Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1891-11-07

witness be called, as he was the
only eyewitness to the shooting be-
J side defendant Demers. The prose
cution declined to call Ferguson or
the ground of alleged unre]ia bility
The court sustained the position
taken. by the defense and Ferguson
1 was. called and testified in sub.
stance as follows: Was present
when Dilworth was shot; Dilworth
rode towards Demers and witness
and was sitting erect on his horse
when he was shot by Demers he
was holding his horses bride in
one hand with his right hand be-
hind his coat. When he came tc
Demers he said: s:!What are you
doing with that gum" # Demers
had not. stepped to one side Dill.
worths horse would have run against
him; he made five or six attempts
to run against Demers, who as often
stepped one side; Dilworth reached
out his hand in an attempt to grab
Demers' gun. Witness testified
that this continued about ten min
utes before Demers shot him. Dill
worth was three or four feet from
Demers when he was shot.
| Ferguson also testified that dur
ing the time Dilworth was attempt
ing to ride over Demers he (Dil-
worthy reached for. his revolver,
which witness saw extending about
one inch below the end of his scab-
bard. ~-----
+ In the rebuttal of this evidence
the scabbard was placed in evidence
and identified as belonging to Dill
worth, the end Of which was closed,
clearly showing that the evidence
Of witness relating to the exposed
portion of the revolver was incor-
rect.
This closed the evidence for the
state and an adjournment was TAX
en- until 10 o'clock Thursday morn
ing when John I. Smith, Esq, pre-
sented the case for the, defense, fol-
lowed by introduction of evidence
for defendant Godfrey Demers,
defendant in the case, took the
| stand and testified in his own be-
half. He stated that he filed upon
piece of land which he had had
surveyed by Frederick Hess; that
he went in company with Lee Fer
guson, upon the land On the eve
ming of July 9th, having previously
got Hess to notify Dilworth that
he had filed upon the land. After
putting up a tenth witness and
Ferguson retired for the nj ght;
witness got up in the morning and
after breakfast went over to where
man was cutting hay; found the
man with the mower to be James
Warner and told him that he (Wit-
messy had filed upon the land, but
Warner could keep on cutting I'M
til a line had been run. After
running line Demers found that
Warner was cutting on his land
and told him that he did not want
any trouble, but he had better not
cut any more upon the land. War
ner asked Demers why he did not
20 and see Dilworth, and witness
replied that Dilworth would proba-
bly, be angry and he (Warner( had
better tell him; that if he got mad
and meant war he had better come
loaded. Warner took his team
and started for the house, but soon
returned accompanied with. Dill
worth. Warner resumed cutting
hay and Dilworth rode over to where
witness and Ferguson were making
boundry lines with willows. Dill
worth's horse came faster than a
lope. Demers' testimony was then
to the effect that Dilworth, in the
face of a loaded Winchester rifle in
his hands, five times attempted to
jump his (Dilworth's) horse upon
him, at the same time reaching
back as if to draw his revolver, and
that the fifth time, in self defence,
witness fired his rifle, and that the
fatal shot was given. He futher
stated that the reason he did not
go to Dilworth after he fell was
that he did not know that he was
dead; that George Dilworth thret-
ened to shoot him when he came