The Anaconda standard., 1898-11-22

fatal jag In the cabin on Morgan Evans'
ranch the day OF Welch's death Con
brought to the witness chair q load Of
booze that would have frelghted q box
car. Az q result his testimony was not
Of extreme value to the state or any
like q whirlwind. and that worthy sew
eral times strained pretty hard against
the county attorneys lariat. He had
known gill by all means" for 13 or II
years. After q few minutes of more
or less incoherent description Of the
spree In the cabin Mr.. Duffy interJected
a query as to whether the witness had
not been taking some drinks.
II took no drinks with you" said
Con.
The court decided that Mr.. Deneen's
evidence would grace the stenograph-
day. and Con was excused. He spent
the night in the cooler as q means OF
securing his attendance this morning.
Morgan Evans, the venerable pio-
neer. was the next witness. His evil
dence was not Of especial value. for by
his own reluctant admission he was
hardly In a condition at the time OF the
tragedy to be certain Of anything. His
story. after he had told Of knowing
Gill for 2s or 30 years, was In substance
as follows: On Sept. "a he drove from
his ranch. a few miles east OF the city.
to what is known as his bench ranch"
near Race Track. 1t was his first visit
for about a year. He arrived at 1:30 p.
m. He found Gill. Welch and Deneen.
the latter q transient, at the ranch.
They were digging a cellar. After
hitching the horses all four went to q
cabin, where the men bunked. Mr.. Ev-
ans had a quart bottle of whiskey.
which was passed around till 1t was
emptied. Then Gill cooked chicken
for the witness. About 4 o'clock all
four went to James Benefits place.
about a mile away. and stayed some
time. Witness then started for his
home ranch, but concluded to remain
all night at the cabin. because of the
growing darkness. He heard little
dispute" between Gill and Welch about
a debt, but IL didn't amount to any,
thing" He described the cabin as
about 16 by 20 feet, with a stove In one
corner and hunks In the opposite end.
The four men were sitting in a semi
circle. witness near the stove, and Gill
next in order. About o'clock the
first thing knew Pat welch fell right
in front of me, his head toward the
stove. 1 grabbed him. He was as lim-
Der as a rag. but I couldn't get him to
move. He was dead before he struck
the ground"
Witness said he didn't notice Gilrs
movements because he was giving all
his attention to Welch. II worked with
Pat about Is or 20 minutes. / thought
he had a fit and would commence kick
ing again.
Witness did not seem to be very clear
i'm his remembrance. He told of up
braiding Gill when he found Welch
was dead, and thought Gill had said:
"He ought to have been dead long ago."
He told of Deneen going to Mr.. Ben
nett's for help. of the arrival of Mr..
Bennett and the arrest of Gill by the
latter. While Deneen was absent wit
ness had some sort of a scuff1e with
Gill, but couldn't tell which was the ag-
gressor. II don't know whether he
came at me or I came at him. but we
were all tangled up together" Witness
told of the finding of the club with
which the fatal blow was struck. 1t
was found the next morning some dis
tance from the cabin. Gill made no
effort to escape. but began to change
his clothes.
on cross-examination Mr.. Duffy
brought out the fact that Deneen was
sent during the afternoon to get two
more quarts of whiskey. Witness
thought il was not all drunk up, for
he found a drink in the morning. He
thought Welch drank as much as the
others
Witness farther said that there was
no farther trouble between Gill and
Welch after the little dispute, so far as
he knew. The two men rode together
in one rig. while witness and Deneen
rode in another. Witness heard no
at his feet. Mr.. Duffy tried to bring
out evidence to show that there was
knife on the table. but witness could
not remember.
DR.. T. j. Mckenzie was the next wit
ness. He was called on to examine
welch's body at Tuttle's undertaking
rooms. DR.. Evans was present Wit
ness found a small place on the back of
the head where the skin was cut
through. Saw no fracture of skull and
made an incision down the neck and
found a dislocation OF what Is called
the first cervicular vertebrae. Witness
was positive that such injury
would result fatally. and under some
circumstances instantaneously. The
spinal cord was almost cut in two.
On cross-examination Mr.. Duffy dis
played an extent of knowledge Of medi-
cal and surgical authorities that was
astonishing. but he, did not succeed in
disturbing the doctors testimony.
James Bennett proved an admirable
witness. He told of the summons to
the Evans ranch cabin, where he found
Welch's body lying on some quilts. He
examined the body and told those pres
ent that Welch was dead. Mr.. Evans
started toward Gill and said: Now.
here's the dead man. and someone is
responsible" Gill replied: IF anyone
is responsible I am" Evans replied:
You're my prisoner" Gill replied that
ne was not trying to get away. 1t was
finally arranged that witness should
take Gill to Anaconda, and Deneen
and Evans went out to hitch up a
team. As they did not return, witness
went in search of them, and found Ev-
ans lying down in a shed. Deneen
came back soon after with two neigh
bors. Witness brought Gill to town. On
the way witness cautioned his prisoner
not to talk. Gill would begin to talk
about his friendship and esteem for
United States Judge Knowles and
would revert to his trouble with
welch. Witness would then caution
him against saying anything that he
(witness) would be compelled to repeat
in the court.
The last witness of the day was Thos.
Sullivan, who gave some minor testi-
n "a In Of fioxa AZ XValch,a