The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-09-20
FORMER MILLERITE
KILLED AT TAMPA
Word Received by j. ID. Miller, Of
the killing Of John ID. Lane

j. ID. Miller, of this cisy, received
a letter and clippings from Tyler Nc
Whorter of Tampa, Florida, Tuesday,
telling of the murder of John III. Lane,
a son of the late DIR. w. III. Lane, of
this city. The following account of
the murder is taken from the Tampa
Tribune:
Within four hours after the body
of John II. Lane, former Tampan and
prominent citrus fruit grower and
business man, was ~unearthed from a
shallow grave in his orange grove,
n mile south of Seffner, Deputy
Sheriff Lee Flint Thursday night
about s o'clock arrested the alleged
murderer, a man who first gave his
name as Frank Miller of New York
and told officers that he came to Tam
pa from that city about three days
ago.
Later the alleged murderer, after
his confinement in the county Jail,
made a partial confession to Sheriff
w. C. Spencer, admitting, according
to the sheriff, that he had shot Lane
through the heart Wednesday night
with Lanes own pistol and had drag
ged the body into the grove about
icV ydtuo itcHI LdhS . houoCy Jul III
it in a hole. He further confessed
to Sheriff Spencer, it is stated, that
he had at first given a fictitious
name and that his real name is
Frank or Joe Meyer; hat he has a
brother, George Meyer, living at
Chapman, about twelve miles north
of Tampa on the Lutz road, and that
his family, a wife nd severl children
also live there. The man talked in
coherently, as though partially de-
mented.
Miller, or Meyer, was in possession
of an automobile, an Auburn Six,
sport model, which belonged to Lane,
when he was captured by the deputy
sheriff. He was In the act Of driving
away in the car when confronted by
the officer, who had been watching the
machine for two hours, anticipating
that the man who had committed the
murder had taken possession of the
car and would return for it at early
night. A small ulldog, known by
many as having belonged to Lane,
was found in the car.
That he had fired the shot which
snuffed put the life of Lane because
the fruit grower attempted an attack
on him, is attributed as a statement
by the accused man made to the
sheriff i'm his confession. Earth mark
and other evidences at the eel of
the killing, indicate that Lane was
shot while he sat in his automobile in
front Of his home; that the body was
pulled from the car and that h work
of dragging it around the house and
into the grove was then started. The
course taken by the slayer in drag
ging eff the body was easily discerni-
BILE.
The instrument used by the slayer
in digging the hole into which he
threw the body of the slain man was
not found. While a shovel was found
leaning against a tree only a few
feet from where the body was discov-
cred, il was evident that IL had not
been Used for several days, and no
other instrument with which the hole
could have been dug was found near
the scene.
The body was not1more than a foot
beneath the surface, and the hole was
arely wide enough to admit it. When
unearthed It was found lying a up,
and remained limp, indicating that
stiffness had just begun to set in. The
condition of the body showed con-
clusively that it had not been buried
more than fifteen hours. The slayer
had put recovering of any kind over
the body, and the dirt had been
thrown IN direoty upon It. Pre-
caution bad been taken by the murd-
erer of packing the first on the shall
low grave with his feet. He had
then piled brush over the grave.