The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-13

Sno was Pleased ~ the propoSitl0ns aud on n0r
return home was to get him to assent to it. On
the 31st he wrote me a letter in which he con-
fessed that he had nothing upon which TO predi-
cate any claim to the property. He said
IF / had have had the moral courage to have
plainly said these things, it would have saved me
a world of very, for have the greatest respect
and liking for both yourself and Mrs. Molloy,
and 1t has caused me no little pain to apparently
act in deceptive manner. But You have the
whole story now, and am glad it is told"
Thus IL will be seen that he had caused Mrs.
Molloy, as well as myself, to believe that he was
the owner of valuable real estate in Fort Wayne,
when In fact he owned none, and did not go
there to sell the same, though he still in this
same letter speaks of his visit to Indiana. So on
the 3lst Of December, over three months after
Sarah Graham was murdered, Mrs. Molloy and
myself were both made to believe that he bad
really been to Indiana; therefore it is impossible
that she should know the real facts in the case.
The postal card already referred to was written
and mailed prior to the murder, and was intended
to conceal that event, thus showing the whole
thing to be premeditated by him. In view of all
these transactions there be any doubt that
the murder was committed to conceal the crime
of bigamy and his duplicity from Mrs. Moloy
and Cora. After the murder he constantly ex-
arted himself to conceal from them that event.
His letters, his declarations to them, and to the
other members of the family and his instruc
tions to his children. as sworn by Charlie, all
leave no doubt OF this, and that they were all
ignorant of it, There was absolutely nothing in
the evidence given on trial to connect either of
these ladies with the murder. or showing that
either of them had any knowledge of it, There
was no proof that they knew Of the second mar
riaga.
The testimony of Peter Hawkins, the colored
servant, to the effect that Cora went to the post
Office at Brooklne, on the night of the murder,
is unworthy of credit He testified with more
particularly and just as positively. that Graham
brought trunk home the following day, and
that he (Peter) took it out of the wagon. He
minutely described it-said it had two iron straps
on it, etc. It is an undsputed fact that the
trunk was not taken out there at all, but was
left in North Springfield and all the other testi-
mony shows that no trunk was taken there that
day. II will not be disputed that he fabricated
the whole story about the trunk and why not in
respect to the trip to Brookline9 Both Eta and
Emma testified at the coroner's inquest that Cora
did not leave the house that night; that they and
she slept in the same bed-Cora in the middle
and she could not have been absent without
their knowledge But even if it were true that
she did go to Brookline it would not prove that
she present and aided in the murder Be-
sides, Hawkins swore that she was at home be-
fore he heard the fatal shots GU
If it is true that Cora and Graham were seen
near the well in which the body was found, this
does not prove that she knew it was in the we'll,
much less that she aided in the murder The
well was on the place where they resided. and
all the members of the family must have been
near 1t often. Such a circumstance, if true, is
not at all inconsistent with their innocence.
If the State had introduced as witnesses Eta
and Emma, who were members of the family,
and must have known more about these matters
than any other witnesses, they would have given
a full explanation of the presence of the Bible.
album and silver which had belonged to Sarah
Graham. They would have testified that era
ham brought them home when the boys came,
and explained his having them by representing
that Sarah and he, having hidden each other
fral farewell, she returned to him everything
which he had presented her, saying that she did
not want anything she had ever received from
him.
The visit to Brookline to see the letter which
O'Neil had procured Charlie Graham to sign. and
the interest manifested by Cora and Mrs. Molloy
does not tend to connect them with the crime.
On the other hand, it is strong proof of their in
nocence 1t shows that they knew nothing of
the letters Charlie had written his aunt at his
fathers dictation. nor Of the letters Graham had
written purportng to come from Sarah, s'who
could not. write because of a sore hand These
represented her as being In Springfield, while
the O'Nal latter said 'the last they saw of their
mother was when they left her in St Louis" If
they were in the conspiracy, as claimed, they
must have known of these letters and that the
O'Neil letter would give the lie to all those and.
necessarily stimulate investigation. 1t can be
readily seen if they had known that Graham had
been representing to the relatives that Sarah
was in Springfield that Mrs. Moloy would hardly
have said cit is all right, George" when she
they had left~Sarah in st. Louis
If the moral character of these ladies was never
so bad it would constitute no evidence of their
guilt of the crime charged, and no evidence to
impeach their character would have been ad-
mitted but for the intense public excitement and
prejudice which surrounded and influenced the
magistrates as the air they breathed and let the
prosecutor to exclaim: AWAY with the law and
let US have common sense" But notwithstand-
ing this public frenzy. and the willingness of
- - u A.
evidence worthy of belief tending to impeach
their moral character In fact, the only evil
dence on that subject was the absurd testimony
of Charlie Graham, who claimed to have seen
his father in bed with these two women in the
morning after Eta and Sarah had gone down to
get breakfast and when they were liable any
moment to come upstairs. 1t was at an hour
when the whole family would be rising. The
doors between the three rooms were open. In
one slept little Roy and the fourteen year old son
of Mrs Molloy. In the other the fourteen-year-
old sister of Cora All these were liable at
any moment to come into the room, for he
says 'they all dressed there" The story of such
shamelessness is too absurd for belief, and would
not be taken or credited in any court. The
basest and most degraded of women would not
be guilty of such conduct in the presence of
each other, much less in the presence of
these children, and with the wife of the man
and another young woman at any moment liable
to enter These three people are not idiots, and
however bad at heart they might be. they would
take such risks of public exposure in com
munity which is represented as anything but
friendly to them. This witness who according
to his own testimony, had written lies to his
aunt repeatedly, regarding the whereabouts of
his mother who had perjured himself at the
coroner's inquest only few days before at the
instance of his father is relied upon to destroy
the moral character of these two women, one of
whom has national reputation as a temperance
and Christian worker, and has warm place in
the hearts Of thousands all over the United
States, who have been blessed by the labors of
her useful life
AS to the charges made by George Graham of
criminal intimacy with these women, I have
only to say / do not believe them. He has
served two terms in the penitentiary, one for
DEMONSTRATING, and one for forgery. He has
since that time committed bigamy, murder and
three other forgeries. and suborned his own son