Breckinridge County KyArchives Obituaries.....MILLER, James July 6, 1888 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Peggy Russell meemawpeg7@gmail.com July 22, 2020, 6:09 pm Breckinridge News, Cloverport, Ky., August 28, 1889 (2) Newspaper articles pertaining to the trial of former Judge Alanson Madison "Matt" (A. M.) PULLIAM, for murdering James MILLER in July 1888. THE END OF THE PULLIAM TRIAL Manslaughter the Crime, and Fifteen Years in Prison the Penalty A LITTLE SCENE IN THE COURT HOUSE WHEN THE VERDICT WAS READ Pulliam Accepts His Fate and Reads a Paper to the Court and Jury. There was quite a dramatic scene witnessed in the court-room at Brandenburg last Wednesday morning when the jury came in and announced that they had agreed upon a verdict, and was ready to report. It was just 9 o'clock, and the jury had been out with the case for nearly twelve hours, and it was thought that the delay meant a hung jury or an acquittal for PULLIAM. So when the jury came in and handed their verdict to the clerk who read it, they were wholly unprepared for it, and the scene that followed is very grapically described by the Courier-Journal correspondent who was present. THE VERDICT "We the jury, find the defendant, A. M. PULLIAM, guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and fix his punishment at fifteen years confinement in the penitentiary." "All eyes were turned upon Judge PULLIAM as the verdict was read. His face blanched and he seemed bewildred and staggerd. The jury were polled and each member answered that the verdict was of his finding. Then a woman's scream loud and shrill broke the oppressive silence of the court-room, and awakened the inhabitants of the quiet little town. The echo of that woman's scream reverberating from the hills around, announced as plainly as could be the court crier, that a verdict had been reached. Miss Annie PULLIAM broke into tears as the verdict was read, and for a few seconds her sister, Sallie, seemed turned to stone. Then her screams rang out, and it was followed by another and another till the quiet, dignified girl seemed suddenly insane. She sprang from her seat and, distracted, ran up and down the court-room uttering screams at every step. She flung herself in a paroxysm of grief to the floor in front of the jury and cried, 'You have broken my heart!' Then she again sprang to her feet and ran out towards the balcony of the court-house. She was distracted, and fearing she might attempt to hurt herself by throwing her body upon the jagged rocks below, several men barred the way and prevented her from going upon the porch. She then ran back into the court-room, tearing her hat and clutching at her hair. She wildly threw her arms about her father, who patted her head and tried his best to quiet her. She broke away again, and ran screaming through the jury rooms, but her sister and aunt finally got her under control. In the court-room not a soul moved, and the girl's agonising grief was awful. The rugged farmer MILLS, the foreman of the jury leant upon his stick and wept like a child, while there was not an eye in the jury box unwet from pity for the children of the defendant. The judge sat upon the bench, but never rapped, and for fully ten minutes no one dared to assuage the grief of the daughter, who took her father's condemnation so hard." While PULLIAM and his family were out, his attorneys made a motion of arrest of judgement, and it was thought a motion for a new trial would be made on the following day on the grounds that one of the jurymen was heard to say, "PULLIAM aught to hang higher than a kite." There were two of the attorneys for the defence absent, Judge John Allen MURRAY, of this city, and Hon. W. R. HAYNES, of Leitchfield. They were telegraphed for and arrived in the afternoon. A consultation was held, and it was decided not to ask for a new trial. The jury stood for: hanging, seven; one for twenty-one years; two for ten years; one for five years; and one for two years. The seven came down to twenty-one years and the aggregate of years reached 198. This was divided by twelve and the fifteen year term was settled upon. Additional Comments: #0242 Miller Cemetery #3, located off Highway 992, near west Hardinsburg, in Breckinridge County, Ky. MILLER, James 13 Nov 1831 -- 06 Jul 1888 UNKNOWN IF HE EVER MARRIED son of Matthias MILLER, Sr. & Isabel HOWARD have articles from the trial for the man who murdered James MILLER he has a tombstone HIS PARENTS ARE ALSO HERE: MILLER, Matthias, Sr. 11 Jan 1790 -- 12 Oct 1876 husband of Isabel HOWARD parents unknown he has a tombstone MILLER, Isabel 1801 -- 28 Apr 1862 wife of Matthias MILLER, Sr. parents unknown she has a tombstone Dana Brown & Peggy Russell File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/obits/m/miller10997gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/