Almost immediately after his first election to the Kentucky Senate, William Goebel started making enemies. After reducing the toll charges on Covington roads, businessman and banker John L. Sanford was so furious, “because he owned stock in the corporation” that owned the roads, that Goebel was blocked from becoming a judge on the Court of Appeals, writes the National Endowment for the Humanities.

And according to “Kentucky’s Governors,” the fact that Goebel “favored greater civil rights for women and Blacks” also put him at odds with his Democratic colleagues, many of whom were ex-Confederate. Goebel fiercely argued for women to have the right to vote on matters of education and in addition, he often “sided with legislation that was unfriendly to banking interests.” And even “his background of northern born, immigrant parents, and his father’s Union army service caused some division.”

As an advocate for labor reform, Goebel also supported railway rate legislation and before long, L&N was his main nemesis, especially since their lobbyists were everywhere. And since a new Kentucky constitution was required to comply with the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, Goebel ensured that the 1891 Constitution included child labor laws, a method of railroad property tax valuation, and “a requirement that employers pay employees in lawful money.”

In 1898, the Kentucky legislature passed what was known as the Goebel election law. According to Kentucky’s Governors, although it was meant to look like an election reform measure, in fact, it actually “centralized powers under an election commission, which was manned by three allies of Goebel.”

History Net writes that initially, votes were conducted and certified by counties, which led to Democratic counties throwing out Republican ballots, and Republican counties throwing out Democratic ballots. Under Goebel’s new election law, the State Board of Election Commissioners “would itself select each county’s vote counters while answering to the party controlling the General Assembly—which happened to be Goebel’s Democrats.”

Although this legislation was intended to decrease corruption, many criticized it for “serving the equally corrupt ends of the Democratic party.” Many also considered the election board to be a way for Goebel to centralize and “increase his own political power,” especially since it was composed of his supporters.

Despite William Goebel’s active campaigning, he ended up losing the election by just over 2,000 votes, with 191,331 compared to William Taylor’s 193,714. But while the National Endowment for the Humanities writes that Goebel accepted his defeat “graciously,” his supporters weren’t ready to give up just yet. They convinced Goebel to ask for a recount, but upon doing so, the State Board “declin[ed] to invalidate any of the results, on grounds that it lacked authority to investigate charges of fraud,” according to History Net. As a result, Taylor was inaugurated on December 12, 1899.

Before the inauguration, then-governor William O’Connell Bradley had asked President McKinley to send federal troops to Kentucky “to maintain order—that is, to protect Taylor’s lead.” However, President McKinley had refused to involve the federal government. So instead, Republicans from eastern Kentucky decided to head to Frankfurt, armed, as an editor in Louisville coined the phrase, to “stop the steal.”

However, the election results remained heavily contested into 1900, and during the new session of the legislature, Goebel charged that the votes of at least 50 counties had been tainted and that a Contest Committee must be chosen to review these claims. However, when the members of the committee were chosen, only one member was Republican, with the other 10 were made up of nine Democrats and one Populist who tended to lean Democrat.

Governor Taylor also ordered the legislature to adjourn until their meeting in London, but Democrats were able to secretly convene to review the results of the Contest Committee. On January 31st, it was declared that William Goebel had been the rightful victor since December 12th, although the report was signed only by Democrats. As a result, Goebel was declared governor and John C. Beckham lieutenant governor.

Less than 36 hours after he was shot, according to Historical Crime Detective, Goebel was inaugurated on his deathbed. And “ignoring the protests of his physicians, Goebel, by a superhuman effort, sat up in bed and took the oath of office administered by Chief Justice Hazelrig.” In fact, Democrats went through the whole swearing-in ceremony a second time before Goebel passed away, just to “make absolutely certain that they had done everything according to the law.”

According to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Goebel signed one proclamation during his tenure as governor, instructing the militia to disband, but this order was ignored. Goebel only lived a few more days and when he passed away on February 3, 1900, acting-governor Beckham was immediately sworn in as his successor.

In addition to the warrant for Secretary of State Caleb Powers, a warrant was also issued for policeman John Davis, who worked at the State Capitol square. And although William Taylor tried to protect the two men, Powers and Davis were eventually arrested as they tried to escape from Frankfort.

In total, 16 people were indicted for the assassination of William Goebel, including Taylor himself, who was accused by Henry E. Youtsey (pictured), a 25-year-old court stenographer from the State Auditor’s office, of hatching the plot to murder Goebel. However, despite the numerous indictments, only five people went to trial and in the end Powers, Youtsey, and alleged gunman Jim Howard were the only ones to be convicted, according to Dr. Jonathon L. Earle.

According to Historical Crime Detective, Howard was initially sentenced to death by hanging, but this was overturned and he was eventually sentenced to life in prison. Youtsey was also sentenced to life in prison, though only after a single trial. Powers, meanwhile, “stood trial four times in seven years, resulting in two sentences to life in prison.” Both of these sentences ended up being overturned, and although a third jury voted for hanging, this conviction was also overturned. And yet, despite all of these trials, no one knows for sure exactly who pulled the trigger that led to Goebel’s assassination.