The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-02
lNTRIGUES IN THE SOUTH
PERSECUTION ALLEGED IN SOUTH
CAROLINA AND KENTUCKY.
Law Used for Partisan Ends-impeach-
mcnt Proceedings and GOebeI
Cases Cited as Examples.

CHICAGO. April Wv. E.. Curtis, in a
Washington dispatch to the Record-Herald,
says: The acquittal of the Supreme Court
of North Carolina, which was impeached
of high crimes and misdemeanors," and
the action of the Court of Appeals of Ken
lucky in granting a new trial for Powers
and Howard. who had been sentenced. one
to death and the other to Imprisonment for
life, as principals in the assassination of
Goebel. are causes for national ~thanksgiv-
ing. Political animosity and intrigue sell
dom have gone so far in modern times as in
these two incidents. The proceedings were
of a medieval character. Kings and min
listers used TO get rid of troublesome people
in that way, but the method had not been
adopted in this country until now. The
North Carolina judges were impeached, not
for what they had done, but for what it
was feared they intended to do, and the
Democratic leaders decided that it was
safer TO get rid of them before they had a
chance to pass upon the constitutionality
of the law that DISTINGUISHES illiterate ne
groes, but allows illiterate white men to
vote. A case was cooked up, based upon a
trivial judicial proceeding. Articles of i'm
parchment were presented. evidence was
SuDilllteu, arguments were ne9Tu, DuL
twelve Democratic members of the Senate
which is almost wholly Democratic. voted
for acquittal. The kilograms from Raleigh
say that these twelve men represent the
business community, the most intelligent
element in the State. and the Democratic
machine has received a Knockout blow
from which 1t can scarcely recover. If
there is wise leadership the result will be
the building up of a white Republican party
that will dominate the State"
Caleb Powers and James Howard. two
mountaineers from eastern Kentucky, were
convicted of the assassination of Goebel by
n partisan judge and a partisan jury Sc
lected for that purpose, upon the evidence
of witnesses whose testimony did not COM
mand public confidence. Every answer
that tended toward conviction was admit
ted; every item Of evidence favorable to
the defendants was ruled out. The trial
took place in the midst of the most heated
political campaign I'm the history of Ken
lucky, and was altogether a political pro-
ceed1nS. There was no cutlery from the
people at the time, because everybody knew
and told everybody else that the Court Of
Appeals would set aside the verdict after
the election was over, so that public indig-
nation was suppressed.
1t may be that James Howard, who has a
reputation of being one of the most des-
perate and determined men in the Ken
lucky mountains, fired the shot that killed
GOebel, and that he fired it. from the win
DOW OF the office of Caleb Powers, who was
secretary of state of Kentucky. and that
Powers and Youtsey, his private secretary,
were present and aided and encouraged the
crime. but thus far il is only a theory Of
the detectives who are employed by their
political opponents. No evidence has ever
been submitted TO sustain ii, and probably
the truth will never be known. At least,
Howard VIII not be hanged and Powers
viii not go to prison for life without a
fair trial.
By the way, there is a curious circum-
stance in connection with the Goebel case
which has never been explained. The doc
tors who dressed his wound and attended
him till his death were not allowed to tes-
tify at the trial. The wound has never
been officially described; but eminent sur
geons say that if the bullet followed the
course stated in the newspaper accounts
the morning after the murder IL could nor
have been fired from a third-story window
or any other elevation, unless Goebel was
standing on his head when he received IL.
the BAH is said to have entered his groin
and to nave gone upward, instead of down.
ward In his BODY.