Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-03-24


r. Ramsey. R. C. Kinkead and j. c.
Sims. attorneys Of the defense, ar
ried.
Judge Moore convened his court at
10 o'clock.
The prisoners, Republican Secretary
of State Caleb Powers, w. H. Culton
and John Davis, were brought into the
court room and took seats by their
counsel. The commonwealth witness
es were called, numbering forty. The
name of Sergeant Golden was not in
the list.
At the conclusion of the call of COM
monwealth witnesses County Attorney
Polsgrove announced that he was
ready for the trial in the case.
Ex-Gov. Brown read the warrant
against Powers, charging him with be-
I ing IN accessory to the murder of
VIM. Goebel and asked dismissal of the
defendant on the ground that the war
rant was fatally defectivein not alleg-
ing that the crime was committed in
Franklin county and did not ever show
the effense to have been committed in
Kentucky. Judge Moore overruled the
| objection to the form of the warrant.
Judge Denny and w. G. Dunlap, of
Lexington, were added to the counsel
for the defense, which announced its
| readiness to proceed and called Aug
ust Muninger, a Covington Undertaken,
as the first witness. He did not an
swer and an attachment for him vas
issued by the court. Witnesses in the
room were ordered to retire and were
admonished not to talk to anybody.
THE TESTIMONY.
Eph Lillard, warden of the Frank
fort penitentiary, was the first witness
sworn. He testified that he was with
Senator Goebel when the latter was
shot. He walked ahead of Senator
Goebel and was just entering the State
House when the shot vas fired. He
turned back from the State House
steps and saw what happened. He
looked toward the executive building
and saw that the second window of
the corner room was slightly raised.
This was the Office of the Secretary of
State. He thought the shot had been
fred from this room. There were sew
eral other shots, but, he said, they did
not come from the same place. The
first shot was evidently from a rifle
while the others seemed to be from
pistols.
On cross-examination, Col. Lillard
said he saw nobody in the room from
which the shots seemed to have been
fired, and he did not see any one in
the main door or on the steps of the
building at the time of the shooting.
Policeman Wingate Thompson testi-
fed that as the crowd was carrying
Senator Goebel out of the yard, he
saw armed men at the entrance to the
executive building and recognized John
Davis and Berry Howard among them.
Detective Armstrong. of Louisville.
said that Secretary Powers refused to
tell him who was in the Office of the
Secretary of State at the time OF the
shooting, and declined to say who was
in charge but said that he (Powers)
was out of the city that day. At noon
court adjourned until 1870.
When court reconvened at lao p.
m, Attorney Sims demanded that the
Commonwealth furnish the defense
the names of witnesses yet to be heard,
whether they hive been subpoenaed
or not. Judge Moore finally ruled that
the Commonwealth must produce the
list, and County Attorney P~olsgrove
then gave the names of Charles Fin
ley, Jim and Berry Howard, John Bow
ers. Sid Barker, f. Wharton Golden
and DR.. w. R. Johnson as probably
witnesses.
Capt. ]. F. Hawn, of B~arbourville,
testified to a conversation with Pow
ers at Barbourville previous to the
shooting, in which Powers asked him
to turn over his ammunition and COM
pany to Lieut.. Gibson. Previously
Hawn had told Powers he was not in
political sympathy with him.
Secretary Powers said, They are
robbing us at Frankfort continued
Capt. Hawn, "but he did not say why
he wanted the militia company at
Frankfort"
During Capt. Hawn's testimony, Gov.
Brown made the point that a man
can not be convicted as an alder of a
crime unless some principal is con-
victed of the crime. AS the actual
murderer of Goebel has not yet been
named, the point possibly involved the
liberty of Secretary Powers. Judge
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