Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1907 — MADILL TRIAL OPENED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MADILL TRIAL OPENED.

Clinton (Ill.) Bank Official and Wife ‘ Face Murder Charge. Fred H. Magill, a former banker of Clinton, 111., and his child wife, Faye Graham Magill, were placed on trial

at Decatur, 111., on the charge of murdering Mrs. Pet Magill, first wife of the accused man. E Ight y witnesses were summoned- by the State and forty by the defense. Magill’s first wife was found dead in her home

May 30, 1907. The Coroner’s verdict was “death due to heart disease, superinduced by chloroform.” A number of letterswere found purporting to have been written by Mrs. Magill, and these were so unusual that a question was raised as to their authorship. State’s Attorney Miller announced his belief that a suicide "never would take the time or the pains to write so many letters, or to recommend to her husband to marry a rival, Faye Graham. The suicide theory was accepted, however, and the case would have been forgotten but for the fact that Magill and Faye Graham were mar-

tied at Denver a month after the first wife was found dead. This aroused resentment and a demand for the investigation of the death of Mrs. Magill No. 1. The arrest of Magill and wife No. 2 occurred at San Diego, Cal., while they i were on their honeymoon. The prisoners pleaded < not guilty, and scoff at the charge of murder. They are confident of a prompt acquittal, and declare that the State will be unable to Introduce evidence of a convincing 1 character. They admit that they did wrong in arranging such a hasty marriage, but plead as their defense the dying instructions of the first wife. The wealth of the Magill family, one of the richest in central Illinois, is behind the defense, and the counsel engaged is the most prominent in De Witt County.

FRED H. MAGILL.

PET MAGILL.

FAYE MAGILL.