The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-05-10
PURSEll SENTENCED.
tie Will Be Imprisoned for Life for tn
Murder Of John walters.

~ HV " ~
Murder of John walters.
Missoula, May 9.-Judge Woody this
afternoon pronounced sentence upon
James T.. Pursell. convicted of the mu~
der of John Walters, and the sentence
was imprisonment for life. There was
a small audience I'm the court room
when Sheriff Mclaughlin escorted
= Pursell into the court room. Soon aft
er 2 o'cloc Judge Woody called the
court to rider. The attorneys for Pur-
sell. who succeeded i'm saving his neck
at the trial. were present. as was the
county attorney and his associate
counsel. The court room was quiet as
Judge Woody told PurseIl to stand up.
The prisoner rose to his feet and stood
upright and straight as a soldier. He
did not look to one sid or the other.
but fixed his eyes upon the judge. His
face grew paler as the judge reviewed
the crime and trial and then pro-
nounced the sentence which will keep
Pursell behind the bars for the rest of
his life. unless the foolish sentimental
pardon mill gets to working and lets
hin out. The murder was one of the
coolest blooded crimes ever committed
In this city and aroused intense indig-
nation at the time Ii was committed.
Pursell was cunning for a bartender
who has refused to give him a drink.
He had deliberately gone after his
rifle. and when he found the man ne
was looking for he leveled his rifle and
fired. He missed the man that he was
after. but he shot poor old John Wal
ters. who live but a few minutes after
the bullet struck him. Pursell admitted
the killing. and said he was glad he
had lone what he did. AT that time
he thought that he had killed the bar
tender and not the poor old man who
did receive the charge.
The trial was an interesting one.
There was no denial of the killing. The
only defense was that drink had made
Pursell insane. This argument had its
effect upon some of the Jurors and
they stood out against the death pen
atty so effectively that Pursell's neck
was saved n the verdict was murder
I'm the second degree. The Instructions
to the jury were complete and detailed.
Three quarters of an hour was con-
sumed i'm their deliv.ty. The jury took
several ballots and the second degree
men won over all of the first degree
men but two. Then the argument was
"A bitter one, according to the rumors
that have reached the outside, and II
was not till IL became certain that IL
would be impossible tn win over the
second degree men or the manslaugh-
ter ones that the jurors who had been
for the extreme penalty compromised.
The verdict was I'm no sense a popular
one. Men have been convicted i'm This
county of murder i'm the first degree
who deserved il far less than did Pur-
sell. but there Is the satisfaction of
knowing hat there have peen men ac-
quilted here who nave deserved il as
much as he did. In view of the ver-
diet the sentence of Judge Woody to-
day Is a popular one. II the man could
not be hung. the next best thing Is to
send him to prison for life. The at
torneys for Pursell will, it Is said,
move for a writ of habeas corpus on
the ground the sentence Is not a legal
one. They contend that the sentence,
under the codes. must be for some fixed
and definite period and that the life
sentence does not go.