The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-08
AFTER Il YEARS
b. f. McCIain Is ParOIed From
Prison.
1t Is Case From Shawnee
County.
KILLED LITTLE STEPCRILD
Lynching Was Threatened
That Night in 1890.
He Is Now Old and Broken and
Simple Minded.

After serving 21 years in the state
penitentiary at Lansing for the muir
der of his nine months old step child,
B. F. McClain, of Topeka, was today
paroled by Governor George H. Hodges
The McClain case was one of the most
sensational murder cases in the history
of Shawnee county and for years there
has been a serious contention that
there was a grave miscarriage of JUS
tice in the conviction of the simple
minded old man.
1t was in the fall of 1890 that the
nine months old step child of Frank
McClain was found brutally murdered.
The child's head and body was brutally
mutilated and it was claimed that Nc
Claim was found trying to secretly bury
the body of the infant. This killing
had followed the enforcement of Nc
Claim by his wife and the counter
charges of the husband that his wife
was guilty of bigamy.
So startling were the conditions re-
vealed in the investigation of the child
murder case that a lynching was pre-
vented only through the strategy of
the police officers. The night of Nc
gathered in front of the old Jail build
ing and threatened to lynch McClain.
They brought ropes and guns and
clamored for the blood of the baby s
step father.
1t was when the mob was standing
in the street yelling for the release of
the prisoner that the police officers
backing, disguised the man and
hurried him through the crowd with
other prisoners to a place of safety
McClain was taken to a point about
ten miles north of Topeka. Here he
was subjected to the third degree by
iv, oh of 10 r.
ing that he might be lynched, McClain
agreed to waive a preliminary exami-
nation, but still contended that he was
innocent.
In the trial of the case the late
Henry Bayliss told of visiting the NC
Claim home a few days prior to the
murder. He saw Mrs. McClain with
the infant in her arms. The baby's
face was bruised and battered. Bay
liss asked the woman the cause of the
the baby had cried and that she had
struck the child'S head against a stove
while beating it. Efforts made in the
trial of the case to connect Mrs. Nc
Claim wit hthe killing We're ruled out
by Judge Guthrie who heard the evil
dence. An effort was made to secure
a change of venue, but the court de-
MED the request. McClain always pro-
tested his innocence, but he was con-
victed of first degree murder and sent
to prison for life.
The defense of McClain was con-
Quoted by J. J. Schenck and Edwin
McKeever, then young lawyers. 1t
was their first big criminal case and
because of their interest in the case
and a firm belief that McClain was
guiltless of the charge, they have per-
worked for a pardon or
parole for the old man.
McClain is an illiterate, simple
minded man, was regarded as reIi-
gious fanatic and before his arrest on
the murder charge, had never been
with any law violation. He
has served 21 years in prison, is old
and decrepit and it is believed that
he would live but few more years
within the prison walls. Children by
a former marriage have agreed to give
their father, now 62 years old, good
home in event executive clemency
were granted
In view of the circumstances sur
the case and the time that
McClain has been in prison, Governor
today signed the parole that
will release the man from the state
penitentiary.