State of Illinois, Saline County
Of the May term of Saline Circuit Court.  In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy eight the Grand Jurors chosen selected and sworn in and for the County of Saline and State of Illinois, in the name and by the authority of the People of the State of Illinois, upon their oaths present:  that on the eighteenth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy eight in the county and state aforesaid one Elizabeth Blackman, a single woman, was then and there big with a male child and did then and there bring forth of her body the said male child which said child was then living.  And the Jurors aforesaid upon their oaths aforesaid do further present that the said Elizabeth Blackman and John P. Murray, Josiah Blackman and Letha Blackman all late of said county not having the fear of God before their eyes but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil afterwards to wit:  on the day and year aforesaid with force and arms in the county and state aforesaid in and upon the said male child, the name of which said child is to the furors aforesaid unknown, in the peace of God did make an assault, and that the said Elizabeth Blackman, John P. Murray, Josiah Blackman and Letha Blackman did then and there willfully feloniously and of their malice aforethought fix clasp and press their hands upon and around the neck of the said male child and with their hands so fixed clasped and pressed upon and around the neck of said child as aforesaid him the said male child then and there unlawfully feloniously willfully suffocating and strangling he the said male child then and there instantly died and so the jurors aforesaid upon their oaths aforesaid do say that the said Elizabeth Blackman, John P. Murray, Josiah Blackman and Letha Blackman, the said male child in manner and form aforesaid feloniously unlawfully willfully and of their malice aforethought did kill and murder, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against.  (two more pages of description of the crime are in the original record)
James M. Gregg, States Attorney
Witnesses: Pankey Hancock, Mrs. McGillis, Nan Hancock, Katie Noonan, Julia Hancock, John Branson, C. Baker, J. S. M. Beavers and Mrs. A. Beavers.
Filed May 20, 1878