St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-04-29
DAKO 7 a
STORY OF STRANGE CRIME.
Where Parties Killed Man Who Owed
Than a Small Sum and
LONG EVADED DETECTION,
But a Confession of Their Guilt Was
Finally Made by One of
Them.
Snenial to the Globe

Special to the Globe.
BLUNT, S. D.. April 2S.-The release
of F. c. Bennett from the penitentiary
at Sioux Falls, Oak, on the 22d inst,
recalls to mind one of the most shock
ing murders ever committed in the ter
ritory, that of the murder of Forest q.
Small by James II. Bell, in broad day
light, on Dec. 4, 1884. Small and Bell
were young attorneys at Harold, and,
on the day of the murder. were on their
way to Blunt to attend case in which
Small had sued Bell for settlement.
Bell drove back and forth until Small
came along. add then proposed settle
ment, which was accepted Small was
riding a pony, and Bell and Bennett
were in buggy. Small diSmounted for
the purpose of writing a receipt,
Bell and Bennett got out of the buggy,
andsBell turned the horse so that Small
could step between the wheels to write.
1t was while Small was in the act of
writing that Bell took a Ratchet from
beneath his coat and dealt the fatal
blow while behind Small. He repeated
his blows until Small's head was little
better than mass of jelly. They then
put the body in the buggy. Bennett
mounted Small's pony and Bell got in
the buggy beside his victim, and they
drove at a breakneck speed, first in a
southeast direction for about mile,
then suddenly changed to a northeast
direction. crossing the railroad track.
and, as far as they could be seen,
DROVE AT A TERRIBLE RATE
until they reached piece of breaking
Of irh Of hnx
dug a shallow grave and forced the
body into it. 1t was here that perhaps
the: most diabolical act of the whole
transaction occurred. After the body
had been thrown in the hole, Small re-
vived enough to be able to raise his
head, when Bell whipped out his knife
and cut his throat from ear to ear.
They then threw Bells overc0at and a
blanket over the corpse and filled up
with earth. Under Bells direction,
Bennett then took the dead mans pony
to Pierre and succeeded in selling it TO
some parties going to the Hills" On
the evening of the same day of the
murder farmer driving from the north
came upon man washing buggy
in small lake about three miles from
the. place where the body was bur-
ried. The horse was bianketed and
a wheel and the man lit was afterwards
ascertained to have been BelD was
washing the cushion OF the lean-back
to the seat. When he saw the party APP
preaching, he threw the cushion in the
buggy, jumped in himself, and laid
whip to his horse, reaching across the
dash board and drawing in the blankets
off the horse. Later in the day Bell
appeared at Blunt, and paid his part of
the costs in the case which was to have
been tried that day, remarking that
they "had settled the matter. and that
he really owed the young man dollar"
The next day, IN order to have an ex-
euse for the absence of Small. Bell paid
the expenses of young man named
Parks to go to Huron and enter
against Small. The charge was trumped
up,of course. but ii answered the purpose
of deceiying the people as intended, as
Bell repeatedly told that ne had pre-
ferred charges against Small and that he
(Small) had skipped" Small's father,
who lived at that time near Onida,
Sully county, was to meet his son in
Blunt on that day, Dec. I, 1884, and as
the son did not appear the father in a
few days began to make inquiries, and,
as he did not credit the reports that his
son had left the country. he naturally
suspected foul play. Inquiries on the
road between Harold and Blunt de-
velOped the fact that Small was seen by
some persons to pass towards Blunt,
but that no one had seen him return.
1t was also learned from a farmer and
Nilsson, working about mile north of
the road, that hOrSeman and, some one
in buggy had been seen driving as
stated in the beginning of this
article. In the meantime Bell
had sent the man Bennett
CHARGE OF PERJURY
out of the country, but he returned
about midwlnter and it was then de-
termined to put a detective On track of
Bennett and try and work confession
out of him. The person employed to
work Bennett was the same person Bell
had employed to lodge complaint
against Small the next day after the
murder, but who was by this time as
firm in the belief that Small had
BEEN FoULLY DEALTY WITH
as any one, and who was as willing to
aid in bringing the guilty parties to
justice. Together. during January,
1885, they Bennett and Parks travelled
from Pierre north along the Missouri to
Bismarck. Finally Parks succeeded in
worrying the whole story out of Ben
nett, He telegraphed Sheriff George
Harris, who put Bell under arrest, and
sent deputy after Bennett. When
Bennett was brought back he took the
officers directly to the place where
Small's body was buried, and pointed out
the spot. Willing hands soon began to
throw out the dirt, and in a few
seconds the ghostly body was revealed.
A coat belonging to Bell, containing
private papers of his, Was found cover
ing the corpse, as well as other articles
belonging to him. This discovery was
made during the preliminary hearing. of
Bell, and the articles of clothing, etc,
exhibited in the court room. Bell was
bound over without bonds, and Ben
nett, who had now turned states evil
dence, was held as accessory. During
April, while the grand jury was still
in session, party of some twenty-four
men, from the east end of the county,
surrounded the Jail at 2 o'clock in the
morning, beat in the doors, took Bell
out and hung him to telegraph pole in
the yard in front of the court house
dOo1.
Bennett was sentenced to a term of
five years in the penitentiary, the only
charge proved against him being that
of concealing crime, although it was
generally thought that he was as guilty
as Bell.