The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1890-11-22
THE COKEDALE MURDER.
U rban Mosier Fatally Shoots Fritz Bretfn-
geI-A COwardly Deed.

U rban Mosier Fatally shoots Fritz Bretin-
geI-A COwardly Deed.
Fritz Bretinger, a miner in the en-
ploy of the Livingston Coal & Coke
company, was murdered at Cokedale
about l2 o'clock Sunday night by Urban
Mosier, miner who had also been in
the employ of the company. The cir
cumstances which led to the killing ac-
cording to the testimony introduced at
the inquest, were as follows: Sunday
evening party of eight miners gathered
at the house Of Frank Partner to spend
the Fevening. It was proposed that
keg Of beer be sent for and after each
man had Clipped in man was sent over
to town and soon returned with the beer.
When the keg had been nearly emptied
Mosier, who was pretty full, walked over
and playfully grabbed hold Of Valentine
Egbert's nose and gave ita pull. Bretin
ger got up and said "here let him alone,
and gave Mosier shove which i,dc there a
down on q E-uAA. MOsle' ,,,;,o and
short time and then began taiA'e
cursing and as he did so kep. & s the
onor;ar Finally he arose from .no
trenk and said Il am going to -dle w.
:. a1.u u.. -, ~, a brother in two lodges
remark he left the house. About five
minutes after he left the party heard
gun fred outside, but paid no attention
to it as it was no unusual occurrence
About three minutes after the first shot
loud report rang out near tho window
and before the men could realize what
had happened Fritz Bretinger threw up
his right arm and with the cry "I'm
shot" fell back in his chair corpse. AS
soon as the men could recover their wits
one of them ran to the door but no one
was to be seen in that vicinity. Suspl-
cion pointed to Mosier as the assassin
and when search was made for him it
was found that he had escaped. Under
Sheriff Jackson received telegram soon
after the murder that there was going
to be a lynching in Cokedale. He and
John Ennis Immediately fastened to
Cokedale and were surprised upon their
arrival to find that the intended victim
of the lynching had not been captured.
Sheriff Jackson returned to Livingston
early Monday morning and notified
Juetice Hosford, who, in the absence of
the coroner, went up and held an IN
quest. Three witnesses who were pres
ent at the time of the murder, we're ex-
amined and testified to the facts enum-
Grated above. The following is the YER
dict returned by the jury:
sca1, ga1;s12 OF or aor11sA' s1AK. SIS.
An inquisition holden at Cokedale, in
the county of Park, state of Montana, on
the 17th day of November, 1890. before
Samuel Hosford, q justice of the peace,
| in and for said county, acting as coroner
on the body of Fritz Bretinger there ly
ing dead, by these jurors whose names
are hereunto subscribed, the said jurors
upon their oaths to say:
That Fritz Bretinger came to his
death by gun shot wound on the night
of November 10th, 1890, in the house of
Frank Partner, town of Cokedale, Park
county, Montana That we judge the
shct was fired by a man named Urban
Mosier.
In witness whereof the said jurors
have hereunto set their hands the day
and year aforesaid.
Gro. T. W1cKEs, Foreman.
GEORGE HEYCoCK.
JOHN MURRAY.
JOSEF TREssLE.
JAMES CALLAN.
JOSEPH KNOBLARCH.
About o'clock Monday morning
Mosier appeared at the home OF the
Misses Callan and asked for something
to eat and knife with which to kill
himself. AS he left the yard dog be-
gan barking at him and one of the ladies
heard him remark that he would shoot
the dog. From this it would seem that
Mosier still had the gun and could have
killed himself had he so desired. After
leaving this place he went to the ranch
of John Bender, procured his break
fast and then disappeared. Sheriff Jack
son wired description Of the man up
and down the road and then left for
Timberline to watch for him. Officers
were also stationed here and every train
was thoroughly searched. Monday
afternoon representative Of the ENTER
PRISE went up to Cokedale and paid
| visit to tho house where the murder
was committed. The house stands
across the gulch from the coke ovens,
and just back of another log chack. It
cortains but one room, 10x14 in size.
Near the north end Of tho house is
double sliding window through which
the fatal shot was fired. Two beds, a
table, ::stove, cupboard, trunk and
couple of chairs were the only furniture
the houe contained. One of tho beds
faced the south and the other the east.
At the foot of the bed facing the east
stood table about two feet wide and
leaving a corner between the table and
the edge of the bed about one foot in
width. It was this corner that Bretin-
ger was sitting in when the shot was
fired. Underneath the window is small
bank of dirt and from all appearances
the assassin must have knelt on the dirt,
placed the mnzzle Of the gun at slight
angle against the window pane and fired.
Bretinger was sitting not over eight feet
from, and facing direct the point where
the shot crashed through the window.
One of the party was standing near one
side of the window swinging his arms
and the bullet passed through the wrist
band of his coat and struck Bretinger
little above the corner of the right eye,
passed through his head and buried it.
self in the wall behind him. When the
reporter visited the house the lifeless
body Of Bretinger lay upon one Of the
beds The corner Of the bed clothing
upon which his head had fallen was