Bigamy and Bloodshed by Larry E. Wood

Author:Larry E. Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Kent State University Press

16

Graham’s Great Story

ALTHOUGH SAWYER released parts of Graham’s long-awaited statement to the Inter Ocean and other out-of-town newspapers, he continued to delay local publication. So, when the preliminary hearing resumed on Monday morning, March 22, some of the hysteria surrounding the case had briefly died down, and the rush on the courthouse was not as hectic as it had been during previous sessions.1

Julia Stokes was the first to take the stand after the weekend break. She repeated her testimony from the inquest that she’d seen Graham and Mrs. Molloy walking hand in hand last summer when she was at the farm. She admitted that they did not attempt to conceal the behavior, but she said they did seem to want to conceal parts of their conversation. The defense suggested there was nothing out of the ordinary in having a private conversation.2

Constable William O’Neal reiterated the story he’d told previously about Mrs. Molloy demanding to see the letter that O’Neal had written to Abbie Breese and Charlie had signed. Although he allowed Mrs. Molloy to see the letter, he admitted that when she also asked to see the letters the Breese family had sent him, he showed her part of one letter but didn’t show them all because he thought she was concealing Graham.3

Isaac Hise was recalled to confirm part of O’Neal’s story, and then R. P. Norman, who lived beyond the Molloy farm toward Brookline, testified that the gate leading through the Molloy farm had been locked about October 5 or shortly before. Everett Cannefax testified that he was crossing the Molloy property a day or two before the gate was locked and that when he saw Graham and Cora Lee walking arm in arm near the well, Graham ordered him out of the pasture. When Charles Neiswanger, the pharmacist, was recalled, the defense tried to undercut his credibility as an expert witness, suggesting that bruises and abrasions on Sarah Graham’s body from being tossed into the well might not have been discernible after five months.4

Although editor Sawyer had balked at printing Graham’s statement in the Herald while the preliminary hearing continued, he must have known that word of the story he’d sent to Chicago and other cities would quickly leak to Springfield sources, and the Springfield Republican forced his hand when it printed what Sawyer called a “garbled recital” of Graham’s statement in its Sunday edition. Sawyer decided to publish a more thorough synopsis, the same one he’d wired to the Inter Ocean, and it appeared as a Herald extra on Tuesday morning, March 23.5

The statement, or “Graham’s Great Story,” as the Inter Ocean had dubbed it, was dated March 4, 1886, and it began as follows:

To the Public: In putting forth the following statement I make no pretensions of being actuated by that high and holy impulse—a desire to improve society or raise the tone of public morals. Having been adjured by Mrs. Emma Molloy and Mrs. Cora E. Graham to “tell the truth and nothing but the

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