The Red Cloud chief., 1879-03-20

~ 93e k~S1
dealt the blows With The daggee.
In bearing of the sharp instrument
of death, 1t was at first believed that thu
/. murderer had left no clew behind, buI
after the surgical examination . discov
cry was made that startled every ont
present. Esfts
Lying upon the desk, and almost en-
tirely concealed beneath q has of legal
documents, was q piece of legal cap,
upon which was traced, in q spasmodic
hand, these words:
"Jason Bowers did this!"
Below this brief but startling sentence,
which seemed at onc 10 fix the identity
OF the assassin, wa what appeared 10
be N attempt of the writer % afiH q
signature, but after q ~" the pen
made 8 long mark, which the bekoldsrl
could follow across the desk TO tie verJ
walnut edgiDg.
1t seemed hat death had suddenly
stricken the writer in the act Of signing
his name, and the broken pen in the
Judges lifeless hand pointed almost
positively to the writer.
Il There was such q man 90 Jason Bow
ers. BE VA nos . resident of B.
For some time past be had been an in
mate of the County Jail-held there on
q charge Of forgery. On the day prior
TO the night of the Judges murder this
man Bowers had been acquitted by the
jury selected to try him, and at the mo-
ment of the commission of the crime he
was a free man. He had never been
heard TO say aught against the Judge,
mara tbon 20 rapnayH that hn fhnunhf
that in the charge to the jury he (the
judge bad favored conviction. At
homs the young man bad not borne an
i~rreproachable character, having en-
gagged in affairs Of questionable honor;
but the trial for forgery was his first ap-
pearance before . criminal court.
Upon the evidence of the writing on
the paper, which was pronounced By
all to be in the late Judges chirogra-
ply, and beyond doubt the last work of
his life, the Sheriff resolved TO take
Jason Bowers into custody If he was
still in town. The young man was not
difficult to find, as he wa in the crowd
below, and on the charge Of malicious
murder he was forthwith arrested and
lodged in Jail.
We now come to the most mysterious
part of our narrative.
At the Coroner's inquest but little
light was thrown upon the crime.
Jabez Throck, the ~janitOr, said that
he found the outer doors of the Court
house locked from the inside; and tnat
he had been obliged TO enter through
the coal-cellar, of which he alone car
RED the kew. 1t was not an uncommon
thing for the deceased to remain in his
room till IL o'clock at night during a
session of court, and upon such occa-
sions he locked the Courthouse when
he left for home. Upon the janitor's
testimony the theory that the murderer
had been concealed in the building was
started, but this was injured by the va
rious county officers, who swore that
they had locked the iron doors leading
into their Offices Immediately after the
adjournment of court, which gave the
murderer no place for concealment but
the stone corridors.
The Court-house was on the second
street running parallel with the river,
and one of the town sewers connected
it with the stream. There was q bare
possibility that q small man might have
obtained ingress to the building by the
sewer, but On examination of its mouth
dissipated this theory. The courtroom
was situated on the second floor. The
murderer, to reach the Judges apart
meut, was compelled 20 cross the court
room, which, when wrapped in dark
ness, as it was when the murder was
committed, was no easy task for one
unacQuainted with the arrangement of
the furniture, etc. If the assassin had
traversed the room just described, he
had failed to displace a single chair,
several having been plsced in the aisles,
as the Sheriff testified; and the mode
and manner of his exit were also left in
the dark.
There was nothing to point to the
evil-doer q the piece of paper already
twice mentioned, and by the major part
Of BIS inhabitants it was regarded
as conclusive. Jason Bowers was alb
all he protested his innocence, and de-
clared that st the proper time he would
prove an abb.
A new Judge took Blakely's place,
and the session was resumed. A new
Grand Jury was summoned, which in
dicted Jason Bowers with willful muir
der, and after the disposal of several
grand l~arcenies the young man was put
upon trial for his life.
The District Attorney, q man who
had won many eulogiums for his rigor-
Gus prosecution of criminal cases, was
summoned to BIT to look after the in
terest of the State. After an investiga-
ton of the case he declared that the ju-
~ would deliver o verdict of "guilty :"
without leaving their boxes, and the
trial commenced.
1t is called to-day ''the great trial. at
B, though 16 years have passed
away, and the old Courthouse has Civ
en- place to q new one.
Jason Bowers exhibited no signs of
guilt when placed on the prisoners
stand and confronted by the crowd in
which his friends might have been num-
bered by pairs. 1t was known that he
hoped to prove an alibi, though few be-
lieved his ability to do 80.
eff, gentlemen" sid the District
Attorney to the jury, in opening the
case, "we shall show that Immediate
y after the acquittal of the charge of
forgery, the prisoner made threats
agsinst the deceased; that he was seen
in the vessibule of the Courthouse at
! the hour of 10 or thereabouts on the
night of the murder; if q the Tina afore.
said he, standing on the steps, address
ed one of the witnesses for the State in
his own, undisguised voice, 30 that the
witness Will swear positively concern
ing his identity, we shall pre-
sent q case that will demand
conviction. But, if we shall further
show, gentlemen, that the prisoner car
ned to his washerwoman al daylight on
the morning after the committal Of the
ivs-o .- l 49,