When Elizabeth’s husband, Edward J. Burns, died in 1890, he left behind a pregnant wife with four small daughters to support. Shortly after his death, a fifth girl was born. With nowhere else to turn, Elizabeth decided to continue running her husband’s butcher shop at 1145 East Second Street in order to take care of her family.
     At about the same time Edward Burns passed away, Arthur Wesley Boyd wandered into town. The son of a well-known and respected Westminster couple, he was also an experienced meat cutter, having learned his trade as a young boy. Having heard of Elizabeth’s plight, he went to the store and applied for work as a butcher. He had quit a job in Lima, he explained, in hopes of getting a better paying position in Dayton. Elizabeth must have felt extremely blessed at her luck. Arthur was immediately hired, took up residence in his employer’s home, and became like part of the family. He proved to be a trustworthy employee for several years, so much so that the care and supervision of the store was largely entrusted to him.
     In the fall of 1894, patrons to the shop noticed that Boyd had begun to drink heavily. As the habit increased, he became surly. Several times Elizabeth fired him, but when he would return sober and repentant, she would hire him back.
     About a year later Elizabeth found herself once more in the position of firing Arthur, this time she ordered him to pack his belongings and leave the home as well. But when evening came he turned up at the home and, not saying a word, went to his room upstairs.
     The following morning, September 12, 1895 Arthur went down early to the grocery and set about tending to customers. When Elizabeth came down later, Boyd profusely apologized for his behavior the night before. She forgave him once again, and told him to hurry off and get some breakfast. Later it was learned that instead of eating, Arthur had gone to a nearby saloon.
     The young man was in a surely mood when Elizabeth approached him later that evening and began quarreling with him for selling some coffee to a patron too cheaply. The disturbance attracted the attention of Mattie, Elizabeth’s oldest daughter. Just as she entered the room, Mattie saw Arthur, who had been seated at a desk, suddenly spring to his feet in a violent rage, fling his chair across the room, and attack her mother. The defenseless woman was hurled back against a nearby meat block, and before she could recover her balance, Boyd was upon her. He then grabbed a long butcher knife from the meat block and began plunging it into Elizabeth’s body. Elizabeth desperately tried to fend Arthur off, grabbing the knife with her right hand, nearly severing off a finger on the razor-sharp blade. Running over, Mattie attempted to come between Boyd and her mother. Arthur gave Mattie a violent shove, sending her staggering across the room. Again he plunged the butcher knife into Elizabeth, this time penetrating her heart. Boyd then hurled the bloody weapon to the floor and ran out the rear door.
     One of the children, hearing the struggle, but afraid to go downstairs, saw Arthur run toward the old hydraulic race located immediately behind the building and disappear along the west bank.
     By this time a number of people had reached the scene. Dr. Henry K. Harker was summoned but he arrived to find Elizabeth dead. Coroner Lee Corbin later stated that the woman had died instantly from a knife wound to her heart.
     Not waiting for the police, a posse was quickly formed and started in the direction Boyd had taken in his flight. Within the hour news of the crime had spread and the hunt for the fugitive became citywide.
     Word reached the group that Arthur had been seen in a buggy with another man in front of George Federer’s saloon at 543 North Keowee Street and that area was also searched by the now embittered mob. By midnight, instead of dispersing, the crowd had grown even larger and there was a general understanding that if Arthur were found they would lynch him.
     Meanwhile, every officer on the police force had been sent to look for Boyd, with the order that if he were captured, he was to be quietly brought to police headquarters without the angry crowd being told of it. Never before, or since, had Dayton been so close to a lynching as on that night.
     A rumor reached the police about 3 am that Arthur had been seen walking north along the Dayton & Michigan railroad tracks. Detectives Frank McBride and George H. Niedergall were dispatched to the scene. They walked the tracks to the point of what was then Johnson’s Station, just below what is now the site of Taylorsville Dam. In the station they noticed a clean shaven, neatly dressed man, asleep in the waiting room.  
     Unsure if he had the right person, Detective McBride stood before the man and began shouting "Wake up, Boyd! Get up here!"
     Arthur quickly opened his eyes, looked around in astonishment, and began to rise. The two detectives, now sure that they had the right man, quickly handcuffed Boyd, then sat him back down.
     Arthur was confronted with the crime he had committed, but was not told that Elizabeth had died. He listened to the questions, and finally admitted to his identity. Then he asked if she had survived. When he was told that she was dead Arthur threw his hands into the air and began moaning and screaming loudly. He then collapsed onto the bench. When revived to the point where he was able to walk, Arthur was led to a buggy and brought to the Central Police Station. Aware of the feelings of the public, Boyd was then transferred from the station to the more substantially built County Jail.
     In his statement to the police, Arthur declared that after leaving the scene of the murder, he had gone to a friends’ house and secured a "Prince Albert" coat and a hat. He had then gone to Frank Smith’s barbershop on Valley Street and had his hair cut short and his mustache shaved off. Thus disguised, he walked to a nearby livery stable and paid William McMillen two dollars to be driven to Johnson’s Station. Arthur admitted that he had been trying to get to Lima and hide out there until things had cooled down.
     When asked why he had stabbed Elizabeth, Boyd stated that there had been some trouble, but that he loved the entire family.
     I must have been crazed with drink, or I was possessed of some demon-like purpose on the spur of the moment, for I swear I had no intention of harming the woman. She was the best friend I had on earth. Certainly I would not have remained there five years if I had not been satisfied. We always got along peacefully together and the only time I quit was when a man volunteered to work for smaller wages. I would spend ten years in the penitentiary to bring Mrs. Burns back to life.
     That evening, there was a noticeable increase of people passing on Third Street in front of the jail. Police were promptly stationed there to prevent anyone from loitering, word having reached them that the same residents who had gathered at the scene of the murder the night before were planning to storm the jail and lynch the prisoner.
     Hearing the commotion outside, Arthur pleaded with Deputy Sheriff Jack Wood to make sure that he had ample protection, stating that he "did not care to die like a dog." One witness claimed that Boyd was literally "quaking from fear", strongly believing he was going to become the "victim of the wrath" of the family’s many friends. For, as much as Elizabeth was well-liked, her husband Edward, a former constable, had been even more so. But the hours rolled on, dawn came and city officials breathed more easily, feeling that the danger of mob violence had passed.
     Arthur had had a sleepless night, moving around in his cell, and moaning loudly enough that other prisoners could not sleep. When one of them would tell him to keep quiet, he would reply that he was sorry, but that as soon as he could find a way to kill himself he’d be glad to do so and not continue to disturb them.
     But Arthur’s attitude seemed to have changed with the rising of the morning sun. He ate a hearty meal and then asked Deputy Wood if he could have some tobacco for later in the day. Wood agreed to get some for him by lunchtime.
     It being Saturday, also known as bath day at the jail, the prisoners were given soap, towels and clean underwear. Jacob Coleman, a trustee prisoner, was given a razor to shave anyone who might have the desire for a smooth face. Boyd was so inclined. Jacob claimed the accused spoke to him and seemed to be in "fairly good spirits".
     About 10 am Arthur was interviewed by two newspaper reporters. During the interview, he admitted to killing Mrs. Burns, although he claimed to remember very little of the deed. He reiterated that he loved the Burns family, and that Elizabeth had been like a mother to him after the death of his own mother.
     At approximately 11:30 Deputy Wood closed the outer door to the corridor in order to secure the area while he went to get lunch for the prisoners. As the door closed, Wood noticed Boyd standing among the other men.
     Less than fifteen minutes later, the outer door was reopened and Deputy Wood began passing meals through the steel-bar door leading to the corridor. He called out for Arthur to come and get his meal, but there was no response. Wood unlocked the door and stepped inside, just as George Smith, another inmate, called out, "Boyd has hung himself in his cell!"
     When Detective Wood entered Cell 8, he saw Arthur suspended by a twisted bed sheet that had been tied to the top bars of his cell. Found in his mouth was a sock and a handkerchief, presumably to ensure that he would more easily strangle to death. The other prisoners would later claim that they had heard no outcry or any disturbance. His death had been a noiseless one and apparently without struggle.
     By coincidence, at about the same time that Arthur was found, Elizabeth was being laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery.
     Coroner Corbin was hurriedly summoned from his room at the court house. He quickly examined the body that had been cut down and stretched on the crude bunk in the cell. Corbin, assisted by several prisoners, rubbed the man and applied every means he could to restart Arthur’s heart. But it was too late. Dr. Corbin later stated that the prisoner must have died almost immediately.
     Arthur’s body was taken to Henry McKinney’s undertaking establishment at 527 East Third Street. Throngs of curious people stood in line for hours outside McKinney’s in order to get a quick glance at the slight discoloration about the murderer’s neck. Boyd’s body was taken the next day to Westminster for burial beside his mother.

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