The age-herald., 1900-03-12
Becham Appoints an Assistant Addant General and Dem-
 Ouatc Military Company is Organized
ture left the city today, presumably for their homes.
GOVERNOR TAYLOR
 MAKES A STATEMENT
He Says the Men Under Arrest Are lnno- cent, and He Issued the Pardons to
 Prevent Heinous Crime.

Louisville, Ky. March 11.-According to | a statement made by Governor W. s. Tay- | Tor tonight to representative of the Com | anercial, he has granted a pardon to each | of the persons for whom warrants have | peen issued charging them with being ac- | cessores to the assassination of Governor | Goebel including Secretary of State Caleb | Powers and ex-Secretary of State Charles l Finley. In this statement Governor Tay- | Tor recites the conditions under which he claims to have been elected and charges the democratic contestants for state offices | with conspiracy to secure control of the 1 government. He ontinues:
 Notwithstanding these conspirators were
 defeated at the polls as to the state offices, | they succeeded in securing majority in
 ach of the two houses of the general | assembly and in retaining in power the | state canvassing and counting machine While many democratic members were honestly elected, yet others were elected | by the manipulation of dishonest precinct | officers and county canvassing boards be- | fore and during the election and then after | the election by a system of counting in | and counting out until the majority afore- | said was obtained As thus constituted, | the general assembly and canvassing board | has decided the will of the people as ex- | pressed at the polls shall be set aside. It | is needless to say that such conspiracies | as these almost invariably produce revolu- | tion, because free people will not will ingly be deprived of their right of suf- | frage, or consent that the minority instead of the majority shall rule.
 | Conspiracy Formed
 Pending this unfortunate struggle the | Hon. William Goebel, the contestant for
 the office of governor, was assassinased by
 some person whose identity is unknown. Tbereupon a conspiracy was formed to
 Hasten this hebnous crime upon all or some
 of the state officers elected by the people, the purpose being to obscure and cover
 the political robbery and to terrorize and destroy all opposition In order to carry
 out this foul conspiracy they procured an
 act appropriating $10O0OO ostensiby for the purpose of detecting the criminals, and
 nave employed a lawyer whose course In
 the criminal practice in Cincinnati was so
 odious as to cause a riot, resulting in the
 destruction of the court house and the loss of over forty lives.
 Following this employ of the Cfncan- natl Enquirer has made affidavits charging that Hon. Caleb Powers secretary of state: his brother John Powers, a captain of a company of state militia; w. H. Culton. A clerk in the auditors office; Hon. Charles Fdn1ay, ex-secretary of state, and Captain
 John w. Davis, policeman of the state
 house grounds, conspired, aided and assist ed in said assassina ton. Warrants were
 Issued and said w. H. Cu1ton was during the night of March 9, taken from his home
 where his wife and child were sick and in-
 carcerated in the county jail without bail or being given an opportunity to secure bal. on the day of said assassination Harland Whitaker, whose residence Is in Butler l county Kentucky, was arrested and charg- ed with said crime and assassnat ton and
 was placed in jail and kept confined without trial for over one month in defiance of the provisions of law requiring a speedy exam inLng trial and that person charged with crime shall be brought out every two days. Upon the trial he was held over without bail, notwithstanding there was absolutely
 no evidence introduced showing his guilt. Courts Have Become Partisan "For some cause, or without cause, our
 courts, composed almost entirely of demo-
 
 it is practically, If not absolutely impossible for any man not of their persuasion to oo- tain fair trial As organized the courts
 are courts of conviction Instead of courts of trial.
 Under this state of affairs, believing that each one of said persons is innocent of | any complicity in said crime, and further l believing that the enormous reward will | secure the conviction of these men, however | innocent, I deemed 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 or life. The | guilty men should be punished; but design | ing men controlling the courts should not be | enabled to shed Ithe blood of innocent men, | and if it is in my power to prevent it. I | pledge myself in the name of God and | humanity that it shall be done."