Part 6 - So what happened at James Boyle's trial? So many different versions and viewpoints, I will copy from Wikipedia. The first trial of defendants Hugh McGeehan, James Carroll, Thomas Duffy, James Boyle, and James Roarity for the killing of Yost commenced in May 1876. Yost had not recognized the men who attacked him. Although James Kerrigan has since been described, along with Duffy, as hating the night watchman enough to plot his murder. Kerrigan became a state's witness and testified against the union leaders and other miners. However, Kerrigan's wife testified in the courtroom that her husband had committed the murder. She testified that she refused to provide her husband with clothing while he was in prison, because he had "picked innocent men to suffer for his crime". She stated that she was speaking out voluntarily, and was only interested in telling the truth about the murder. For the prosecution, Franklin Gowen cross-examined her, but could not shake her testimony. Others supported her testimony amid speculation that Kerrigan was receiving special treatment due to the fact that Pinkerton Detective James McParland was engaged to his sister-in-law, Mary Ann Higgins. This trial was declared a mistrial due to the death of one of the jurors. A new trial was granted two months later. During that trial, Fanny Kerrigan did not testify. The five defendants were sentenced to death. Kerrigan, although implicated in two murders, was allowed to go free. Below are the two men that testified against defendants. Top photo is James McParland and bottom photo is James Kerrigan.