On the night of January 16, 1900, Elmer E. Barner shot and killed his brother-in-law, Isaac J. Miller, at Miller’s home near Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Barner had claimed that his own wife was having an affair with Miller. Although vehemently denied by Barner’s wife, Barner nevertheless went to Harrisburg and purchased a gun; on return he shot and killed Miller. At the trial, Barner’s attorney claimed he was insane at the time he shot Miller. The jury convicted him and he was sentenced to be hanged.
This case was unusual, because at the same time that Barner was in Dauphin County Prison awaiting his date of execution, two other murderers with a Halifax connection were also awaiting execution – Halifax Bank robbers Weston Keiper and Henry Rowe.
The story of Barner killing Miller is told below in news articles from the Elizabethville Echo.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, January 18, 1900:
ANOTHER MURDER
This Time It Occurs Near Halifax, and the Parties are Well Known Hereabouts
The murder of Isaac J. Miller, by his brother-in-law, Elmer E. Barner, which occurred at the home of Mr. Miller, between Matamoras and Halifax, on Monday night, is the sole topic of conversation in the Upper End, this week.
The details of the tragedy, as given by an exchange, and verified by one of our citizens who was early upon the scene, on Tuesday morning are as follows:
Barner and Miller married sisters. They lived as neighbors and Barner for a long time accused Miller with having more than a brotherly regard for his wife. There grew up a feud between the two men and last spring Barner sold off all his goods here and moved with his wife and child to South Dakota. Growing tired of life in the west, he again made sale and with his family arrived at Halifax, late last Thursday and made his way to the house of his brother-in-law, who took him in and gave him a temporary home.
Monday Mr. and Mrs. Barner went to Harrisburg on business and the man purchased a big revolver and some ammunition. The pair returned home to Halifax and arrived at a late hour at the home of the Millers. There Barner at once resumed the old quarrel and want his wife and Miller to confess that all was not as it should be between them. They of course refused and Barner continues to press his quarrel before the women until almost midnight.
Miller made a sharp reply to some remark of the other man, when quick as thought out came a revolver and without warning Miller was rendered a corpse.
But one shot was fired. The half entered beneath the left eye and traversing the entire coure of the brain lodged beneath the temple. The stricken man was sitting in a chair at the time of the shooting and so sudden was his death that his body remained just as in life.
With Miller sitting upon his chair cold in death the murderer turned to his terrified wife and coolly announced that it was her turn next. He asked her what she had to say before he shot and she replied nothing, but that she would like to see one of the children, who was asleep on the floor above.
Barner refused this and stated that as his attention was called to the matter he would just go upstairs and shoot the child, too. He did go to the second floor, but while on the way his nerve failed him and he returned to the room of the shooting much affected.
The women would have given the alarm, but he would not allow it, and kept the entire party in the room all through the night with the ghastly corpse of the murdered man.
A stepdaughter of the Barner family finally made her escape and told the neighbors what had happened. All the remark that Barner had to make when arrested was, “I am very sorry.”
He was taken to Harrisburg, and lodged in jail at about noon, on Tuesday. He would talk but very little, although he remarked to one of the prison officials that he was sorry he had committed the deed.
He will be given a hearing at the jail in a few days. The defense will probably put in a plea of insanity as it is already claimed that a brother of Barner was at Harrisburg, on Monday, to see if a commission on lunacy could not be appointed to inquire into the mental condition of the murderer.
There is no doubt but that jealousy was the cause of the crime.
Meade D. Detweiler has been retained as counsel for the prisoner.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, March 1, 1900:
The personal property of the late Isaac Miller was sold at public sale on Monday and was largely attended. There was a great many people there that went through curiosity. Mr. Miller, as you [know] was the victim of Elmer Barner. Shortly before Mr. Miller was shot he sold his farm to go west and the purchaser, Mr. Hauck, will take possession on Tuesday. Mr. Miller had selected this day for the sale of his personal property before he was killed.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, March 29, 1900:
Elmer E. Barner, who shot and killed his brother-in-law, Isaac Miller, near Halifax, last January, and Harvey Barrett, the self-confessed murderer of Frank Knobl, were each indicted on Wednesday by the grand jury for murder in the first degree.
District Attorney Millar has postponed both trials until the June term of quarter sessions. He expects to convict both men of murder in the first degree. Barner has engaged ex-District [Attorney] Meade D. Detweiler as counsel, while Edward E. Bidleman, Esq., and W. Justin Carter, Esq., will represent Barrett.
It is said that Barner will put in a plea of insanity, while Barrett will plead self-defense.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, May 17, 1900:
A petition has been filed in court by Oliver Hawk for a deed for the property purchased by him in Halifax Township from Isaac Miller, the farmer who was murdered last January by his brother-in-law, Elmer Barner. Mr. Hawk purchased the property last winter, but before the deed was executed Mr. Miller was murdered.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, October 4, 1900:
BARNER GUILTY
The trial of Elmer E. Barner for the murder of his brother-in-law, Isaac Miller, near Halifax, was concluded today, and this evening the jury found a verdict of guilty.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, January 10, 1901:
BARNER SENTENCED
Elmer E. Barner, who at the last session of court was convicted of the murder of his brother-in-law, Samuel Miller [sic], was yesterday refused a new trial by Judge Simonton and at the same time sentenced to be hanged.
Barner presented anything but a good appearance when he was brought into the court room by several deputies and plainly showed the mental strain under which he was laboring. He apparently realized the seriousness of his position, for he was nervous and ill at ease, evidently expecting the worst.
He said not a word while the court pronounced sentence and refused him another chance for his life, but at the close his face became livid and he attempted to create a scene.
Turning to the assembled lawyers he exclaimed, as he pointed to each: “An you! And you! And you! He looked like an insane man and is he was playing a part he certainly did it well. Attorneys quailed before the man until the officers grabbed him and hustled him out of the room and back to jai, giving him no time to cause further trouble.
Attorney Detweiler says that he will carry his case to the Supreme Court. He still insists that his client is insane and seems hopeful that he will fare better in the upper courts than he has in the lower.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, April 18, 1901:
Henry Barner, the father of Elmer Barner, who is awaiting sentence of death in the county prison in Harrisburg, died at his home near Liverpool on Wednesday. The aged man had not been in good health for some time and the conduct of his sons one of whom was recently acquitted of murder in Juniata County is said to have caused him to die of a broken heart.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, April 18, 1901:
Argument for a new trial, in the case of Elmer Barner, the Halifax murderer, was heard before the Superior Court yesterday.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, May 16, 1901:
NO HOPE FOR BARNER
The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with the sentence of death imposed upon Elmer E. Barner by the Dauphin County Court of Oyer and Terminer, for the murder of his brother-in-law, Isaac Miller.
The court dismissed thirty-four errors raised against the lower court by Barner’s counsel and orders the execution of the sentence of the lower court. Barner in his appeal claimed that the crime was committed while he was under a delusion that his wife was criminally intimate with other men and that he was not responsible for the deed because of the delusion.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, 23 May 1901:
The Harrisburg Patriot, speaking of the three condemned murderers in the county prison, says:
For the first time in a quarter century the Dauphin County Prison holds within its walls three condemned murderers. The men who have been sentenced to die are Elmer Barner, for the murder of Miller, his brother-in-law, through jealousy, and Henry Rowe and Weston Keiper, for the killing of Cashier Ryan, of the Halifax Bank, while they were attempting to rob that institution….
Barner’s appeal to the state Supreme Court for a new trial has been refused, but Meade D. Detweiler, his attorney, states that he will not leave a stone unturned to secure for his client another trial. He is positive the man is insane and will, if he can, take the case to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Barner does not show traits that are not those of a sane man. He is morose and sullen. Few things interest him and he takes little interest in the efforts that are being made in his behalf. He seldom asks as to the progress of his case and seems to be content to let matters take their course, whatever may be the outcome.
If the last resort fails and all of them then are to be hanged the prison authorities hope that the executions may be set for the same day. The task of taking human life is none too pleasant and those who will have charge of the executions will likely ask the governor to arrange for all three for one day so that one drop of the trap will be all that is necessary….
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From the Elizabethville Echo, May 30, 1901:
BARNER HANGS JULY 23
Elmer E. Barner, convicted of the murder of his brother-in-law, Isaac Miller, will be hanged in the Dauphin County Jailyard on the morning of Monday, July 23 [1901]. The day of execution was set Tuesday by Governor Stone.
The death sentence was the culmination of a long legal fight for a new trial for the convicted. Attorney Meade D. Detweiler took up the cause of the penniless Barner and made a gallant fight for his life, believing the man to have been insane at the time of his crime. He applied for a new trial here and was refused and his application to the higher courts met with a similar fate. It was once rumored that an appeal would be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.
The crime for which Barner is to be hanged was committed one night in February of last year. Barner and wife had been residing for some time in North Dakota. There Barner had become become almost insanely jealous of Mrs. Barner and on numerous occasions accused her of acts which she manifestly declared she was innocent. His main delusion was that while residing near Halifax his wife and brother-in-law, Isaac Miller, had been intimate. This Mrs. Barner denied repeatedly and to prove her innocence offered to come east with Barner and face Miller. Barner agreed and arrived at the Miller house after nightfall; he in a fit of jealous rage took Miller’s life, blowing his brains out with a revolver he had purchased in the city for that purpose.
The contention of the defense was that Barner was insane when he shot Miller.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, July 25, 1901:
BARNER HANGED
Elmer E. Barner was hanged, on Tuesday morning, in the county prison yard, for the murder of Isaac Miller, his brother-in-law, January 16th, 1900.
Barner was calm and entirely composed when he ascended the steps leading to the scaffold, and remained so to the last. It was exactly ten minutes after ten when Sheriff Reiff sprung the trap.
Harner arose in the morning about 5:30 o’clock after a good night’s sleep, and ate breakfast with apparently his usual appetite. An hour and a half he spent in devotions with his pastor, rev. Dr. Bagley. He then dressed himself carefully for his execution, donning a black suit with long cut-a-way coat and not forgetting spotless cuffs and a low collar with black bow tie.
Harner’s crime was the shooting of his brother-in-law for a fancied wrong to his, Barner’s wife. The crime was premeditated. The defense tried to prove insanity and put up a pretty strong case, only to have it knocked to pieces by expert testimony. The appeal fore a new trial was refused in both the lower and supreme courts and the attorney general followed the pardon board with a refusal to stay execution.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, Fisherville News, August 1, 1901:
F. Loudermilch, O. G. Lebo, J. W. Bordner, were at Harrisburg last week to witness the hanging of Elmer Barner.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, November 1, 1900:
Absalom Barner, a brother to Elmer Barner, the Dauphin County murderer, has been arrested, charged with the murder of Adam Goodling, of Oriental, Juniata County.