Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-09-10
HISTORY OF vlcTOR'S
COLD FLOODED CRIME

Aberdeen. s. D., Sept. 2.-The crime
of which Victor was accused was one
of the most CHASTITY in the criminal
history OF South Dakota.
J. w. Christie was q grain buyer for
the Van Dusen Elevator company at
Rudolph, a station on the Milwaukee
railroad, 10 miles south OF Aberdeen.
There is nothing at Rudolph but the
station, the elevator and one or two
other buildings, and Christie, with his
wife and only child, a daughter, Mill
dred, aged II, resided on a timber claim
a mile and a half from the elevator,
and a considerable distance from any
other house. The Christie house was
somewhat off the road, and surrounded
with trees, making 1t a retired, quiet
spot.
on July 2, Michael Ronayne, the IA
year-old sot of John r. Ronayne, a
railway mail clerk with a route o u of
Aberdeen, went with his father to a
small field a short distance from the
Christie farm, to cultivate q crop or
potatoes which his father was raising
at times when he was not occupied
with his postal duties. The Ronayne
and Christie families were old friends,
and the boy remained at the Christie
home while his father returned to ABB
erdeen in the evening.
Crime Discovered.
Next morning Ronayne drove Town to
spend the day in his potato field. He
reached there about s o'clock, expecting
to find his son at work. The boy was
not there and he went to the Christie
house. Upon his arrival, he discovered
an unwonted silence, and thought the
family had driven TO Aberdeen, as 1t
was on a Saturday, and Christie was
not in the habit Of opening the elevator
on Saturday, reserving that day to
attend to his private affairs. Ronayne
went toward the barn to see IL the
Christie horse was gone, and found
his boy lying dead with a bullet hole
through his arm, a bullet wound in his
body and his skull crushed by a blow
from a hammer. Nearby, Christie laid.
with his skull, also, crushed. but with
no bullet wounds.
Almost crazed with grief n horror,
Ronayne went to Rudolph, the nearest
point to the Christie house, and sum-
moned John Morrow, the only resident
Of the place. They telephoned the
sheriff and then FASTENED back. En-
tering the Christie house, they found
Mrs. Christie lying dead on the kitchen
floor with a bullet through the abdo-
men and another through the heart.
In a bedroom adjoining Mildred Chris
tie lay dead, with a bullet through her
head. The house had been ~ransacked
for valuabies.
A sheriff's posse took up the trail of
the murderer, which was plainly dis
cernable, as he hurried away from tho
scene of the crime, sometimes running,
sometimes walking swiftly, n at
times stopping 70 rest. !,
Victor Arrested.
At about ! o'clock that evening. Emil
Victor, a young man who had been
working for John Morrow for a year
past, up to two weeks before, was
arrested in a barber shop. He was
brought to Aberdeen, and the states
attorney and the sheriff lost no time
in working up a strong chain of cir
cumstantial evidence against him. July
IT, Victor made a written confession to
States Attorney Van Slyke, acknowl-
edging the crime, and stating his mo-
tive to nave been robbery, but the pres
ence of the Ronayne boy in the stable,
which he had not figured on, compelled
him to resort to murder to cover his
tracks. This confession the state sue
ceeded in introducing into the evidence.
The trial began Tuesday, August "a.
Thursday afternoon a jury was secured,
and the testimony was taken.