The Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899 is the most insane I have ever read about. I'm sure there are some other doozies out there, but I don't know about them.
On 07 November 1899, voters in the Bluegrass State went to the polls to elect a new governor. The incumbent, Republican William Bradley wasn't on the ballot because he had already served two terms.
The Democratic candidate was William Goebel, a State Senator. However, this was controversial, and the party split, a smaller faction calling themselves "Honest Election Democrats" chose former governor John Brown as their candidate.
The Republicans chose state Attorney General William Taylor.
As often happens in elections where one party in split, Goebel lost by a small margin, only 2383 votes.
Taylor garnered 193,000 votes, 48.4%. Goebel received 191,000 votes, 47.8%. John Brown, the 3rd party candidate received just over 12,000 votes, votes that otherwise would have gone to Goebel, changing the outcome of the election.
Goebel, being a bit of a sore loser (as politicians are wont to be), refused to concede. He appealed the result on the grounds of election fraud.
The decision was left to the state Board of Elections, who decided in the favor of Taylor. Ironically, the Board of Elections was created by a bill which Goebel had sponsored, and the board was made up almost entirely of his supporters. And yet they STILL refused to give him the election. Any normal person would give up at this point, maybe shake their fist angrily and vow to try again in four years. But not William Goebel.
Democrats were angry, and formed a special Congressional Committee to investigate. The Republicans were also angry, and poured in from all over the state with their guns. Taylor knew that was destined to end badly, and he told them all to go home. Most of them did, but several hundred didn't.
While everyone was waiting with bated breath for the committee's decision, the Republicans were walking around with their guns out in the open, so as to avoid carrying a concealed weapon. And because the popularity of the 2nd amendment was not exclusive to the Republican party by this point, the Democrats did the same.
But before the committee could make a decision, Goebel was conveniently shot while walking from his office into the state capitol building. That was on 30 January 1900.
While he was dying in a hotel room (which is where they tend to carry politicians to die), the committee was at a loss as to what to do next. They just continued doing what committees do best, debate. Surprise, surprise.
Finally they decided that Taylor was a little bit too sketchy to be governor, now that his rival was dying of a gunshot wound which came from the window of a government building. They decided, instead, that Goebel should be sworn in. He was sworn in on the 31st, and he died three days later on 02 February.
Less than an hour after the committee's decision, Taylor called in the National Guard and declared a state of insurrection. He also changed the state capital to the Republican stronghold of London and called the legislature into a special session. The Republicans packed up and met in London, but the Democrats remained in Frankfort. However, they were unable to get into the capitol building because a mob of angry people with guns was outside.
However, once Goebel died, everybody kind of lost interest. Taylor agreed to stop acting like a lunatic in exchange for immunity from murder charges.
Goebel's Lieutenant Governor, J.C.W. Beckham, became governor. William Taylor fled to Indiana so he wouldn't be arrested for murder, but not before suing Beckham. The case got all the way to the Supreme Court, but their ruling was less than helpful. They essentially said "It's none of our business."
Sixteen people were eventually charged for their roles in the assassination, including Taylor. But he escaped to Indianapolis, and the governor of Indiana refused to extradite him. Three others decided to turn state's evidence. However, only five went to trial. Two were acquitted outright, and three were convicted because of legal "irregularities." I don't know exactly what that means, but it leads me to believe that Kentucky was the sketchiest state in the Union at this point.
Caleb Powers, the Secretary of State, was convicted of masterminding the whole thing. Henry Youtsey, a clerk, was convicted of aiding the assassin. James Howard was convicted of the actual murder. The three who were convicted were eventually all pardoned.
The prosecution said that the shot was fired from the office of the Secretary of State. But the testimony was really contradictory, and much of it was blatantly made up.
Most of the judges who heard the cases were Goebel's supporters, but the appeals courts were almost entirely Republican. James Howard was tried and convicted three times and sentenced to life. Powers was tried four times and convicted three. (One trial ended in a hung jury.) Youtsey did not appeal his sentence, but was paroled, and then pardoned, as were all the other men.
William Taylor didn't visit Kentucky very often after this whole mess. He became a successful insurance executive in Indiana, and stayed there until his death in the late '20s.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the identity of the assassin is not known for certain. But what did you expect? It's a story about politicians, and you never can get a straight answer out of them.
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