The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-27
PRISON, 20 YEARS
John E. Price and Elmer Reed
Now Go Free.
Were Sentenced to BE Hanged
for Murder.
KILLING WAS BRUTAL.
VIM. H. Mcmillan, Of Council
Grove, the Victim.
Slain on Railroad Tracks for
His Money.
IILLING WAS BRUTAL.

to Governor BAILEY Dy Col l. n. SeQS-
wick, general attorney for the NJ. K. q
T. railroad. is correct. two innocent men
have been suffering in the penitentiary
for nearly twenty years. when they
ought to have been free citizens. while
the men who were responsible for send
ing them to prison. officers of the law,
ought themselves to have suffered for
their act. Governor Bailey had suffl-
cient confidence in the story Of Colonel
Sedgwick that he has pardoned the tive
men after making an investigation of
the matter.
The two 7ardoned men are John f.
Price and Elmer Reed. who were sen
/ fenced to be hanged for the murder of
4 William H. Mcmillan. who had been
working in the Topeka Santa Fe shops
/ in Emporia on the night of November 3,
1888. Like all other hang" prisoners,
they have been confined in the peniten-
tiary all these years.
4 Mcmillan. who was a man of some
prominence in Council Grove came III
on an M. K. & t. train that night and
started to walk up the Santa Fe track
to Commercial street. On the way ne
was attacked and beaten to death and
robbed. A few days later Price and
Reed, who were camping by the creek
a mile or more from the scene of the
murder. were arrested. Sedgwick
charges that the county attorney. d
deputy Sheriff and a consta BILE fright
ened the boys into confessing to the
murder by telling them that d mob was
about to lynch them and would do SO
unless they at once confessed to the
murder and We're taken to the peniten.
tlaTy, where they would be safe. Sedg-
wick charges that these officers did this
in order to secure the reward offered bv
Df1 la
county attorney is now dead, and the
whereabouts of the other two are un-
known The sheriff Sedgwicl1 in no way
connects with the alleged enforced con
fess5on.
Emporia people who remember the
murder of Mcmillan say that it was the
general belief at the time that the two
boys were guilty OF the murder, and
that there was really talk of Iynching
them. Repeated efforts have been made
TO get them paTdOned, and a board of
pardons at one time recommended that
their sentence be commuted to twenty
years. An effort was made to secure
pardon from Governor Stanley before he
went out of Office, but he turned it
down, and then the application was
brought before Governor Bailey. Judge
Graves who sentenced the two men,
recommended their pardon. and Cover
nor Bailey was sufficiently impressed
with their story that he signed their
/ pardon papers Thursday night
/ Colonel SedgWick'S version of the af-
I fair, as told in a letter to the governor,
! is as follows:
: Mr.. Mcmillan was killed at some
point on the line of the A T & S F.
between the Injunction of said road with
the NJ, K & T. and Commercial street,
E-mpOria. Kas. He had come from
Council Grove. I think. or somewhere
UP the road, on an NJ. K & T. train and
got off at the junction and started to
walk up the A, T. & S F. track to
Commercial street and during the trip
was killed by some one.
At this time there were several boys
camped on the river, probably a mile or
? mile ana quarter from where the
crime was committed. So far as is
! known, they remained at their camp
! from the time of the murder until ar
rested A man by the name of Feighan
= was county attorney; Tom Ryan. who
now lives at Emporia, was sheriff. ana
, George Kramer was his deputy. Feighan
2 and some constable. whose name have
now forgotten, conceived the idea OF
getting reward from the governor for
: the apprehension of the murderer. and
/ think Feighan Went before the COVER
nor and induced him to offer a reward
: for the apprehension of the murderers
I AS soon as the offer OF a reward was
$ made, these boys We're arrested at their
camp on the river. After the murder
and before the arrest of these BOYS. Nc
: Millan's watch was found in Newton
I 1t always appeared to me that the boys
t did not have time to go to Newton to
dispose of the watch and return to then
camp on the Cottonwood river at the
5 time of their arrest.
t The boys were kept in close conhne-
] ment after the arrest for several weeks
! and then one night, just at dark. the
] county attorney, Deputy Sheriff Kra-
mer and this constable. took them Ou
3, of the Jail and into the second story al
] the court house building to the private
Y Office of the clerk of the district court
e The county attorney, deputy sheriff anc
e constable were heavily armed. They
f apologized to the boys for caTryins
e arms, stating to them that a mob wai
e gathering for the purpose of lynching
them, and, that they We're endeavorins
S TO protect them. They urged the bows /,
g make a clean breast of the crime stat
q ing to them that if they did so and thel
It went into court, which was then in ses
d sion, they would be protected; otherwis
r they would be the victims of the moi
$ before trial could be had in the ordinar.
S way
l. IN order to carry out the appearance
> of danger to the boys, a closed carriag'
I. was driven to the rear door of tn
:. court house, while the officers and boy
y were still in the clerks office. and
d message was sent up that but a few
moments remained in which to ge
away with the boys to a place of safe
~. They were hustled down the bacl
stairs OF the court house and into tn
- carriage, which was made perfect.
= dark The driver then whipped UP hi
horses and drove rapidly all over town
\ returning to the court house with pris
"a / oners and officers along about mid
+. night. During this time the prisoner
IF pretended to make confession, an
"A uDon the strength of this confession tn
! 4 officers promised them protection The
If were advised that no delay must b
3t had: that their only safety lay in ap
ID pearing at once before the court an
pleading guilty tc the crime, when the
is. would be taken to the penitentiary an
1e beyond the reach Of danger The boy.
believing themselves in great DANCE