The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-12-17
PISTOLS FOR THREE
One Of Them Did All the Shooting, and
He Is the Only One Yet
Dead.
OTHER TWO VERY LIKELY TO DIE.


lu The private Office or the tttlHcnA /
bank. of Council Bluffs, which may rec
suit fatally for three persons. John
Huntington. assistant buokkccper and
collection clerk, shot g. A. Cromwell, Of
Minneapolis. and r, n. Hayden, of chi
cago, representatives OF the Fidelity
and Casualty company. of New York,
and then rmptird hls revolver Into his
own brain, innlotiug wound from
which be died two hours later. Crom-
well aud Hayden. II II thought. will re-
cover
Huntington was one Of the best
known men in Council Blums and NUM-
bcrpd his friends by hundreds. SO far
az can be learned he had no bad hab-
lts. and this ls what makes his act
harder 20 explain. on the goth Of last
July a check for $500 was turned over 10
him by Ira II. Hendricks, one Of the
employees ~ the bank, in the regular
, routine of business. Huntington
= charged up the check to the Union
, Stock National bank. OF South Omaha.
and from that day TO this nothing what
ever has been seen or heard Of IL. The
day following Huntington left for a
vacation trip of several weeks 10 New
York. The bank officials kept thinking
the check would turn up sooner or later
and deferred any action.
. As time passed on and Il became evil
dent that the bank was out $500. they
sent "A message 10 the Fidelity and Cas-
. ualty company. notifying il OF the fact,
: and suggesting that inspectors come
ON and make an investigation. The
bank officials claim that at the time
J they had no charges n make against
! Huntington or any employe OF the bank
In particular All OF their employees
> were bonded In the Fidelity and they
preferred that the Fidelity company
, should make the investigation rather
than make IL themselves. Messrs
, Cromwell and Hayden arrived In the
, city last Friday and took rooms at the
: Grand hotel, They crOss-eXamined
. each or the bank employees through
? whose hands the missing check had
!, passed, and among the rest Hunting
y ton. They claimed tu have discovered
! that he had been spending more money
% than the salary Of Si5 month which ne
was receiving would warrant, and on
this fact. together with the fact that
the check had last been seen in his
hands, they based their suspicious.
Huntington and representatives. Of the
Fidelity company met Saturday night
Il ana made arrangements Tor another
Z meeting at the bank Sunday morning.
. when the investigation was To be re-
sumed. At the hour appointed they
were together, and Cromwell and Hay
e den commenced 10 put the young man
e through running cross fire OF ques-
4 tions. President J. -. Edmondson and
! Cashier c. X. Hannah. uf the bank were
present during most of the Interview.
2 The conference had not been In prog
pss more than five minutes, when
Hunting rose from his chair pulled "a
= gun and commenced firing nt the rep
: resentatives of the Fidelity company.
y The revolver he used was "A ~ Culber
j. that belonged to the baA and had
l. been kept In the desk OF the paying
: teller, The first three shots were fired
= at Cromwell, who had taken the lead
In the Interrogation. and all three took
: effect The fourth struck Hayden and
: then Huntington raised the weapon TO
i his own head and fired. He fell to the
= floor unconscious and remained so until
y his death, at l:l0 y. m, The two
; wounded men ran out OF the bank
, down Fifth avenue and into the Grand
u hotel blood dripping from them at every
= step They were taken 10 their rooms
! and DIR. Donald McRae. Jr., was sum
u moned. He found that one OF the bull
. back, just TO the right Of the spine,
/ about the waist line. IL was found
about four inches below the surface
: and eNtricntcd. The second bullet
l. struck I'm the left side Of his cheek.
i ploughed its way around the right side
, OF his neck and came 10 a stop. just
missing the carotid artery. The third
struck him I'm the right wrist. he hav-
ing thrown up his hand to strike the
, revolver out Of Huntington's hands. IL
y broke one of the bones Of the forearm
clear In two and imbedded itself In the
J. other bone, almost severing II. Crom-
j. well will probably lose the use OF his
n right hand ON account of stlffening uf
z the wrist Joint as a result OF the frac-
q ture OF the bone.
= Hayden Jared better. The bullet
e struck him In the neck and. after pass
c ing around quarter OF the way.
IS emerged and imbeddcd Itself I'm panel
IS OF the door. where Il was afterwards
IS found. His wound Is not considered ol
c a serious nature, but a variation of
l. half an inch would have killed him,
The bullet that took Huntington's
life entered the skull Just behind the
ear and lodged back of the right eye
where it's presence was shown by Il
l- dlsculuratlun ~ the lid lie having the
|, weapon lu his possession showed that
# hc had planned II an out beforehand.
- uud his C0olness iu the face ot the ter
l. riblp decd he was mcdltating ia sur
IL prlsing all of the men present at the
|. interview trstlfyinE they had not the
10 slightest idea that anything out uf the
a. ordinary run of thugs was thought oi
r, by the young man
A !. -. Emupdst0u. president of the
Is bank was srcu md asked FOR his YER
sion of the artalr. He said; Hunting.
ton Cromwell, Hayden ana ! were slt.
ting ln the private Office, Hayden and
Cromwell had been questioning th'
young man very clo9clY about his mode
uf living ON Que occasion hV had de-
IF posted $40 ip the bank md Cromwell
II asked him where be got it Hunting
20 tom said hc borrowed it, but when nskcd
|. of whom he borrowed it. hc could moi
IL remember, aud said IL WIS none of their
A business. anyway Up TO thnt time
.- had the. most implicit confidence IN
h Huntingtous honesty, but l must con.
r fcss that his cvnsive answers made m,
o doubt H.. | saw something unpleasant
ii was about 10 occur and got up tO leave
the room Just ~ I got up Huntington
did likewise. lie passed behind Khy'
den. and 4 supposed hc waa going ~
- get u drink at the water tank There
was nothing In his actions That lndi.
Gated nervousness or excitement
was about half way between my chalt
n und the door whom / heard n pistol shot
x aud, looking around, I saw Huntington
/. standing between Cromwell ana Hay
6, den and n litilc behind both Win hH
~ gun Htlll pointed al The f0rmer hur.
x riad out OF the private office, and ~ !
e went out | heard several more shots
fred. l ran out and gave the alarm