Caleb Powers (February 1, 1869 – July 25, 1932) was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

and the first

Secretary of State of Kentucky The secretary of state of Kentucky is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is now an elected office, but was an appointed office prior to 1891. The current secretary of state is Republican Michael Adams, who was e ...

convicted as an accessory to murder.

Early life

He was born near

Williamsburg, Kentucky Williamsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Whitley County, on the southeastern border of Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,245 at the 2010 census. Developed along the Cumberland River, the city was founded in 18 ...

. He attended the public schools,

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

Barbourville, Kentucky Barbourville is a home rule-class city in Knox County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 3,165 at the 2010 census, down from 3,589 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city was formally established by ...

, the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

and

Centre College Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

. He graduated from the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business Institute (now known as

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...

) in

Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso ( ), colloquially Valpo, is a city and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,151 at the 2020 census. History The site of present-day Valparaiso was included in the purchase of land from the ...

and attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

in 1890 and 1891. Powers studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1894 and commenced practice at Barbourville, Kentucky. He was the superintendent of public schools for

Knox County, Kentucky Knox County is a county located in Appalachia near the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,193. Its county seat is Barbourville. The county is named for General Henry Knox. It is one ...

1894-1899. He was elected secretary of state of Kentucky in 1899 but was unseated after a contest.

Assassination of William Goebel

Powers was convicted of complicity in the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

William Goebel William Justus Goebel (January 4, 1856 – February 3, 1900) was an American Democratic politician who served as the 34th governor of Kentucky for four days in 1900, having been sworn in on his deathbed a day after being shot by an assassin. ...

(D) in 1900 who had just won the election .Caleb Powers is convicted Second Sentence to Life Imprisonment
Los Angeles Herald, Volume XXIX, Number 26, 27 October 1901 Goebel was walking to work at the Capitol between two body guards, when assassins opened fire and killed him. The prosecution charged that Powers was the mastermind of having a political opponent killed so that his boss, Governor

William S. Taylor (Kentucky politician) William Sylvester Taylor (October 10, 1853 – August 2, 1928) was the 33rd Governor of Kentucky. He was initially declared the winner of the disputed gubernatorial election of 1899, but the Kentucky General Assembly, dominated by the Democrats, ...

(R), could stay in office. Among his attorneys were R. C. O. Benjamin and Frank S. Black. Powers was found guilty and sentenced to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

. But an

appeals court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

overturned Powers' conviction, though Powers was tried three more times, resulting in two convictions and a

hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. Hung jury usually results in the case being tried again. ...

. Governor

Augustus E. Willson Augustus Everett Willson (October 13, 1846 – August 24, 1931) was an American politician and the 36th Governor of Kentucky. Orphaned at the age of twelve, Willson went to live with relatives in New England. This move exposed him to such a ...

(R) eventually pardoned Powers in 1908 though he had already served eight years in jail. While in prison, Powers authored the 1905 book ''My Own Story''.

Congress and later life

After leaving prison, Powers was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

to the 62nd and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1919) but was not a candidate for renomination in 1918. He served as a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in 1912 and moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and served as assistant counsel for the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

from 1921 until his death in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, in 1932. He was buried in City Cemetery, Barbourville, Kentucky. Caleb Powers married Laura Rawlings in January 1896 and she died six months later. He was survived by his second wife, Dorothy. He had one daughter, named Elsie.

References

*
Secretary of State Caleb Powers
- From the Secretary of State of Kentucky. * Elliot, R. ''Assassination at the State House: The Unsolved Mystery of Kentucky's Governor Goebel''. McClanahan Publishing House, 1995.

Aggregated Citations

Collected Papers

News article of death

"COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY v. CALEB POWERS. IN THE MATTER OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY"

GovTrack.us

External links

*
Caleb Powers papers
at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Caleb 1869 births 1932 deaths People from Whitley County, Kentucky Centre College alumni Valparaiso University alumni Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons Secretaries of State of Kentucky Kentucky politicians convicted of crimes Overturned convictions in the United States Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky

Early life

Assassination of William Goebel

Congress and later life

See also

References

External links