The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-10-24
MAGILLS NOT GUILTY;
VERDICT IS ORDERED
Judge lnstructs Jury in Famou
Murder Trial to Acquit
Man and Wife.
CHEERS IN COURTROOM
Clinton, Ill.,, Couple Accused Of kilk
ing the Mans First Wife
State Fails to
Prove.

Decatur, Oct. 22.-Fred Magill and
his wife, Faye Graham Magill, did not
kill his first wife,, Pet Magill, accord,
ing to a verdict rendered by the 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. Magill's case.
The judges action brings to a close
one of the most remarkable instances
of evident misapplied vigor on the part
of the state and county officials that
has ever been recorded in court an
mails.
Put to Heavy Expense.
| To bring one witness from Denver to
testify that when Magill and Faye
Graham were married they gave places
other than Decatur as their residences,
! cost Illinois $904.
To bring a lone witness from Mis-
souri, cost $50.
J. 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
diet of aCquittal.
Each of the juryTnen shook hands
with the defendants and the court room
rang with cheers, despite threats at
wholesale arrests, when the judge de-
Clared the state nc failed to prove its
case.
WEEDS Stenoerapher.
Magill and his bride were arrested
Saturday, July Is, in San Diego, Cal.
where with Magill's daughter, Mar
guerite, II, they were stopping on q
tour Of the west. Magin was married
In Denve July 5 to Miss Faye Graham,
a stenographer, who was a school chum
of his daughter.
The arrests were ordered by States
Attorney Miller. h 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.
He inherited a good-sized fortune,
spending nearly every cent of it. In
1892 his father died. leaving him $50, 900.
In two years. IL is said, he was al
most penniless. He then decided to
go to work and was given a position
as assistant cashier in the John War
ner bank, a post he held until a short
time ago., when he resigned, following
the death OF his first wife on May q
last. He also secured some money from
a settlement of his fathers estate,
5000 being turned over to him last ( l..
This money 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 n
lot, 1t is said, drew his last dollar from
hts fathers estate n got together
IS, 200. With his money he n Miss
Graham and his daughter, Miss Mar
guerite, left Clinton secretly on June
IN Ioof No nnn knaNU tho 1aGtinotinn
of the trio, and, in fact. no one knew
hat they had left together. -.
Miss Graham. who is the daughter
of Mr.. n Mrs. w. w. Graham, we'll
known II respected citizens of Clin-
ton, led them to believe that she was
going to Chicago 10 secure work as 81
photographer, and might also visit
Kankakee. The first animation that
Clinton received of the marriage came
in a telegram from Denver announcing
the event.
Following the wedding the bride and
groom, with Miss Marguerite, left for
IL tour of the west.
Marriage a Failure.
h first wife OF Fred MagilI was
Miss Pet Candy, of Dayton, o. The
couple were married in 1889. Mrs. Ma
gill was a woman of sunny dispositions
and although her married life was not:
q 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, n they
were apparently in good humor and
enjoying the outing. The nex morn
ing the wife was found dead in a,
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 MnQliIE hn6V while a cloth sat
urated with h fluid lay over her
mouth. She had been dead some hours,
Directed to Remarry. ,
The letters purporting to have been,
left by the dead woman were 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 that
the husband was not responsible for
the action, but that the treatment of
his mother and sister was. Another
letter was written to the daughter,
stating that she wished her to stand
by her father and Miss Graham and
to continue her intimacy with Miss
Graham.
The third letter was the most re-
markable. 1t positively directed MagilL
to marry Miss Graham Immediately
after the death OF the first wife, regard
less OF public opinion, and to go away
after the marriage and remain a year.
until the marriage would have been for
gotten and n i'll feeling have died
out. The states attorney insists that
no woman about to take her life would
write such a letter, directing her nus
band to marry another woman, Young
and attractive. Another letter stated
that in killing herself the writer would
use either chloroform or %strychnine.
All these letters are of considera nI-
Tenth n all were passed around by
Mag1ll the day after he body was
found.