Daily Yellowstone journal., 1892-12-03
A TOTAL BLANK.
Baker Says that was the Cond1~
t1on Of His Mind wllen He
Shct Mcdonald.
: lie Prosecution Made Very
Strong Case Against the
Defendant.


c'11+d |" "der at 3:>0 "'rlock The jur,
Wax tw"rn 10 Try The rhutge of murder
, tferrtd against ChA~. "A. BAker, Aiia'
J"hn Con'ey, ii killing 5erxe~nt Aus.
lin McDonald Il: K R,.thud un tht
ni"rn'ng Of the l4'h of September last
The prosecution opened their cas.
With the u-uat statement of what wa.
intended to IL proven, and then swore
Benjamin Snyder, the soldier WHO
was with McDunAld and Baker before
"nd at ue time ut ttle shouting. He
c'tttith in substance ~ follows:
McD"naIn, Contty aud myself ar>
! tivtd Ut Rosebud Oh Srpt. 18Th lust,
"1'"ut I or ) y. ILL.,, from Camp Merritt.
near Lanie Deer age1,ry, with II six
Ilt following norDiEK We had brtuk-
fat. MeDunald ordered nle 10 hitch
up tile team wl'icn did, and Mr-
DoliAtu dr.v- 1t to The deppt To tuud
! lie freight, aud backed It up 10 within
| about eight fatt of the ii .t.otln, which
was about S tre. hign, Using ii tat,d+r
Or sklo TO yet tile things into The
waG"h. We were about half loaded
when Cnniey, the dttrltlunt, cane
over to th~ depot, aud walked w On
Tie pIu'furn anu said: "Iou nre
l"ad'ng tn iii up Are yuu, Sergeaut"'
McDohnlh t"id hinl to x" Il say, h u ht-
"wusn'i i'll lE.' II was uuru1 weather
and Mcdonald sat down un tie Ruling
"n The platform to lest, facing tue
*agnt, white wn7 >taudiug in t..e
rrnr. Conley sad IL '.u thu pn:u-
toe* un lnl.' McDnnald tvld h,u, IT,
x" Awny or ht WouIu throw him into
the ditch, anu started toward lle
Wagon. C"h|ry said 1.-THE h-i ,ou
WHIP Meunnulst turned, facing Cuu
ley, ~Ep uIrw u revolver, aud .uyinx,
II hnvr g"t ,ou dead" shot NirDou.
aid dead. S,lne l..dtn: aud ci'iz 7,ls
WERE Present, but = i all rnt. sway.
Th- bal! struck II = .uAld tn the lett
of The note; l!t nrver spoke. TIL"
tohy lay on 1he ground where IL fell
unhl the coroner a,lIvtd, ubuut II j..
ill.,. wliei Ii was taken to Fort keo4ll.
/ SAW Cnnley X" tr"m the snl,mn to-
ward- the blacksmith s,np about til>
teen nlinuttH btftr- the shouting, hut
did n"t ste him " iuto The shop.
Conley Was etantlng On the platform
TO the lear and lift OF Mcdonald,
about ) feet away, and / was To the
rear and left of him. / went to iii.
body first after It fell. At'uui S minutes
after the shouting. The body fell for
ward, and then rolled to the ground
on his back. There was no sign Of
life when I went to the body.
On croes~exauAination Snyder said
the men had uc difficulty GU the road
In from the agency. The witness said
be went to bed about = o'clock with
Mcdonald, but Couley remained up. /
did not drink anything and don't
know whether they did or not. We
had breakfast about 8 O'Clock In the
morning. Conley appeared to be un~
der the influence of liquor to a great
extent when he came t1 breakfast,
Mcdonald was not Intoxicated; ut
least h. showed no signs Of drinking.
Conley drove the team to Rosebu /,
Conley was at the stable when I
bitched up the teau;. was ordered
10 do no by Mcdonald and did it With
+ut any explanation. They had no
alteration at breakfast, but bud words
while I wrs hitching up the team,
Conley refused to hitch up the team,
and Mcdonald put him under arrest,
aud told him to stay at the wagon,
which Conley refused to ito. While 1
was hitohing up the team Med ,uuld
too. hold Of Conley and they scut1led.
Mcdonald caught hold of his
arm; they cli6ched and both foil on
their sides, about Is feet from the
barn. / DON'T know who elss raw II.
Mcdonald WAS d feet 2 Inches h1ph.
and weighed l76 pounds, / didn't
hear any swearing or calling rames;
did not pny much attention, az I was
not Interested. After Conley came to
the platform they had very few words,
didn't hear Mcdonald threaten to
throw him over the house, but Mo-
Douald did tax" hold Of Conley and
throw OFT him oft the platform to the
GROUND. After Conley was showed Off
the platform he lay there until Me-
Donald picked him up, aud took hin
to the wagon; Gidn't notice II Con|ey
limped. I had known both meu about
a year; never had any difficulty with
1ofarAanf