The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-07-11
BINGHAM STIRRED
BY LIVELY SCANDAL
Talk of Shooting ScrapeS and
Divorces.
LEAVES HER HUSBAND
PROMINENT CITIZEN PROVES TO
BE Ex-CoNVICT.

The entire town Of Bingham is stirred
up over the separation of a husband
and his wife and the expected conse-
quences that recent arrivals from the
llvely mining camp declare must fol-
low. A divorce is one of the imminent
results expected by some Binghamites
aud shooting scrape is looked for by
Others The discovery of an alleged
eX-oonvict is one of the surprises that
oeVeloped yesterday. Wallace McNen.
the head timberman at the Highland
Boy mine, and William J. Burdette a
popular miner Of the old camp. are
the principals.
McNelll, accompanied by Mrs. Bur-
oette' drove in from Bingham Tuesday
evening and registered at the Palmer
house, formerly the st. James. Yes
teIudy morning Mcneil and Mrs. R1Ir-
uette went TO the county attorneys
O Ce 70 institute a prosecution against
ME burueIteS husband. Mcneil pro-
0uced complaint sworn to bv him he
lore Justice George Z. Lee. chareino
bGrdette with having committed the
crime OF arson in setting fire to the
STAPLES OF Tom Mayne in PinpbaDo
canyon, and adjoining the Rurdetre
IIouse' on the night of March 26. 1898
me message brought from Justice. Lee
was to the effect that he would iss,7e
d warrant Tor the arrest Of Burdette
II the public prosecutor would enter
tam the complaint. The county at
toTney had heard of the troubles which
Ied 10 the separation of Mr.. and Mrs
Burdette and he questioned his visitors
very closely, resulting In a. concII1sion
mat there were insufficient grounds
LOT the prosecution Of BUrdette on the
charge or arson, for the reason that
the only evidence Of his guilt is the
uncorrCborated testimony of Mrs. RlIr-
oette. who could only be permitted to
TESTIFY on the consent of her husband
MIS- Burdette could give no good rea-
son to the county attorney why she
na0 so long remained silent and ar
cordlng to her statement. her husband
hred the barn because he deemed its
proximity to his home an unsanitary
nuisance.
There was genuine surprise al. Bing-
nam, 1t IS declared, over the news that
Burdette was accused by his wife of
setting FIRE to Mayne's barn. for he
was held in the highest esteem by his
townspeople and had never even been
suspected OF any WrOngdOing. At
Bingham it had always been supposed
that the stables caught fire from the
blacksmith shop next door.
1t is alleged that MCNEIL and Bur
dette have had some trouble before
1t being charged by Burdette that Nc
Nell was the cause of the separation
of the BUrdettes.
Mcneil an ex-Convict.
The second big surprise to the people
or Bingham was the declaration that
MCNEIL is none other than Edward K
Fisher, who served a term from Sep-.
26, 1889, 10 June 3, 1899, in the peniten-
uary for the crimes Of holding UP a
Rio Grande western train at Thomp-
sons Springs and for making an as
sault and robbing q gambling house in
Ogden q couple Of days after the tram
ROBBERY, twelve years ago Handsome,
well-dressed and intelligent, Fisher
alias MCNEIL during his two years
residence in Bingham, was popular AMI
no one was more liOniZed in the camps
best society than was he until the sep
aTation of Burdette and his wife.
When asked about the matter last
evening, County Attorney Christensen
was disinclined to talk about it, but
he admitted that MCNEIL had confessed
to him when cornered that he is Fisher
the ex-cOnvict. Deputy Sheriff Teach
enOr, Deputy Sheriff Cummings and
Deputy Sheriff Palmer admitted that
the developments Of the day had be-
come generally known, but they de-
clined to say any more than that they
were endeavOring TO keep Burdette and
MCNEIL from meeting, Tor fear that q
shooting scrape would result.
The marriage of Mr.. and Mrs. Bur-
dette took place in this city on July g,
1897, the bride being Miss Gabrielle
IVie. The groom was then Sc years of
age and the bride was II, and it be-
came necessary for her father, William
Ivie. an old settler in Bingham, to give
his consent to the marriage. When the
husband finally sent his young wife to
her parents it is said that Burdette
sold his home, one Of the prettiest in
Bingham, and gave more than half of
the proceeds to his wife.