The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-03-21
ILLINOIS.
The Wheaton Murder Trial at BlOoming tOn
Appearance of the Defendant.
Special to the INDIANAPOLIS Journal

| Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
BLOOMINGTON, March 2O.-The trial of
Dwight E. Wheaton, for the murder of James
O'Neil, a Chicago & Alton engineer, on
December 81, 1877, which was continued
from February 6, last, came up to-day in the
Mclean Circuit Court, and will doubtless
prove one of the most exciting events in the
| criminal history of the country 1t was not
until P. M. that a jury was obtained. Of
the twelve jnrors, all are from the country
excepting one.
| Wheaton appears as cool, calm and nervy
as of old, displaying the same placidity
which stood him so we'll during
the exciting days following the
murder. He looks but little the older for
the five years that have passed since O'Neil
was killed. though he has spent all of the
time but few months in Jail and peniten-
tiary. He is very handsome, daring-look-
ing fellow fully six feet tall, athletic and
muscular, He was neatly attired in good
clothes and wore light mustache. He is
defended by Hon. J. H Rowell, congress
man-elect, who, with Mr.. Hamilton, now
Governor, defended him before; also, by
Stevenson & Ewing. States Attorney Por
ter prosecutes, assisted by Senator Fifer,
who was States attorney and prosecuted him
in 1873.
Among the spectators were the brothers of
the murdered man, who are very prominent
citizens of the westside; also, ONeil's brother
in-law, a well-known Chicago & Alton engin-
eer These men have followed Wheaton's ca
reer closely, and have spared neither time nor
money to procure testimony. There were
many ladies in the courtroom.
AS soon as the jury was impaneled,
Fifer made the opening speech for the prose
cution, narrating the murder substantially
as published by this paper and went on to
give the main points of the new testimony
which they proposed to adduce. This in
| cluded certain statements Wheaton is alleged
to have made in Jail and prison to bis wife
and others, and also circumstances which
show that his former statements were I'M
true. AT 6:15 the court adjourned till to-
morrow, when Captain Rowell will make the
opening speech for the defense.
The Attempted Abduction of Miss Bond.
Taylorville Special, 10th.
Miss Bond regained consciousness to-day
for a short time and told the story of her
strange adventure. She said: "Just after my
sister left me two men wearing black masks
entered by the door. The first one unlocked
and opened the outside door, saying, Where
is the little grip While this was going on
the other approached the bed and blew out
the light. l tried TO scream, but could not
but took hold of the bed-post They then
/ caught hold of me, and in trying to pull me
| off the bed, moved it out from the wall
They then carried me out and around to the
| southwest corner of the house. AT this time
1 heard some one scream inside, and one of
| the men said, Let's drop the - girl and
| skip out Up to that time l was conscious
| but the shock ] sustained from the fall rem
| dered me lifeless, and know nothing more"
To back up this statement it is stated that
when Miss Elite Bond left her sister to go to
supper she was resting easily on the bed in
| the southwest corner of the room, but when
| Miss Elite returned after the alarm had been
| given the bed was found near the middle of
| the room. Her physician who thought that
\ perhaps she had been laboring under an
hallucination and had left the room, ex-
amined her feet closely to see if they bore
any signs of her having been walking upon
the rough ground, but his examination failed
| to throw any light upon the subject, as there
were no marks upon them. He thought it
| impossible for her to have traversed that dis
lance without some evidence, and to con-
vince himself he barred his own feet and
went over the same course When he re-
turned to the house he could find numerous
indications of his journey. These things,
though they seem trivial in themselves have
a tendency to thoroughly convince the pub
/ lie that some one attempted to take Miss
Bond away. Soon after Miss Emma had made
her statement she relapsed into an unconsci-
Gus state and still remains in that condition.
and is continually talking about her abduc-
tors, sometimes asking them if they returned
and took her away after having let her drop.