Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 24.pdf/333

300 charge of having murdered Archibald Fisher. Henry Trayler was introduced as a witness on the part of the state, and under oath, repeated all his former statements, and at the close bore a rigid cross-examination without faltering for a single moment. In addition to this evidence, a woman who said she was well acquainted with Archibald Trayler, testified that on the Monday afternoon of Fisher's disappearance she saw Archibald and another man, whom she identified as William Trayler — then present — in company with a third man answering the description of Fisher, enter the woods immediately northwest of town, and an hour or two later she saw the two brothers return alone.

It was also shown by a number of witnesses that Archibald Trayler had, since the disappearance of Fisher, paid out an unusual amount of gold, and that the money Fisher had brought with him to Springfield was in gold coin — amounting to several hundred dollars. Other witnesses were examined and testified to occurrences corroborating the testimony already given, thus completing a chain of circumstantial evidence substantially without a flaw. There was the coming of Fisher to Springfield with a large sum in gold coin on his person, accompanied by William and Henry Trayler, who knew that he carried the money; then his sudden disappearance and the fact that he was last seen in the company of the Traylers; the long and unsuccessful search; the evident anxiety of William and Henry Trayler to get away, and their hurried leave-taking; Henry's confession; the confirmation of the confession by the finding of the bent tree and the evidences of a struggle underneath it; the finding of the buggy tracks leading to the old mill-pond; the paying out of an unusual amount of gold coin by Archibald, and the reiterated confession by Henry when the Gilmore story of the finding of Fisher is told him — not a single link in the chain was lacking.

When the state had closed and rested its case, Hon. Stephen T. Logan, who represented the defense, arose and said that he would introduce one witness only, and opening a door leading into an adjoining room, Archibald Fisher, alive and in his own proper person, was slowly conducted into the presence of the court. Myers had found Fisher at the home of Dr. Gilmore, and returned with him late the evening before, — June 21, — had kept him in seclusion until he was needed to clear the suspected men.

The three brothers never recovered from the effect of the terrible experiences through which they had passed. William died within a year after, Archibald dying a year later. Henry lived several years after his brother Archibald's death, but was never known to allude to the dreadful ordeal of his trial for murder in any way — living a silent, unresponsive life during the remainder of his days.

Had Fisher died while wandering out on the open prairie in his demented state — a thing that might easily have happened, for at that time the country was wild and unsettled — the three Trayler brothers would, undoubtedly, have gone to the gallows, and their very memory have been blighted by the shadow of a crime of which they were wholly innocent. Springfield, Ill.