The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-09-17
A STERN ALTERNATIVE.

ternoon the jury, of course, brought
in a verdict of death by suicide.
Short was a man between 40 and
o0 years of age. This is not the
first time he has caused trouble to
Cascade county, though, without
doubt, it is the last time he will ev-
er do Sc. On Dec. 10, 1894, he was
convicted of grand larceny and sent
to the pen for five years. He was
pardoned out by Governor Smith
about six weeks ago. His cattle
stealing was not the whole of his
crime, though that was the only one
for which he was brought to trial.
About the same time he stole a lot
of stuff from the warehouse of the
Great Northern railway in this city.
There was flour, coffee in big tins,
sugar; in fact, a whole wagon load,
and he did not stop for the lack of a
vehicle. He went to the store of
the Murphy aclay Hardware com
pany in this city and he took a
spring wagon standing in the real
of the store and the horses he stole
from another place.
There was nothing small about
him in the way of crime and had he
not been crazy, as many now think
he was, would have succeeded in
getting away with about all he took.
He was caught at the cattle stealing
by Under Sheriff Moran and Dave
Bruneau, who, in order to effect his
capture, spent several nights on the
bare prairie lei Box Elder Coulee.
They saw him and his confederate
Simms slaughter the cattle in a cou-
lee and destroy the hides and then
they made the arrests. His defense
and that of his pal was that the cat
tie formerly belonged to Simms and
they had made a mistake in killing
them, But their evidence was poor
right along. When Short was on
the stand he testified that the corral
at which they slaughtered was out
on the prairie, three miles from any
ranch; that they left the city to go
there without any provisions or wat
er and that they remained at the
corral continuously for three days.
During the time he was on the stand
he would xcu himself every five
minutes and get a drink of water.
When the counsel for the state call
ed the attention of the jury to the
fact that this man who had lived
three days on the prairie without
food, water or eve whiskey, could
not remain on the witness stand five
minutes without a glass of water, it
caused a general ripple of laughter
in the court room and without doubt
weakened the mans testimony be-
fore the jury.
Short went to the ~penitentiary a
mar Of about 230 pounds and with
all the evidences of a man possess
ing twice the strength of the ordin-
airy man of that weight. His hair
was dark and everything pointed to
the prime of manhood. Today as he
lies in the undertaker's shop, he has
still the frame, but he does not
weigh over 1870 pounds; his hair is
almost snow white, and the lines of
his face are drawn and suggestive of
much suffering, mental or physical.
1t is an end worthy of a desperate.
When he was arrested four years
ago the officers found him armed
with one of those old style Colts re-
volvers, muzzle-loading carrying
powder and ball. This time the
officers found him carrying a pair of
heavy iron handouts. What pur-
pose they could serve is impossible
to conjecture. 1t may be hat an
insane idea entered his head that if
he captured one of his pursuers he
could shackle him and throw him in
to the river and that is about the on
ly purpose they could serve.
Sheriff Proctor, who has been TAX
ing some much needed rest through
the day since his return from his all
night hunt, was seen this evening
by the Standard reporter. He was
tired, as a man could naturally be
who had covered about 40 miles on
foot over rocks and through brush
and part of the time under fire. He
says that during the chase he re-
peatedly called to Short to surrend-