Charles Kincaid Trial: 1891 - A Shooting At The Capitol

At about 12 noon, Kincaid went to the Capitol to conduct an interview. While waiting in the corridor, Taulbee appeared. "I have no time to talk with you. I don't want any trouble with you," said the reporter, but he was shouted at, grabbed by the shoulder, and his ear was violently pulled. "I am a small man and unarmed," maintained Kincaid, but Taulbee replied in a malicious tone, "You had better be armed, or go and arm yourself." Two hours later, the two met again on the steps to the Capitol's basement restaurant. A shot rang out and a bullet hit Taulbee in the face near the eye. Kincaid made no attempt to escape and said, "I did it." Arrested, the reporter was later set free on bail pending any change in the former congressman's condition.

Taulbee was first taken to his residence and then to Providence Hospital. Initially, the wound was not considered fatal, but the doctors were unable to locate the bullet and their patient's condition worsened. He died on March 11. Kincaid again voluntarily surrendered and was taken into custody, but was shortly released due to his frail health and allowed to return to Kentucky to recuperate. While awaiting trial, newspaper editorials in that state proclaimed their support for Kincaid and a group of prominent lawyers began to prepare his defense.

Kincaid's chief lawyer was U.S. senator Daniel Voorhees of Indiana. His other attorneys were C. Maurice Smith, a prominent Washington advocate, Jeremiah Wilson, a former Indiana judge and congressman, and Charles Grosvenor, a three-term member of the House of Representatives from Ohio who was retiring in March 1891. Because Congress was in session and Voorhees and Grosvenor were still busy with the nation's affairs, the court granted a continuance until after the legislature adjourned on March 3, 1891. That March, another motion to delay the trial was made because Voorhees had suffered a rheumatic attack and would not be available before mid-June. That motion, however, was denied on the grounds that Kincaid could still be well represented by his three remaining lawyers.

The trial began on March 23, 1891, in Washington, D.C. U.S. attorney Charles C. Cole led the prosecution's team. President Benjamin Harrison had appointed him to his post only three weeks before. This was Cole's first major case in his new role.