Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-09-10
CONFESSED MURDER
VIM. Null, who was Lynched for
Murder of Partner, Tells a
Gluesome Tale.
MATTER IS BEING PR0BED

The Review, q paper published IN
Roseburg, Ore, prints the following
article, which will be Of interest to
New Mexicans. As far as learned
the matter has not yet been brought
to the attention Of the New Mexican
authorities:
Is an innocent man serving a sen
tence for murder In New Mexico
penitentiary, and can the fact Of his
innocence be established? is a ques-
tion that Steve Jones, a temporary
resident Of Roseburg, has set about
to answer fully and satisfactorily be-
fore he let's the matter drop.
The story that Mr.. Jones tells car
ries the reader back some eight years
to August 26. 1895, an eventful day
in the history Of Yreka, Calf. In the
early morning Of that day mob Of
indignant citizens OF Siskiyou county
gave their jail q thorough house clean
ing by hanging its four inmates to a
tree in the court house yard. Readers
Of the Review will recall the circum.
stance from the fact that one of the
men executed SO summarily was Gar
land Stemler, q native Of Coos county
whose family was well known here.
The four prisoners were: VIM. Null,
who murdered his partner, Hayter,
near Galatians; Z. H. Johnson, 4 wife
murderer; Louis Moreno and Garland
Stemler, charged with the murder and
ROBBERY of Geo. G. Sears and Casper
Merriam at Bailey Hill.
Null was a sort OF hobo Of the
toughest variety, and 1t Is in connec-
tion with his career that Mr.. Jones
became interested in the case, 1t
seems that about year before he
was lynched Null did the assessment
work on a mountain claim in the
mountains for Joe Reynolds and Gene
Dowlings, and was taken very sick.
Like majority of bad men, pricked
by guilty consciences, Null imagined
that he would surely die and begged
Reynolds to stay close to him. AS he
grew worse he even recited to him,
in order to ease his mind, some of his
misdeeds. One of his crimes, as Rey-
holds afterward repeated it to Mr..
Jones, had been committed in New
Mexico He and two other men oc-
cupied house together and one or
them was poisoned and died under
suspicious circumstances. Null's sur
viying companion was arrested for
murder and upon his tNull's) testi-
mony was convicted and sentenced to
life imprisonment. On what he sup
posed was his deathbed Null con-
fessed to Reynolds tina the himself
had administered the poison, and that
the man convicted Of it was innocent
Of any connection with the crime. Re-
morse had not troubled him, however,
until he stood in the presence OF
death, although the man wrongly con-
victed was ahusband and father and
his imprisonment for murder clouded
other lives than his own.
Null recovered from his illness,
however, only to die at the hands Of
the mob q year later. Perhaps he
might have confessed then, as he ask.
ed permission to make statement,
but was curtly informed that there
would be more time for statements
ION the other side."
Reynolds seems never TO have Ia
ken any steps to verify Nulls story
although he related It to Mr.. Jones
and perhaps to otners, adding that
he was ready to make an affidavit al
to the facts. The latter, knowing
none of the parties and having only
d secondhand knowledge Of the cir
cumstances, allowed the matter tc
drift along. thinking frequently as BIC
recalled 1t TO mind, that he would
communicate with the authorities o.
New Mexico regarding 1t. or late
however. he determined TO write the
governor Of the state and lay before
him the meager facts he possessed
lacking as he does names, date and
location OF the crime. II Null's cor
nection as chief prosecuting witness
with the case OF any life convict car