The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-28
ALEXANDER THOMAS STORY
CLAIMS HE SHOT OWENS IN
SELF-DEFENSE.
Men Went Cunning For Each Other
Thomas Has Relatives In Various
Parts of the State.

Richfield, April 26.-Sheriff Mike"
Bolts of Kane county and Prosecuting
Attorney John F. Brown and Harvey
! Moncur as guards, reached Richf1eld
! this afternoon with Alexander Thomas,
accused of the murder of Francis r.
| Owens, at Bullock's ranch, in Kane
county, on the 9Th inst, on the way to
the state prison, where the prisoner will
be kept until the time of his trial, in
July next. The prisoner has given the
officers 10 trouble whatever, and seems
confident that his trial will easily re-
suit in his acquittal, and says he would
not escape if he could.
All Of this afternoon was given over
to the prisoner for private consulta-
ton with the attorneys whom Judge
McCarty appointed to defend him,
Messrs. v Rapp and l. j. Stewart. IN
doubtedly, at the trial he Will be aple
to put up a strong and quite plausible
plea of Self-defenSe. At the prellm-
mary hearing it was shown that the
two men were very mad at each other
all the day of the tragedy, and seeking
each others blood. Thomas was eating
his supper in the cabin when the shoot
ing occurred, sitting with his gun on
his lap, expecting trouble If owens
showed up. Owens came into the house
a Mexican, having been to the door and
unlocked it and come with the deceased
along the hallway. On seeing Thomas,
Owens exclaimed: What are you doing
here? Get out of here" Jose at once
caught> Owens and attempted to keep
him quiet, but just at that. the first
shot came, striking Owens on the chin,
which staggered him and caused him
to partially turn around and drop his
gun, and the second shot. which fol-
lowed Immediately, struck Owens under
the left shoulder blade.
Thomas today says that he can prove
that he was entirely justified. He says
further that he believes now and be-
lieved at the time that Stevens and
Owens came over to the ranch that
evening on purpose to "do him up"
that after the first quarrel, he asked
Stevens if he and Owens were going
to sleep at the ranch that night, and
that Stevens said no, that they were
going over to Dave Bullock's to stay;
that he asked Stevens again if he was
sure, as, if Owens was goingN to stay at
that ranch, he (Thomas) wanted to go
to another place to sleep, because he
feared trouble from Owens. Stevens
told him they would stay at the other
place, WhereupOn he went out in search
of tracks of the man Stocks, who had
broken the st. George Jail, and came
back at shutdown and cooked his sup
per- Seeing the bedding there, he sus-
pected that Owens was coming back
and learned from Jose that he expected
both Stevens and Owens back that
night, and it was for that reason that
he locked the door and protected him
self with his gun. as he had become
convinced that Stevens and Owens had
gone over to Dave Bullock'S for no
other purpose than to get guns.
At the preliminary hearing, two wit
nesses, other than witnesses, testi-
fed to having heard Thomas say that
he would shoot Owens. Whether or not
the threats We're communicated to
Owens was not shown.
THOMAS ANTECEDENTS.
For time, at Kanab, it was thought
that Thomas was none other than the
notorious Nickel, one of the Slayers of
Sheriff Burns and for whom there is a
big reward out This was soon proved
to be an Illusion, Notwithstanding the
fact that he is gun marked very much
as IS Nickel. The gun marks on his
leg Thomas says he got in an encounter
with train robbers, at 'Hole-in- Rocks,
when assisting Sheriff Turner and Dep
uty Hoover of Utah county to make an
arrest. The gun marks on his body
he explains away. There is one on his
back and another on the abdomen, as
though the bullet had gone through his
body He says that he served three
years as deputy United States marshal,
under D. c. Moore, with headquarters
at Price, Utah, and resigned nine years
ago. He also acted under Sam ellison
for three months. He has followed
farming and general labor for liveli-
hood and moved from Castle valley to
Bunkerville, New. He has a daughter
8 years of age, at Provo, with her
grandparents Mr.. and Mrs. William Z.
Jones. His wife has been dead five
years. He says he has many relatives
in the northern part of the state, but
some Of them he has long since lost
track of, having been somewhat of a
wanderer and having followed a life
that did not please his folks. He is 43
years of age and was born at Salem,
Utah county. His parents are both
dead. He has brother living in Span
ish Fork, who has recently returned
from a mission to the Sandwich
islands. Preston Thomas of Cache val
ley is his uncle, and he has another
uncle, named John Thomas, who, he
thinks, lives in Ogden.