Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-03-22
HOW A SCRAP or PAPER coEHcTF0
MURDERER
stockton Independent.

Speaking OF circumstantial evil
dence." said gentleman from Con.
ira Costa County yesterday, to the
reporter OF the Independent, with
whom he had been talking about
the Market murder trial, "calls to
my mind the conviction of Robert
Lyle in my county last January,
of the murder of Patrick Sullivan,
and consider it the strangest case,
and one on which there was the
best detective work done that il
was ever my fortune to meet with.
1t is famous case and has occupied
the courts since the year 1881 and
gave the officers more trouble to Sc
cure a conviction than a dozen or
binary murder cases. They had
hardly anything to work on at first,
but stuck to it with the persistence
of bloodhounds on the track of q
victim, finally securing a convic-
ton almost wholly on the finding
of small piece of newspaper.
The reporter became interested,
and suggested that the gentleman
give an account of the affair which
he did in the following language.
THE CRIME.
Sullivan was a prosperous far
mer and stock-raiser, living on
Wildcat Creek, in the Southern
part of Contra Costa county, and
Lyle was a near neighbor. The
latter was always getting into
trouble with his neighbors and
going to law, particularly with Sui
liVan. In these suits he was gener-
oil tho ciAn nf tho
ton, and, of course, got wOrsted,
which enraged him to such de-
gree that he was injudicious enough
to make threats against Sullivan's
life, at one time telling the latters'
son that his father would fail TO
come home some night. On the
mornIng of the day of the murder
Sullivan left his home with his
team, and went to town, where
he had trifiing suit with Lyle be-
fore a Justice of the Peace, in
which he was beaten. The proph-
ecy of Lyle Was fulfilled, for Sulli.
van never returned to his house
alive. The next morning he was
found dead with his team in a field
not far from home, his arm hang
ing over the whiffietree and his
body lying upon the ground. The
first conclusion was that the team
had run away with him, thrown
him out, dragged him and broke
his neck. This theory was strength
ened by the fact that there was
plainly marked trait for two hun
dred and fifty yards, evidently
made by his body. No marks of
blood were on his clothes, and no
evidence that crime had been
committed. AT the inquest the
clothes of the dead man were re-
moved; it was found that he had
been murdered by some one who
shot him in the back,
Several of the shots had entered
his body, one of them penetrating
the heart, and two of them embed
ding themselves in the back of the
wagon seat. attended the trial
and took great interest in it. He
was heard to pass the house of a
man named Davis about nine
o'clock on the night of the murder
The road passed near the house of
Lyle, so that if the latter desired
he could lie in ambush and kill
him.
"When the officers examined the
spot where the murder was commit
ted they found the footprints OF
man leading to and from Lyle's
house over the plOwed ground to
the place where Sullivan had fallen
out of his wagon. They at once
suspected that Lyle had some
thing to do with the crime, and
went to his house, where he was
found eating his dinner. They
told him that he was suspected
of the murder, and that they were
there to make an investigation. i
have expected this said Lyle, 'be-
cause have had SO much difficulty
with Sullivan He then told the
officers to go ahead and make their
search and that they would not
find anything eliminating about
his place. On two pegs on the
wall the officers found a double
barTelled shot gun, one of the bar
rels of which was moist on the In
side, and had evidentally been re-
Gently discharged. Some buckshOt
was found, although Lyle had de-
MED having any, and on the shell
by the buckshOt was found crum-
pied piece of the San Francisco
Call, part of which was torn off.
Lyle was arrested and lodged in
Jail at Martinez, after which one of
the officers took the prisoners boot
and went to the scene of the sup
posed ambush, where he found in
the bushes along side of the road inn
prints of mans knees. The boots
were found to fit the tracks in the
soft ground perfectly, and at this
stage of the Investigation the Alam-
Ola officers offered to hand over the
case to the Contra Costa officers,
but were detained by the District
Attorney to work il up.
"The officer continued his weav-
ing of the chain of circumstantial-
evidence, and again returned to
the scene of the murder. He went
to the place where the tracks of the
mans knees had been found, and
about thirty feet from that spot
found small piece of paper that
had evidently been used as wad
ding for a gun. 1t was a bit of
newspaper, crumpled and powder
burned, but not so much so that the
print could not be plainly read. AT
the trial the business manager OF
the Call, identified the piece of pa
per as part of an advertisement
that had been printed in the paper
on the same day and date as thu
paper found in Lyle's. house. This
little innocent-looking piece of pa
per was what completed the chain
of circumstantial evidence, and
consigned Lyle to San Quentin. 1t
was further shown that on the
night OF the murder, between the
nours of eight and nine o'clock,
woman,s screams and entreaties
had been heard issuing from Lyle's
house. 1t is supposed that it was
Mrs. Lyle, who knew that her hus-
hand was starting out to kill Sulli-
van. and tried to prevent his going.
Notwithstanding the plain evidence
in the case, it took three trials to
convict the cold-blooded murderer,
and the last jury found him guilty
If murder in the first degree, YER
dict that caused great dissatisfaction.
I donit generally believein hanging
: mi on circumstantial evidence.
hnt that chain was so strong that