River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-11-28
From the Balls am Lake Ledger


Goebel was far more disgraceful
than the assassination of Mckinley.
1t was murder coolly planned and
carried out in cold blood, not by
anarchists, hut by some of your po-
litical brethren, and the central
figure of that foul deed-ex-go vernon
Taylor of Kentucky-is fugitive
from justice, protected by another of
your political kin, the governor of
Indiana. Many Republican papers
not only did not condemn the crime,
but even said Goebel deserved his
fate. An effort was even made by
the authorities in Washington to
prevent Governor Beckham from
ousting Taylor, the usur per and
conspirator. + X i & X But right
here IS one of the causes of anarchy;
open defiance of the law by men
whose duty it is to enforce the law.
Wash the blood stains from your
own garments"
The JOURNAL calls attention to the
above extract to show to what ex-
tremes an intense partisan spirit will
carry one. The writer makes state
ments which he seems to have ac-
cepted as facts which are mere as
sumptions and visionary fulmin-
atoms. To most people who are
cognizant of the facts as they were
published in the daily papers, it will
seem strange that any man could
cherish views in such direct con-
travention of the facts. We will
briefly recall certain accepted facts
bearing upon the subject to which
the Ledger alludes. William Goebel
was a red handed murderer. He had
shot down on the street a worthy
man. For this crime he was not
punished by the state, but in the last
week of January, 1900, he was shot
in the court house at Covington. In
the election III Kentucky in Nov,
1899, the Republican ticket, with
w. l. Taylor for governor, received,
as returned by the election boards,
'Io3,7I4, and the Democratic, with
VIM. Goebel for governor, 1851,
giving Taylor, Republican, plu-
rality of 2,3S3 votes. The state
board of election gave him a certif-
cate ofelection and he was inaugural
ed as governor. The Legislature was
Democratic and without the useless
formality of inquiring into the
election they voted to Gust Taylor
and to seat the Democratic contest
ant. lin the face of these facts, the
Ledger calls Taylor usurper9
Then the legislature passed an act
appropriating 100000 to prosecute
the "conspirators" who murdered
Goebel, assuming for their own in
terests that Republican officials shot
him.
Aside from the moral aspect of the
question such an assumption borders
on the absurd. For the Republican
officials to compass such an act, or
to connive at such a deed, was to act
against their own interests. They
had nothing to gain as the result of
such crime, and everything to lose.
The Democrats wanted no better
pretext; and it would be more reas-
enable to assume that if Geobel was
murdered for political ends the crime
was committed by his own party.
They have not found the assassin,
and it is not for their interest to do
SO as long as any OF the 100000 re-
mains unexpended with which they
can buy evidence to snnirch Repub-
licans and keep themselves in office.
The murder of Geobel was con-
demned by Taylor and the Republi-
can press, equally with the Demo
cratic press. 1t was not then be-
lieved, it is not now, that Republi-
can officials connived at the assassin
alton. The rational, unprecedented
inference is that Geobel was shot by
some avenging friend of the man he
had deliberately murdered.
AS to the refusal of the Governor
of Indiana to give up Taylor to the
partisan hate of his prosecutors the
Madison Democrat of recent date
says: at is undoubtedly true that
the alleged assassins of Geobel are
being tried by partisan court I'M