Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1910 — BOTH WERE SENTENCED FOR SAYLER’S MURDER. [ARTICLE]

BOTH WERE SENTENCED FOR SAYLER’S MURDER.

Widow to Serve Three Years and Dr. Miller to Serve Twelve Years For Crime in Illinois. Dr. W. R. Miller and Mrs. J. B. Sayler, whose names have been coupled in the Sayler murder trial, at Watseka, 111.,* were found guilty Monday of manslaughter for the slaying of J. B. Sayler, of Crescent City, husband of the woman, last July. John Grunden, medicine vender from Oklahoma and father of Mrs. Sayler, was acquitted. Punishment was fixed by the jury in Dr. Miller’s case at twelve years’ imprisonment in the penitentiary, while imprisonment for three years was allotted to Mrs. Sayler. The trial, which occupied nearly a month and which has attracted considerable attention in Jasper county, since the killing of J. B. Sayler last year, came to a speedy close. The general expectation was that the jury which had been deliberating more than thirty-six hours, would disagree. Late in the afternoon, when more than ten ballots bad been taken, agreement was reached on the manslaughter verdict against Dr. Miller and Mrs. Sayler and acquittal for her father. Then came a pause while the length of sentnce to be imposed was determined. Shortly after 3 p. m. the defendants, their counsel, the state’s attorney and his aids, entered the courtroom and the jury was brought in. Golda Sayler sat beside her mother, Mrs. Sayler. She wept as she entered the courtroom. When the verdict finding Mrs. Sayler guilty was read, she threw herself into the arms of her daughter and sobbed convulsively. Mrs. Miller clung weeping to her husband and he clasped her to him. The courtroom was hushed as the jury was polled and Attorney Fred P. Morris made the formal motion for a new trial for the convicted two. State’s Attorney John P. Pallissard agreed to setting the motion for argument April 30th. Judge Dibbel then thanked the jurors for their work and discharged them. For the first time since he was arrested, Dr. Miller felt the grip of handcuffs as he was taken from the courtroom to the county jail after an affecting farewell to his wife. Mrs. Sayler, somewhat recovered from her emotion, walked unshakled to the cell which has been her home for many months. John Grunden, with squared shoulders, went from the court house, a free man. The crime of which the defendants, Dr. Miller and Mrs. Sayler, were found guilty, was the slaying of J. B. Sayler in the parlor of his home. The state in the trial, brought out much concerning alleged intimacy of Mrs. Sayler and Dr. Miller and scoffed at the plea of self-defense advanced, together with the story of the defendants that Mr Sayler precipitated his death by attacking Dr. Miller with a hatchet without provocation. E. S Rhoades, the grocer, is a cousin of the murdered man, and all the Sayler families in Jasper county were related to him.