Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-06-13
aTHE HoYAL NINE.
Miller and Mortimer. the Principal
Members, to be Tried Next
Monday for the Murder
of Samuel Apgar.

trial to-day, but other criminal
matters occupying the attention of
the court, the case will probably
not come up for a hearing until
the latter part of the week, and it
may be not until Monday. The
special jury to try the case appear
ed this afternoon, but were dis
missed until the trial begins.
The circumstances of the killing
are still fresh in the minds of a
great many, but to those who are
not SO well acquainted with the
facts, a brief account of the as
sassination will be read with inter-
est, especially at this time, when
the two negroes are about to be
placed upon trial for their lives.
THE MURDER.
The crime for which Miller and
Mortimer are to be tried was COM
mitted on Tuesday morning, April
II, 1888, about 2:30o'clock. At that
hour Samuel Apgar, an old and
decrepit citizen, was shot down in
his own house in Northwest Mex
leo, by assassins at that time un-
known, but later developments
tended to show that the deed was
done by members of a colored or
ganization known as "The Royal
Nine," a band of negroes whose
chief purpose was robbery. Mrs.
Apgar vas the only other occupant
of the house when the murder was
committed. She was awakened by
a pistol shot and in a moment the
old man came into the bed room
from the dining room, took his
pistol from under the pillow and
started back. AS he came in he
exclaimed:
"Ma, I'm shot"
He had barely secured the pis.
toll when he fell. In a moment he
was dead. Mrs. Apgar ran to the
front of the house, which faces
south, and screamed loudly TO,
help. Jacob Flora, an engineer
who lived across the street, heard
her at once and came over. As he
entered the bed room a horrible
sight met his gaze. The old
man was crouched at the
foot of the bed, his head hanging
on his breast and the blood stream
ing from a hole in his left chest.
He never spoke word. Flora put
his arms around Apgar and lifted
him to the bed, where he gasped
and died as his head touched the
pillow. He didn't utter a word.
If he knew his murderer he did not
have the strength to say who he
was. Mrs. Apgar did not hear her
husband when he left the bed but
she thought he had been awakened
by a noise and got up to make an
investigation. The house contains
four rooms, two large ones on the
east side and two smaller ones west
of them. The small rooms were
used for bed room and dining room,
the latter being on the north of the
sleeping room. A summer kitchen
stood about two feet from the main
building, just west of the little din
ing-room and consequently north
west of the bedroom. Open doors
showed that the deceased went into
the d~ining-room from the room in
which he slept and from there out
of the house opposite the open east
door of the summer kitchen.
Whether the shot was fred before
Apgar entered the summer kitchen
or while he was standing in the
passage is not known, but it seemed
from the course of the bullet that
the murderer was standing almost
facing his victim when he fred the
fatal shot. The ball was a small
one and entered at the right edge
of the sternum, between the second
and third ribs, ranging to the left.
Mrs. Apgar was greatly excited al
the time and did not even hear any
noise. No tracks were visible
about the kitchen, and the only
thing disturbed inside of the little
cook room was a safe drawer, which
had been pulled out and its con.
tents strewn over the floor. The
murderer made good his escape and
left no tell-tale mark behind.
Matte Mortimer, Judy Miller,
Birdie Ellis, John Miller, John
johnson, Jim johnson, 81. Faw.
cett, John Lyon, Frank Benson
and Geo. Mortimer, all negroes.
were placed under arrest, and Har'
rison Waller, another negro, was
arrested in Kansas City and brought
here and jailed. John Miller's tes.
timony at the coroner's inquesi
fixed the murder en- George Morti.
mer, who, in turn, swore that Faw.
cett did the killing. However, al
the case progressed all the negroes
were discharged from custody ex'
cept John Miller and George Nor
timer, who were indicted by The
Grand Jury for the murder. Botf
negroes at various times told many
conflicting stories regarding theil
nh WOO &o nm the n;oht N.