Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-05-25
Governor. Mount. OF Indiana.

/ Governor Mount. of Indiana, has refused
to honor requisition from the Governor
| of Kentucky for the extraSiition of Charles
Finley, indicted in the Franklin Circuit
| Court as accessory to the murder of VIII
| liam Goebel This action is not only APP
proved, but applauded by the Indianapolis
! Journal. That there may be no room for
| suspicion as to the facts we follow the
account given in that paper. This account
is headed He Was Prompt" with the
| evident intent to glorify Mount for decid-
| ing the case. without hearing it, in ac-
cordance with an intention already form
ed Detective Holtz. with the Kentucky
officer, went to the Denison Hotel and
found Governor Mount at supper. They
waited. When they received word from
the Governor that he would receive them
in his apartment, the two officers, the
Governors private secretary and a Jour
nal reporter went up. AT this point the
Journal man says: Not word was spo-
ken by any of the four. Every man pres
ent knew that within few moments the
fate of mans life would be decided. and
consequently there was no time for triv-
ialties."
We pause here to admire the candor of
the reporter in admitting that all present
were convinced of the guilt of the accus-
ed, for the conviction of an innocent man
accused of murder is practically impos-
sible in Kentucky. These four men could
therefore have believed that life was
at stake only on the ground that they felt
sure of his guilt. When they reached the
Governor he asked whether Finley was
indicted by grand jury composed of only
one political party. The answer of the
Kentucky officer was that he did not
know. The Governor then said that he
might assume that his information was
correct. Then he retired to his sane
tum" and almost Immediately returned
with a refusal to extradite Finley en-
dorsed on the paper.
The account goes on to say that there
was great excitement over the contest;
that the chairman of the Republican State
committee was Immediately apprised of
the arrest; that two Republican clubs
We're notified; that messenger boys were
sent in every direction; that the corridors
of the Denison Hotel were soon swarm
ing with Finley's friends; attorneys made
their appearance and prepared for writ
of habeas corpus. In short, every agency
of the Republican party of Indiana that
was accessible was put in motion at once
to prevent the surrender of man ac-
cused of the nonpolitical crime of murder
We desire to call attention to the fact
that Gov. Mount acknowledges that ]. c..
w. Beckham is Governor of Kentucky
He made some pretense that the requi-
sition was not entirely regular, but as he
waived this a technicality, he may
fairly be represented as admitting the
regularity of the requisition. Still, he re-
fused to honor it. There was the indict-
ment found by the grand jury duly au-
thentcated. He asked about the politics
of the grand jurors. Was that any bust
ness of Gov. Mount? Recently in the Dis
trict Court of the United States for the
District of Kentucky, when it was alleged
that the jurors were nearly all Republi-
cans, the Judge presiding said that poll
tics had nothing to do with the matter.
This was in a State where nearly all men
who have the qualifications for jurymen
are Democrats. Still it is as competent
to make this objection in the Franklin
Circuit Court as in the Federal Court.
But Gov. Mount undertook to decide this
question for himself. He constituted him
self Judge not merely of the Franklin
1lICull SOuIl VI NSnluChys Uul VI lH0
Court of Appeals as we'll, and decided
that there were not enough Republic
cans on the grand jury, which indicted
Finley, as he had heard, probably from
Finley himself, he ought not to be re-
quired to answer, though Individually
guilty in the opinion of the Governors
private secretary and the reporter of the
Indianapolis Journal. Thus Gov. Mount
has appointed himself the Judicial Joker
Cor Yerker) which takes the Right Bower,
or Chief Justice, of the Kentucky Court
of Appeals. 1t is not clear how the In
diana Yorker gets jurisdiction of a Ken
lucky case, but he has taken it.
If Mount will stick to this We are will
ling to indemnify him. We are willing
to send him all the Kentucky criminals
whom we cannot catch, and especially the
Republican feudists from Clay and other
Republican counties.
Meantime it should be remembered
that there will be an election in Indiana
in November, at which the decent people
of the State will have a chance to give
their opinion of such officials as Mount.
MOUNDSVILLE.