The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1878-11-27
AcQuittal Of Supposed Murderer in
the Black Hills, D. Il.

district coart, last week, was in many partic-
ulars one of the most peculiar in criminal
annals. and illustrates, besides the falsity of
friendship and value of ciroumstantial evil
dence, the impossibility Of securing convic-
ton in capital case in the Black Ellis. The
story, briefly told, is as follows: In May
last Charles =. Lee, son of wealthy and
we'll known Chicago gentleman, arrived at
Cheyenne en- route to Deadwood. While
strolling through the city he was approached
by o smooth-faced and smoother hammered
young fellow, who introduced him
self as George w. Bell, and
the two became, in the brief period
of twenty-four hours, quite intimate. At
the expiration of that time Bell disappeared.
On the following day Lee departed upon the
coach for the Hills, and upon the second day
out overlook Bell at a ranch, and upon the
solicitation OF that person paid his fare to
Deadwood, arriving here on Thursday. The
two registered at the Wentworth, where they
remained until the next day, when they
rented a cabin, purchased an outfit lat Lees
expense) and went to baching. On Saturday
the two visited the mines. On Sunday af-
ternoon two little boys, climbing over the
hills south of the city gathering flowers
with which to decorate the grave of
the father of one, who had
the week before been brutallv
murdered, came upon the corpse of Lee in a
remote and secluded spot, his pockets turned
inside out, all valuebles gone, and a bullet
hole in the back of his head.
On the same afternoon Geo. w. Reu
walked into Crook City, eleven miles distant.
where he produced an elegant gold watch,
chain and locket containing, as he repre-
sented, the hair of his mother, and after
several Intellectual applications, pawned it all
for $40.
Upon the outside of the case was engraved
"Chas. e. Lee,'' and upon the inside "pre-
sented by his father on his twenty first birth
day." When questioned, Bell said that his
name was Lee; that the watch was gift to
him as the inscription designated, and that
he desired the money to enable him to reach
home, when he would redeem the memento.
After securing the money he repaired to the
stage Office and engaged seat
to Bismarck on Mondays coach. That
vehicle arrived at Z A. H., and with
1t news of the murder, which reaching the
ears of Deputy Sheriff Wilson, who was cog
INFANT of the watch transaction. and hs at
once took Bell into custody and returned
him to Deadwood, where he was subsequent-
~ indicted, and where last week he was
placed on trial.
AS will be seen, every particle Of evidence
Was purely circumstantial, but of the strong
est character. Bell and Lee were sect, to
leave the cabin together at o'clooa Sunday
morning. At o'clock Bell WAS seen return
ing to the cabin alone. A little latse he
was seen by a neighbor packing
his valise, and in reply to in
quiries where he was going, replied
that his partner had gone 10 Crook, and that
ne was going, too, and that they would be
absent eight or ten days. Tho officers dis
covered that one barrel Of the pistol found
upon Bells person had been recently Ills
charged and reloaded, and that the bullet
taken from the head of deceased fitted Hhe
pistol. A nystifying circumstance was in
eartbed, however, by learning that on Hhe
Saturday preceding the murder, Bell scco&e
.. ". Carpenter, of the Northwestern 1x-
press d Stage company, with request Hfor
passage to Bismarck upon the depositin] of
the watch, afterwards identified as Lbs.
This was refused and Bell wBnt
away. The case was forctbly
presented to the jury by the introductic15 of
the above evidence, and in strong argument
by District Attorney Miller ;sbut it was of
no avail, for after an absence of twelve hours,
the jury returned q verdict of not guilty.
Had thunderclap occurred at bright mid
day, this community could not have I'D len
more thoroughly ast0nished. People assail-
ed the jury, and loudly discussed samma Try
vengeance. The Enterprise teemed with
abuse of the jury and the prisoner, ahd
there is no doubt that had not Bell departed
upon the first coach, he would 'eEe
this have gone to his last account.
Bells history, as related by himself, isl
romantic and interesting one. His proper
name is Cox, and his father is q minister III
North Carolina. He left home in 1871,
since which time he has visited nearly every
State and town in the West. At Memphis,
Little Rock, St. Louis, Omaha, Cheyenne,
Ogden, Lander, the various forts of the
Northwest, he has filled positions of ell
kinds-now clerking, then in the saloon
business, herding cattle, prospecting the
Big Horn, and, in fact, every vocation Incl
dent to the plains, is we'll known to him. In
June of last year he visited Dassel, Mime
sofa, and married, returning at once to the
far west, where he resumed his nonadic
life. He claims that Lee loaned him the
watch, and upon that statement he hung his
defense, and upon it the jury acquitted him.
Since his release it has transpired that he
is one of the slickest gamblers with which
this country is infested, and that he has fol-
lowed the nefarious calling throughout the
entire Western career. His acquiital is an
outrage not only upon this community, but
the country at large, and as he has headed
your way, append . description: Age 26;
height about feet IL inches; light COM
plexion and hair; smooth face; large bones;
weight about 100 pounds; neatly dressed in
black, and at a distance presents fine APP
pearance. In manners he is the most brazsn,
stoical individual ever met, he having the
ability to look person squarsly in the eyes,
while coming the most infamous falsehoods.
He has probably gone to Dassel, ST. Paul,
etc. u. F.. w.
The Duglass Squirrel In the Seuuoia
Forests.
The Duglass squirrel, the tschickaree''
Of the west, is the happy harvester Of
most of the sequoia cones. Out OF every
hundred perhaps ninty-nine fall to his
share, and unless cut off by his sharp
ivory sickle, they shake out their seeds
and remain firmly attached to the tree for