Arizona republican., 1904-12-12
Another Chance for Powers.

The Kentucky court of appeals has decided that Caleb Powers, condemned to death and awaiting execution for the murder of Governor Goebel, is en- titled to a new trial. The next trial Of Powers will be his fourth. In each of the trials hitherto he has been con ~ victed, and as many times the convic- .> tion has been overruled on appeal. The tiispatches have not stated the grounds on which the fourth trial is granted, but the country will be chief ly interested in knowing that the young man is to have another chance for his life.
 The case of Powers has become one of the most celebrated in the criminal history of the United States. Special correspondents and magazine writers have visited Kentucky from all parts of the country for the purpose of stud ying Powers and the facts brought out at his several trials, and the mat ter written about him would fill vol tunes. And still it is difficult for any body, free from bias or prejudice, to say whether he is guilty. Aside from discredited confessions of alleged ac- complices, the evidence against him is nearly all circumstantial and this fact has led many emotional people to in sist that he must be innocent. But they forget that cirSumstantial evil dence is the main reliance of the pros ecution in all murder trials. In the recently published "Reminiscences" of Sir Henry Hawkins, one of England's 5 greatest criminal judges, that eminent Jurist says:
 Let me say a word about circum- stantiaI evidence. Some writers have spoken of it as a kind Of dangerous innovation in our criminal procedure. It is almost the only evidence that is obtainable in all great crimes, and it is the best and most reliable. I have witnessed many great trials fer murder, but do not remember one where there was an eyewitness to the deed. How is it possible, then, to bring home the charge to the culprit unless ycu rely on circumstantial evi- dence?
 "Circumsta ntial evidence is the evil dence of circumstances-facts that speak for themselves and that cannot be contradiCted. Circumstances have no motive to deceive, while human tes- timony is too often the product of ev- cry kind Of motive.'
 Somebody fired a shot from the Ken lucky state house which killed GoeoeI. There was undoubtedly a conspiracy to kill the democratic contestant for the office of governor. It is not claim ed that Powers pulled the trigger which sent the fatal bullet on Its mis- sion, but it is claimed that he was one of the chief conspirators. Powers was secretary of state, having taken office with Governor Taylor, a few weeks be- fore the murder The democratic poli- ticians had determined to unseat Fay Tor and place Goebel in the governors office, at all hazards. The republican politicians were determined that these plans should not succeed. Feeling was running high, and murder was in the air. It Is the theory of the prosecution that Jim Howard. mountaineer, fired the shot, and that he was brought from his mountain home and led to do the killing by Governor Taylor, Secretary Powers, and Henry Youtsey, a stenog- rapher in the governors office. How ard and Youtsey. after prolonged ef- forts, were each convicted, and are serving life sentences in the peniten- tiary. Governor Taylor is still a fu- gitive, and does not dare to return to the state of which he was governor.
 One of the inexplicable facts connect ct with this remarkable case is that Youtsey and Howard escaped the death Ienalty, while Powers was condemned t0 death. And from this it is argued by the friends Of Powers that the prosecuting officers and the courts must have had a lingering doubt as to the guilt of any of the accused. Pow CTS himself has impressed acquaInt- ances as being anything but a mur fer CT. He is little more than a boy in years, and the published portraits Of him show a face of fine mould. It shows many evidences of gocd lineage. and there is nothing brutal in it. Nor is there apparent weakness. It is an honest face. It is the face of a stu dent. All this, however, is compa tible with the hypothesis that Powers, while not a murderer at heart, might have been fired with an unbalanced zeal for what he considered the highest public interest, and might have thought he was performing a Brutus-like net of patriotism in joining conspiracy to rid the state of Goebel. No other the ory seems tenable in view of what has been brought out concerning him.
 The repeated reversals of his convic- ton in the trial court should at least