Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-24

shot ana Wllnam Goebel Tell mortally
wounded in the public square in front of the
capitol. The shot had apparently been fred
from the executive building.
That this shot came from the gun of one
of Gov. Taylor's supporters-probably from
one of the mountain men-has never been
seriously doubted But that it was fired as
the result of a conspiracy between the re-
publican leaders, the governor, secretary of
state and other officers and the mountain
GERS is not believed by those who are not
swayed by intense partisan bias Upon
Caleb Powers, secretary of state, from
whose room it was claimed the shot had
| been fired. conferred the chief luminosity of
the Goebelites. Powers was absent from
Frankfort when the shot fired. There
has never been doubt as to the perfection
of his alibi. He was therefore accused OF
being accessory before the fact.
In his "own story" Mr.. Powers, writing
from prison, narrates his case in straight
forward. simple manner. He admits moth
ing of criminal nature, and expresses hor-
ror al the crime which reacted so violently
upon the republican organization of Ken
lucky. He expresses a high faith in the
righteous disposal of his case eventually,
and looks forward confidently to the time
when public passion and partisanship will
wane and permit an unprejudiced cSnS!dera-
ton of honest testimony.
THE HOUSE OF CARDS; a Record. By
John Heigh, Sometime Major, U.S.V.
New York: The Macmillan Company.
Washington: Brentanos.
Philadelphia will read this book with
mingled amusement and Indignation. The
staid old town will sit up straight over
some of the character sketches which the
anonymous Major Heigh has drawn. 1t
will be variously stirred by the chapters de-
scrptive of Banker Cards golf dinner
on Friday before election. For at that din
ner were assembled all the dignitaries and
indignitaries of the community, the re-
ligious, literary, business and political lead
ers-a strange mixture of the variously cor
rupt. Philadelphia, stirred, as it now is, by
revelations to the world beyond, of the
evil conditions within its borders, will de-
| plore perhaps, this exposition of the funda-
mental reason why corruption fourishes
there, why the public conscience is weak
ened and the reformers falter in the path.
Perhaps some Philadelphians will rejoice
| In the optimistic tone of Major Heigh,"
| who sets his attractive young hero straight
| on the road and closes his book with a
promise of important "doings'' in the polt-
| ical field when Waltham Eliot begins his
crusade against the evil elements.
| Whoever John Heigh'' may be. he is a
master craftsman, confessedly an old hand
at his task, for he refers to himself in his
| dedica ton to Lindsey Atilla Cards as
bearing face SCARED with marks of
many a literary indiscreton." The
major is crusty fellow in his own per-
sonality. He quarrels with men and insti-
buttons, but, as the melodrama hero de-
clares, his heart is in the right place"
And when he departs from tie immediate
theme of Walton Eliot in his character as
prospective reformer and tells the story OF
the House of Cards, he displays a senti-
mental soul. This story Of the house in
wolves d triple love affair. most beautiful
girl and three adoring young men. There
were eventually four, but Cards did not as
sumo that role until one of the original trio
had married the girl and had been called
away on war duty few hours after the
wedding. And then occurred the tragedy,
the treason of Union soldier officer. his
terrible crime and the fall of the young
husband. At this point Major Heigh' be-
comes pathetically tender.
Then when he has traced the history of
Cards to the point of present greatness, he
restores young Eliot to the scene and
faces him with his temptation. The story
ends where most stories begin. 1t Is, in
deed fairly to be called preface. But 1t
has told within itself an absorbing tale Of
love and loyalty and character develop
ment and 1t has incidentally given Phila-
delphia food for serious thought, and. all
observers of that staid old town disclos-
ing picture of the underlying causes of It's
present shame
GI,ENANaAR; Story of Irish Life. By
the Very Rev. Canon P. A. Sheehan,
DID, author of The New Curate,
&c New York: Longmans, Green &
Co.
Although deficient in point of fictional
construction this story of Ireland In the
nineteenth century is highly instructive as
20 phase of which Americans not of irish
descent are comparatively ignorant II Is
based upon the intense hatred of the irish
man for the ''informer," the man who has
turned states evidence, and whose testi-
mony convicts his fellows. The history of
IN,
, green island is repete with instances of
the bitterness engendered by such cases
of treason In the famous "Whiteboy"
ructions of 1929 convictions were had upon
the testimony of a group of witnesses who
were wisely sheltered by the authorities
| from the fury of the people The hatred
| of the peasants extended to the wives and
| children of the informers. 1t vented itself
| even upon the innocent babes left virtually
| orphaned by the flight of despised fathers
| to America after the trials. Such a little
| child, abandoned by necessity by the hunt
ed mother before her husbands final dis
| appearance is taken in by one of the men
| accused of the "Whiteboy" crimes. The
| informer refuses to testify against him
| and he is acquitted. In later years the en-
nifty of the people for the members OF the
| informer's family centers upon this unfor-
| tunate, precipitating tragedy. 1t finds
| expression even against her son. although
| his father is ABOVE Suspicion anu ne is Hliii-
| self jealous agftator for Free Ireland.
| When long afterward he returns to Amer
| lea, rich, he finds the old sentiment still
| strong. The tale finally turns upon his
| romance, reaching pleasant conclusion.
! 1t lacks many of the conventional require
ments of narrative, but it describes sew
| eraI stirring scenes dramatically, such as
| the trial of the 'Whiteboys'' in 1929, where
| the great O'Connell COMPOUNDED the crown
| solicitor by his keen knowledge of the law.
| WAR OF THE CLASSES. BY Jack Lon
| don, author of The Sea Wolf &c.
New York: The Macmillan Company.
| Washington: Brentanos.
| Jack London a socialist, a prophet of q
| great upheaval, a strenuous worker for
| the days of equalization, state ownership
| and distribution? 1t is true. Here is the
( document to prove 1t, written earnestly,
| cleverly specously. 1t takes the form of a
| book comprising seven separate articles,
! which have evidently been prepared at diff
| ferent times and for different publications.
| Viewed together they form systematic
| whole, the keynote of which is Socialism. "
! And Mr. London is a hopeful socialist mill
| tant and foreseeing strife, but predicting
| the triumph of the proletariat of which
l no Z Ca