The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-09

fail to see II, II it was light he feels
sure that some one must have seen the
body if it had been there Saturday.
Henry Hanson, a neighbor of Gala
hans, concurs in his opinion. He states
that he passed along the road Satur-
day evening about o'clock, and that
he feels sure the body was not there
at that time. He also states that n
crowd of boys We're playing on the To-
cality all Saturday afternoon. and he
thinks they surely would have discov-
cred it il it had been lying in the ex-
posed position in which it was found,
while they were about. Coroner Jul
lien states that the blood on the ground
where the body lay and the pool found
a distance away, had the appearance Of
being as fresh as blood could look
which had been frozen 1t did not, in
mis- judgment, look to be many hours
old. 1t is the accepted theory, there
fore, that the murder was committed
Saturday night. The only known fact
which in any way conflicts with the
theory, is that the body was frozen SO
hard, and it is possible this may not
be against the theory as to the time
The officers regard it as possible that
the body with the animal heat extinct
may have frozen hard in one night.
Who did the murder. and what was
the motive, make up the deepest part
of the mystery. No one has even a
conjecture to offer in answer to the
first interrogatory. With regard to the
latter, there is the usual fund of theo-
ries. The robbery theory holds with
some, who think the dead man may
have had a few dollars which was
known to some one evil enough to MUIR
der for a plttance. or that he may not
have had and was met in the road and
held up to see If he had, and upon show
ing fight, was killed
What seems a better and much more
reasonable theory is suggested by the
character of the injuries and by the
dress and general makeup of the dead
man. The dress was that of a pros
pector, particularly of the prospector
who has followed his calling in Colo
RADIO, where it is common for a pros
pector going into the hills in winter to
wrap his feet in gunny sacks and wear
arctics. The wounds in the head have
all the appearance of having been made
by miners pick; in fact, they are of
such a character as to make it almost
impossible for them to have been made
by an instrument wholly dissimilar
from a pick. Two in particular prove
almost conclusively that a pick was
used. At the back of the head, on the
left side, is great hole where the man
had been hit by some instrument which
went clear through the head and came
out near the right temple.
Something very like pick must have
been used to cause such wounds. 1t
was at first stated that nothing was
found in the dead mans pockets but the
tobacco bag with the money in it, but
at the undertakers a more careful
search revealed the presence in one
pocket of a piece of candle.
Upon all these things put together is
built the theory that the murdered man
was claim jumper and that, like many
another he paid the penalty with his
life. The first OF the year is the claim
jumping season, and it is argued that
the deceased went out and found a
claim which had not been represented
and relocated it: that the owner learned
OF the fact and laid for him in the road
or possibly the owner of the claim came
upon the jumper at the claim. ordered
him off, and Upon his refusal to go
killed him with the first implement at
hand, which would naturally be pick
and then hauled the body iii a convey
arlce to the place where the foot tracks
left the road and carried it from there
to where it was found. This latter idea
would seem to fit in well with the theory
that pick was used, for had the muir
derer have laid for his man in the road
he would doubtless have used a gun,
whereas he may not have had gun at
the claim and used the first weapon at
hand. There is also in support of this
idea the fact that where the footprints
and blood tracks left the road and went
toward the gully there were no discern
lble signs of a struggle having taken
place. The indications Of the body hav-
ing been searched would not detract
from the claim-jumping theory, for the
murderer may have been willy enough
to leave indications of robbery as one
provision against detection, or he may
have concluded after having reached
the place where he intended to leave
the body that if his victim had any val
uables he might as well have them.
The majority of the officers hold to the
claim jumping theory, but it is only a
theory and may never lead to anything.
AS yet not a single fact is known that
might help unravel this latest murder
mystery, and there is corresponding
lack of room to hope that the truth will
ever be known. .
Coroner Julien has not decided when
the inquest will be held.