Throwback Thursday: William S. Taylor, the Butler County man who became Governor for 50 days
The 1899 Kentucky Governor’s race was a rollercoaster ride that sent a local man, William Taylor of Butler County, to the Governor’s mansion, but only for 50 days. Taylor was born in a log cabin on the Green River near Morgantown. Lacking formal education, he still became a lawyer, County Judge, and Kentucky Attorney General.
With Democrats favored to win in 1899, only Taylor worked for the Republican nomination, which he easily won. State Senator William Goebel of Kenton County went into the Democratic convention in third place but, after 24 raucous votes, beat several rivals to be his party’s candidate for governor.
By Election Day, issues and personalities split Democrats, and Taylor won by less than three thousand votes. He was inaugurated on December 12th as Kentucky’s 33rd Governor. With charges of voter intimidation and irregular ballots, however, the General Assembly threatened to reverse those results.
On January 30, 1900, William Goebel approached the Old State Capitol. As President of the Senate, he would lead the deliberations on whether his opponent, William Taylor, had bested him in the race.
That morning was unusually quiet, even after angry citizens had flooded into Frankfort to witness these events. Mountain men had arrived, weapons in hand, one saying ominously “if the election were overturned, there would be a shoveling of dirt.” As Goebel neared the Capitol, shots rang out and he fell to the ground. The bullets came from the Executive Building next door. Inside that building, Governor Taylor marshaled the State Guard and placed a Gatling gun outside his office. He ordered the legislature to adjourn, and armed soldiers barred them from meeting.
Democrats, however, met in secret at the Capitol Hotel where Goebel was under the care of doctors. On January 31, they came, one by one, and voted unanimously to declare William Goebel the lawfully elected winner. That night, Chief Justice Hazelrigg swore him in as 34th governor. To keep it safe, the record of the vote was smuggled out beneath the dress of the Railroad Commissioner’s wife.
William Goebel died of his wounds on February 3, the only U.S. Governor ever to be assassinated, and his Lieutenant Governor, John Beckham, was sworn in as Kentucky’s 35th Governor. With two rival Governors, each with their own militia, and the General Assembly’s Democrats and Republicans meeting as separate legislatures, the state was on the verge of civil war. Tune into next week’s Throwback Thursday to see how Kentucky survived these perilous times.
