While Goebel lacked the social qualities like public speaking that are common with politicians, various authors referred to him as an intellectual man.

In 1895, Goebel engaged in a duel with John Lawrence Sandford, a former Confederate general staff officer turned cashier.

In the politically chaotic climate that resulted, Goebel was declared as having won the election, but was assassinated and died after three days in office.

[4] His father served as a private in Company B, 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, during the American Civil War, and Goebel's mother raised her children alone, teaching them much about their German heritage.

Wilhelm spoke German until the age of six, but he embraced American culture, adopting the English spelling of his name as "William".

[7] After a brief time at Hollingsworth Business College in mid 1870s, he became an apprentice in the law firm of John W. Stevenson, who had served as governor of Kentucky from 1867 to 1871.

[8] Goebel graduated from Cincinnati Law School in 1877,[6] and enrolled at the Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, before joining the practice of Kentucky state representative John G. Carlisle.

[10] Goebel was not a gifted public speaker, often eschewing flowery imagery and relying on his deep, powerful voice and forceful delivery to drive home his points.

Klotter wrote, "When coupled to somewhat demagogic appeals and to an occasional phrase that stirred emotions, this delivery made for an effective speech, but never more than an average one.

"[10] While lacking in the social qualities common to politicians, one characteristic that served Goebel well in the political arena was his intellect.

[10] In 1887, James William Bryan vacated his seat in the Kentucky Senate to pursue the office of lieutenant governor.

Cassius Marcellus Clay responded by proposing a committee to investigate lobbying by the railroad industry.

His tendency to use the state's political machinery to advance his agenda earned him the nickname "William the Conqueror".

Goebel's successful campaign to remove tolls from some of Kentucky's turnpikes cost Sandford a large amount of money.

[28] The shooting made Goebel unpopular among Kentucky's Confederate veterans, who also noted his non-southern background and his father's service in the Union army.

[29] Many voters decried the bill as a self-serving attempt by Goebel to increase his political power, and the election board remained a controversial issue until its abolition in a special session of the legislature in 1900.

[31] Three men sought the Democratic nomination for governor at the 1899 party convention in Louisville – Goebel, Parker Watkins Hardin, and William Johnson Stone.

When the convention convened on June 24, several chaotic ballots resulted in no clear majority for anyone, and Goebel's hand-picked chairman announced the man with the lowest vote total in the next canvass would be dropped, which turned out to be Stone.

This put Stone's supporters in a difficult position, and were forced to choose between Hardin, who was seen as a pawn of the railroads, or Goebel.

[35] A disgruntled faction calling themselves the "Honest Election Democrats" held a separate convention in Lexington and nominated John Y.

[36] Republican William S. Taylor defeated both Democratic candidates in the general election, but his margin over Goebel was only 2,383 votes.

[37][38][39] Democrats in the General Assembly began making accusations of voting irregularities in some counties, but in a surprise decision, the Board of Elections created by the Goebel Election Law, manned by three hand-picked pro-Goebel Democrats, ruled 2–1 that the disputed ballots should count, saying the law gave them no legal power to reverse the official county results and that under the Kentucky Constitution the power to review the election lay in the General Assembly.

Conflicting reports describe what happened next, but either five or six shots were fired from the nearby State Building, one striking Goebel in the chest, seriously wounding him.

Taylor, serving as Governor pending a final decision on the election, called out the militia and ordered the General Assembly into a special session in London, Kentucky – a Republican area.

[49] During the ensuing investigation of Goebel's assassination, suspicion naturally fell on deposed Governor Taylor, who had promptly fled to Indianapolis, under the looming threat of indictment.

The governor of Indiana refused to extradite Taylor, and thus he was never questioned about his knowledge of the plot to kill Goebel.

Convictions were handed down against Taylor's Secretary of State Caleb Powers, Henry Youtsey, and Jim Howard.

Youtsey was an alleged intermediary, and Howard, who was said to have been in Frankfort to seek a pardon from Taylor for the killing of a man in a family feud, was accused of being the actual assassin.

He backed the prosecution's claims that Taylor and Powers worked out the details; he had acted as an intermediary, and Howard fired the shot.