The Spangle Farmhouse Horror

The jury in the case of the State vs. Henry P. Schmidt returned a verdict tonight of murder in the first degree after one hour's deliberation. The trial consumed eight days in court and fifty witnesses testified. The evidence was entirely circumstantial, there being no positive proof whatever, but the prosecution made a convincing case which the defense was unable to break down. The crime for which Schmidt stands convicted is the murder of John Wyant, near Spangle, last June. Schmidt had been out of the penitentiary at San Quentin, Cal., but three weeks when he arrived here. He tried to induce Wyant to sell his farm for a worthless note, and failing in this, he shot the old man twice, killing him. To cover up his crime he fired the barn on the farm and threw the body into the burning building. Neighbors arrived in time to recover enough of the body to make it certain that murder had been committed, and saw Schmidt riding one of his victim's horses from the scene. The defense made a signal failure of the attempt to prove an alibi. The death sentence will doubtless be passed within a week.