The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-13
ARRAIGNS THE EXECUTIVE
General Buckner One of the
 Occasions Speakers.
Proud of the Appellation of ''Former Democrat" and at Length
 Explains the Meaning
 of the Term. .+

Munfordville, Sept 12.-In the presence of several thousand people, the Republi- can State campaign was opened here to- day by Col. Morris B. Belknap, candidate to for Governor. The party leaders were in attendance and other candidates on the State ticket deliered short addressed. Spe- cial trains brought large crowds from nearby cities.
 Colonel Belknap's speech dealt mainly with the pardon record of Governor Beck ham, which he asserted was in the main responsible for the lawless condition pre- vaiiing in Beathitt and other counties He dealt also with the memorable Goebel- Taylor contest and cited alleged perver- sions of the electorate machinery by the Democrats He said. in part:
 "A Tragic Panorama." The dramatic and tragic panorama of political events in our State for four years is one from which we instinctively turn away. It is heavy tragedy with the slime of untruth clinging to its garments. Repulsive and reeking with the foul at- mosphere of dungeons, 1t displays a body prostituted to perjury and fraud"
 Referring to one of the more noted of the Breathitt County pardons Colonel Belknap said
 Perhaps Raleigh was innocent of hav- ing voted any other than the Democratic ticket. Raleigh was the man convicted of killing little girl in Breathitt Coun- ty, and was pardoned by Mir. Beckham. Your Governor by pardoning this mis- creant. has shown that he thinks the brute who would improperly accost' your daughters and then shoot them like dogs, was fit after few years of punishment to enjoy the full privilege of citizenship.
 Beckhams Pardon Record.
 '"rhe tables of pardons granted during the last three administrations and sub mitted to the public by the Governor in defense of his record is an interesting one, although conspicuously incomplete. Still 1t shows that at least 1,125 convicts have been set free in eleven years. Those pa- rolled and not counted would easily carry the number to 1,200. .e
 MT. Beckham has asked me in the event of my election if would pardon Howard and Powers, or either of them. l answer in the words of Lord Coke:
 When the case happens I shall do that which shall be fit for judge to do.'"
 Turning to the trials of the alleged as- sassins of Goebel, Colonel Belknap de. clared:
 The trials that have been so far con- ducted with partisan juries and perjured testimony leaves justice unsatisfed. No such travesties can fool the mass of the intelligent people, and once again they demand that facts which they have req son to believe are being concealed for po- lItical purposes. and which are vital to the truth in this case be divulged."
 Introduced by Buckner.
 Mir. Belknap was introduced by General Simon Boliver Buckner. formerly Cover nor of Kentucky and nominee for Vice. President by the Gold Democrats in 1Sss General Buckner said:
 ''I have been styled "A Former Demo- RU fhfc fS doilhtlaac nj ocrat like those who in former days em- braced the political doctrines of Jefferson, of Jackson of Tilden and of Cleveland. They were the former Democrats who be- lieved that in republic there should be equal rights to all and exclusive privi- leges to none; not as with modern Demo- crats, that there should be exclusive priv ileges to the self-consrituted oligarchy of machine politicians and a denial of all rights to the masses of the people. Former Democrats who believed that the chief duty of the head of the state was to see that the laws were faithfully eXecuted-not as with modern Democrats. that it was his province to nullify the laws by turning loose upon the commun- ity convicted gamblers. murderers and ra pists to resume their nefarious avoca- tions.
 The Goebel Reward.
 "'Former Democrats who believed that in trials before courts justice should be adduced without temptations of re- ward or threats of punishment, not as with modern Democrats who have ap- pointed a hundred thousand of the peo- ple's substance as blood money for the en- coura cement of perjury and for the better composing the judicial murder of polit- ical adversaries.
 Former Democrats who cherished sound principles of public policy and could defend them with cogent reasons; not modern Democrats whose only logic In defense of their devious ways is a coarse and indecent Vituperation of those who would not like themselves, discard principles of their party and in the hope of personal advancement, betray the best interests of their country.
 1T am one of those former Democrats who believes in the right or the people to govern themselves who, in the words of a distinguished orator Loves his party too well to be willing that it should be- 1 trav his country and whose confession of political faith may be found in the Democratic platform Of principles pro- mulgated at Indianapolis in 1896. It is be- cause I am such a Democrat that I am here today at the opening of a political contest which is of vital interest to every | citizen of the Commonwealth"