The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-06
WELL KNOWN IN BUTTE
Principals in Tuesdays Salt Lake
Tragedy.
THE CAUSE OF 1T
The Tribune Alleges That Mills Accused
OMelveney With Being Crimi-
,35! - nally Intimate With
IA J9ifi asa Mrs Mills

| IA 19ifi asa Mrs Mills
| .#58' g3il e.aa
| Both principals in Tuesdays Salt
Lake tragedy, the facts Of which were
Father meagerly covered by the tee
graphic report, are well known in
Butte, where both Captain Fred ].
Mills and his victim, James G. O'Mel-
veney, have a number of friends. AS
chief engineer of the oregon Short
| Line Mr.. O'Melveney has visited Butte
frequently for number of years, and
Captain Mills y. spent some time in
Butte about a year ago in recruiting
volunteers for an engineers corps for
| service in the Philippines
The Salt Lake papers differ in opin-
ion as to the cause of the killing. The
/ Herald says Captain Mills has been in
| i'll health ever since his return from
Honolulu and blamed O'Melveney for
his failure to secure employment with
! the Short Line. 1t Is we'll known,
| even to their friends in Butte, that
prior to Captain Mills departure for
Honolulu the two men were on terms
! of most friendly intimacy.
The Tribune declares that domestic
| matters We're the cause Of the tragedy
and that Captain Mills accused Mr..
O'Melveney of criminal intimacy with
ing the Tribune says:
Mr.. OMelveney was shot three
times in the right side of the head, the
| gun which did the deadly work being
| fired as rapidly as the trigger could
be pulled. One bullet entered the
J right temple and passing through the
brain lodged under the skin on the
| Sia i,,S
above the right ear. and still another
entered the back of the head behind
and on line with the top Of the ear.
At the time Of the shooting Mr.. O'Mel-
veney was seated in a revolving office
chair, and death came SO quickly that he
simply sank down in the chair, while
his head fell upon his breast, and the
blood squirting profusely from the
three wounds saturated his clothing
and formed a pool upon the floor.
The awful tragedy was the result Of
alleged intimacy between O'Melveney
and Captain Mills wife, and it is un-
! lerstood that the charge made against
OMelveney by Captain Mills was based
upon a confession made by Mrs. Mills
/ Captain Mills returned home yeEter-
day morning from Provo and went
directly to O'Melveney's office in the
4 Short Line building. Prior to Mills
arrival O'Melveney had received note
communication has not been made pub
| lie. O'Melveney simply remarked to
his chief clerk. w. T.. CretZer, that he
| was in receipt of a note from Mills.
without going into particulars.
/ After the arrival of Mills, both men
| left the Office. and proceeded directly
| to sO'Melyeney's home at Nc. 613 First
| street, where it is presumed that Mills,
in the presence of Mrs. OMelveney,
| accused O'Melveney with having been
criminally intimate with Mrs. Mills.
The belief that this accusation was
| made in the presence of Mrs. O'Mel-
veney is strengthened by the fact that
ais soon as she was notified of the kill
| ing, Mrs. OMelveney exclaimed:
THAT woman lied about him; 1 know
she lied.'
There is also but little doubt that
Captain Mills threatened to Kill O'Mel-
veney in, the course of the interview,
4 as he exclaimed to. Traffic Manager
Eccles after the shooting: 5'I told him
(O'Melveney) this morning 1t that l
would kill him on sight, @
When O'Melveney returned to his
office he told a friend that Mills and
his wife had agreed to separate.
After the two men separated at the
conclusion of the interview at O'Mel-
veney's home, Captain Mills was not
seen at the Short Line building again
until shortly before 4" o'clock when
he entered the general office of O'Mel-
veney, and opening the door that led
into the private Office. entered the
room. -z5tfas = l'.5as.s
1t is said that the domestic life of
Captain and Mrs. Mills has not been en-
tirely free from friction for some
years. Last year Mrs. Mills entered
1 st. Marks hospital as a nurse, while
Captain Mills accepted a commission
in the volunteers and went abroad.
M,4C tAl,
tention of going to Chicago to pursue
the study of nursing further, thus
seeming to indicate that she comtem-
plated earning her living apart from
her husband. She left the hospital
to go to her husband when he was sick
in Honolulu, but resumed her duties
at ST. Marks on her return to Salt
Lake and has been there ever since
Captain and Mrs. Mills have two
| children. little boys about and 6
years: The boys are living at St.
Marks academy. Mrs. Mills always
had them at the Halls to visit her on
Sundays, and often spoke of the pleas
ure it gave her to have her boys with
her, regretting that it was necessary
to live apart from them.
The Herald summarizes the tragedy
and it's cause as follows:
The tragedy is believed to have been
the result of Mills failure to secure
WI n e''o GIL Siisiiicei uiiueE ~ MelNeney,
although there are hints of a trouble
of domestic nature. The weight of
evidence. however, is in favor of the
former theory. The men, so far as
known up to the very moment of the
shooting, were the best of friends.
Mills arrived in Salt Lake yesterday
morning. We went up to O'Melveney's
office about 10 o'clock and had con-
versation of some length with the man
he afterward killed. That this con-
versation was friendly is attested by
the fact that the chief engineer invited
Mills to go out to his home for lun-
cheon.