The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-12

: :. SUISUN, Jan. 1.-THE most profound
sensation was created in this town to-
day over The Calls exclusive publica-
.tion of the arrest of w. J. Miller for
: the assassination Of Daniel H. Wilson,
the aged rancher who lived on his
lonely farm on the Suisun road The
excitement grew to fever heat when it
became known that the officers were
out on the road after the mother and
sister Of the accused man. Early In
the morning little knots of men and
women gathered to discuss the tragedy
and the arrests. A crowd congregated
.Ht the courthouse and jail at Fairfield
and waited for hours for the coming Of
the women and their captors.
There have been few incidents In the
history of crime in California that
edualed in intensely dramatic interest
the scene that was enacted in the JUS
tice Court at Fairfield this afternoon,
when a mother and her two children
listened to the dreadful charge of muir
der made against them.
The mother wept and trembled with
dread and fear. The tears welled in
her eyes as she protested in broken
tones that she was innocent of any
crime. She was overcome, with her
nerves shattered and her brain racked.
And she is counted a dangerous woman,
who Will shoot as quickly as man.
The daughter, hard visaged, scowling.
sulien, with wickedly cleaning eyes,
showed absolutely no emotion. If she
felt any fear she gave no sign. The
son, Unlocking, uncouth, bitter in his
rage, loudly proclaimed himself guilt
less and defied any Que to prove him
otherwise. Mother and children listened
TO the complaint against them and
heard the warrant of arrest. Then they
were led away to the County Jail to
await trial for one of the most sensa-
tional crimes ever committed in Solano
County.
. The mother and her children are poor.
Guilty or innocent, they presented to-
day a pitiable spectacle. Mother and
daughter are ignorant country women
Ss-ho have -e--lived like hernits, without
friends, acquaintances or associates. in
the dreary solitude of the lonely ranch
on the Suisun road. The son, what
ever else may be said of him. is a man
who earns his bread in deadening
drudgery. He bears now a mark of
his. service to his wife and children in
a crushed finger that was caught be-
tween crashing cars. He suffers from
an afliction Of the eyes that gives him
sinister expression, and as he stood
to-day unkempt, unshaven, garbed in
the rough garments Of a switchman.
one might judge in prejudice too harsh
Iy Of his character.
The officers have separated the
bar IN ba ~
Jail at Fairfield. The son PAGES the
gloomy corridor Of the prison like some
Gagged animal. The daughter, cleaning
malice in every glance of her eyes, sits
silent in the cell Of the insane. The
mother is far removed from both, and
weeps as the hours pass. The authori-
ties believe that some delirium of fear
win prompt one of the prisoners to con-
fess and tell what the public prosecutor
expects to prove.
: But the accused prisoners have been
firm. They declare that the mistress
<cf Daniel Wilson had a deeper motive
and a more malignant nurpose to seek
his death than they. This mistress they
insist knew that she had been sup
planted by another favorite in the af-
fections Of the old man.. She saw her
power gone and her influence lost. She
already felt the presence of her sue
cessor, and in revenge she closed the
career Of the man who had quietly told
her that he had thrown her off. Miller
says he knows the man who killed the
rancher. Let them look to the crowd
Wilson had around t'm" the switch
man says, and his mother and sister
give eager assent to his words
But the officers believe that the
daughters nerves will break under the
strain and she will tell enough to send
mother to prison. Tomorrow H. w.
g. McEwen will be taken into custody. He
unquestionably knows much and NAV
tell what he knows. The officers will
play upon and strive to hasten the con-
clusion they expect to reach in court.
When Miller, securely handcuffed.
was bundled into the caboose Of a.
freight train this morning at Benicia
he begged and pleaded that some one
carry the news Of his arrest to his wife
He rallied at the officers and the law.
damned in vigorous profanity the in
Justice of the suspicion that had fol-
lowed him for two years and claimed
IN pleading assurance that his life Is
as an open book. Under the dim light
OF the lanterns he was a repulsive.
ghastly figure. When the train had
made its slow way to Suisun Miller
was taken off and conducted through
the, darkness and the rain to the County
jail az Fairfield. The door of a cell
soon closed behind him and he was left
in the blackness and silence Of the
night to his own meditations.
When daylight came this morning he
was restless and nervous after sleen-
less night. His eyes were bloodshot and
his hands trembled. but his mood Of
stubbornness was unchanged He still
protested his innocence, although he
frankly admitted the truth of the state
ment that his sister, in a burst of an
ger, had accused him of the murder OF
her former husband. To that accusa
ton Miller attached no significance. 1t
was the venomous stab of spitfire, he
said, and was known to be a lie as
soon as 1t was uttered. Through all his
rambling talk Miller gave expression
to one predominant thought He does
not like his sister, and even in the