Pardonable (ePub)

Pardonable blends historical facts with an underlying fictional story. These facts, however, are truly stranger than fiction. First, James 'Big Jim' Howard was his family's leader in the country's most deadly feud, known as the Baker-Howard feud. Violence from this feud peaked during the last years of the 19th Century in Clay County, Kentucky. In the midst of this feud, Big Jim and Lou follow a bitterly contested campaign for Governor in the Fall of 1899. When the Republican William Taylor wins the vote count over Democrat William Goebel and takes the oath of office as the next Governor, Kentucky Democrats revolt. In the midst of this revolt, both parties expect violence, with armed men looming around Frankfort. On January 30, 1900; William Goebel is shot by an assassin. Goebel succumbs to his wounds, and becomes a martyr. The manhunt for Goebel's assassin is long on political rhetoric, but short on evidence. The authorities indict Big Jim Howard as the assassin. Howard's trial will be conducted by none other than Judge Cantrill. Regarding the second principal fact, during that same Fall of 1899, Lou Bettigole was a 17-year-old college freshman at Yale. A New Haven 'townie', Lou had never traveled, but longed for adventure. Pardonable departs from fact into fiction when Lou is recruited by his school newspaper to spend several weeks in Clay County reporting on the Baker-Howard feud. There, Lou and Big Jim form a special bond of friendship. Lou's time in Kentucky gets extended to cover Kentucky's bitterly contested election for Governor. With protests and threats of violence by both parties, Lou finds himself in Kentucky in January witnessing an assassin shooting William Goebel. In the days following the assassination, Lou finally moves back home to Connecticut. But with the arrest of his friend, he finds himself devoting years of his life commuting back and forth to Kentucky to free his friend from prison.