Omaha daily bee., 1900-02-11
LAW TO DECIDE IN KENTUCKY
While Refusing to Sign Louisville Agree.
ment Taylor Orders Troops Home.
SoLoNS TO REC0NVeNE AT FRANKFORT
Governor Has Determined to ALLOW
the Courts to settle the Entire
Observation-Disclosures
IL Issued.

Is Issued.
FRANKFORT, ky, Feb. 1O.-"G have only
this to say: After mature deliberation and
conference with my friends from every sec
ton OF the state, | have concluded to allow
the controversy to take its due course, Wig
orously contesting every inch Of ground and
unfolding the rights Of the people to the
uttermcst. If their rights be destroyed, the
responsibility for that destruction must rest
with those who sit in judgment.
ut is due to say that the eminent gem
tlemen, my friends, who secured the propo-
~sitions resulting from the Louisville confer
ence, acted in perfect good faith, from the
highest motives of patriotism, and did the
very best they could.
WILLIAM S. TAYLOR,
Governor Of Kentucky"
The foregoing proclamation was issued by
Governor Taylor tonight and according to
his oral statement at the time of its issu-
ance embodies all he desires to say concern
ing his position at the present time.
The decision not to sign the Louisville
agreement was reached by Governor Taylor
a few minutes after 1 O'Clock this afternoon.
For over two hours he had been in confer
ence with fully $50 prominent republicans
from all parts of the state, including county
committeeman and four republican members
of the legislature. The meeting was secret
in the extreme, all those who came from
the hall before Governor Taylor himself re-
fusing TO say anything concerning the prog
ress of the deliberations Judge Denny pre-
sided and l.. +. Petty acted as secretary.
The members of the conference with the
exception of Governor Taylor gathered in
the legislative hall usually occupied by the
state house OF representatives. After the
hall was filled Governor TAYLOR entered and
was greeted with a ringing burst of cheers.
The door was then closed and the secret
proceedings begun.
nut Two Courses to Pursue.
Governor Taylor stated to the conference
that there were two courses to be pursued.
First, to sign the Louisville agreement; the
second, to quietly withdraw the troops, al
low the legislature to reconvene in the
capitol building in Frankfort, to call off
the session now being held at London and
to ignore the Louisville agreement entirely.
Several speeches were made and it was soon
apparent that the sentiment of the gather
ing was very strongly in favor of the sec
ond course, and this was adopted. This ac-
ton was decided upon at l o'clock and the
first information of the decision was given
to the outside world by Governor Taylor
himself. He came rapidly through the doors
unattended and looking nervous and bag
gard. He walked hastily toward the cap
itol stairway, repeating several times to the
newspaper men who stood in the hall:
II don't sign" 81 don't sign!" Il don't
sign!"
From the capitol he passed to the ex-
ecutive building, where he at once made up
and signed the following proclamation, re-
converting the legislature at Frankfort:
FRANKFORT, Ky, Feb. 10.-The excite
ment recently prevailing in this city hav-
ing to some extent subsidized and there APP
pearing now to be no necessity for the gem
eral assembly to remain in session in Lon
don, I do hereby by this proclamation re-
convene same in Frankfort, Ky, February
W. S. TAYLOR,
Governor of Kentucky.
Orders were at once issued to General Col
lier to prepare for the departure Of the
troops, and in a very short time a large
number of them were ready to leave. Six
companies left tonight, more will leave to-
morrow and only a mall detachment will
remain by Monday morning. These will be
retained only as a peace guard and will in
no way be obtruded upon the presence of
the legislature.
Word was at once sent to the members of
the republican legislature now in session
80 ASSh'Sh NAeN - "N"S 'N'fN ~
in Frankfort, and a prompt reply was re-
ceived to the effect that they would all leave
in a body on Sunday and be in Frankfort
Monday morning in ample time for bust
ness. After Governor Taylor had left the
hall a resolution embodying the sense of
the meeting was adopted.
Democrats Are Inconsistent.
When informed of the action of the demo-
cratic legislature at Louisville in refusing
to come to Frankfort, Governor Taylor said:
1T strikes me that their attitude is some
what inconsistent. They claim they cannot
be protected at Frankfort and there is no
body here to modest them. They objected
to the presence of troops at a time when
there was far greater excitement and danger
than now. After things have quoted down
they refuse to return because they say they
cannot be guaranteed protection"
The action of Governor Taylor today re-
turns the gubernatorial fight to the exact
position it occupied on the day following the
Goebel assassination, with the additional
complication that there was but one legisla-
ture and one governor in fact, whereas there
are now two claimants for the position and
two separate bodies, each claiming to be the
lawmaking power of Kentucky.
To Stay Mt Louisville Awhile.
LOUISVILLE, KY, Feb. 1O.-The collapse
of the peace negotiations through Governor
Taylor's rejection CT the Louisville agree
ment and the ~latter's action in calling off
the London legislature and partially with
drawing the troops have left the fight over
the state officers Invested OF many of Its
warlike features but in a worse legal tangle
than ever.
The receipt Of news from Frankfort this
afternoon was followed Immediately by a
gathering of the democratic leaders at the
Willard hotel. At this conference were SEN
ator Blackburn, Governor Beckham, General
Castlemau, President Carter. Speaker Trim
BILE and others. At its conclusion Governor
Beckham sent to the Legislature a message
reciting the failure of the peace negotiations
and the conditions existing at Frankfort as
seen by him and recommending that the
legislature continue its sessions in Louisville
as he could not guarantee their personal
security nor protect them from unwar-
ranted interference at Frankfort. Acting
upon this suggestion, the legislature decided
to remain in Louisville for the present and
adjourned to meet at the court house Monday
at noon.
II is probable n iOint resolution. which