Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-12
UNS0UMD MIND
So Says the Commission in the
Case of Mrs. Gu tbs.
HER CONDUCT VULGAR
And Loud With a Decided Leaning
Towards the Danger Line
Her Dakota Double.

A commission consisting of Drs. Camp
bell and Turner mad an examination of
the mental condition of Mrs. Elizabeth
Curtis in Judge Lindsay's court last even
ing and at the conclusion of their labor
decided the woman to be a fit subject for
the Warm Springs asylum.
Mys. Curtis is SO years old and is quite
ugly in manner when drunk. which has
been quite often recently. About a year
ago she threatened to kill John H. Curtis,
but was arrested before she had time to
execute the job. 1t was then claimed that
her mind was affected and she was ush-
cred into the presence Of a commission,
but after being put through an ordeal of
questioning which lasted an hour she
was declared as sane as anybody. Dur
ing the last three or four months, how
ever. unm.stab!e signs of a disordered
mind have been noticeable in her con-
| duct, but have been attributed to the lib
eral use of Stink whisky. She was ar
; rested and fined about two months ago
for disturbing the peace and as soon as
| released from Jail the windows of a
house in South Butte crashed before her
fancy for destruction. Another siege in
iail resulted, Justice Niche giving her
thirty days in which to sober up and
simmer Town. Last Sunday she called
at the Jail with some supplies for the
| other female prisoners whose %acQuaint-
| ances she had cultivated while an in.
! mate of the Jail herself and insisted upon
passing them through the bars. This is a
| prerogative the jailer enjoys and he re-
fused to allow her usurp his place. About
| this time he was called away for a min
ute or two and when he returned he
cz..-l lz- .:1 %;o~ Aha ,,1n 0f tina r1ooa
| She was at once locked up and held un-
I'll yesterday. Her conduct in the Jail
| has been loud and vulgar since her last
| entrance to the institution. On one Occa-
sion she had to be placed in the dun
| geon. When lined up before the COM
mission yesterday she told her troubles,
saying among other things that a paint
ed thing had complained against her in
Justice Nichols court when the charge of
disturbance was made gains her; that
she had been married, but had been a
widow eight years; that she had relatives
living IN Washington county, N. Y.
Several officials at the court house gave
| testimony relative to her conduct while
in the building. but there was one thing
that was not brought out. About a week
or ten days ago she wrote a letter to a
| New York relative and in 1T she stated
| her intention of killing John Fl. Curtis
as soon as an opportunity presented it.
self.
Mrs, Curtis is the double of another
woman named Mrs. Lowell, who lived in
| Deadwood, South Dakota, from 1877 until
| October 10, 1878. She was a terror and
| took advantage of every opportunity to
show her evil spirit. One day in the fall
! Of 1878 she fired a few ineffective shots at
a man for a real or fancied offense and
| her arrest followed. She vas taken be-
fore Justice Barker and sentenced to a
short term in the log house. Then she
threatened to kill the judge, the consta-
BILE that arrested her, the man that caus-
ed her arres. and a few others just to
keep her hand in. AS soon as she was re-
leased from Jail she armed herself with a
Colts As and started on the warpath.
John Rodgers was the constable, and as
he lived closer to her than any of the
others she concluded to take them as
they came and kill him first. He dwelt
about 100 yards up the side Of the steep
gulch hill. Placing the weapon out of
sight under her apron, she began the as
cent and Rodgers saw her coming.
Knowing the desperate nature of the Wo-
man and having heard her make the kill
ing threats, he had to think fast on the
line of action he would adopt. He knew
the object of her errand. Turning to a
man named Bill Bennett, who was in the
room with him at the time. he remarked:
bill, here comes Mrs. Lowell. I think
she is going to kill me. BY c., I can't
kill a woman
Rodgers, however, drew his gun from
its bolster on the wall and laid it on a
sewing machine near the door. Just as
he did so Mrs. Lowell pushed the door
open and Rodgers stepped up as if to ask
her what she wanted. Without uttering
a word she drew the gun as quick as a
woman usually does, (there was no flash
business about i) placed the muzzle
against Rodgers breast and pulled the
trigger. There was no "deafen:ng roar
about it either, but the cartridge re-
sponded and a bullet from it broke this
pericardium of Rodgers heart. AS il
| ploughed its way into his body he turned
and grabbed his own gun. Mrs. Lowell
saw the move and started to run down
the hill with her own weapon still in her
right hand. Four shots followed her
and the last one entered the back Of her
head and she fell dead. Rodgers had fix
ed her. He recovered from the wound she
gave him, but the bullet. which could not
be removed on account of it's location,
bothered him greatly up to the time of his
death, which occurred accidentally in the
Missouri river below old Fort Pierre
about a year and a half later.