Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-24
THE REPORTERS STORY.
CHASING THROUGH FOUR STATES
AFTER THE EVIDENCE.

CHASING THROUGH FOUR STATES
AFTER THE EVIDENCE.
Miller Determined to Clear His Name
The Struggle to Locate Dunn - The
| Final Affid.svits Secured-A Dramatic
Scene in Colonel Moore's Room.
Fer the past three years 1 have been in.
timately acquainted with James w. Miller,
and have known of the weight he carried
long before either he or myself ever thought
of publishing any part of the story. He
had made me the possessor of many of the
secrets of his life. I knew all about his
connection with the Universal Refrigerat-
ing Company and also knew of Mr.. Mosby' s
visit before that gentleman arrived in Pitts
| burg
Though Mr.. Miller had frequently ex-
pressed desire to bring out the true facts
in this case and make complete vindi-
cation, he was always held back by
the hope that he would live it out, and
would rather endure the present burdens
than tear open the old wounds. On his re-
turn to Pittsburg, Immediately after Mr.
Mosby's visit to this place, he stated his in
tention of clearing up all the clouds that
hung over him, and requested me to accom-
pany him in ferreting out the evidence.
When 1 mentioned the matter to the editors
of THE DISPATCH, by whom 1 was en-
ployed, they agreed to my proposal On
Thursday, the 18th of August, accompanied
by Mr.. Miller, started for Clarion, Clarion
county, Pa, where, ten years before, Mr..
Miller had been convicted of the Catfish
md To i'm
prisonment We were received there kindly
by almost everybody, but there, as at almost
every point during our subsequent travels,
but few people recognized Mr. Miller until
he had made himself known. The prevail
ing sentiment to-day in that county deci-
dedly is that Mr.. Miller was unjustly con-
victed.
The Only Stumbling Block.
In Clarion the only stumbling block we
met was that of finding the notes of evidence
in the trial of Miller, jackson, Harrop and
OFT. The court records showed it had been
filed, but the evidence could not be found
Together we searched all over the papers in
the Prothonotary's office. We thought that
possibly the notes might have been
taken out by Mr. Moffatt, who was one of
N1iller's counsels and who had made an
application for writ of error In the
sent to Congress from his district and had
also had two different law partners in the
ten years that had elapsed since the trial
One of them had died but we commenced
to search through the papers in these vari-
GUS offices. At last in a big box at Mr..
Moffat's residence was found the notes of
testimony he had taken at the trial and
which he attested as correct.
In the meantime I had wired to all the
stenographers who had ever taken a line of
evidence in the Clarion county courts, in
order to get some trace of the missing testi-
mony. Fearful of arousing suspicion, I
signed Mr.. Moffatt's name.
Tailed With the Notes.
In the files Of the Clarion Democrat I also
found the report of the trial, which was
published ten years ago, and it was SO alb
solutely correct that it tailed in
every particular with Mr. Moffatt's
notes. Later, however, in con-
velsation with Attorney B. J. Reid,
1 discovered that the notes had really been
stolen from the Court House by some per-
son he had employed to give him an ab-
stract of the case when he made the applica-
tion for the pardon of Harrop, jackson, and
Oft. Mr.. Reid had in no way been response
BILE for the disappearance of the testimony,
but the person he had employed instead of
making a copy distracted the official rec
ord. Believing this to be true 1 wired At
torney General Hensel in Mr.. Motfatts
name. On nv return from Ohio I found the
following telegram on my desk, which had
been forwarded by Mr.. Moffatt, and proves
that the papers are in Harrisburg:
HARRISBURG, PA.
To j. t. Mofratt:
Stenographer's copy notes of testimony in
Commonwealth versuS .TapES HarroD and
Miller are on file in Office and Secretary of
Commonwealth. H. d. TATE,
Recorder Board of Pardons.
After Complete Story.
After securing afidavits from different
people who had occupied or do now occupy
the position of public trust in the county,
and hearing nothing but the most kindly
expressed sentiments from the success of his
undertaking, we made our way back to
Pittsburg Finding that the papers had
published partial and vague accounts of the
story up to date, and not desiring to bore
the public with an incomplete narrative,
We made the necessary arrangements and
departed to Cleveland, o.
On arriving at Cleveland one danger to be
feared was that the newspaper reporters of
the Forest City would become cognizant of
our mission and forestall us by telling the
facts which we came in search of.
One of the first things we did was to tele-
graph to the camp of the Duquesne Greys
outside of Erie, Pa, for Detective John
McTighe, who was there enjoying his va
cation. He Immediately responded and ar
rived on Monday evening and then began
one of the most intricate searches for the
various personages who had been active in
this drama of decade ago. Mrs. Dunn was
found at II o'clock at night and utterly re-
fused to recognize James w. Miller, claim
ing that he was not the man whom she had
known under that name. By relating some
incidents which were known to very few
people he succeeded to recalling himself to
her memory and when his mission was
stated and he told her what his desire was
to do she repeated the story to me which
Miller had gone over time and again for
years past. After long search the next
day Mrs Ashley was found and when Mr..