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Old Opera House Mystery

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Old Opera House Mystery

Alva' First Homicide - 9 November 1910
Nelson L. Miller vs. State of Oklahoma - Death of Mabel Oakes

(Click photo for larger view.)

1909 Alva Square, Block 49, Lots 1-16 - Platte Map

Mabel, Murder & Miller - Table of Contents...

Cast of Characters
Newspaper Articles
Chronology - Timetable Chronology

Chapter I - Mabel, Murder & Miller
Chapter II - The Coroner's Inquest - November 10, 1910
Chapter III - The Preliminary - December 2 & 8, 1910
Chapter IV - Change of Venue, Woods to Woodward County
Chapter V - Woodward County Case #714
Chapter VI - N. L. Miller - Cross-examined
Chapter VII - Geo. W. Oakes' Story
Chapter VIII - The Rest of the Story - Part II (Preliminary)
Chapter IX - The Rest of the Story - Part III (The Trial)

Miller's Appeal...

• Application for Extension of Time
• The Appeal - Petition in Error, Filed 19 Feb. 1912, Exhibits: A-J & Index
• The Appeal - March to May 1912, Extension to File
• The Appeal - 17 July 1912 Letter to Charles West, Attorney General from Sandor Vigg, County Attorney. Filed 7 March 1913
• The Appeal - 20 July 1912, Brief of Defendant In Error
• The Appeal - 29 June 1912, Brief of Plaintif in Error.
• The Appeal - Motion to Advance on Docket, Filed 6 Feb. 1913
• The Appeal - Petition for Rehearing - Filed 3 May 1913

The Trial...

• State's Opening Statement
• The State's Witnesses - Prosecutors for the State, Law Enforcement League & George Oakes... Sandor J. Vigg, County Attorney Woods County; Moman Pruitt (for the Law Enforcement League) and J. N. Tincher (for George Oakes).
• L. T. Wilson's Opening Statement
• Defendant's Witnesses - Attorney's for the Defendant: L. T. Wilson and Charles Swindall., Woodward County, Sept., 1911 - Case #-714
• Miller's Testimony
• State's Rebuttal Testimony
• Trial, Final Judgment & Sentencing
• Motion for New Trial
• Final Judgement and Sentence
• Motion and Arrest of Judgment
• Prison Parole - The Parole card of N. L. Miller

The Jury...

• The Jury Selection
• The Jury
• Motion & Request for Special Instructions
• Courts Instructions to Jury
• Jurors Verdict

It has been exactly four (4) years (around the last week of March, 2002) since we began our research on the mystery of the " Old Opera House Murder (Block 49, Lots 1 & 2)."

We started with a date (1910) at Northwestern's college library, going through old local newspapers archived on microfilm to see what clues we could find in the local headlines of that year.

With that clue in hand, our journey took us down to the county courthouse archives to retrieve copies of the old court records stored in their basement.

Each new clue lead to another destination for this NW Okie. Our journey took us from the College library and old newspaper archives -- to the Woods County court archives in the courthouse basement -- to the Woodward County courthouse archives at the Woodward, Oklahoma -- to the Oklahoma Historical Society newspaper archives and census records -- Finally... weaving a path to the Oklahoma Supreme Court archives stored on the third floor of the State Library. This last place was where we found over 600 pages of transcripts of Nelson L. Miller's Appeal for the Woods, Woodward murder Case (1911 - case #714, Woodward County, Oklahoma) for the alleged murder of the young, single Mabel Oakes.

Some of the headlines from the old news articles from around that time read: "An Awful Tragedy" - "Tragedy In Old Opera House" - "A Black Crime" - "Alva Girl Murdered, One Arrest" - "Official Accused of Slaying Girl" - "Mis-statement of Facts" - "Alva Man Fears Violence" - "Miller Case Continued" - "Miller Preliminary Postponed & The Miller Preliminary" - "Miller Granted Change (Venue)" - "Trial of N. L. Miller Case Postponed & N. L. Miller Transferred to Woodward Jail."