The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1919-04-11
circumstances send
INNOCENT To PRISON
Warning Case For Juries
Holding Power
Over Life

Oneonto. Als.,-Have you ever
served on a murder jury?
Have you ever held the life Of an
accused murderer in the hollow OF
your hand?
Have you ever found guilty of pre-
meditated murder a fellow human be-
ing?
Some day you may be called upon
to do this.
And when you are. beg OF you
that YOU ~ II rememher the case OF
Bill Wilson
THIS il the testimony in his case.
suppose f. ;resiIqu n. that you are
the july S yeisb the evidence.
w. f. Wilson, teIter known as
"Bill" Wilson. lived with his wife
Jennie, and three children. The
we're happy and contented Then NJ
other man entered the home and sto.2
into his wite's Tart.
The husband, later on. learned tha'
he had lost his wife's affections anu
that the other man had gained theu
q thought of the children, .he
home. aud still ioNl her wilson
testified. so l to ~ her away from
there, thinking tn,5 distance might
make a difference. Tot the Other
man followed. Th"E me, again. AMI
often. Then l knew thet there was
u hing else to d. LA tina.
Now the evidence goes to show
that Wilson and his two older chill
dren moved to Oneonto, staying with
his brother on farm. He said moth
ing to neighbors about his wife and
the baby.
To him that was clio Cd chapter
of life.
He did. however. go to the county
seat and file suit for divorce, alleging
desertion. Three years after the di-
vorce was granted him Wilson mar
ried another woman.
Find Bones Half Buried
Two boys were rowing the woods
near Oneonto They came upon two
half-hidden skeletons. one that of an
Iadult. the other of a small child. Run
ming to town the boys told Of their
discovery. and everybody flocked
through the woods.
Hurriedly the old citizens went
over the roll call Of missing persons.
Murdered" they cried in unison
of course; if they hadn't been muir
dered they would have been buried
in the graveyard
And then they remembered that
Bill Wilson's first wife hadn't been
seen since the night in 1909 when
she and the baby disappeared and
Bill took the other two children to
his brothers home. Suspicion widen
ed and deepened
Bill Wilson's honeymoon was inter
rupted by the arrest on a charge of
wilful and premeditated murder.
That was three years after his first
wife's disappearance.
She went away. he said. II don t
know where. I am sure that she
went with her lover"
Then why didn't you take the 9TH
er child?" he was asked.
Because she said it wasn't mine
that the other man was it's father.
Identify Skeletons.
The trial proceeded. The boys told
OF finding the skeletons Doctors said
they were the bones OF a woman and
a baby. Folks who knew said the
missing wife and child were of the
heights indicated by the skeletons,
Bill Wilson said he hadn't heard
Of his first wife and that child since
that night.
,'rlas insisre,, I; vas iinIrss,ble fOr
woman and tcoy :. leave town
without being seem
The prosecutor closed the case
with a brilliant plea for justice de-
handing punishment in its most Sc
we're form for the murder of the wife
ana ChIId.
we, the jury, liad the defendant
. guilty OF murder in the first degree,
. and the Judge sentenced Bill Wilson
, TO the penitentiary for life.
Appeals to higher courts failed t.
, change the course OF law, and Bill
. Wilson was thrust into prison stripes
and alternated from convict camps It
, life cell. That lasted II months.
p Then one day relative OF thu
, other man" missing too. got let
ter from Jennie, the missing woman
Wilson's sister heard about it, ant
-, finally located Jennie at Britland
% Ind. The murdered woman hadn'
e heard that Wilson was in prison TO
her death" She came back to One
onto and the machinery OF the Law
=. reversed iteslf, gradually and slowly
/ ending with the release from priso
stripes and cells OF Bill Wilson. Tn