The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1901-11-19

you have on file letters and protests from
many representative Democrats of this
State, prominent in the oit'prization of
the party and from editors Of Democratic
newspapers, asking you to refuse to
honor these requisitions ! make the as
sertion, and you cannot disprove it by
producing such letter, that not a DEM
ocrat in Kentucky belonging to the or
ganization OF the party, nor the editor of
any Democratic newspaper, has made
such a request of you,
l have no doubt hat some of the peo-
pie who have urged you not to give up
these men did so, not because they
thought fair trials would be denied them,
but because they feared that closer inves-
tigations into this crime would disclose
their part in the conspiracy.
There is no doubt now that the asssssi-
nation of William Goebel on the State
Capitol grounds was the result of delib-
crate and carefully planned conspiracy;
that he was shot from a window in the
Office of the Secretary of State, not over
forty feet from the Governors office
where w. S. Taylor was when the shot
was fired; that Taylor Immediately had
all the entrances to the building guarded
and forbade the entrance of the peace Of
hcers who sought to enter and search for
the assassin; that he threw every obstacle
in his power in the way Of preventing the
arrest and conviction OF anyone suspected
of the crime; that he issued his pardons
to some OF those under suspicion even be-
fore their arrest and indictment; that he
was presumably the beneficiary in the
death of William Goebel, who was con-
testing with him the title to the Cover
norship of Kentucky: that he refused to
recognize the writ of habeas corpus filed
the State Capitol with over a thousand
armed desperadoes, and threatened the
entire State with revolution and anarchy;
and that to-day he is a cringing suppliant
at your feet, begging that he be not given
over to trial on an indictment charging
him with being a conspirator in the muir
der of his successful rival.
NO INNOCENT TO RE PUNISHED.
1t would be no satisfaction to anyone
to punish an innocent man for this crime
The mind of any civilized man revolts at
such an idea. The brother and friends
of the murdered Governor simply demand
the punishment of those who conspired
to kill him. No political advantage
could be gained by anyone or any party
i'll convicting the two self-confessed crim-
inals now basking in the smiles of your
protecting care. They are certainly not
political factors now sufficient to excite
fear i'll the humblest heart, and if they
are innocent Kentucky jury and Ken
lucky courts would throw around them
every possible protection and vindication.
You show in your letter itself that they
are not i'll danger of Judicial persecu-
ton when you call attention to the re-
versal of the case of Howard and the first
trial of Powers by the Court of Appeals of
this State That court is composed of
seven upright and honorable Judges, four
of whom are of the same political party
as yourself and these two fugitives. That
court would certainly never permit a
judgment of Judge Cantrills court to
stand if what you say about it is true.
CHANGE OF VENUE NOT ASKED.
You ask, "Why, in the recent trial of
Caleb Powers, should judicial proprieties
have been outraged by the refusal of
Judge Cantrill to give change of venue
from his hearingP' Another misstate-
ment Powers did not ask for such a
change. In his first trial he did ask it,
and it was changed by removing the case
from Franklin county to Scott county,
under our law which requires a Judge in
granting change of venue to send it TO
an adjacent county within the same dis
trict.
YoI ask again: "What was the OBJ
ject in appropriating SIoo, 600 for the con
viction of the suspected murderers of
William Goebel1" The same object which
prompted the Government to paw secret
service men and other detectives to dis
cover if possible whether the miserable
wretch Czolgosz had any confederate in
his dastardly crime. Only e., 900 has been
spent of the Goebel reward fund, all in
the legitimate expenses of the trials, and
it is safe to assert that at least that much
has already been spent in the laudable
purpose of trying to discover the anarch-
ist plot to murder our lamented Presi-
dent.
ANOTHER LIBEL REFUTED.
Again you ask: Does not the evidenc-
demonstrate that portion of this sum
has been paid for perjury" There has
not been scintilla of evidence to that ef-
feet ever introduced, and your question
was not asked in good faith. On the
contrary, in the last trial of Powers strong
evidence was introduced to show that
some OF his friends had sought to bribe
witnesses for the Commonwealth.
Your reference to the Jennings county,
Ind, case was unfortunate for yourself,