Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-03-15
The KENTUCKY SITUATION.

Despite USurper IaylOrS eHorC W
use the militia to prevent the police
from arresting anyone in connection
with the murder of Gov. Goebel, there
have up to date been seven men ar
rested and warrants are out for two
others, Charles Finley and John L..
Powers. Those arrested are Holland
Whitaker, of Butler county; Caleb
Powers, of Knox county; w. H. Gull
ton, of Jackson county; John Davis, Of
Jefferson county; ]. L. Sutton, OF
Whitley county; Silas Jones, of Whit
ley county, and w. L. Hazlipp, of Bar
rem county. OF these, Sutton and
Jones are out on bond.
Taylor still defies the law, the Leg
islature and the courts and, declaring
that he is the lawful governor and
that there is no such thing as justice
in the Kentucky Legislature or the
courts, states his intention Of hold
ing onto the office Of governor by
force.
1t is a question whether Taylor's
case is one for the courts and the
military or the alienists. Abandoned
by the. administration at Washington,
by the States Republican Senator, Mr..
Deboe, who has warned Taylor of the
consequences of his madness, and de-
serted by the enlightened element Of
the Republican party in Kentucky, it
would seem that the question of Tay-
lor's sanity is raised by his persis-
tence in flying in the face of civilized
usage and government. His astound-
ing action in preventing the police
from arresting persons suspected of
Gov. Goebel's murder, hiding the sus-
poets in the executive office and snug
Cling them out of Frankfort with
"pardons" already made out by Tay-
lor as governor" certainly justify
the suspicion that all is not sound in
Taylor's mental department.
In one of his latest addresses
Taylor declares that "our courts, COM
posed almost entirely of Democratic
judges, have become so partisan that
it is practically, if not absolutely, i'm
possible for any man not of their per-
suasion to obtain fair trial AS or
ganized, the courts are courts of con-
viction instead of courts of trial. I'm
der this state of affairs, believing that
each one of said persons is innocent Of
any completely in said crime, and fur
Their believing that the enormous re-
ward will secure the conviction of
these men, however innocent, l deem
ed it my solemn duty to issue pardons
to them in order that these political
conspirators might not be enabled to
deprive them of their liberty and life
All this may or may not be true,'
says Editor Watterson, commenting
on Taylors utterance, "but Mr.. Taylor
is no more the judge of it than any
other private citizen of the State. His
references to the election and the con-
test proceedings are entirely irrele-
want. The only legal authorities COM
petent to act on his case have decided
that he is not Governor The courts
may or may not be partisan, but he
has submitted his claims to them
and in every instance where court,
as well as the Legislature, has acted,
it has been against him. The Legis-
lature, invested by law with authority
to pass upon his title to the office, has
said that it is void. The court to
which an attempt to appeal the case
was made has said that the Legisla-
ture is supreme and that the courts
have no jurisdiction. Mr.. Taylor,
therefore, has no standing in law and
can not issue pardons, however willing
he may be to do so in advance of trial
and in ignorance of whatever evidence
on which warrants may have been
taken out. His recent actions and his
address are accordingly without any
effect, except to make himself further
ridiculous.
THE Democrats should proceed in
the future. as they have in past, !"
adds our Kentucky cont porary,
strictly ztein thsN law, no