Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-11-03
CROziER's srATEMxur.
A Sketch Of Bis Life and His own
Version Of the Killing Of Mon.
sana Charlie.

erSsV" 81 tmS Milling OF MON
tana Charlie.
From the Silver State, Nov. IL
On the last night Of his existence,
and with no hope Of escaping death,
be gave the following brief history oil
his life q statement of the crime, and
incidents which led to its committal, tu
the writer:
my name Is Robert II. Crozier,
aged 4S years. l was born in Tuscum-
bia, Alabama, November 9th. 1929.
My parents moved to Texas when !
was young. They gave me a fair com.
mon school education. l left Texas
for California in 1858, by way of Mica
rarga. My father was twice elected
City Marshal Of san Francisco, and he
now resides I'm Texas. / believe in a
future state and the existence of a Mer-
ciful and All-wise God, and hope my
troubles will soon be over l have
suffered much mental torture here,
and have had no hope from the be-
ginning of being granted a new trial or
having my sentence commuted. Last
fall l had been working on a ranch
for five months; had drank no strong
drink during that time. l saw no
hope OF working there any longer, and
got to drinking. WHOM ! was paid off.
l went to Mineral Hill and got drunk.
l intended to go to another
ranch; but before / got there ]
heard the owner had left, SO !
took the narrow guage o to
Palisade, thence to Eiko, where was
very drunk. / stayed In Elko n while
and went back to Lanes ranch again,
where l worked q month, aud did not
drink. l was paid off then and went
to Elko and got to drinking again. A
man at Wells sent for me TO keep bar.
l went there and stayed % days. drink
ing hard. / got nervous ON drink,
and could not quit drinking. | went
hack to Elko, spent $50 or $40 in a fsw
days, drinking all the time ill The diff
ficulty, which ended in the shooting OF
Silver>tein. Had tended bar two or
three nights at Barnard's saloon,
where the shooting took place. / did
not sleep for W. or three nights. and
was drinking day and night. About s
o'clock the night of the difficulty, a
young ma who kept a barber shop at
the saloon. asked me to take y
walk. We went to Idaho street. and
went into a house OF i'll repute. in
which ! had never been before. The
girls were dressing, and the young
tIdIl rdlu let > w, anu NtDl Oli dllu
left me. l asked the girls to go To Bar
nard's saloon and take a drink. Two
OF them did so, and we danced and
Jumped around like drunken fools.
One of them, Mullie Costello, said she
wished her dear little Hogan was here.
l foolishly asked what she wanted
with that little pimp. She got very
mad, Inc cursed and abused me. |
tried to pacify her, aud told her l
can nothing by that remark. l
could not do So. and / told her ] cared
nothing for her or Hogan. She seemed
to want TO tantalize me and get me in
to trouble, and said / had better try to
yet her to leave the house; hat she
had a friend here to take her part. /
said ! cared nothing for her.
Montana Charley then spoke up; said
he had a good notion to put a head on
me- 1t was the first time / had no.
ticed HIM, and | said. whats the mat
ter with you?' He was leaning against
the billiard table, and he stepped in
front of the stove with his hand in his
hip pocket, and said, you have been
hunting a fight. and | will give you all
you want AS he stepped up thought
he had a whistler in his pocket.
but as 1 had promised Barnard to make
no disturbance, / made up my mind
to have no trouble with him unless he
attacked me. ! made q remark. as l
frequently did, that l would take a
drink by myself. / had TO go to the
upper end Of the bar to get whisky. l
passed by . pistol. and there were two
more beyond where / got the drink.
After ! drank / started from behind
the bar, and somebody said. look out
| Il 49, snf a NtStcl lnnEa6 tnuuarH
Charley, and supposing he was draw
ing a pistol. ] reached under the end
of the bar; grabbed the pistol; cooked
it as l brought it up; leveled it at him
and, saying shoot fred. II was all
done in an instant; l did not deli berate
a moments; l fired as thought in self
defense. l could not think that a man
who threatened as he did was unarmed,
I feel hat / xm not a murderer.
had been Drinking a great
deal and was nervous nd excited.
Had i been sober l would probably
not think as l did, that Charley was
drawing a pistol to kill Inc. l feel that
l am "A better man than ! ever Vas
and would like to live and have OPP.
portunity to show the world that l an
a changed man."
This statement was taken down yer
batim from Crozier's own lips the
night before his execution. and at hi,
request withheld from the public un'
ill after his death.
The unfortunate man was complete
ly himself on the scaffold. Deputy
Sheriff Burns read the death warrant
and then said: Robert, have yol
anything to say?" Crozier rose Il
his feet, and i'm a clear. distinct voice
said: ~ say this. my friends: ! an
shortly TO he launched into eternity
for a crime / did not commits muir
der 1 did not commit. l die feeling
there Is justice beyond the grave
tribunal where there Is nc corruption
and where money Is not required.
lose my life because l had no money
l hope for q better life. i say, IN,
friends. steer clear of my course. TIL
ways l followed brought me TO thi
doom. l hope you will all profit b.
my fate. This. my friends, is all
have TO say"