Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-07-31

1
Killed GoebeI, but is Hiding the
Mans Identity.
GEORGETOWN, KY, July Sex
Secretary of State Caleb Powers took
the stand in his own behalf to-day. but
did not complete his testimony on d.
rect examination. He probably will
be on the stand all day tomorrow.
Powers admitted that he organized the
body of mountaineers who went 10
Frankfort on several occasions last
winter. but declared this was done for
influence with the State contest board
and the legislature-not for the pur-
pose of intimidation. The defendant
entered a denial OF the charges made
against him by Culton. Golden. Noakes
and other witnesses, He denied that
Henry Youtsey had the keys to his Of
! flee on the day of the assassination,
| but said that there We're two keys to
| the office, one OF which was in the
| possession of former assistant Secretary
OF State, w. j. Davidson. and another
in the possession of Ben Rowe, Cover
nor Taylor's colored porter Powers
says neither of these keys were ever
in his possession, and that he had his
own key in his pocket in Louisville the
! day of the assassination.
| Davidson is supposed to be in the
State of Washington and Rowe, the
colored porter, is said to be in Ander-
son, Ind.
The defense opened its side of
the case with motion for per-
emptory instructions for a YER
dict of acquittal. The motion was sub
mitted without argument and was
promptly overruled by the court.
Attorney Faulkner stated the case
for the defense. He said the defensa
will show that the contests over the
state officers We're not tried on juSicial
lines, but on a partisan basis, and
that politics was responsible for the
present prosecution. He intimated
that the prosecution knows the iden-
tity of the assassin, but has concealed
him. II will be admitted, he said, that
Caleb Powers and Chas. Finley organ
lied and brought TO Frankfort the
crowd of mountain men who arrived
there January -. but that this was
only to petition the Legislature and not
/ 20 intimidate that body. ne declared
/ that the men who composed the noun
tain army were not bad characters, as
charged by the other side. and he
charged also that the Democrats 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 kcyz Of His office,
which the prosecution alleges had been
given 10 Youtsey: that Powers never
even conferred with Youtsey. Berry
| Howard. Jim Howard. Green Golden or
Dick Combs. and that Jim Howard was
not on the capitol grounds until after
the killing. II would be proved. he
| claimed. that Weaver, one of the main
witnesses for the prosecution, was
never in Frankfort until yesterday;
that Finley. Anderson and Robert
Noakes testified for money, and w. II.
Culton, in the hope Of obtaining Inn
munity from prosecution. and that
Wharton Golden's evidence viii be
successfully contradicted.
The defendant, Caleb Powers, took
| the witness stand. He declared he
never knew Jim Howard. Harland
Whitaker, or Richard Combs, three Of
the defendants. prior to the assassin
alton. He had only known Youtsey
since January /.
In regard to the bringing OF the
mountaineers to Frankfort, witness
said:
There were three crowds Of men
/ brought to Frankfort, and / had some
thing 10 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 intlmidato
/ either the State election board or the
legislature. | instructed the men to
do no acts of violence, and, so far az
| i know, none was committed by
/ them"
Powers continued:
| The last crowd OF men was
! Drought TOT GouDie purpose. we ex-
pected TO use them as Witnesses before
| the contest board and also to show by
/ their presence the interest they felt
/ in the contests We also had heard
| rumors that we were TO be forcibIy
| elected from the Offices. These ra-
rnors. based on newspaper reports,
| and we intended TO resist violence"
Mr. Bradley. Of counsel for the
! prosecution objected to this statement
| and asked that II be excluded on the
/ ground that newspaper reports could
\ not be given in evidence. The eourt
| ruled that II was incompetent for tho
/ witness TO detail newspaper reports
or tell Of apprehensions which M
| based on common rumor Witness
said he had received a report that the
1 contestant for Secretary Of State.
/ would not wait until the contests were
1 settled in court but would try to take
forcible possession soon as the con-
! test board acted. IF that sort OF
thing had been attempted" he said,
we intended
To Hold the omces.
I had a conference with Coy. TAYLOR
and he advised the bringing OF large
body Of men to show their interest In
| political affairs. He also advised that