The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-01-21
SEVENTEEN LONG YEARS.
The Sentence Imposed on Milford
AID Stcne for the Wass-
weller Holdup.
Judge Hunt Roiterates His Lack
Of sympathy for AL High
waymen
Nsariy 100 Ycars Given -Four Men for
she same Crime-Conyioted Of Forg-
ery-neiunAA's Trial.

Seventeen years in prison FOR holding up
che Wassweilsr family In their home on
Nov. y is the sentence given by Judge Hunt
40 James Milford and James Stoas. The
severity Of the sentences imposed for rob
beiy "a this county NAV have lettering
effect on other men who contemplate sim
liar crimes. Within a period OF little
over two years every man arrested for that
ofense in or near Helena has been con-
victed. with one exception. Fret came
Henry Clark. who held up everybody who
eams his way. aud shot a policeman as
we'll. When captured through she unin-
territorial assistance q his female compan-
ION. he got a sentencs Of forty years from
Judge Hunt Then. more recently, came
Robert Camp. the youth who started out as
hiQhwAymnn the night after he had COM
pisted a three years sentence In the peni-
tertiary. within a week after leaving that
institution be was on his way back under a
twenty years sentence imposed by Judge
Hunt. These two sentences. with those im-
posed on Milford aud Stone yesterday.
make Up a total Of ninoty-four years for
four men for the crime Of using gun TO re-
lieve other people OF their property.
Milford and Evans we're taken into the
district court yesterday morning 20 receive
their sentence. judge Hunt ordered them
TO stand up and asked them II they had
ANYTHING 10 say why sentence should not
be pronounosd against them. Milford held
mn his right hana and said: Il can swenr
with my right hand above me that / am
innocent OF this charge 40 tie good Lord
Almighty above rs. and / therefore should
.a..na a -
for a stranger to come into strange town
OF this kind and not be able TO prove his
innocence" Stone also said that be was
innocent Of the crime charged. Then Mil
ford started in TO talk again. After We
we're arrested and put in jail over here" he
said John Bower, the grocery mans
place, was robbed BY q long and short man.
That goes TO show that there are other
short and long men travelling through tbs
country together; and that was done IN the
same mannsr as the Wassweiler affair"
Charles Power, one OF the counsel for the
men. said shat IL was his private opinion
that they we're innoosnt Of the particular
crime charged and asked that the court
deal with them leniently.
II think the verdict was right" said
Judge Hunt. IF the entire fabric Of the
gtatements OF the defendant Milford had
not been broken to pieces the case would
have been stronger for the defendants, but
nobody could dispute the testimony OF
judge Crutcher in relation 20 the account
given by Milford as 20 how he obtained the
pencil In evidence. The story OF EK-Jailor
Pursell was inclined. at hrst 20 be very ma
teriallv favorable 10 the defendants, but
the Jury evidently did not believe Pursell;
aid not believe LIN; bis manner showed
that be was not telling the whole truth ana
was not frank in his statsmsnts on the wit
ness stand.
There are very few extenuatine oiroum-
stances 30 be considered. There isn't even
the plea Of drunkenness; there isn't even
the plea Of quickly devised scheme of
half fun. There must have been delibera-
tion. because the evidence showB that the
defendants prepared themselves by the get
ting OF masks and Rovns 20 conceal their
Identity. There could not have been any
reasonable hypothesis reconoilable with any
conclusion other than that Of gait.
Il had hoped that the severity Of sen
tsnces which have been imposed Ia cases Of
robbery. by this court, would have acted a.
a deterIent TO the commission Of like Of
lenses. but ID seems otherwise. There is
sympathy within me for any mssked
.a.--sho will 60 TO q family residence when
y --san and his wife are in the peace Of their
home, knock a. the door, enter, and with
fearful, loaded pistols compel them 10 seat
themselves In front Of one Of them. while
the other of them deliberately takes what
money or other valuabies they mayshave on
their persons or In their homes. And n
tnero 10 TO De any tem ioElLllk Win tnht
sort Of crime 10 would at ones menace the
whole organization for the preservation Of
peace and good order in the state.
~ here is. however, very little evidence
TO show that you we're criminals before this
odense. The testimony would tend 20
prove that you have bean in jail, but il
might have been for midsmeanors. and
your past records ought not to initiate
against You In this case. If they did /
would feel 10 duty OF she court TO impose
sentences which would conhne you for the
balance OF your natural lives, because | be
believe firmly in your guilt Of a most
atTocious and horrible crime.
''lhe sentences Of the court Is that you
and each of you be confined IN the peniien-
tiaTy at Deer Lodge, IN Deer Lodge county.
IN the state OF Montana. for the Period Of
seventeen years from to-d day. You will 10
remAnded 20 the custody Of the sheriff OF
this county for enforcement Of the SEN
tence."
IL is believed nov that Milford and
Stone sro the original long man. and
short man" who operated IN Butte last
fall. 10 Is known that they WeTs In Butte
sometime in October, as Jack Abercrombie.
Of East Helena. testified a. the trial that
he g. 81 saw one or both OF them IN the
Butte jail IL 10 considered likely that.
II they are the same men, they found things
getting too warm for them and left Butte
for Helena. and that she long man" aud
the short man" since reported at Butte
are only base iniitAtors who took advantage
of populer-or rather unpOpuiar-eI-
preston, and worked on a scheme which
had ueVer beeu cOpVriuhtau