The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-23
CASE OF CALEB POWERS
HE IS TO BE TRIED NOW IN THE
 FEDERAL COURT.

HE IS TO BE TRIED NOW IN THE
 FEDERAL COURT.
 
 A Very Remarkable AHair-TAs Best
 Thins for the RsDublicaa Party
 Would he the Hanging of
 Mr. Povers.
 Stavoyo I'd. in Washington Post.
 In January, 1900, the town of Frank fort, Ky, which Is the capital of the State, was in a condition bordering on riot There was tremendous excite ment and the streets were filled with desperate men. some Democrats, some Republicans. bent on settling the politi- cal controversy growing out of the election of November, 1899. by violence and blood. The Republican Governor had called out the militia, and the capi- tol grounds, in which were located the legislative halls and the executive of- fces was an armed camp. The Re- publicans and the anti-Goebel Demo- crots had carried the election of 1899 in spite of the oGebel election law: the Republican officials had been inducted into office including the Governor Wm s. Taylor. The Democrats. having the requisite majorities in both branches of the Legislature, were determined to re- verse the decision of the people. and to that end contests had been instituted. The wonder Is that 100 men were not killed.
 There was a man there named Yout- sey, stenographer connected with some one of the executive departments He seems to have been a thorough de- generate. and drunk besides. He made many threats and sat around with a gun on his lap. the very gun with which Goebel was killed. It Is said that he was dead shot. and the man who killed Goebel must have been good marksman. He had a key to the room from tho window of which Goebel was killed, and the Democrats have always insisted that Caleb Powers gave him the key. and 1t Is certain that the room was a part of Powers's ofice
 If William s. Taylor or Caleb Pow CTS, or both of them. had gone before magistrate and made afndavit to the threats uttered by Youtsey and had him arrested and held to ball. Goebel would not have been nssassinated. Kentucky would have escaped great deal or trouble and a great deal of disgrace by a shot fired from Caleb Powerss window. The Republicans say Youtsey fired 1t. No matter who did 1t, the act became political question. It made Goebel a martyr and 1t restored Demo- cratic supremacy in Kentucky.
 Nobody was surprised when Goebel was shot. He had deprived very proud and a very jealous people Of the right to hold their own elections. For more than a century that Common welth had been Q self-governing com munity. Goebel had changed all that and was proceeding to make his will the supreme law of the State. He would have met the fate he did in Texas or Mississippi sooner than he met 1t In Kentucky He would have met the same fate in Vermont or Massachusetts. When he instituted the contest, he threw the gravest responsibilities on the Republican State officials. Each of them was the creature of W. God frey Hunters disreputable political ma chine They were pygmtes, set where giants should have been.
 We'll, they arrested Caleb Powers, who was fleeing in disguise. He had par don in his pocket. signed by Taylor. All his friends could have wished that he had not been In disguise, and that he had not that pardon. He was Indicted and tried. The trial was mookery of justice. It was a purely political affair. There was enough perjury In the testimony to sink the British navy The jury was entirely Democratic and entirely partial. The ruling of the court nullified the law so far as 1t made a Republican eligible to jury service In that case Nobody was surprised when the verdict was guilty; everybody was surprised when the death penalty was not a part of it. That, however. was cured in subsequent verdicts.
 They also tried Jim Howard, and by a partisan and a partial jury. Before they could find him guilty they had 10 believe that w. S. Taylor. while Gov ernor of Kentucky. was guilty of the colossal stupidity of writing HowaM a letter, in which he agreed to pardon Howard for killing one Baker If he would come to Frankfort and kill Goe- bel. Then they had to believe that Howard immediately went to Frank fort, met Youtsey. an entire stranger, a few minutes after he arrived; that Youtsey gave him the gun. placed him at the window, pointed out Goebel who was just entering the Capitol grounds. and that Howard killed him. No inter- view with Taylor to find out If the letter was genuine, and in addition to that, the man who was killed was an entire stranger to Howard. Thus he shot a stranger on the word of another stranger that the man he was shoot ing was the right man to shoot The whole story Is absurd and 1t is the story of Youtsey, who turned States evidence
 They tried Youtsey and found him guilty, and sent him to the penitentiary. It is claimed by Powers that Youtsey was subjected to the torture until he agreed to testify for the prosecution. Be that as 1t may. he confessed that he had lied about 1t before he was con- victed There was some sort of tnstru- ment of writing that he gave Powers that didn't have the right sort of tone. It did Powers's case incalculable injury. Men asked. What did he want with it?" It was confirmation strong as proofs of holy writ" to Democratic jury, sitting in a political trial of one charged as an accessory to the murder of William Goebel It did him as much harm as the pardon-almost as much as Youtsey's possession of the key to the room from the window of which Goebel was shot.
 Perhaps a majority of the people of Kentucky believe Youtsey killed Goebel. but he is not the man tho Kentucky authorities were after. There wasn't enough politics in Youtsey. They want ed to hang Taylor. Jim Howard would