emergency police, which he stationed in front of the Capitol to protect him in the discharge of his executive duties. Fearing also, if the legislature were permited to assemble, the large Democratic majority would declare Goebel governor, Taylor stationed a strong guard around the Capitol, instructed to allow none of the members to enter. When the Democratic members attempted to meet successively in the courthouse, city hall, and a church, the same armed guard interposed to prevent the assembling. This was the situation, alarming enough, when near the noon hour of January 30th, Goebel, accompanied by Colonel Jack Chinn, approached the State House. As the two drew near the fountain one or more shots were fired, apparently from the Executive Mansion, which is separated from the Capitol by a narrow passage. In the great confusion which the shooting caused, it was quite impossible to tell certainly whether the shots came from a second story window of the Governor's residence, or from the office room of the Secretary of State, but the bullet, or bullets, were manifestly from a Winchester rifle, and struck Goebel in the right shoulder, near the breast, and ranged slightly downward, passing through the left lung, and issued from the left side. Goebel fell mortally wounded, but so great was his vitality and determination to live that he survived until seven o'clock P. M. of the following Saturday, February 3.

The shooting down of so prominent a man, whose friends were as devotedly attached as his enemies were vindictive, naturally provoked the most intense excitement, and civil war appeared to be inevitable between the bitter partisans. So extreme was the public agitation that no immediate steps were taken to discover the assassin. The city of Frankfort was filled with heavily armed mountaineers, and suspicion naturally attached to some one of these as the murderer and, as is usual upon such occasions, many con.

tradictory reports were quickly put upon wing, but the assassin very successfully evaded discovery.

Taylor, as an evidence of his great regret for the cowardly killing of his rival, personally offered a reward of $500 for the apprehension of the assassin, and the peace officers exerted themselves to apprehend the culprit, but without avail. The popular unrest was so great, and the danger so imminent of attempting to dissolve the legislature, or to continue the session in Frankfort, that Taylor ordered the assembly to adjourn to London, Laurel County, where some of the Republican members gathered, but the Democrats, refusing to recognize Taylor as governor, paid no attention to the summons and threatened to resist by force any attempt to arrest them for contempt.

The body of Goebel was conveyed to Louisville, and thence to Covington, his home place, the people along the way paying the greatest respect, and manifesting sincere grief, so that gradually public sentiment among persons of all political faiths was turned by the assassin's deed against Taylor. J. C. W. Beckham, the Democratic LieutenantGovernor, was now sworn in as Goebel's successor, and at once issued a call convening the legislature in Louisville, to which the Democratic majority promptly responded, and sessions were accordingly held there. Taylor, however, continued to hold possession of the Frankfort State House, by aid of the militia, and from this protected retreat appealed first to the President for a force to put down what he pronounced to be an insurrection against his lawful authority. President McKinley very promptly refused the aid requested, upon the ground that the proof of insurrection beyond the power of the State authorities to deal with was not established. Thereupon Taylor applied to the Federal courts (Judge Taft) for an order restraining the Democratic leaders from interfering with his exercise of the functions of

the governorship, basing his application upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, but Judge Taft denied the request and referred the matter to the State courts for determination.

The gravity of the situation was such, notwithstanding a clash of opposing parties had been averted, that representatives of Taylor and Beckham met in Louisville and tried to arbitrate the differences, but Taylor refused to abide by the recommendations of his partisans, and recalled the legisla ture from London to meet in Frankfort, where the minority held their sessions thereafter, while the Democratic majority continued to meet in Louisville, pending decision of the State courts. In the meantime the assassin was not discovered, and ugly reports continued to circulate, and suspicion was directed against several persons with no better ground than partisan prejudice and an excuse for police stupidity. The aggravation at length became so great that the Democratic faction of the legislature passed a bill appropriating the sum of $100,000 to be paid as a reward for the apprehension and conviction of the murderer; but this remarkable measure, unprecedented in the history of crime, had no other effect for the time than to arouse great fear that so large a reward might promote a conspiracy to convict some innocent man. But the grave crisis that threatened Kentucky passed with the sacrifice of William Goebel, whose death may never be avenged.

A settlement of the question as to who was the lawful governor remained undetermined, and a dual form of State government continued. A proposal was made to refer the matter to the State courts, but Taylor objected on the grounds of political prejudice that would prevent a fair decision. Notwithstanding this refusal, after the United States District Court refused to hear the contention and relegated the question to the Circuit Court as the proper tribunal, the

consolidated cases of the rival governors was taken to the Circuit Court, where, after a full hearing, a decision was rendered March 10, denying jurisdiction in a gubernatorial contest, and holding that by the State Constitution the settlement of such contention rests entirely with the legis lature. This decision had been anticipated by Taylor, who forthwith appealed to a higher court, both sides agreeing to maintain the status quo pending a final decision, but the militia was still retained, and the truce was therefore an armed and constantly menacing one.

CHAPTER LV.

THE NICARAGUA CANAL QUESTION.

ONE of the most serious questions that has agitated the American people for many years concerns the construction of an interoceanic canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The matter derives increased importance by reason of our national expansion in commerce and territory, and particularly because of the annexation of Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines. No greater problem confronted the McKinley Administration, and its settlement is not without some misgivings, even to the possibility of involving the Monroe Doctrine and foreign complications. A brief history of the canal project possesses special interest because of the issues raised by the Hay-Pauncefote treaty submitted in February, 1900.

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 was followed by a great rush of population to the new fields, and, as an overland trail had scarcely been made, the travel at first was almost entirely by way of the Isthmus. It was this mighty flux of gold-seekers, and the wake of commercial adventurers that swept along like a resistless tide across the narrow neck dividing the oceans, that prompted the idea of the Isthmian ship canal.

In pursuance of this purpose a treaty was entered inta with the government of Nicaragua in 1849, whereby the United States obtained permission to construct a canal across the Isthmus by way of Lake Nicaragua, but one end of it, Greytown, was occupied by British settlers, and Great