The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-04


DivOrce.
From the New York Sun.
r-4alo. Wy-Here is a story OF a feud
.srried on in the Big Horn Basin. \
~,.-,r,fnr feud may lack some Of the
..-,uresque features of it's Tennessee pro-
-.,,s but it is not less persistent or
.seiIv. In the south a quarrel is handed
,n-n 10 a mans heirs with rents and
-s,l estate. This gives a certain dignity
,s.,h the western article lacks. The fact
4. ,rat out west a fight usually finishes
:. one round. After that-there aren't
any heirs.
In 1921 James McDermott was living on
rancb in a wild and sparsely settled cor
-s~ of wyoming. He was we'll liked and
we'll feared for a blum. though not i'll
rsti,red fellow. a dead shot. a good com
ranion and. on the whole, a square
dealing. honest man. He was fairly pros
nerous. his ranch bOasting a comfortable
snack. where he lived with his wife and
only child. a boy of years. The man and
woman. after having been an uncommonly
devoted couple. suddenly commenced to
GuarreI The desert is a cruel dwelling
5lace for women, whatever il may be for
mon Perhaps Mrs. McDermott alone felt
he corrosive influence, and he, not COM
nrehending. resented the change in her
Perhaps they both felt 1t and allowed il
n work bitterness between them. At ali
events the discord increased and became
about a mile from the ranch lived two
4 brothers. Pete and Jim Madden, between
whom and James McDermott there had
long been bad blood" One morning, af-
ter violent quarrel with her husband.
4 Mrs McDermott, half insane with rage.
caught up a shawl and ran across the
prairie 10 the Maddens shack, crying :hat
She needed protection. In a few minutes
ae.~H foil Il haV u~s~...
child wrapped in a blanket. IL was March
and very cold weather. As ne neared the
house the Maddens covered him and or
dered a halt McDermott with the remark
that he was unarmed, stood stil. The
men searched him and found that his
statement was true. Then Pete, who was
the most cold-blooded villain of the two,
4 said 10 his brother:
shoot him. You'll never have a better
chance.
II amt goin to shoot him with the kid
in his arms demonstrated the younger
Then yer goin' to get hurt yerself" re-
turned Pete, raising his gun to his broth
Then Jim Madden, who was thoroughly
dominated by Pete, placed his revolver
close TO McDermotts head and fired The
aim was so reckless, however, that the bull
let instead of penetrating the BRAIN pass
ed through the ear and out at the back
Of the head.
As McDermott fell Madden fired a sec
ond time The child screamed wildly. Mrs.
McDermott rushed out of the house ana
caught him up. A stream of blood poured
over the blanket. The second shot had
pierced the boys forehead and he hal
died almost instantly. The mother car
red the little boy into the house. fo:-
lowed by the murderers.
In a short time McDermOtt recovered
his senses, got on his hands and knees.
and crawled away toward home At abour
third of the distance he sank down ex-
halsted. Four hours he lay there on the
open prairie in the freezing wind of a
March day. When chance neighbor found
him he was deliriOusly pleading for the
Maddens to give him a blanket Help
was summoned and the wounded man re-
moved 10 shelter As soon as he was able
TO sit up he was placed under arrest on
warrant sworn out by the Maddens, who
alleged that he had assaulted them, ana
had used the child IS a shield when they
had shot to defend themselves.
The trial was short and McDermott was
acqutted.s Why the Maddens were not
arrested at once is not clear Before Nc
Dermott could move against them he again
found himself in the clutches OF the law on
the charge of being implicated in a recent
mail robbery. BY this time the Maddens
had obtained absolute control over Mrs.
McDermott. and 1t was on her affidavit
that the charge was made. McDermott
YVES aiken to Cheyenne, where he lay in
Jail for eight months. When the trial
came off the court instructed the jury to
bring in a verdict of not guilty.
McDermott returned 10 the Big Horn
Basin A few years before this he had
ANcl III Nlpuldild. mere At Hdu DtPH IN
volved in a barroom quarrel, and in self
defense had shot and killed a man. The
ooroner's jury had eXonerated him COM
pleey: but after all this time he came
back to his ranch to find officers waiting
TO take him TO Montana to be tried for that
shooting. The Maddens, knowing that the
charge of mail robbery would not be sus-
famed, had gone TO Montana and stirred
up the relatives of the dead man to file a
complaint against McDermott
Again there was a trial; again McDer-
f.Is v.r.fVt
me Big Horn Basin. Arriving, he found
that Jim Madden had been sent to the
peniienuary for seven years for cattle
stealing. He also found that Pete Mad
den had appropriated not only the Nc
DeTmott ranch and all the stock, but Mrs.
McDermOtt as well, and the two were liv-
ing together in the woman's house.
me treachery and faithlessness of his
we seemed to take away McDermotts ac-
customed spirit and he went back to Mon
s dna without attempting to regain possess
sion OF his property. In Montana he met
brother of Mrs. McDermott, who had
gust received a letter from her. a despair
IHg scraWl. imploring relief from the hor-
Iloie conditions under which she was liv-
xIg She declared that Pete Madden held
a ner n some sort of hypnotic control; that
s s mated and feared him, and yet was
O5lsed to do his bidding.
several times she had attempted to es-
cape but bad failed and was now virtually
prisoner not even being allowed to go o
own she ended with a frenzied appeal for
'i Idlher to come to her escue. The
husband and the brother talked the matter
oyer, and It was decided that McDermott
S.tould 20 after his wife. The brother was
hh;;aIfled and had a family dependent upon
illH, ana the chances against his return
ny 70 them were too great to be risked.
Hcoermott took span of bronchos and
ilsht wagon and started on his 160-mile
EEtLEe 10 the Big Horn Basin. This was In
repI uary, 1893. The route lay through
wastes Of cactus and sage bush. desolate
smough IN summer but so weird and de-
serted at this season as to be compared to
iI9l9lns save the dead stretches of a lunar
t51inlscape. 1t was enough to turn an or
tn.lary brain, and it put strange thoughts
mo McDermotts mind. Rearching the old
lone he dug with his hands the frozen
save Of his murdered child. placed the
SST Siam m the wagon, ana drove back to
l., am movin' my family" he said grim
~ was the last of March when McDer-
nOl found himself again nearing his Wy
lining ranch, this time expecting TO get
1 rS WIFE and to take her after the child \
WIZ WIZ rom the house he came face to face
MI TWO horsemen. one of whom was Pete
Trte-5aen, for a wonder unarmed. The only
s IiUrGs spoken were by Madden, who said