The San Francisco call., 1899-01-25

Wilson al his ranch on the Nuisun road
on the night of October 9, 1881 is still
unsolved. The preliminary eXamMation
of William J. Miller, Mrs. Elizabeth &.
Dickinson, his mother, and Mrs. Adoie
Wilson, his sister, jointly charged with
the murder of the latter's eX-husband,
is ended, so far as the testimony is con-
cerned, and while the three prisoners
are yet confined in the Solano County
Jail they Will in all probability be given
their liberty in the morning on motion
of District Attorney Devlin.
The prosecuting officer Of the county
intimated that this course would be
pursued when he moved for a continu-
ance Of the case until 10 a. m. to-mor-
row, after the conclusion of the testi-
mony at o'clock this evening. Mr.
Devlin said that as over a SCORE of wit
nesses had been examined he desired
TO have time to fully digest the i'm
portance of the evidence before making
up his mind to ask the court to COM
init the three prisoners for trial and mis-
motion was granted.
The result Of the days proceedings
was surprise and a disappointment to
the officers who have been Instrumental
Dd1S.
While some of the evidence tends
strongly to connect Miller with the
murder, II is by no means conclusive.
With few exceptions, the witnesses
who were depended upon TO establish
the guilt of Miller and the women
failed completely when placed on the
witness-stand to fulfill expectations.
They qualified their previous state
ments or denied outright ever having
uttered the remarks attributed to them.
Samuel Riley, who rented the rig in
which Miller is alleged to have driven
from Vallejo to the Wilson ranch on
the night of the assassination, posi-
lively identified the principal defendant
in the case as the man who procured
the horse and buggy at the Calender
stable on the evening of October 8,
1896
William 5. Craig was reasonably sure
Miller was the man who returned the
rig TO the stable before daylight on the
following morning, but as the fellow
had his face muffled with the collar of
his coat and his hat pulled down over
his eyes, Craig could not be positive.
Mrs. Mary Hayes, who was a next
door neighbor of Miller in Vallejo, tes-
tified to having seen Wilson alleged
slayer in his yard at about $50 o'clock
on the morning of October TO- fully
dressed and wearing a long coat
Aside from these three witnesses none
was put upon the stand whose testi-
mony would go far toward convincing
jury of the guilt of any one of the
accused
As an offset to the testimony of Riley
and Craig, Mrs. Eliza Sheehan of Val
lejo swore that she saw and conversed
with Miller in front of her house at
$50 on the evening of October 8, while
her two daughters, Maggie and Katie,
testified that they spent several hours
at Millers house that evening and were
entertained by him. These alibi wit
nesses each told the same story to the
minutest detail, employing almost the
same language. The testimony of the
other witnesses, while interesting and
TO certain extent picturesque, failed
to directly connect the prisoners with
the tragedy.
The preliminary examination was
held before Justice of the Peace A. f.
hitchcock, in the Superior Court room
at Fairfield Long before 10 o'clock, the
hour set for the hearing, the courtroom
was crowded with curious spectators
including many women.
Dr. w. ID. Downing of Suisun, who
was summoned to the Wilson house on
tne nlght OF the shooting, was the first
witness, and told briefly Of the condi-
ton of the body when he arrived there
and of the cause of death.
Mrs: Lucy Owens, who was Wilson's
housekeeper, then took the stand. and
there was general craning of necks to
get a good view of thS woman who saw
the old man fall dead at her feet on his
own doorstep, and who was herself one
OF the first TO be suspected of the muir
der. Mrs. Owens tcld a very circum-
stantial story of the events that trans
plred ON the Wilson ranch on the af-
ternoon and the evening of the murder
she repeated the story of the shooting
OF the old rancher by the unknown as
sassion, as he stood on the doorstep Of
his house, and how she stood lust in the
doorway and saw him fall dead She
described the terror of herself and her
niece Ada Rice, who was stopping with
her, and how, after calling Vainly for
help, they climbed through the window
of their room and ran to the Hatch
ranch and gave the alarm.
Mrs. Owens denied that she had ever
heard Wilson say he intended to deed
the ranch to Virgie O'Brien. She knew
however, the O'Brien woman was to
supersede her as housekeeper on the
Sunday following
Ada Rice, stunning blonde, neatly
dressed in a tailor-made suit of some
blue material, was the next witness
She confessed Is years, but looked sew
eral years older. She claimed San Fran
cisco as her home and gave her occu-
patton as that of a nursegirl. Miss Rice
corroborated her aunt in every particu-
lar, and in addition testified that while
Mrs. Owens was out at the pump she
heard the click of a gun almost under
her window and saw the shadow of a
man through the glass. She was ter
rified by the occurrence and sat up in
bed waiting for her aunt to return.
Then she heard the fatal shot fired
Daniel M. Wilson, son of the muir
dered rancher, took Miss Rice's place
on the stand Young Wilson is Is years
old and appeared to think he was one
Of the chief attractions at minstrel
performance rather than a witness
against his mother and grandmother,
who were on trial for their lives for
the murder of his father. His tes-
timony amounted to little, but his an
tics. while they caused the spectators
to laugh, seemed slightly out of place
He admitted having told his mother
some time before the murder that his
father had promised to deed the home
place to Virgie O'Brien and she re-
piled:
1T looks to me as though you had
just as good right to the property as
Virgie O'Brien."
He could not say whether or not his
grandmother was present at that in
teryiew- He had told his father he did
not think it was right to give the prop