The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-22
LEYDEN TO THE PEN
Judge Benton Sentences the Slayer Of
LIZ to Three Years.
OTHER CASES FOR TRIAL
Sebastian Is Booked for Monday.
and Ills Defense VIII Se Insanity
Bessie CronIn Skips Out
mollle's Girls.

Great Falls. March 21.-Sentence was
passed to-day upon Steve Leyden, who
was tried on the charge Of numbering
Victor Zig in Johnston's beer hall at
Belt. and was found guilty of man
slaugter by the jury. Leyden was
brought into court at 1890 o'clock this
morning. The effects OF prison con-
finement are already beginning to show
on him, but has not modified in the
least the splendid nerve he exhibited
throughout the trial and since its COM
pletion. When asked by Judge Benton
If he had anything to say why SEN
tence should not be passed on him, he
replied in q low voice that he had not.
His attorney, w. q. Downing, who
was present, then asked permission OF
the court to say a few words in the
prisoners favor and upon its being
granted made a forcible plea for Glenn
ency on the part of the court. Mr..
Downing called attention to the miti-
eating circumstances in the case. dwell
ing upon the fact that Leyden was
simply trying TO protect his own life,
which he had good reason 90 believe
in danger; referring to Leyden's lack
of malice and his previous record for
peaceableness and order, and touch
ing upon the condition of Leyden's
health. with all the facts which. in Mr..
Downing's opinion, would justify the
court in passing as light a sentence
as compatible with his honor's sense
of justice.
Judge Benton would not allow Mr..
Downing to mention the opinions OF
the jury otherwise than expressed in
the verdict, although 1t is generally un-
derstood that nearly all of them were
in favor of a very light sentence and
would have so returned a verdict had
IL not been for the obstinacy of one
member. In rendering sentence, Judge
Benton said that he had given the
evidence in the case considerable
thought and carefully reviewed all the
mitigating circumstances-the actions
of Zig, his superior physical conditions;
the fact that Zig had hold of Leyden
when the shots were fired, thus pre-
venting Leyden from escaping, all
tended towards a certain amount of
justification, although II was not clear
that Leyden did all in his power to
avoid the tragedy. While, in view of
the facts as developed by the evidence,
Judge Benton thought light sentence
warranted. yet he did not wish to be
Understood as countenancing the car
rying of concealed weapons, an uniaw-
ful practice out of which grave troubles
arise. Concluding, he sentenced Ley
den to imprisonment at hard labor in
the penitentiary at Deer Lodge for a.
term of three years. Leydens attor-
neys will prepare a bill of exceptions
upon which a hearing will soon be
granted.
The case of the state VS.. John Sebas-
tan, charged with the wilful murder
OF his wife, Frances Sebastian on Oct
10, 1895. is put down for trial Monday
The defense will be insanity, showing
Et -
| mental arrangement on the part Of the
defendant, but also hereditary insanity
showing conspicuously in the imme-
date ancestors and running back two
or three generations.
In the district court, the jury in the
case of John Tomko VS.. Mike Doras
returned a verdict for $500 damages for
the plaintiff. A jury was then impanel-
ed in the case of Bateman and Switzer
VS.. A. Sires to recover an account
An information was filed to-day by
the state against James Barker, Fred
Whitaker and Charles Knudson
charging them with assault in the first
degree Jan. s upon II. w. Hutchinson
with q loaded rife near Monarch The
| trouble grows out of the fight between
Woodward and Whitaker logging
crews over disputed timber lands.
When the time came To sentence Bes-
/ sic Cronin, one of Mollie Thompson's
| girls, who was found guilty yesterday
of exhibiting herself in a dance hal
where liquor was sold, ii was found
/ that she had left town. She was re.
leased yesterday upon her own recog-
/ nizance. The rest of Mollie Thomp-
| sons girls will be tried Monday. Each
( one viii have a separate trial and IL is
! expected that the cases will occupy
/ nearly the entire week. In case of con.
| viction they will be appealed. Mollie
/ Thompson is beginning to be as much
/ of a familiar figure in court circles as
/ the officers themselves. She was tried
/ again to-day before Judge Race and q
4 jury of five upon the charge of running
/ dance hall, play house or variety
: theater Sunday. March Is. The wit
/ nesses testified that the dancers wert
/ in street costume. that there were M
] programmes. that they saw no one
/ come into the theater from the outside
/ and that only a few couples were OF
/ the floor dancing at the time. a mum
/ Der of the state witnesses, employees Of
/ Mollie Thompson. testified that IL wa,
I simply a private dance, not a publ,
/ one; and that the performance wal
simply a rehearsal which was regular
/ ly called on the bulletin board.