Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1904 — THE GILLESPIE MURDER TRIAL. [ARTICLE]

THE GILLESPIE MURDER TRIAL.

Remarkable Indiana Tragedy Now Being Thrashed Out. No murder trial in southern Indiana in recent years lias attracted more attention than the one which is now on in Rising Sun, and in which the authorities are striving to bring to justice the murderers of Miss Elizabeth Gillespie. The prominence and wealth of the accused and the singular circumstances surrounding the tragedy, make it aauost remarkable and unusual case. Miss Gillespie was shot wjiile standing in the parlor of her home on the evening of Dec. 8, 1903. One of the most popular and prominent society women of Rising Sun, a member of one of the oldest and wealthiest families of southern Indiana, the murder'of Miss Gillespie created a sensation throughout the entire country. This was increased when the murdered woman's twin brother, James Gillespie, was placed under arrest charged with the crime. Held with him as accessories arc his sister, Mrs. Belle Seward, and Myron V. Barbour and his wife, Mrs. Carrie Barbour. Behind the murder of Miss Gillespie is the story of a family skeleton and that story the officers of the law have not been able to bring out. Noted throughout Indiana for their pride and haughtiness, the members of the Gillespie family have lived up to their reputation since the tragedy. Those implicated in the murder treat the authorities with disdain, while the other relatives maintain a forbidding silence. It has developed, however, that although James Gillespie entertained a deep affection for his sister at one time, he had during the last three or four years of her life hated her fiercely. Miss Gillespie, it is known, had severely criticised the conduct of Mrs. Carrie Barbour and this led to a violent quarrel between her and her brother, James, who, thereupon, went to live with the Barbours, opposite his own home. The fact that the mother, Mrs. Gillespie, had left her daughter the bulk of her property intensified the family feud. The most tangible evidence against James Gillespie is that he is one of the two men in Ilising’ Sun who own a dou-ble-barreled shotgun of 12 caliber. The bullet taken from Miss Gillespie’s temple was a No. 4 bird shot, the kind used in her brother’s gun, a supply of which had been given the latter a few days previous to the tragedy by Myron Harbour. On the night of the murder two men were approaching the Gilespie home from opposite directions. Jtoth saw the flash of the gun and heard the report, but no one passed them while they lan to the spot. They heard the clicks of an iron gate in the darkness. ”The only iron gateway ih that vicinity is” iu front of the Barbour residence. Lined up on both sides in the case are the most brilliant criminal lawyers in Indiana and the trial bids fair to be a great legal battle.