Lyman Burkhardt Pardoned

Lyman Burkhardt, a life convict at Jackson, who has recently been pardoned, murdered Ludwig Milieu ia Scio township, August 10, 1875. The Detroit Journal contains the following interesting faete in connection with the niurder evidently gleaned from Eobert E. Fraser who was then prosecuting attorney of this county. The commutation of the sentence of Lyman Burkhart. a life convict at Jackson, recalls the crime for which he was sentenced naturally enough, Dut there were some circumstances connected with the discovery that he was the murderer which have not been mentioned in any of the recent references to his case but are, nevertheless, of greater interest than the mere story of the way in which he shed his uncle's blood. When the news that old man Miller had been shot was reported to the authoiïties of Washteuaw county, Robert E. Frazer was prosecuting attornny of that county. Mr. Frazer repaired to the scène of the murder at once in company with the sheriff. Immediately on his arrival he began an investigation in the course of which he learned only these facts: Miller had slept next the wall and Mrs. Miller at the front of the bed. The gun used by the murderer had been held so close to the victim's body that the wadding was forced a considerable distance into his tlesh, and, from the location of the wound and the position of the sleepers, it was evident that a good deal of care had been exercised to avoid awakening Mrs. Miller. A shot-gun, the property of the deeeased, was found in the house and it bore evidence that it had been but recently diseharged. A possible motive was suggested by the information that Miller had administered a light thrashing on the night before to his young nephew, Lyman Burkhart, for some trivial offensèMr. Frazer ordered an autopsy and gained possession of the wadding in the dead man's body. Tliis he found to be a piece of a Germán newspaper. He had the house searched again and soon found a Germán newspaper from wbich a piece had been torn. The wadding, carefully smoothed, fitted the torn part exactly. This seemed to prove that the crime had been committed by somebody living in the house. It showed that the gun had been loaded in the building and nobody from outside, pursuing the well deflned plan evident in the result, would be likely to have waited until he gained access before loading his weapon. Intuitively, Mr. Frazer suspected the nephew. He had no positive proof on which to have his suspicions, yet the more he thought over the matter the more strongly did he believe the youngster responsible. The inquest was held in the house, as there was no public building at hand. Young Burkhart was one of the witnesses, as a matter of course. Mr. Frazer sought to make him the principal witness. Af ter the boy had told. in a simple and apparently straightforward way, a story which went to show that he was in no way connected with the crime, the prosecutor took him in hand and subjected him to the severest kind of crossexamination. Every attempt to make the lad show that he was in any way connected with the murder was useless. The witness answered intelligently, brightly and apparently honestly. Had he been the most acute of lawyers he could not have been more successful in his replies. And then his almost childish, frank countenance seemed to give his every statement the impress of absolute truth. Suddenly Mr. Frazer bade Burkhart follow him, and he led the way into an adjoining room in which the post mortem examination was beingconducted. Miller's body, stark naked, gory, rent open by the surgeons' knives, lay exposed on a table. A dish f uil of blood stood near the entrance. A pail in which reposed several of the oigans taken from the corpse was close at hand. One of the doctors held the lifeless heart in his hands. AU those engaged in making the ex auiimition ceased work immediately, glanced inquiringly at Mr. Frazer and then turned their gaze on the boy evidently in wonder that one of his years be brought to view so horrible an exhibition. Mr. Frazer kept his eyes flxed on Burkhart's face. He looked for a paling of the young man's cheeks, for a trembling of his lips, for the f aintest quiver of a muscle. He looked in vain. The youth was passive. He not only remained unmoved as he regarded the awful sight; he did not manifest the slightest interest in it. The whole affair appeared to be a matter of complete indifference to him. He was hurried back before the jury and again subjected to the thumbscrews of a severe cross-examination. His story remained the same, however. Not once did he deviate from it by a hair's breadth. Finally, after every resource that the prosecuting attorney could cali to his assistance had been exhausted, the witness was allowed to leave the stand, without having thrown a single ray of light upon the mystery. Mr. Frazer, however, decided to have him arrested without having any very clearly defined idea of what might be accomplished by doing so and as much for the lad's proteetion as anything else, since an excited crowd had crathered and was threatenintr a resort to lynch law. The jury retired to consider the evidence, which was wholly lacking in material on which to ground a charge against anybody. Shortly aftervvards a young newspaper reporter named Harria, who was tlien employed in Ann Arbor , but who carne to Detroit subsequently, hastened to Mr. Frazer and said that Burkhart had confessed to him. As soon as Burkhart had left the room in which the inquest was being condiicted, Mr. Harris called him aside and said to him: "Come upstairs with me and teil me the whole story." The two went at once to a room overhead and there and then Burkhart acknowledged that he had killed his uncle for punishing hirn the night previous. His reason for denying the crime was that he feit afraid of the prosecuting attorney and dreaded being killed by the crowd. Mr. Harris took all these statements in writing. As soon as this revelation was made to Mr. Frazer, he had the sheriff start for Ann Arbor with the murderer in order to evade a lianging. Then he caused the jury to be recalled and put Mr. Harris on the stand to repeat the confession. The precaution adopted in sending Burkhart away was f ully justilied when the reporter told his story. The rage manifested by the men wlio listened to the reeital showed that the miserable boy would have been given short shrift had he not been removed. Burkhart subsequently pleaded guilty bef ore Judge Crane, of the Washtenaw circuit court. The judge examined him, experts testified to his sound mental condition, a jury fixed the degree of his crime and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.