Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-02-24

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aback. Ii was believed by all that the
right man had been arrested, and the
constable at once became the hero OF
the hour. A Chicago detective, who
happened in the town that same day,
looked the ground over and declared
the arrest to be a slick job.
There had not only been a robbery,
but murder had been done, and there
was no doubt that both deeds bad been
accomplished by the same hand
Everybody turned out to look for Bob
Isles body. and every @rot where 1t
could have been concealed within q
radius Of three miles vas carefully ex-
amined. IL could not be found, but
this fact only strengthened the general
belief in the deserters guilt. He bad,
by the by, given his name as William
Davis, and had vigorously and con
tinually asserted his innocence of any
crime whatever. A warrant had been
issued, charging him with robbery and
murder, and inside of a week he had
been examined and held to the higher
court without bail.
On the very day that this occurred a
Down East Yankee with a patent
churn arrived in town, aud of urs
he soon heard all about the mystery.
To everybody's surprise he declared
Davis innocent, and argued as follows;
How was the store enteredl AS the
doors and windo VS. were all right, il
must have been entered by n of the
doors with a key. How wa the safe
robbedl BY some n who knew the
combination and opened it. The boy
wa upstairs, the safe downstairs. What
need TO NEEDLE with the law at allf'
While the heroic constables and
Others were digesting the above the
Yankee was turning things over in his
mind and preparing to add:
What object to kill the boy. oreven
to arouse himl And if killed where is
the bodyl Why should the robber
have carried it away at alll II David
is the robber there must have been
blood spots on his clothing. What did
he do with the balance of the money!
Where did lie get his key to enteri
How did he learn the combination Of
the safer
This line of reasoning upset every
body, and it no sooner reached the ear
of StowO than he suggested the arrest
of the Yankee as an accessory. IL was
not done, but the latter heard of it, and
replied:
Investigate Stowe. He knows more
about this than the deserter does"
His suggestion turned public atten-
ton and suspicion in another direction,
and it was not long before some curious
results were forthcoming. | gave out
the information that l saw him in the
alley at about 9 o'clock of the night OF
the crime. The village blacksmith then
came forward and said he saw him on
the street half an hour later, and that
Stowe lodged past him and did not re-
urn his salutatiOn. The hired girl at
Stoves house declared that he went
out just before 8 O'Clock and did not
return until 10. 1t was so unusual for
him 10 go out Of an evening alone that
she particularly noticed his going.
Three or four of us boys told how
Bob had been beaten and misused, and
so it came about that while the deserter
was not released, Stowe was arrested.
His story was that he had caught Bob
pilfering from the money drawer on
several occasions, and that on the day
of the murder and robbery he had laid
a trap for him and caught him taking
$. He said he had a feeling when H.
got home that he had neglected to
close the safe door, and that he had
returned to make certain On this point.
After finding that everything vas all
right he had stopped to put up some
goods left oil the counter, and had
then returned home. He denied being
in the alley at the time / thought / saw
him. or of meeting the blacksmith.
A new and more vigorous search wa
made for the body, bat no trace of il
could be found. During this time a
citizen picked up a ten dollar bill in the
rear of the store, and everybody at
OnCG htCAdLEA NA1t a. aNEDAhCA bA1o
have told the truth. When the mar
who robbed the safe went out by the
back door he must have lost his griI
on the money, and the wind had scat
tered some of it. The case against
Davis was dropped when called befor'
the higher court, and Stowe was pui
on trial for robbery. Everybody nov
believed him guilty of the murder o
the boy, but as the body could not b
found this charge was not included
Search was made high and low for th'
! money, but it could not be found. Thu
general idea was that he buried thu
body somewhere in the village anC
\ concealed all traces.
Just previous to the trial Mrs Stow
admitted that when her husband cam
home his coat was covered with dust
he was pale and nervous. n of hi
fingers was bleeding from a cut, anC