THE DAN ALLEN TRAIL ( Part 3 )

DAN ALLEN’S TRIAL

Ten months after the murder of Henry Wright, the case against Daniel Allen finally came to trial in March of 1887.  It took three days to select the jury and those chosen were:  Geo. Krackenberger, Henry Nelson, J. J. Lansworth, Wm. Glidden, Barney Rather, A. W. Loy, Chas. Wilcox, William Presher, G. W. Crandall, Chester Crandall, Abe Fradenburg, and Andrew Heath.

Judge A. W. Newman presided over the trial.  The state was represented by J. E. Campbell, district attorney, B. F. French, Esquire, of Neillsville, and Samuel N. Dickinson, of Sparta, Wisconsin.  Those in defense of Allen were Messrs. Ring and Youmans, and R. J. MacBride of Neillsville, and J. M. Morrow of Sparta.  These lawyers were all locally prominent and much respected in their professions.

The case opened on a Saturday, with the district attorney and Mr. French claiming they could prove that Henry Wright came to his death from poison administered by Allen, that the poison was obtained by Allen, and that he procured the dead man’s wife to give it to Wright.  They stated that if Allen was not the real murderer he was at the least an accessory before and after the fact.  Deliberation carried on with testimony from Ernest Derby, a neighbor, and continued with statements from the doctors who attended Wright, carried on his post mortem exams, and conducted testing of the liver and stomach.  

Maggie Wright was called by the state as a witness.  The defense tried to stop her from testifying, stating that she was an accomplice and if allowed to testify would do so in an attempt to strike a deal or gain a pardon.  However the court decided to allow her testimony.  Maggie began by admitting that she and Dan Allen had been having an affair for a year prior to her husband’s death.  She then told of Allen’s procuring the arsenic at Milwaukee and his persuading to her to bake those deadly cookies.  Maggie also said that she did not give her husband any additional poison, nor did she consent to giving him more.  Maggie stated that Allen wanted her to flee to Chicago shortly after the murder.  If she did he told her that they would not suspect him.  She said she talked with Allen once or twice in jail and the day after she was incarcerated Allen told her that he was sorry she owned up.  Later she said Allen told her to deny all that she had said and if she didn’t he would do everything he could against her.  

Maggie also mentioned the correspondence she and Allen had in writing.  She told how they passed notes that she let down on a string from her jail cell above his.  The letters were shown in court and even though the defense objected to the contents being read the court overruled.  Although the letters did give convincing proof of criminal intimacy between Dan and Maggie, they did not give definite proof that Dan was guilty of murdering Wright.  The penned words became a source of amusement to the crowded courtroom causing a comical atmosphere in what should have been a more somber one.

After several other witnesses, with court in session late into the evening hours at times, on Wednesday the defense began building their case for Allen.  They tried to depict Dan’s sound character and addressed the fact that he had been a good citizen of Clark County for 20 years prior to his relationship with the Wright family.  There was no denial of his affair with Maggie Wright.  But he did deny all knowledge of the crime as charged by Mrs. Wright.  The defense attempted to portray Allen as the victim of a scheming woman who had tempted him, a woman so infatuated by her lawless love that murder became her only way out.  And when doing so she became determined to drag Allen into the crime although he was innocent of any such deed.  The counsel for the defense offered this early statement from Maggie to the jury.  

NEILLSVILLE, March 15th, 1887 – “I have made a statement to the district attorney and sheriff and other officials in charge of me in relation to the death of my deceased husband, Henry Wright, in which I stated in substance that his death was caused by poison administered by me and one Daniel Allen, and many other statements of a similar character.

That statement was obtained from me by said officers upon their statements to me but they sympathized with me and my children; that they had evidence which was sufficient to convict me of the murder of my husband, and that I would have to go to state prison for life unless I confessed and admitted that what they claimed was true and that if I would make such a statement, confession and admission I would be cleared, and it would be better for me if I would make it.

I here state that such statements made by me to said officers was not true, and that I made the same for the purpose of escaping punishment and without having any chance to consult with any lawyer or friend and while in jail in the custody of the sheriff of Clark County the next day after I was arrested; that I was informed by said officers that if I would sign said statement I would be allowed to go down stairs and eat with the sheriff’s family and that my treatment would be better than if I refused to make the statement.  

I was told also that there was no use in denying the poisoning, as they would surely convict me and it would be worse for me if they did.

I make this statement for the purpose of correcting said former statement.” 

–  MAGGIE WRIGHT

Witnesses were called to testify to both the previous good and bad character of Dan Allen.  The case was presented to the jury on a Thursday evening at about 10 p.m., and after only one half hour of deliberation they returned to the courtroom with a verdict of “guilty”.  In what proved to be a costly mistake on the court’s behalf, the jury was discharged from duty immediately and dismissed.  After being cooped up for several stressful days the jurors again were “free men”.  The verdict was recorded and court was adjourned.  The next morning it was learned that the verdict was not complete because the jury did not designate a degree to the murder charge.  As a result of this laxness all jurors had to be alerted to return to the courthouse as soon as possible and did so that morning.  When all were reassembled they completed their verdict as “guilty of murder in the 1st degree”.  After the full verdict was rendered the counsel for the defense moved for a new trial because the charge of “first degree” should have been given at the same time as the guilty verdict. Jurors could have been influenced in their decision on the degree charge during those several hours after their dismissal before they were returned to the courtroom.  The court was adjourned until a later date to hear the argument on the motion to arrest the judgment.

“I almost think that you have changed your mind but I hope not / this letter makes me feal bad / I am afraid that you are going to go back on me if you are Maggy all right / I will have to stand it / you said you wanted that letter back again / why do you want it / are you afraid I will take it into coart / I think you are but you need not be afraid unless you keep the ones I right and take them into coart / I never will take them you rote / that is why I think you intend to stick to your first statement and by this last note it seemed to chill me through when I red it / it was not mutch like the one before the way it comenct and the way it ended / oh I hope I am mistaken about it but I feal aful bad today and did all night”

“Maggy you will find me true to you every time / Sue has gone home sometime ago / I did not see her Maggy / I don’t never expect to see her again nor I don’t never expect to go onto that farm again / I will make another somewhere if I get clear and I want you to help me make it / Maggy will you do it tell me the truth now / Maggy if not I want to know it / 

I don’t want to be fooled….. please answer soon”

Susan Allen, Dan’s wife, was not well before the murder took place and one can imagine the grief she bore with the unfaithfulness of her husband and the shame and lack of self esteem she must have felt.  

“do you know that sue is here in town being docterd / I hear that she is going home next weak / she has had a pretty hard time”   

Susan died March 23, 1887.  She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Clark County, Wisc. in an unmarked grave.  Cemetery records show a lot purchased by Frank Allen in March, 1887, that is most likely her resting place.

BLUE SKY

Bright blue without a cloud, clear as a bell,

Sometimes the sky is that way, the way you want it to be.

Whispy clouds, feather like, slowly moving along

From west to east with a bright blue background lead to

Variations of white, gray, and then darker grays

Gathering, swirling, obstructing your view

Rain, sleet, snow, appear from an even shade of gray,

But above the clouds the bright blue sky is there waiting to reappear,

And soon it will.