The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-22
SWEET ON TRIAL
H FOR DEATH OF
II NELLIE ByERS
All Western Kansas Aroused
81 by Murder Case.
Attorney General Brewster AS
sists State in Prosecution.
BLOODHOUNDS TRAILED SWEET
Must Rely on Circumstantlai
a Evidence for Conviction.
Nude Body Was Found in Ra-
vine Near School.
TRAILED SWEET
Must Rely on Circumstantiai
Evidence for Conviction.
Nude Body Was Found in Ra-
vine Near School.

s Syracuse. Kan. May 22.-Archibald
<,seet charged with the murder of
Nellie Byers a Grant county scnool
feacher went TO trial in the Hamilton
epunty district court today on a
tharae of first degree murder. FL
forts to select a jury were made 10
Hav but the attorneys MADE SLOW
h,ogress and u men to try the case
nav NOT be found until Tuesday or
Wednesday
4 The sweet trial was brought to
Hamilton county under a chahge o.
Venue. Fear of mob violence in event
HE man was tried in the county
&}hera the crime was committed, led
a. an application to the district court
for the removal of the case TO an
ether county While the removal OF
ne case is expected to add to the
a fetv of the defendant and to ia
tilitate the selection of a jury II Is
not certain that a jury can be selected
IL this county without much difficulty
Brewster Helps Prosecution
Feeling throughout the entire west
ern section of the state was intense
when the details of the muroer OF
Miss Bvers became public. 1t IS be-
heved that hundreds of residents or
this county have disqualified them
selves for jury service through ex-
DFessions of opinions as to Sweet ?
eailt or innocence.
dame 10 Syracuse this morning and
1fiji personally direct the prosecution
of Sweet. With County Attorney X
" Stubs of Grant county, Brewster
4till fight for conviction of the man
charged with the murder of the school
teacher.
Failure of the state to collect a
complete chain of circumstantial ev1-
Hence has clearly weakened the
fhances of a conviction Virtually the
|.=r.- inst
circumstances and the mans record
and actions.
Saw Murdered Woman.
II Miss Byers was assaulted and muir
aered the afternoon of October % last
year as she started for her home after
Concluding the weeks school in a
finely district in Grant county. Her
dude body was found Saturday morn
ing. Later the clothes were found
FL a neat bundle and hidden a dis
lance of several rods from the scene
Of the crime.
Bloodhounds were called and fol-
fpwed a trail which led to the house
where Sweet lived. The man admitted
he was in field a short distance from
the crime, admitted having seen Miss
Ryers after she left school and adj
fitted he might have seen her as she
vent into narrow ravine where the
crime was committed. But Sweet de-
died that he gave the woman more
than passing glance OF knew any
thing of the crime until the body was
found He admitted he might have
made the trail which the dogs fol
bowed, but declared he was hunting
rabbits and was in no manner guilty
Of the assault and murder.
"a Tooth Marks on Breast.
siTooth prints on the woman's breast
we're regarded as a link in the chair
of evidence against Sweet. impress
saons from the tooth prints have since
been declared by a dentist as those OF
a.person other than Sweet 1t would
have been impossible for Sweet tt
Rave made the tooth prints on the
Nbmans body, the dentist declared.
3iJake Shepherd of Fort Scott, viii
defend Sweet. He is counting heavily
On the breaks in the states chain o.
circumstances in his fight for an &C
4uittal
tiInterest in the trial is intense. Mel
and women from nearly a dozen west
ern counties are here for the trial ant
Grant county people-espe cia1ly thos
II the Byers district-have virtual.
Suspended business until the trial i
cpncludcd.
Mob violence was openly threat
ehed when Sweet was arrested. Thi
Sentiment has since subsidized, but of
6cers in charge of the prisoners ar
tAl1ing no chances and the man j
carefully guarded by an extra patro
of deputy sheriffs.