The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1909-07-30
VICTOR, IN JAIL At ABERDEEN,
ACKNOWLEDGES GUILT IN
Statement.
OFFICERS PRESERVING SECRECY
Of Attempt at Lynching-Crime
Long Planned for Money
Which Christie Carried.

| Aberdeen, S. D.-Doubt concern
ing the guilt of Emil Victor, the
young New Yorker. who has been
in the Brown county Jail since the
evening of July 8, charged with the
murder of the Christie family and
! Michael Romayne near Rudolph on
the afternoon of that day, is cleared
up. Victor weakened, the officers
say, and made a signed confession
petrator of the most diabolical crime
in the history of South Dakota.
| Neither the states attorney nor the
sheriff will consent to talk on the sub
ject. Steps will be taken at once to
secure special session of the circuit
court, when the prisoner will be tried
and his case disposed Of. The South
Dakota code provides that the Jury
may fix the punishment for first de-
gree murder either at hanging or life
! imprisonment. In case of a death
sentence, the extreme penalty will be
imposed for the first time in the his
tory of Brown county.
| lynchng Feared by Officers.
1t is believed the real reasons for
the refusal of the states attorney and
! the sheriff to confirm the report Of
Victor's confession, or to make it's
contents public at this time, lies in
/ their fear that lynching may follow
the presentation Of evidence that the
prisoner is guilty as charged.
States Attorney Van Slyke and
Sheriff Anderson have been indefa-
! tigable in their efforts to bring to
| light evidence sufficient to convict
! the prisoner. Every day since his in
carceration Victor has been ques-
| toned by the states attorney, and he
| has contradicted himself in some Of
his statements regarding his where
abouts about the time of the murders.
1t is believed, too that the receipt
| of letter from the pastor of his aged
parents in East Aurora, n Y, in
which the minister told of the grief
| and prostration of the prisoners aged
mother when she learned that her boy
| was accused of so dreadful a crime,
had the effect of weakening Victors
nerve
Murders Planned Long Ago.
According to the evidence at hand,
Victor some time ago conceived the
idea Of numbering ]. w. Christie for
| the purpose Of robbery, knowing
Christie was in the habit of carrying
large sums of money with him. Final
! 11yh h0 @h~ -
3 as good time for the commission
of the deed, because Christie was not
in the habit of running the elevator
on Saturday, and the chances were
| that the desperate cIime would not
be known until Monday, thus giving
the murderer two days start
But the murderer did not reckon
upon the fact the 14-yearold Michael
Romayne was visiting the Christies at
that time. When Victor came upon
}. w. Christie milking in the barn he
felleu him with one blow from a ham
mer. The blow, or perhaps q groan
from the dying man, attracted the at
tention of young Romayne, who was
in an adjoining STALL
VulSh dCtlou was necessary. ana
although the murder had planned to
commit the crimes silently, swiftly
and then get away, he was compelled
to fire on the lad. Bringing him to
the ground with shot from his A.
caliber revolver, he Knocked him in
the head as he had Christie. Then
the women Of the household were
aroused, and they, too. had to be
silenced by shots from the revolver.
The Brown county officials had sue.
ceeded in tracing practically every
movement Of Victor from the evening
before the murders were committed
until he was arrested at Worthwhile.
The discovery Of Victors revolver and
the one belonging to Christie was the
last link In the chain of evidence.