Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-08-03
powers ON THE STAND,
Defendant in the Coebel Murder
Case Attempts to Disprove the
Charges Against Him.
aoUn1AIMEeRs NOT lAwLess MEN.
they Were Taken tO Frankfort, Powers
Says, to Petition tho LegislAeure and
Prevent Republicans from Being Forci-
bly, Elected from 0mce-PoWers' Ateor-
0ey Says Prosecution Ka0Ws Assassin.

GeOrgetOWn, n.y., July Slime tr1aB
OF Caleb Powers, charged with being
an accessory before the fact to the
murder of william Goebel, was re-
sumed at nine o'clock. The jury was
polled and then excluded, during
which Gov. Brown, for the defense,
made motion for peremptory in
structions for verdict of acquittal.
The motion was submitted without
argument and was promptly overruled
by the court.
Lawyer Faulkner, of Barbourville
stated the case, giving the line of evi-
dence for the defense. He reviewed
the political events OF, the last nine
months and said the defense would
show that the contests over the state
Offices were not tried ON judicial lines,
but on a partisan basis and that pol
tiles were responsible for the present
prosecutions. He intimated that the
prosecution knows the identity of the
assassin but has concealed him. He
said that it would be admitted that
Caleb Powers and Charles Finley or
ganized and brought to Frankfort the
crowd of mountain men who arrived
there January 25, but this was only to
date that body. He claimed that it
would be shown that the men who
composed the mountain army were
not bad characters as charged by the
other side, and he charged also that
the democrats at that time had large
bodies of men in Frankfort to back
up the contestants.
He said Powers had in his pocket at
the time of the killing the keys to his
Office which the prosecution. alleges
had been given to Youtsey, that Pow
ers never even conferred with Yout-
sey, Berry, Howard Jim Howard,
Green Golden or Dick Combs and that
Jim Howard was not on the capitol
grounds till after the killing. 1t would
be proved, he claimed, that the wit
ness Weaver, one of the main wit
nesses for the prosecution, was never
in Frankfort till yesterday, that Fin
ley Anderson and Robert Noakes tes-
titled for, money, and W. III. Cufton
in the hope of obtaining immunity
from prosecution and that Wharton
Golden would also be SUCCESSFULLY con-
<tradicted.
The defendant, Caleb Powers, took
the witness stand. Witness never
knew Jim Howard, Harland Whitaker
or Richard Combs, three of the de-
PENDANTS, prior to the assassination
In regard to the bringing of the noun
taineers to Frankfort, the witness
said:
There were three crowds of men
brought to Frankfort and I had some
thing to do with the organization of each.
The purpose was to show the interest of
these people in the matters at. issue at
that time and not to intimidate either the
state election board the legislature
instructed the men to do no acts of yio-
lence, and far I know none was
committed by them. The last crowd of
men were brought for a double purpose.
We expected to them witnesses
before the contest board and also to show
by their presence the interest they felt
in the contests. We also had heard ru-
mors that we were to be forcfbly
elected from the offices. These rumors
I based on newspaper reports and we in
tended to resist violence.