Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-06-22
MAY GET LIBERTY
AFTER SEVEN YEARS
Frank Burd's Confession of CAL
ifon Murder May Free John
Schuyler.
ONCE HEARD THE GALLOWS
BEING PREPARED FOR HIM
Woman Lawyer Will Present
His Case to the Court
h of Pardons.
Especial to the Evening star.I

TRENTON, June 22.-After seven
Years of imprisonment in a cell at the
State prison for a murder which it
has now been found he had never
committed, John Edward Schuyler
viii probably walk put of prison a
free man. In another cell in the
same prison is, Frank Burd, only
twenty years old, whose confession
may result in Schuyler's release.
At one time during his imprison-
ment Schuyler could hear the grue-
some preparations being made in the
prison yard for his death on the gal
lows.
The crime for which Schuyler was
convicted, sentenced to be hanged
and later spared for a life SEN
tence. was the murder of Manning
Riley, in Califon, on January 10, 1907
Burd, who through sixteen years of
his life has followed a career Of
crime, admitted in a written confess
sion that he was the murderer Of
Riley.
Woman His Lawyer.
In the meantime, while Hunterdon
County is reviewing the story of the
Staying oil Manning Riley, a woman
lawyer is taking steps to have Schuy
ler's case taken before the Board of
Pardons, which does not meet until
November The woman is Miss
Eleanor r. Gebhardt, daughter of
Supreme Court Clerk William c.
Gebhardt Miss Gebhardt, who has
been practising as an attorney for
some time, will base her plea for
Schuyler upon the confession OF
Frank Burd.
Rileys body was found along Up
per Parker road. Evidences
collected near the scene of the crime
pointed to the probability that the
murderer, lying in wait along the
road, had torn a picket from nearby
fence and beat Riley to death.
Schuyler, who lived at Venoy,
nearby town, was arrested at his
mothers home the following day,
charged with the crime.
There was one weak link in the
chain, however, link that probably
saved Schuyler from the gallows
later. The prosecution tried to show
that Schuyler held a grudge against
Riley as result of a whipping he
received at Rileys hands eleven
years before. Eleven years, the pro-
secution sought to bring out, Schuy-
Ter cherished his revenge, until the
night of the murder when his hate
found its victim.
In spite of his steadfast denial, his
attempted abb, his explanation that
his hands were bloody that night in
the saloon from a hemorrhage, his
denial that he had boasted that he
! had killed Manning Riley, in spite of
/ his vigorous defense, the jury con-
Victed Schuyler after five hours de-
! iiberatio and he was sentenced to
death.
Schuyler's lawyer appealed for a
new trial, but this was refused. The
condemned man carried his appeal
to the board of pardons. and while
the board was hearing his case Gov
ernor Stokes granted him reprieve.
Clergyman Demanded Execution.
After one reprieve had been granted
a delegation of business men, headed
by Rev. DIR. Baker Smith, Presby-
terian clergyman, went to Trenton to
protest to Governor Stokes and insist
that Schuyler be hanged. The un-
usual sight of clergyman pleading
for the execution of a prisoner stirred
nation-wid comment.
Once the Board of Pardons turned
down the appeal, and Schuyler was
sentenced to be hanged in the Flem-
ington Jail yard on June %, 1907
Schuyler had almost given up hope.
They had told him during the trial
that if he pleaded guilty to man
slaughter he would get off with i'm
prisonment. Rather than plead guilty
TO a murder which he has always
sworn he did not commit, Schuyler
ran the risk of death on the gallows
A few days before the time
of the execution message came to
the sheriff of the county. 1t was a
message from the Board of Pardons,
changing Schuyler's sentence from
death to life imprisonment. 1t ar
rived just in time, and four days
afterward Schuyler was in the State
prison here, where he has been kept
from that day to this.
Burd has what the State authorities
term lone of the worst records in
the history of the State institution"
The Confession.
When the young prisoner wanted
to CONFESS" TO the murder of
Riley he sent for Robert Darken, who
wrote down what Burd told him.
This was the confession" as it eX-
listed until Burd enlarged it later in
an interview:
'As long as they all want to put
me away so badly, l will confess to
one of my wrongdongs, which will
committed seven years ago. 1t has
never been found out, and l want to
confess
Darken turned this letter over to
Sheriff David L. Holcombe, of Flem-
ington. The sheriff took Judge II. B..
Z Herr, of Flemington, and together
they came here and visited Burd.
Through the bars of his cell Burd
told them this story:
Manning and I had fight in Log
town right after | got out of the re-
form school. 1t was in stable there
and / was only a small boy. He beat
me up bad, and l said ] would get
square with him, and I did.
II saw him coming out of the hotel
the night he was killed and followed
him up the Philhower road, looking
for rock to soak him with, but l
could not see, because 1t was dark
and there was snow on the ground.
Then I took the fence paling off the
fence and hit him with it. He dropped
and soaked him again, and then got
away.
"The next day I went down to
Highbridge and caught a freight to
Phillipsburg, and then went over to
Easton. They never found me out