The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-16
SHALL WILLIAMS HANG?!
STATE BOARD OF PARDONS MEETS
TODAY TO DETERMINE
FINALLY
MURDERER OF DANIEL FINN

His Case Is to Re Considered by the
Board in Special sessiOn-His
Friends Are Hopeful That His
Sentence VIII BE Cummuted to
imprisonment for Life by the
Board of PardOns.
But a small ray of hope stands be-
tween Milton Williams and the galloWs.
The friends and relatives of the
doomed man have not. however, given
up hope as Williams application for
g Communication of his sentence Of death
to life Imprisonment viii be considered
at a special meeting of the state board
of PGrdCns in the executive chambers
today.
Williams was sentenced June by
Judge Whytock, Of Albert Lea, to be
hung on a date to be fixed by the gov
ernOr. The friends Of the doomed man
have filed a VOluminOGs transcript of
evidence taken at the trial, together
with a formal application for a cOmmu-
tatiOn Of his death sentence. Williams
shot Dan Finn in cold blood at Austin,
Feb. Is last. He was convicted June
and Immediately sentenced by the
trial judge.
Gov. ClouGh has deferred signing the
the state board Of pardons.
Williams viii be represented before
the board by w. w. Erwin who was
active in his defense during the spring
and also the firm of Greenman & DOd-
Well. The county attorney of Cotton
wood viii be present on behalf Of the
prosecution Williams parents, who at
one time ran the Williams house at
White Bear. have done everything in
their power to save Milton from the
gallOWs.
He is but twenty-fOur years OF age,
and from his record, disclosed in the
evidence, it would appear that he was
pretty tough character. He can
neither read nor write and was at the
time Of his crime employed as a hack
driver in Austin. His associations from
the first have been evil and he is a
heavy drinker. He has shared little
Of the domestic life Of the Williams
family and has grown UP without any
OF those graces acquired by association
in a Well-cOnditiOned home His en-
VirOnment has never been good, and on
these grounds the defendants counsel
bases the application. 1t is also claim
ed that the evidence will not sustain
the verdict of murder in the first de-
gree, and that it barely suStains muir
der in the second degree, which is in
territorial killing without premedita-
ton.
The application also states that
bitter local feeling existed at the time
of the commitment Of the crime which
influenced the verdict Of the jury
Williams met Daniel P. Finn on the
steps Of the Williams house and they
became engaged in an alteration. The
trouble arose over a domestic employ
ed in the Williams house. The men
came to blows but were separated. Mrs.
Williams started down town to get a
policeman. Finn had come to the hotel
to receive his salary, as he had left
the employ Of the hotel on the Satur
day night preceding.
While Mrs Williams was down town
the men again met on the porch steps,
end as Finn came up Williams drew
3S-calibre revolver and fired two shots
into Firms left breast. He fell at the
door Of the hotel and expired within
q few minutes.
Williams Immediately made his es-
cape He secured a team and started
towards Lyle, Mimi. When near that
place he abandoned the team and start
ed down the railroad tracks. At the
Lyle stOckyards the sherif's posse
headed the murderer off, and he start
ed back to Austin, arriving there the
next morning before daybreak He con-
Cealed himself in the Williams house
and was there arrested about noon by
the sheriff and deputies.