Wichita eagle., 1888-11-24
A SENSATIONAL MURDER CASE.

SAN BUENA VENTURA, CAL, Nov. %
Joseph F. Dye was yesterday acquitted for
shooting Herman Haines. The trial
brought out an extraordinary conspiracy
to kill the owner of ranch by the lover
of his wife. On August 81, 1856. Haines,
ranch hand, was shot and killed
by Dye, the superintendent and prln-
cipal owner of the Sespe ranch
The circumstances attending the
tragedy and subsequent Developments
read like a romance, and disclose one OF
the most perfectly planned consplracles TO
put out of the way wealthy ana eXten,
sive land holder, that has been developed
since the conspiracy of the Sespe squatters,
which resulted in the killing OF L. Wallace
Moore on the same ranch nearly ten years
ago, and for which Z. w. Sprague
served ten years penal servitude.. At the
trial which closed yesterday the following
facts were shown: The Sespe Land ana
Water company was organized three years
ago and secured control of 1900 acres of
rich agricultural and Oil land. IL. j. Crow,
of Los Angeles, was one of the heavy stock
holders and DYE was made superlnten-
dent. Crow is several tunes a
millionaire. Business frequently, cali
ed Crow to sespea; e There The b..ut ne
full young wife Of Dye. Mrs. Dye, it
seems, reciprocated Crows affections,
though the latter was married man:
Mrs Dive was the constant recipient OF
letters from Crow and OF many visits
when Dye was called to Los Angeles,
which was of frequent occurrence; Dyes
suspicious were first aroused in the early
part of August, 1886, when happening
home unexpectedly, he espied his young
wife careleSsly drop a note in front or MS
home He noticed Willie Halnes, a son OF
Herman Haines, pick up the note aud
start toward his saddle horse, which was
hitched near the ranch house. Dye told
the boy to go to a place on the ranch, dis
tant five miles, and deliver verbal mes
sage, and hastily mounting horse fol-
lowed the boy and. oVertaklng him, pro-
cured the note.
Mrs. Dye had written to Herman
Haines. The note showed that Halnes
acted as Intermediary for Crow IN the cor
respondence between the lovers, and also
that Haines, possessing the secret be
tween Crow and the woman, had
demanded a clandestine meeting
with Mrs. Dye and himself. With the
note Dye returned home and CON
fronted his wife. a scene followed, IN
which an old mans love for his young wife
and anguish over her infidelity were dra-
matically portrayed. Dye, after assuring
his wife that all was over between them,
penned a letter to Haines, dlscharglng
him and asking him to never again put
foot on the ranch, and never meet or speak
to him again.
Shortly after securing possession OF the
means given her by Dye, Mrs Dye lett Tor
her parents home in Oakland, leaving
baby boy and little girl.
Haiues daily after his discharge threat
ened to take Dyes life on sight, and fearful
of trouble, Dye left the ranch and went so
Los Angeles, where he remained some time
Returning in August, 1907, he accidentally
met Haines in a store in the little town OF
Santa Paula, armed with Henry rifle:
Haines insulted Dye as the latter passed
him Dye slapped Haines in the face and
an alteration followed, in which Dye Ia
tally wounded Haines.
Dyes counsel, IN securing evidence for
his defense, unearthed an atroclouS con-
spiracy between Crow and Haines to get
Dive out of the way. They read to the
court correspondence between Crow
and Haines and Haines and Mrs.
Dye, clearly establishing the exist
ence of Illicit relations between Crow
and Mrs. Dye. and the fact that after
this discovery by Dye, the two men had
conspired to remove Dye, either by the
result of the disclosure or assassination.
The production of this evidence created
intense excitement. So tireless have been
the efforts of Dyes attorneys that deposit
lions have been procured from
Guatemala which substantiated the
evidence of the conspiracy. The
most important letter was one written
to Crows private secretary two days before
Haines was shot. disclosing the fact that
Haines had contracted to kill Dye. The
writer said there would be no safety for
himself or Crow with Dye in the country.
The jury promptly acquitted Dye.