The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-09-28
LrsTICE IN KENTnCKY.

The conviction of the man Howard,
charged with the murder of Gov. Goebel,
of Kentucky, is strong indication Of
the intensity with which the public opin-
ion and the public authority of that state
have regarded the Undertaking of bring
ing the perpetrators Of that rufianly and
bloody crime to justice.
So far as there has been any intelligent
discussion Of this infamous transaction,
it has unhappily been cast along party
political lines. Sane and ordinarily hon
orable men, holding respons,&se positions
as editors Of public journals; leading pub
lie characters, as far removed in their
moral disposition from federation Of the
criminal purposes which.-were so openly
resorted to by the followers of the man
Taylor; individuals in private life who,
under other circumstances, could have
been relied on to aid in bringing the per-
petrators of such revolving crime to
justice, have been heard during the past
year even extolling the eonspirators
whose work has wrought such enduring
disgrace upon the state of kentucky.
Not only palliat and excuse have
found responsible expression, but senti-
ments of actual commentator have ap-
peared in print in Republican papers.
Happily the state of feeling which
could produce such results has now pass
ed away, and men of all lines of political
opinion are united in commendation of
the movement which has prevailed for
the punishment of the murderers. There
will always remain more or less question
as to the convincing character and extent
of the evidence on which the convictions
have been obtained. But in each case
thus far tried the makeup of the jury
can have left no doubt that political feet
ing played no part whatever in the re-
suit.
All efforts Oh the part of those who do
not reside in Kentucky or who have not
followed the evidence closely to pass upon
the right or wrong of the yerdicts in
those cases must necessarily be imperfect.
We can all safely leave the results to
the conscience of those charged with the
administration of criminal justice in
Kentucky, and remain assured that what
ever question may be raised as to the
propriety OF all the efforts put forward
to secure the punishment of the murder
ers, the two bodies of jurors who have
decreed those men guilty have done so
with a thorough understanding of the
obligations of their respective oaths and
a grave sense of the awful duty they
performed when their verdicts were rem
dered
All law-abiding men will entertain the
hope that the state authorities of Ken
lucky will not stop until they have hunt
ed the murderers of Gov. Goehel to the
penitentiary or to the scaffold, as the ex-
tent of their participation in the cow
ardly deed may merit. But state author
ity will not be justified in stopping there
The thirst for blood, the lawless disposi-
ton which has been shown to prevail in
Kentucky and the readiness to resort to
deadly weapons in the settlement of pub
lie and private controversy, which has so
long been a characteristic of Southern So
ciety must be brought to an end through
the agencies Of public opinion and public
authority in that state if those who have
been entrusted with control of its affairs
hope to show themselves substantially
any worthier Of public responsibility than
those whom they have supp1anted in Of
flee.