The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-08-17
FORGOT TO CHECK HER
TRUNK; NOW MUST DIE
Mrs. Emma McVicar Must PAY
Extreme Penalty for Muir
der OF Her Husband.
is A REMARKABLE CASE
is A CASE
No Mar Could Have Conceived and
Carried Out the Crime Any Better
Than Did This Young Wom-
an-Just One Mistake.

Did you ever serve on n jury when n
woman was the prisoner at the bar?
When that woman was accused of the
greatest crime against society as 1T Is
constituted today-murder? Did you
ever stop to think what 1T would mean
to weigh this woman in the balance,
to mete out death to her should the
evidence justify the forfeiture of her
life? To condemn to death q fellow
being is no easy task. and If that fell
low being be Il frail, weak woman,
such as nave been put upon this earth
to be protected by men, not hanged, the
task is no easier.
Yet this is the task which has re-
Gently been set twelve plain men in
Stockton, Cal. They solved the prob
lem, weighed the evidence as best they
knew how, and Mrs. Emma McNicar,
sometimes known as LIE DouX, has the
distinction of being the first woman in
California found guilty of murder in
the first degree without recommends
ton to mercy upon thep part of the jury.
Twelve jurors found her guilty upon
the first ballot beyond a reasonable
doubt and to Il moral certainty 1t
took five hours and fifteen more ball
lots to bring in "a verdict of guilty in
the first degree With Il recommends
ton that the woman be hanged.
The crime of which Mrs. McVicar
was accused was the killing of her hus-
band by poison, and it was upon this
charge that she was convicted. The
murder was one of the most remark
able in the criminal history of the
state of California. That it was On
ceived and carried out by a woman
makes it all the more charitable. No
man could have conceived and carried
out the crime without q clever head
and a will of iron, yet this young wom-
an succeeded in accomplishing the
murder of her husband and was almost
successful in the evasion of tho guilt.
Had 1T not been for one little bit of
carelessness on her part after the muir
der was completed, Albert M. McNicar
would have vanished off the face of
the earth as mysteriously as though he
had been spirited away by an evil ge-
MUS, and Mrs. McVicar would have
had no punishment other than that
administered by her conscience. 1t was,
however, just this little slip-she for
got to check her trunk-that has
brought the woman into the shadow
of the gallows-such a slip which has
happened time and again in the history
Of criminology of the world. Had she
carried away the trunk and dropped it
In the shaft of some abandoned mine
She might now a been free.
Mrs. Emma McVicar. the daughter
of Mrs. Mary Head, is n woman nearly
80 years old. but She is stil a young
woman in appearance and remarkably
attractive. She married Albert Nc
Vicar in BiNby, AriZ., back in 1902.
After the honeymoon 1T appears the
the two did not live together much of
The time. But early last spring the
wife made overtures for a reconcilia-
ton, which her husband eagerly &C
cepted. 1t has since proved that at
the very time she was making these
pVarfnreS IN hpr hnChonl JHr,p,a Mo.
Vicar was plotting to kill him and had
what seemed to her a very good and
sufficient cause for putting him out
of the way.
After she had left her husband she
had met Eugene lie DouN, q man with
little or no education. but of a certain
attraction. Mrs. McNicar amused her
self with him for a time and Their fell
In love with him and married him,
thereby becoming a bigamist. For a
time she was successful in keeping her
second marriage n secret from Nc
Vicar, and, of course, she said nothing
about her first husband to lie DouX.
In spite of her cleverness in handling
the situation she finally became ner-
Hous and feared lest she be found out
and sent to Jail for bigamy. The thing
preyed upon her mind and She sought
a way out of the difficulty.
Freedom from all suspicion was what
she desired, and it came to her that
AiaAso v loS tlIOllS IL StIllll I)elll .,
and that path she must tread. 1t was
then she began to conceive the murder
of Albert McNicar. Leaving lie Doux
to return to her home in jackson to
stay With her mother for a time. she
arranged to meet McVicar in Stockton,
Cal.
There. about the 10th of March. man
and wife am together again and
agreed to make their home in the same
place. 1t was decided thai they should
oil ~ 49, Ia $780,
of her husband, where he had been
promised Il lucrative job. With this
idea in view, they purchased a lot of
furniture, staying the while in the Cali
fornia hotel in Stockton. They made
several trips out of the city, but re-
turned finally to- the California hotel
Friday, March %, and McVivar regis.
tered them at the hotel as A. M. Nc
Vicar and Wife. They were assigned
room 81.
The Trunk Enters the Story.
Mr.. Ind Mrs. McVicur were seen to-
gether on the street about 7:3O in the
evening OF that day, and McVicar was
That was the last time he was seer
alive. The next mornir~ Mrs. McVica,
visited a trunk shop and purchased a
large trunk, saying that she had q
great number of dishes to be packed
She ordered the trunk sent to the hotel
ASOAA.A VI VA l. sAA
told him she was leaving on a trair
early In the afternoon for jamestown
and that she had Il heavy trunk III
which she had packed many dishes anG
household effects. She said that it would
probably weigh in the neighborhood OF
$50 pounds. The expressman said tina,
he thought he could handle the trunk
SO she engaged him to come after ii
and take it to the station.
A Fatal M,stake.
Mrs. McNicar went back to the hote
and packed up. She sent a boy to gel
a dress suit case which belonged to Mr.
McVicar. saying that she expected t.
meet her husband later. When he came
back wit. Tic suit case she had the DO.
and porter move her new big trunk on
into the hall and leave it there for the
eXprcssman. Having settled her bill am
her husbands at the hotel desk. SHE
went out and purchased Il hat of the
latest style and which became her ve-.
Well. From the %lnilliner's she went u
another wolnan.s furnishing store
where she made several purchases.
70 all intcnts and purposes Mrs. Nc
Vicar was not nervous or worried dur
Ing these proceedings. but chatte,
gayly with the clerks in the stores. an