Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 March 1907 — SEVEN YEARS IN JAIL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SEVEN YEARS IN JAIL.

Caleb Power* Perhaps Most Noted Prisoner in the Country. t It has been seven years since the arrest of Caleb Powers, charged with conspiracy in the assassination of William Goebel in Kentucky. He is probably the most remarkable prisoner in the United States. • His long confinement in jail and his three convictions, his two sentenoes to the penitentiary for life, his one sentence to be hanged by the neck till dead, his hopes of escape from the State courts dashed by t-he Supreme Court of the United States—all this he has borne with fortitude. Powers’ spirit is unbroken. The mountaineer. from his cell in the jail, at Georgetown, Ky., has voiced a fervent

protest against the appointment of Judge Robbins as the special judge to sit in his fourth trial, because this is the judge who sentenced him to Meath In the third trial. This appointment is by Gov. J. C. W. Beckham. During his long stay in many jails, Towers lias kept himself , constantly employed, that he might not brood over his troubles, and has adhered to a rigid system of exercise. As a result he is physically and mentally in good condition and hopeful of being vindicated some day. Out in the mountains of Knox county a devoted motherLis.clinging_to life in the hope of seeing her son restored to'freedom. As before, his case will be fought with the funds of people all over the United States, who believe liim the victim of partisan hatred. For Caleb Powers declares he was 60 miles from Frankfort when an assassin’s bullet laid low William Goebel, who was driving the Legislature to name him Governor. Now. the prosecution for the fourth time will try to establish that the fatal shot was fired from the window of Powers’ office in the State House by a hired assassin. In July, 1900, he got his first trial, was convicted and sentenced to life. The Court of Appeals rejected the finding of the court. Again he was tried and given a life sentence, and saved by the Court -of Appeals. In 1903 he was again convicted and sentenced to death, the -Gorrrt" of Appeals also annulling this trial. For a while in 1905 he was in the hands of the United States Court, but the Supreme Court of the United States sent the case back to the State courts as having full jurisdiction.

CALEB POWERS.