Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 222, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1915 — WHEATFIELD WOMAN BELIEVED MURDRESS [ARTICLE]

WHEATFIELD WOMAN BELIEVED MURDRESS

A Aged Mother of Miss Frances Miller Charged With Having Rilled ' Her Little Baby. In Jail at Watseka Giri Became Mother at Farm House In Iroquois County, 111., and Baby’s Grandmother, Mrs. Henry Miller, Offered to Take Care of Baby at a Dredge Boat But is Supposed to Have Thrown It Into Dredge Where It Was Found a Few Days Later— She Later Returned to Wheatfield and Then Returned to Illinois Where She Was Arrested—Her Husband Is Distracted and Threatens to Kill Himself.

Wheatfield is agog with a murder sensation. Mrs. Henry Miller, aged about 60 years, of that place, is in jail at Watseka, 111., charged with the murder of an infant bom Saturday, Sept. 11th, to her daughter, Miss Frances Miller. The crime is alleged to have been committed in Iroquois county, 111., where the daughter had given birth to the child. It became generally known at Wheatfield some time ago that Frances Miller, a pretty girl of about 19 years of age, was to become a mother. As the time approached the mother took her daughter to Iroquois county, where another daughter who is married lives with her husband on a dredge boat. Men employed on the dredge saw the condition of the girl and arranged that she be taken to a farm house some little distance away. This was done a short time before the the child was bom. After the birth of the child the grandmother informed the family where the child was born that she would take the baby back to the dredge where the married daughter would care for it. She left the house with the baby but when she arrived at the dredge she did not have it and informed those at the dredge that she had left the child with its mother. A day or two later the old lady returned to Wheatfield and some one from the dredge called to see Frances Miller at the farm house. They asked about the baby and were informed that the grandmother had taken it to the dredge. In this manner it became known that the baby had been disposed of in some manner and a search found the dead body of the infant in the dredge ditch. The sheriff of Iroquois county was informed and arrangements were made to get .the old lady to return to the dredge and when she went there Thursday she was placed under arrest anffTa^en"to'3ail“at‘Watseita; The news did not reach Wheatfield until Fr’day and caused considerable commotion and Henry Miller, the husband of the woman who is under arrest, was so shocked that he is said to have threatened to take his own life.

Attorney Roy Blue, who was in Wheatfield Friday afternoon and who has known Mr. and Mrs. Miller for a number *of years and who had Miss Frances Miller as a scholar when she was ten or twelve years of age, called on the old gentleman and counseled with him, advising him to go to Watseka to see his wife and giving him the name of attorneys there to consult in arranging for her defense. The Millers have lived in Wheatfield for a number of years and were regarded good plain people. Mr. Miller owns a little home and has always been a hard working and honest man. His wife, also, has borne a good reputation. She is a woman of inferior mental type and easily excited and it is Mr. Blue’s opinion that remorse at the disgrace of her daughter’s maternity had driven her temporarily insane and this will doubtless be the defence of the aged woman when the case comes to trial. Mr. and Mrs. Miller are of German birth. Their daughter has always borne a good reputation and is said to be a very pretty and bright girl. It is alleged that a young man who worked on a farm near Wheatfield was responsible for the girl’s condition. _ It is understood that she did not know that her mother had disposed of the child and is in no manner implicated in the murder of

the infant. There are other children in the Miller family and it is quite certain that all will do what they can to prevent the conviction of Mrs. Miller on the charge of murder.