Daily inter mountain., 1900-03-12
Why He PardOned All OF
The Suspects.
CONDITIONS THAT EXIST
Would Not Have Given The Accused a
Chance to Prove Their Innocence
Courts Could Not Be DEPENDED
Upon to Do Justice.

rou;sville Ky March u.-Accofolhs
- s+.tement made by Governor W. >.
Taylor tonight to represe".ae''- -
.,ss Co,,mercial. he has granted par
don to each of the persons 1oi VIM
warrants have been lssueo Clio e-e
them with being accessories TO tlie asses
sination OF Governor Goeoel' lhciuai'is
secretary of State Caleb Powers anu eN
Secretary Finley. In his statement "o'
ar,or rrav,or recites the condltloiis "ii
dar which he claims to have oeeh eie'
al and charges the democratic con'es
.n,s for state offices with conspiracy ~
s.c,,a control of the government
1a continues: Notwithstanding THESE
,,.n;rators we're defeated at the poliS'
,s 70 state officers they succeeded III Sc
,,,.;,, q majority in each OF the wv
,a,,,os Of the general assembly anu III
retaining in power tiie s'"'e
and counting machine.
..While many democratic members
,,,ar, honestly elected, yet others were
e,ac.aa hv the manipulation OF dishoh-
~ ,,ra.inct officers and county cam
,.ass;ne boards before and during the
election and then after the eiest,on ~, uy
a system of counting III ana countlns oue
,,ntiI the majority aforesaid was optalH-
ad AS thus constituted the general as
sen,blv and canvassing board have de-
clared that the willof the people as eH-
pressed at the polls shall be sci asiue. ~
as This almost inevitably produces feVo
lntion because free people Will not
willingly deprived of their lgnt TO
suffrage or consent that the minority IN
stead of the majority shall rule.
pending this unfortunate struggle, the
Cnohal the contestant fOr CH0
office of governor, was assassinated py
some person whose identity is unknown
Thereupon conspiracy was formed 10
fasten this heinouS crime upon all or
some of the state officers elected py the
neopIe the purpose being to obscure ana
cover the political robbery and to terror
ize and destroy all opposition. In order
to carry out this foul conspiracy they
procured an act appropriating $lOO,0Oo os-
tensbly for the purpose OF detecting the
criminals and employed a lawyer whose
course in the criminal practice in Cincin-
natl was so odious as to cause a riot re-
sultng in the destruction of the court
house and the loss of over 40 lives.
Following this an employe of the
Cincinnati Enquirer has made affidavits
charging that Hon. Caleb Powers, secre-
tary Of the state: his brother, John Pow
ers captain of = company OF state mill
tia ". H. Coulton. clerk in the audit
ors eff e, Hon. Charles Finley, ex-sec-
Wis polio man of the state house grounds
conspired, aided and assisted in said as
sassnation. Warrants were issued and
said Nv. H. Coulton was, during the night
of March .. taken from his home, where
his wife and children We're sick, and in
carce,ated in the county jail-Withou1
bail or without being given al opportun
ity to secure bail. On the day of sale
ass ssination, Holland Whitaker, whose
residence is in Butler county, KY, wa:
arrested and charged with said crime
and assassination and was placed in jai
and kept confined without trial for Owe
one month in defiance of the provisions
of law requiring speedy examining
trial and that person charged will
crime shall be brought out every tw,
days. Upon the trial he was held owe
without bail. Notwithstanding there wa
absolutely no evidence introduced show
ing his guilt. For some cause. or with
out cause, our courts. composed almos
entirely of democratic judges, have be
come so partisan that it is practically.
not absolutely, impossible for any ma
not of their persuasion to obtain a fai
trial. AS organized the courts are court
of conviction instead of courts of trial.
Under this state of affairs, believin
that each of said persons is innocen
of any completely in said crime an
further believing that the enormous re
ward will secure the conviction of thes
men, however innocent, I deemed
my solemn duty to issue pardons
them in order that these political cor
spirators might not be enabled to de
prive them of their liberty or life. TIL
guilty men should be punished, b,
desi igning men controlling the court
should not be enabled to shed the bloc
of innocent men and If it is in my powt
name of God ana humanity, that it sha
not be dOne.o