Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-01-31
GoEBEL SHOT.
Continued from page ~

and calling loudly Tor HELM In an in.
slant Whitaker was Surrounded by q
group of men, many of them with
drawn revolvers. He made no attemp,
to escape and submitted quietly TO a
search which was quickly made. the
proceeds being three revolvers and one
big knife.
A quick examination of the reyolvers
showed that none of the cartridges had
been used and there was no powder
smut on any part of his weapons.
proving conclusively that he could not
have used amy of his three revolvers.
In addition to this, all those who heard
| the shots join in the Statement that
they We're fired from rifle and from a
| smaller weapon.
Whitaker was led away and placed
in Jail while a guard was placed at the
outer entrance to keep out all the peo-
Pile who had no direct connection with
the institution. The prisoner is a man
slightly over the medium size with
stndy hair and moustache He was
disposed to take things calmly, al
though he repeated again and again
that he knew nothing whatever about
the shooting.
|
ing" he said, when | heard Gov.
Taylor tell that man Davis, the Capitol
| policeman, to go over at once to see
Gen. Collier. l said | would go with
him and that was where | was going
| wanted to know, too, what the shoot
! ing was about When l stepped out
side that man grabbed me. and that's
all | know, and that's a fact
Few people believe that Whitaker is
guilty of the crime. but the fact that he
was hastily leaving the building from
which the shooting was done was
enough % make trouble for him.
THAT man Davis" to whom Whtta-
ker referred is Col. John Davis, the
custodian of the Capitol grounds. His
story agrees with that Of Whitaker.
II was Just outside Of Gov Taylor's
Office said Col. Davis. when | heard
the shots and heard Coy. Taylor say:
My God. what have they done.
He called to me at once to go over
to the office Of Adjutant Cen. Collier
and Whitaker went along. | am pos
Tive that he could not have done the
shooting We were at the door of the
building in too short a time for that"
AS soon as il was known that the
bullet which struck down Mr. Goebel
come from the building u the east,
group of men gathered in front of the
door on the east side. Others ran
around to the door on the west side
to prevent the escape of anybody from
there.
Several men attempted to enter the
doors from the outside, but We're pre-
vented by mountaineers who stood in
The doorWays. Some of the men had
Winchesters ana presented an aspect
SO uninViting that no attempt was
made to search the building for several
minutes after the shooting ana the as
sassin had ample opportunity To escape.
That the shooting Of Mr.. Goebel was
the result Of a carefully laid plan is
without question. The assassin had
evidently taken his stand at the open
window and waited until his victim
was in full sight before firing.
Ever since the influx Of noun |
tainccrs. last week, large number of |
them have been sleeping in the upper
part OF the State House. 1t is not |
known. however. that any of the men |
did the work or that they had any |
knowledge of the premeditated crime. |
There has not, so far, been discovered !
the slightest direct evidence pointing 70
any man. The man who fired the shots |
his location by using smoke !
less powder cartridges. score Of |
persons We're where they had 4 full |
view of the side of the building from !
which the firing was done and all de- |
clare that not sign of powder smoke |
was visible. Both Chinn and Lillard |
are men of experience in affairs in |
which powder smoke is a feature and |
both declare that while they could tell /
the general direction from which the
bullets came they could not guess at
the spot from which they We're fired.
The Republican state officials and |
of the Legislature denounced
the shooting in the most unmeasured |
terms. Gov. Taylor caused an address
to be published declaring the act to be
a disgrace and an outrage. He at once
ordered Adjutant General Collier to
take steps for the preservation of or
der. Gen. Collier is Republican and
opposed to Mr.. Goebel. He declared
the shooting to be Il most CoWardly af-
fair. Before GOebcl had been lifted
from the ground, Gen. Collier had tel
rphoned to the armory. half Il mile dis
tant, directing the local infantry COM
pany stationed there under Capt. Wal
rott TO proceed to the Capitol grounds,
take possession Of them and the ap-
proaches, allowing nobody to enter
the gates. twenty-five minutes after
the shooting Capt. Wolcott and his men
We're at the Capitol building.
Orders We're issued to outside COM
panies throughout the state to make
ready at once to come to Frankfort,
the entire state guard being called in
20 service. 1t was feared that the
news of the shooting would so inflame
the Democrats that they would come to
Frankfort in sWarms: while the noun
would lose no time in coming
to the Capitol to uphold their party.
Gen. Collier declared that the troops
would preserve order on both sides.
The excitement among the followers
of Mr. Goebel was great and for time
there was danger that some hottie ads
would seek vengeance upon their politi-
cal enemies. Threats We're made
against Republican leaders and and at
tornies, but the leading Democratic
members of the House and Senate soon
brought them to calmer talks.
AS news of the shooting spread, men
began to pour toward the Capitol grounds
from all sides. one throng being led by
I ~, 6ro,,ap ma nf whom c1 1-yia1 a Min 7