The prisoners were arraigned in the Police Court of Cincinnati a number of times charged with murder, and their cases continued, to give the Kentucky authorities an opportunity to take action.
After the indictment of Jackson and Walling in Kentucky, the charge was changed to "Fugitives from Justice" and on this were they held until the requisition papers were procured and served.
In the meantime the detectives, police and Kentucky officers were at work running down rumors and clews which sprang up on every side.
The hat worn by Pearl Bryan, was found on the side of the road just back of Newport and was fully identified by her sister. The hat was weighted down with a stone wrapped in a bloody handkerchief which was identified as the property of Jackson.
George H. Jackson a negro, came forward and told a very plain straight-forward story of having driven, Jackson, Walling and Pearl Bryan in a surey drawn by a gray horse from Cincinnati to the scene of the murder. The police put great faith in this story until it was proven absolutely false, and that the negro had concocted the story with the expectation of securing the reward, or for gaining notoriety. An investigation of his previous record showed it to be a very unsavory one. No one doubted the guilt of the prisoners under arrest, but great difficulty was found in securing evidence on which they could be convicted.
The officers claimed to have sufficient evidence but refused to divulge it, and the granting of the requisition papers by Governor Bradley of Kentucky, and the honoring of those papers of Governor Bushnell of Ohio, showed that there was certainly stronger evidence than had been given the public.
As soon as the requisition papers were served on the Sheriff of Hamilton County, Ohio, and an effort made by Sheriff Plummer, to take charge of the prisoners, and take them to Kentucky, it was evident that a terrible fight would be made by the counsel for the prisoners to keep Jackson and Walling from being taken to Kentucky.
Learned and able counsel had been secured by the relatives of each of the prisoners and from the start it was evident a big legal battle was on and that every effort, would be put forth to them, not only to save the murderers from paying the penalty of their horrible crime but also to keep them from being sent to Kentucky, where in the eyes of the law, the crime had been committed and the only place where they could be put on trial for their lives.
Notwithstanding Gov. Bradley of Kentucky, had promised that he would put the entire Militia force of Kentucky at the command of Sheriff Plummer to protect the prisoners from violent deaths at the hands of a lawless mob, the attorneys for the accused made the claim, and attempted to prove it, that the lives of their clients would not be safe in Kentucky.
Habeas corpus proceedings were resorted to and every scheme and plan for delay was brought into play. A fierce and bitter legal battle was fought between the attorneys for the prisoners and those for the state, before Judge M. L. Buchwalter of the Hamilton County, O., Court of Common Pleas.