Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1890 — MUST THEY HANG FOR IT? [ARTICLE]

MUST THEY HANG FOR IT?

TWO MEN THOUGHT TO BE INNOCENT IN DANGER. Later E vidence in the nariey Russell Murder Case Indicates that Calvin Holden and Alter. Dunham Are Innocent of the Crime. [Monticello (Ill.) dispatch.] A little over a week ago Calvin Holden and Albert Dunham were convicted of the murder of Harley Russell and sentenced to be hanged Friday, Oct. 17. Public sentiment at the time demanded and approved the verdict. Now there is a strong feeling that the two men so recently doomed to suffer this extreme penalty are probably innocent, and that the Governor should interpose his executive authority. John Holden and his family lived a few miles east of town on the Hale farm, which belongs to the father of Young Hale, of Cleveland, Ohio, that shot his brother-in-law in Canada. The Holdens were slow in paying rent and got far behind. Last spring W. E. Lodger, who has charge of Mr. Hale’s property, took the farm away from the Holdens and rented it to Frank Craig, a well-to-do farmer, who wanted it for his son-in-law, Harley Russell. The Holdens were compelled to move. They came to town and Harley Russell, with his young wife, took possession of the farm. The murder occui red upon the evening of June 21. Russell and his wife had been to town in a buggy, and had started to return. Just outside the town limits and a little beyond the Holden house two persons stepped out into the middle of tho road. It was dark, and their faces could not be distinctly seen. One seized the horse by the bridle, while the other fired into the buggy several times. Tlie horse ran away, and Mrs. Russell stopped it at the Mitchell farm, where Russell died a few hours later. His ante-mortem statement was that Cal Holden shot him, while “a man who looked like the man who lives with tho Holdens held the bridle.” He did not know Dunham’s name, but it was lie who was meant. At the trial Mrs. Russell identified Calvin as the one who did the shooting. The two brothers look very much alike, however. She could not identify Dunham, but she identified his hat and coat. This is absolutely the extent of the evidence upon which these two young men were convicted and sentence to be hanged. Mrs. Holden was sentenced to twentyfive years and Ed Holden to fifteen years in the penitentiary. Tlie State set up tho plea of conspiracy, and thus had all four indicted. Mrs. llolden was convicted under the impression that she was the instigator of the crime. Ed Holden was convicted on general principles. Judge Vail remarked afterward that there was no evidence against Ed and intimated that if he had asked for a new trial it would have been granted, but neither Ed nor his mother wanted a new trial. Calvin Holden and Albert Dunham were arrested by the Sheriff the night of the murder, on the strength of Harley Russell’s ante-mortem statement Sheriff Miller found them in bed as'cep, and he says now that he was strongly impressed at the time by their behavior that they were innocent.

Calvin had come home sick during the afternoon a,nd he wtnt to bed early, an hour and a half before the shooting. Dunham was tired with a hard day’s work and ho fell asleep on the front porch. He was awakened about 9 o’clock, half an hour before the shooting, by Edwin, who poured some water in his face to arouse him. Ed and Mrs. Holden advised him to go to bed. It was unusual for them to display such solicitude. He remembers also that early in the evening Mrs. Holden had asked him it he had seen Harley Russell in town that day. Dunham stumbled to bed and was soon fast asleep. His coat and hat, the identification of which by Mrs. Russell was the chief point of evidence against him, were found next day in Mrs. Holden’s room. His shoes had also been misplaced. Dunham had no motive of revenge to gratify, and was not intimate enough with tlio Holdens to warrant the suspicion that he would have assisted them in committing a coldblooded murder. Mrs. Holden hau frequently made threats that she would have revenge upon Russell and she said to Dunham the day of the killing, “If Ed don’t do it I’ll do it myself.” The attorneys for the defense knew these things and others, too, which have lately become public property, but they advised Dunham not to go on the stand, as it would convict Mrs. Holden and would do him no good. Oid John Holdqji advised his wife to ask for a new trial. “I don’t wan* any new trial,” she made reply. “What do you want to do? Hang the whole family!” Ed said he did not want a new trial. Dunham and Cal Holden insisted upon asking for a new trial, and they asked for it alone. Mrs. Holden and Ed requested that they be taken to Joliet at once. The Sheriff consented, and they got ready to go, and an hour later the two prisoners were conducted out of the jail to the train. Just before leaving, Ed said to his mother: “Just rest easy. We had the satisfaction of getting even.” “For God’s sake, mother,” exclaimed Cal, as they parted, “tell the truth and save my life.” “Tell Charley Mansfield and. Dr. Knott to ccmo with me,” she answered. “I have something to tell them.” “Can’t you tell it here, mother?” ho asked. “No; I wouldn’t live two hours if I told it now. ” Mr. Mansfield, one of the attorneys for the defense, and Dr. Knott, a friend ■of Mrs. Holden, accompanied her and Ed to Joliet in obedience to her request. Mrs. Miller, the wife of the Sheriff, who had won her confidence, had just before been the recipient of an oral confession that she and Ed had killed Harley Russell, and that neither Calvin nor Dunham knew anything about it. A tide of public sentiment lias set in strongly in favor of the two men who are condemned to die Oct. 17.