 

 lor; Lieutenant Governor, John Marshall; Secre- 

 tary of State, Caleb Powers; Attorney-General, 

 Clifton J. Pratt; Auditor, John S. Sweeney; 

 Treasurer, Walter R. Day: Superintendent of In- 

 struction, John Burke; Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture, J. W. Throckmorton. Candidates for Rail- 

 road Commissioners were H. S. Irwin and John 

 C. Wood in two of the districts. In the First 

 District the Republicans made no nomination. 



