The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-05-30
IN THE PEN FOR LIFE.
'"''"e"'s OF the Trial Of Young Boyer
Tor Numbering His Pretty Wife
Last Summer.
District Attorney Pemberton SAYS That
the Marderer's Youth Alone Saved
His Neck.

Alfred Boyer madea very narrow escape
from the gallows," remarked District At.
torney Pemberton to the ~inquisitive news
paper fiend, who tackled the gentleman in
ms law office yesterday. ''THE MINER
readers will remember that at the December
term of the court he was convicted OF
murder in the first degree but granted a
new trial on the ground of newly discovered
evidence. At the last trial when the iury
retired, nine were in favor of hanging the
prisoner, but three %stubbornly held out for
murder in the second degree. Finally,
about midnight, the jury agreed on a ver-
diet OF murder in the second degree and
fixed the punishment at Imprisonment
in the Penitentiary for life. He is now in
the Penitentiary and he ought to stay
there until called before the Judgment Bar
above. ] am satisfied that the murder was
a old n deliberate one"
did he seem to realize his terrible iate?'
asked the reporter.
Not in the least replied the attorney,
all through the trial he seemed as uncOn-
cerned, as though he were IA mere spectator.
! pictured his crime in the most dOmning
manner possible, but all my words failed to
turn even q hair. He has a little, bullet
head, and his understanding is limited. I
pitied his poor father, a resident OF Butte
by the way, who seems to fully realize his
sons terrible position"
did not say that his father have
considerable to answer for the deed?'
YES, but rumor was all wrong. The
father, when on the stand, swOre positively
that he had nothing to dc with the poor
woman, and the prisoner, who evidently in
tended to kill himself after he killed his wife
but lacked the nerve to carry out his pur-
pose, had written a note, which was pro-
duced in court, in which he declared that
his father was blameless in the tragedy.
By the way, the officer who rrrested Boyer
and found the note, said %scornfully to his
prisoner, why in HI didn't you kill our
self?' Well whispered the murderer, Il
thought | would lay dow and cry awhile
first The father tried to save his son by
swearing that the killing was Accidentally
"Was the murdered wife woman OF good
repute?:'
''There was not even n S~cintilla OF evidence
against her chastity. She was Il young
French Canadian, rs is her murderer. She
was Il very beautiful woman. Immediately
after his arrest, he told the officer that he
had killed his wife because she had threat
encd to leave him, and that he would sooner
have her in the grave than in the arms Of
another man
"Was not the evidence mainly circum-
statial?'
mo; the fellows own confessions were
enough to send him to the g~allows. Only
his youth-he is scarcely p years old
saved his neck. His attorneys, Judge
Knowles and John S. Forbis, made an
able and stubborn defense, but the evidence
was too strong against their Client
"Was there any sympathy expressed for
the prisoner"
'None at all. The murder was so cow
ardly and uncalled for, that it aroused the
Indignation of every honest man. | am
satisfied that Boyer intended to kill his
father along with his wife and then commit
But, as stated, he lacked the
nerve