The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-07-21
THE CRIME.
History OF the Mcmillan
Wife Murder.
A Dark Deed EnshrOuded in the
Deepest Mystery.
The Cold BlOOded Murder of Mrs.
Augustine Mcmillan,
A Wife and Mother, While Asleep
With Her Husband.
One Of the Most Infamous Of Human
Crimes on Record.
Scenes and Incidents OF McMillan's Trial.
His Conviction and Sentence to
He Hanged.
A Wife and Mother, While Asleep
With Her Husband.
One Of the Most Infamous Of Human
Crimes on Record.

The murder, for which George Nc
MILAN was hanged to-day, was commit
ed on Thursday, June 18th, 1882, exact
ly year and week ago. We reprint
from the DEMOCRAT Of that date an ac-
count of the foul tragedy:
"The supply of murder cases in Stark
county appears no less with the lapse
of time, and every term of the criminal
court does not appear to be complete
unless there appears on the docket one
or more cases Of homicide, and no soon
or does one disappear than another Is
ready to take its place in the category.
The latest is the brutal murder, In the
dead of night, of a married woman liv-
ing on South Cherry street, close to the
east branch of the Nimishillen creek,
which occurred early this morning.
While officer Thomas Baughman was
waiting at the corner of Charles and
Cherry streets for the roundsman at 2:O5
a. M. he heard sharp pistol shot COM
ing from the neighbOrhOOd of the creek,
a short distance south, followed by
screaming, and soon after a second shot.
He Immediately blew his whistle for as
slstance and then started down until he
came to the house Of George Mcmillan,
next to the creek, where he found the
man of the house standing back of a
nelghbOr's, named Robinson, shouting
"fOr Gods sake I'm shot" At this time
ROundsman Bechtel arrived and the two
officers proceeded up stairs, accompanied
by James Mcmillan, into a poverty
stricken appearing attic, containing
two beds, and in the one at the north
end the woman was found weltering in
her blood, flowing from pistol shot
wound in the region of the left eye,
from which the life current cOmmingled
with brains eXued in a sickening stream.
She breathed about twenty minutes af-
ter the officers arrived, but remained
unconscious. She is about % years old,
and has been married for about twelve
years, and has four children, two of
whom occupied the other bed in the
miserable attic at the time of the trag-
edy. Drs. Phillips and Johnson were
summoned, but too late to be of any
avail to the victim. The husband,
George Mcmillan, aged 32, was found to
be shot In the right breast just over the
nipple, but the wound Is not serious and
it Is the impression of the offers that he
did the wife shooting inIa fit of jealousy
and afterwards shot himself. At z a.
M. the husband, George Mcmillan, and
his father, James, crOckeTy peddler
from Salinevllle, who had been sleeping
in the lower part of the house, were ar
rested and taken to the county Jail,
where they await an examination. The
husbands shirt, was burned over the
wound, showing the close proximity of
q pistol, and he accuses a Fan Killian
with doing the shooting, but that re-
mains to be proved. The pistol has not
been found, and it Is the impression
that 1t was thrown out in the low,
swampy ground lying back of the house.
The house is little story and a half
affair, boarded up and down and un-
moi m ofo NJ bn 30
street, next to the creek, with two
rooms down stairs, the front one carpet
ed and rough plastered, and the kitchen
unfinished; upstairs Is an attic with
bare floor and two beds, and couple of
shake DOWNS" that evidenced sleeping
accommodations when the bedsteads
were occupied. The whole place betO-
kens the abject poverty.
THE TRIAL.
The case was called before. Judge
Pease, of the Common Pleas Court, Mon
day, Feb. 14th. Prosecuting Attorney
Harter, assisted by j. j. Parker, ESQ,
the prosecution, and MessTs.
Baldwin % Shields the defense. After
eXhausting number of Venires, a iury
was obtained Wednesday, Feb. 21st, and
the hearing of testimony was begun.
The examination of witnesses cOnsum-
ed two weeks, and on Thursday, March
1st, the arguments of the attorneys were
A hundred and fifty-nine witnesses
in all, for both state and defense were
No effort was spared by
his attorneys, Messrs. Baldwin and
Shields, to free their client, and the mas
terly way In which they conducted the
defense merits special praise, but the
mass of crushing testi-
mOny, as brought forward by the state,
represented by Prosecutor Henry A,
Harter and j. j. Parker, ESQ.,, was too
much for successful refutatiOn, and on
the last few days of the trial 1t was pat
ent to all observers that the verdict
could only be that Of murder In the FIRST
degree, and even the prisoner felt so, for
his face was pinched and pale. The
spacious court room was filled daily by
hundreds of people Of both sexes, and
the Interest was painfully apparent on
their faces. Finally the testimony was
all in, and the argument by counsel fol-
lowed in natural sequence, and very
creditably did the legal gentlemen on
both sides acquit themselves. Then fol-
lowed the Judges charge. The Jury re-
tired TO their room at 2:30 D. M, on Fri
day, March 22d, and a human life was
entrusted to their decree. Court then
until 2 pm.
Six o'clock arrived and most Of the
spectators retired for supper, leaving
few to keep company with the Judge,
and court officers. At 6:15 the
jury, having formally announced that
they had agreed, filed slowly into the
sombre court room, already partially
shrouded in gloom by the gathering
twilight, and In response as to whether