Murder on the Florida Frontier by Andrew Fink
Author:Andrew Fink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The True Story behind Sanford’s Headless Miser Legend
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2018-03-21T16:00:00+00:00
“THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF SAM’L MCMILLAN EXPLAINED”
The October 19, 1882 edition of the South Florida Journal reported the finding of the body with the headline “The Mysterious Disappearance of Sam’l McMillan Explained.” It detailed the condition of the body and the probability that he had been murdered:
Mr. Harrison empanelled a jury and every endeavor is being made by the indignant citizens to ferret out the murderer, and we hope by next issue of the Journal to have the satisfaction of chronicling the fact that the perpetrator of this heinous crime is in the hands of the law, and that conviction and punishment will quickly follow.
After hearing all the witness statements, further examining the body and concluding that Sam was last seen alive at Archie and Kate’s house, Harrison ultimately decided there was enough evidence to suspect and detain Mr. and Mrs. Newton until a formal preliminary hearing could be held. He ordered their detention and “turned the case over” to the constable on October 19. The Newtons were immediately taken into custody and held in Sanford to await the preliminary hearing, scheduled to start the next day.
The constable was Captain William Sirrine, a popular figure in Sanford. An ex-Confederate soldier, he was appointed justice of the peace and magistrate for this part of Orange County. He owned and operated the Sirrine House Hotel, a highly successful boardinghouse located on Palmetto Avenue right in downtown Sanford. A January 1883 article in South Florida Journal documented the popularity of the boardinghouse—two thousand visits from 1881 to 1882. In fact, Sirrine had to rent an additional building across the street to accommodate the volume of visitors to his popular establishment.
He also apparently took his role as local constable seriously; the Sanford Journal would later note in its Thursday, April 26, 1883 edition:
The judicial mill has been grinding quite actively for several days past, and Justice Sirrine, who so ably runs the machine, has been kept quite busy. The Justice presides with great dignity and ability, and his decisions are generally received with satisfaction. Sanford is peculiarly fortunate in having this important public service in the hands of one so competent and conscientious.
On October 19, 1882, Sirrine promptly issued a search warrant of the Newton house. A large group of men gathered at the property, with Edgar Harrison set to execute the warrant. He wasn’t sure why so many people were there, however, and didn’t really do anything to exclude or control the crowd. He also failed to list who went into the house and where they searched.
The Newtons were under detention in Sanford at the time, and their house was locked. Harrison had failed to get a key to conduct the search and didn’t want to break in. Just as he was about to turn back, William Beardall stepped forward with a key to the house.
Recall that Beardall was the Englishman who two months earlier had accompanied Archie on a formal inspection of Sam’s grove and whose presence changed Sam’s mind about the seriousness of Archie as a buyer.
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