The Murder of Pier at Marysville (MILLER HANGED)
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| San Quentin Gallows. Source This WeekIn CA. History |
Morning Union, 12 December 1896
MILLER HANGED
For the Murder of Pierre at Marysville
SAN QUENTIN, December n.— Marshall J. Miller, was hanged at San Quentin this morning for the murder of Joseph J. Pierre (** NOTE -Mispelled, is actually Julius Pier, buried at the Historic Marysville City Cemetery), an aged pawnbroker. The crime was committed at Marysville oh the night of May I, 1895.
Miller, who was a barber at Marysville, and a young electrician named Stuart A. Greene, alias George Duroy, entered Pierre’s apartments and failing to find money gagged and beat their victim in attempting to obtain information of the coveted treasure. As Pierre had no money in the house the brutal proceedings was fruitless.
Until the last Miller asserted his innocence and blamed his attorney for inducing him to plead guilty.
The murderers left bloodstained garments in an outhouse and through them, Green was arrested as he was leaving Marysville.
Separate trials were demanded and Greene, after a protracted legal battle, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Miller, thinking to receive no more severe punishment than his accomplice, pleaded guilty, but the death penalty was passed. The execution was fixed for September 27, 1895, but a stay was granted on appeal.
The Supreme Court having refused to grant a new trial Miller was sentenced and Friday, December it, 1896, fixed as the termination of his existence.
San Francisco Call, Volume 81, Number 11, 11 December 1896
MARSHALL MILLER WILL HANG-TO-DAY
His Crime the Murder of a Marysville Pawnbroker.
Vainly Sought to Escape the Gallows by Pleading Guilty.
Now Protests Innocence and Blames His Partner, His Lawyers, and the Court.
SAN RAFAEL, Cal., Dec 10.— The execution of Marshall J. Miller will take place at San Quentin at 10 a. m. tomorrow for the murder of an old pawnbroker in Marysville on May 1, 1895. He had a partner in the crime, Stewart A. Green, who with better luck received a life sentence by stipulation of the jury. Green was tried first; then Miller, by the advice of counsel and hoping to get the same sentence, pleaded guilty, but the Judge sentenced him to death. He secured a stay on appeal but was refused a new trial. He has felt sanguine that the Governor would commute Ms sentence, but was today, informed by his lawyers that the Governor refused. He requested this morning that no newspaper men nor anybody else should be admitted to see him except the priest. The Warden complied with his request. Father Conley has been with him today, and after a long interview Miller desired to see a reporter, so permission was given to a Call reporter to interview him; but he had changed hia mind, he said, and Father Conley would give out to-morrow what he had to say. Miller is a free talker, however, and made it apparent that his only statement was a tirade against Green, his partner in crime, of whom he spoke with much bitterness. He denies that he is guilty, and will doubtless go to the gallows asserting his innocence. He says that his conviction was al! jobbery; that he has never committed any crime or ever been arrested before. He was convicted, he says, on the testimony of two ex-convicts. He claims that he was given drugged liquor and taken into the murdered man's store, and that was all he knew about it. He blames his lawyers and the court and is particularly bitter against Green, whom he charges with various crimes If he does not change very much to-night he will go to the gallows claiming that his execution is a miscarriage of justice and the murder of an innocent man.
Miller talked in a free and easy, indifferent manner, with much profanity intermixed and with perfect coolness and nerve. He said he was a widower and that his parents were dead. He is about 50 years of age, a native of Ohio, and so far as known has no family nor relatives on this coast. He had a barber-shop in Marysville, but had been there only a short time, ha. ling from Arizona and before that from Mexico. The old man for whose murder he will be hanged was named Julius Pier.
Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 92, Number 113, 12 December 1896
MARSHALL J. MILLER HANGED.
PAYS THE PENALTY FOR THE MURDER OF JOSEPH PIERRE.
He Walks to the Scaffold With a Firm Tread—The Trap Sprung Shortly After Leaving the Cell.
SAN QUENTIN PRISON, Dec. 11 — Marshall J. Miller of Marysville was hanged here this morning at 10:11 o'clock. Miller and his partner, Stuart Greene, entered the house of Joseph Pierre at Marysville on the night of May 1, 1595, bent on robbery. In accomplishing' this they so beat and ill-treated Pierre that he died from his injuries. Greene fought the case, but was finally convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Miller, on a separate trial, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to be hanged on September 27, 1895, but a stay was granted on appeal. The Supreme Court refused a new trial and Miller was resentenced to be hanged today. It was 10:10 when the procession emerged from the condemned chamber and walked across the short space of the execution room to the gallows stairs. Warden Hale led and was followed by Chaplain Drahms and Father Lagan. Then came the condemned man, supported by Guards Jones and Miller, who had been on his death watch. The support up the stairs was not necessary from any weakness of Miller's. He was strong and walked with a firm tread, but his movements were somewhat impeded by the straps. Sheriff McKenzie of Napa, who will next month have to hang Moore, the murderer of Mrs. Greenwood, was in the condemned chamber up to the last and ascended the scaffold with Warden Hale. Just before the trap was reached Miller took Father Lagan's hand in his and held it as he walked toward the trap. He released the priest's hand to give himself over to Amos Lunt, the executioner. While Lunt and his assistants were strapping Miller, Father Lagan stepped to the front of the platform and said: "In defense of this poor man I have a word to say. He will expiate with his life the crime of which he was accused, but he was less guilty than some. He never had the benefit of a religious training. He called us in at the last minute, and he asked me to say he fully forgives all his enemies, as he hopes Gol will forgive him." By this time the cap and noose had been adjusted. The Warden gave the signal for the cord to be cut, and the tn p was sprung. Miller fell in less than two minutes from the time he entered the death chamber, and after the rebound from the fall, there was not a perceptible tremor to his body. He weighed 148 pounds, and was given a drop of five and a half feet. Before leaving the condemned cell, Miller gave Father Connolly, who assisted Father Lagan, a long statement of his life, which he asked the priest to have published. The statement was of no interest, except in the part relating to the crime. Miller said Duroy, who helped in the murder, planned the crime. Miller said his accomplice came to his shop and drugged him, and then compelled him to take part in the committed robbery and murder.
Source - CDNC - https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18961211.2.51&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
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