The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-03-15
HOW HE WAS CONVICTED.
Stockton Cal Indepensen,.l

Lyle Tn my county last lnuary. of ,he
 murder of Patrick Sullivan. and consider Ii the sirangest case, and one on whi -h there was the best detective work done that II vas ever my fortune to meet with
 It IS famous case, and has occupied the
 courts since the year 1881, and gave the
 officers more trouble to secure a convic-
 ton than dozen ordinary murder cases
 They had hardly anything to work on a,
 hrst. but stuck to il with the persistence of blood-hounds on the track of a victim 1 finally securing a conviction almos, wholly on the finding of a piece of news Paper.'
 The reporter became interested, and suggested that the gentleman give an ac- count of the affair, which he did in t.e following langu age:
 Sullivan was prominen, farmer and stock-raiser, living on Wild Cat creek. ;n the southern part of Contra Costa county and Lyle was near neighbor. The la;- ter was always getting into trouble with his neighbors and gong 10 law. par.ieu- larly with Sullivan. In these sui;s he was generally on the wrong side of the ques- ton. ard, of course. got worsted waich enraged him to such a degree tha, he was inludicions enough 10 make threa;s against ouilivans life, al one time ie...nE the lattcrs son that he would fail 10 come home some night On the morning of the day oi the murder Sullivan lei. h,s home with his team and wen, to town. where he had trifling lawsuit with Lyle before a justice of the peace in which he was beaten. The prophecy of Lyle was ftiflilAd Ani...aa home alive. The next morning he was found dead, with his team in a iield no, far from his home. his arm hanging ever the whiiiieiree 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 broken his neck. This theory was strengthened by the fact there was piainly-marked trail Ter 25o yards evidently made by his body. No marks ot blood were on his clothes, and no evidence tha, a crime had been committed. At the inquest. when the clothes of the dead man were removed, r was found that he had been murdered by some one who had sho, hiin iri the back. Several of the shots had entered his body. one of them enter ing the heart and two of them embed- ding themselves Tn the back of tie wagon seat. attended the trial and took a great interest Tn Il. He was heard 70 pass the house of a man named D.xis abou, , o'clock on inc nigh, Of the mr.- der. Inc road passed near the house of Lyle so that If the latter 50 desired he could lie in ambush and kill him. When the officers examined the spo: where the murder was committed they found the footprints of man leading 10 and from Lyle's house over the ploughei ground to the place where Sullivan had fallen out of his wagon. They s, once susp,oioned that L,le had something 10 do with the crime and went 10 his house. where he was found eating dinner. They told him that he was suspected of the murder and that they were there to make an investigation. have expected this, said he, because have had so much diiilcuiiy with Sullivan. He then told the officers to go ahead and make their search, and that they would no, find any thing oriminatng about his place. On two pegs on the wall the officers found a double-barrelled shotgun, one of the barrels Of which was moiz, on the inside. and had evidently been recently dis charged. Some buckshot were found, although Lyle denied having any. and on the shelf by the buckshot was found orumpled piece of the San Francesca CaH, part of winch was torn of. Lyle was arrested and lodged in jal at Mar unez, afier which one of the off icers took the prisoners boots and wen, 10 the scene of the supposed ambush. where he iouhd Tn the brush alongside the road the imprlnts of mans knees. The boots were found to rit the tracks in the soft ground perfectly, and at this stage ot the invesusat the Alameda officers offered to hand over the case to the Con- tra Costa officers, but were detailed by the dissric.-attorney to work il up.
 he oileer continued the weaving of the chain oi ciroumstantial evidence and again returned 10 the scene of the mur- der. lie went 10 the place where the tracks of the man $ knees had been found and about thirty from that spot found a small piece of paper that had evidently oeen used as wadding for gun. twas bit of newspaper, crumpled and pow der-burned, but not so much so that the print could not be plainly read. A, the
 
 identified the piece of paper as a part of an advertisement that had been printed in the paper on the same day and date as the paper found in Lyle's house. This little innocent-looking piece of paper vas what completed the chain Of circum- stantial evidence and consigned Lyle 10 san ,luentIn. IL was further shown that on the night of the murder, between the hours of and 2 o'clock, wonan's screams and en,rea,ies had been heard. ssuing from Lyle's house I, is sup posed that 1t was Mrs. Lyle. who knex hat her husband was starting out to kill sullivan, and tried to prevent his going. \ Notwithstanding the plain evidence in he case II took three trials to convict the ,old-blooded murderer. and the last ury ornd him guilty of murder in the frs, iegree. verdict tha, caused grea, dis l don't generally believe in hanging man on circumstan,ial evi- fence, bu; that chain was so strong ,hz, 10 doubt could be entertained of his