The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1907-10-24
& 1I .AgIliSS H0I GUILTY.;
VERDICT IS ORDERED
Judge lnstructs Juryin Famous
Murder Trial to Acquit
Man and Wife.
CHEERS IN COURTROOM

Clinton, ILL.,, cn.,ple Accused Of Kill
ing the Mans Frs. Wife
State Fails to
Prove.
Decatur, Oct. 22.-Fred Magill and
his wife, Faye Graham Magfll, did not
kill his first wife. Pet Magill, accord
ing TO a vrfdict rendered by jury
in this famous murder case on instruc-
tons from Judge Cochran, who took
the case as soon as the lawyers had
finished their arguments. following the
hearing of Mrs. Magills case.
The judges action brings to a close
one of the most remarkable instances
of evident misapplied yigor on the part
OF the state r county officials that
has eve been recorded i'm court n
nails.
Put to Heavy Expense.
To bring one witness from Denver to
testify that hen Magill and Faye
Graham were, married they gave places
| other than Decatur as their residences,
cost Illinois 1904.
To bring a lone witness from Mis-
souri, cost $50.
To perform the most trivial act In
connection with the prosecution cost
the state something. A big bill has
rolled up in the attempt to convince
twelve men that Magill and his second
wife murdered. and now Judge Coch-
ran has ended it all by ordering a YER
dict of acquittal.
Each of the jurymen shook hands
with the defendants and the our room
rang with cheers, despite threats at
wholesale arrests, when the judge de-
clared the state had failed to prove its
case.
WEEDS ~Stenoarapher.
Magill and his bride were arrested
Saturday, July IS, in San Diego, Call.
where with Magills daughter, Mar
g%uerite, II, they We're stopping on a
tour of the west. Magill was married
in Denver July s to Miss Faye Graham.
a stenographer, who was a school chum
of his daughter.
The arrests We're ordered by States
Attorney Miller. The accusations
against Magill and his bride furnished
a climax to the rumors which had been
rife In Clinton for the past month.
Magill is 3S years of age and has
spent his entire life in Clinton. He is
a son of an old and wealthy family.
spending nearly every cent of 1t. In
1892 his father died, leaving him $50. 900.
In w years, it is said, he was al
most penniless. He then decided to
go to work and was given a position
II. assistant cashier in the John War
| { bdllh, IL poSl iC lSAa MILL Il III I
time ago, when he resigned, following
the death Of his first wife on May 81
last. He also secured some money from
a settlement Of his fathers estate,
SIS. 600 being turned over to him last f L.
This none lasted him until spring,
according to report.
Leaves Secretely.
After the death of his wife and his
decision to marry Faye Graham, he
made a final stand in the direction of
money getting. He sold his house and
lot, it is said. drew his last dollar from
his fathers estate n got together
SIS, 900. With this money he and Miss
Graham and his daughter, Miss Mar
guerite, left Clinton secretly on June
80 last. No n knew the destination
Of the trio, and, in fact. no one knew
that they had left together.
Miss Graham, who is the daughter
of Mr.. and Mrs. w. w. Graham, well
known and respected citizens of Clin-
ton, led them to believe that she was
going to Chicago to secure work as a
kankakee. The first animation that
Clinton received of the marriage came
in ii telegram from Denver announcing
the event.
Following the wedding the bride and
groom, with Miss Marguerite, left for
a tour of the west.
Marriage a Failure.
II IlISl j VI fiSd hG6 was
Miss Pet Candy, of Dayton, O. The
couple were married in 1889. Mrs. Ma
gill was a woman of sunny disposition
and although her married life was not
: a happy one. according to report, she
concealed her sorrows. and to the pub
lie she was always bright and cheerful.
On the evening of May 80 she and
her husband were out riding, and they
were apparently in good humor and
enjoying the outing. The next morn
l-~ tL~ ,,tp tryn- o,,, 1nal fn n
+ spare room by her husband. He sum
moned the family physician, who pro-
+ nounced the death due to chloroform
/ a bowl of the soporific being found near
Mrs. Maglil's body, while a cloth sat,
I urated with the fluid lay over hel
mouth. She had been dead some hours
. Directed to Remarry.
The letters purporting to have beer
: left by the dead woman We're peculiar
|, features OF the case. 1t was the theory
!. of the states attorney that Magill
, aided by Miss Graham, concocted the
/ letter scheme and that the woman
wrote them at his dictation. One let
ter addressed to Magill declares tina
the husband was not responsible fol
the action, but that the treatment O.
letter was written to the daughter
stating that she wished her to stan,
by her father and Miss Graham ant
D to continue her intimacy with Mis-
Ii Graham.
: The third letter was the most re
. markable. 1t positively directed Magil
) to marry Miss Graham immediatel,
i after the death of the first wife, regard
less Of public opinion. and to go ava,
A after the marriage and remain a year
: until the marriage would have been for
g gotten and any i'll feeling have die,
Y out. The states attorney insists tina
= no woman about to lake her life woul,
4 write such q letter, directing her hus
band to marry another woman. youn,
!. and attractive. Another letter state,
y that in killing herself the writer woul
: use either chloroform or strychnine.
Il All these letters are of considerabl
n lenth and all were passed around b
: Magill the day after the body wa
found.