from http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nephelps/2006Mar.pdf
here’s another version of the murder trial of William “Crazy” Miller.
“Now an old timer has come to our rescue and tells of what was, without
a possibility of a doubt, the first grand jury session in the county.
Deacon H. D. Jayne has given us the facts of that historical court
term.
It was held in September 1880, soon after the county was organized. It
convened in the only enclosed building in Phelps Center, there being
only two other partially completed buildings in the old county seat at
that time. The dwelling they used as a court house was not yet finished,
it being necessary for them to meet in an upstairs room.
Judge Gaslin, now living in Alma was the judge and two men now living
in the county besides Mr. Jayne served on the Jury. They were J. A.
Dunlavy of this city and I. N. Swartwood, living northeast of Funk.
The mater before the jury was the murder of a man named Miller by a
gang of men on Spring Creek. Miller was shot in a quarrel at a threshing
bee and several men were implicated. The grand jury, however, made
the mistake of indicting one man to many, the inclusion of an innocent
party spoiling the whole case and letting all go free when the case
came up for trial before the district court.”
Slightly different. The several men include Samuel and Jacob Moser and James Sweezy.