Fergus County argus., 1899-08-30
OUELETTE
CONVICTED
Of Manslaughter and Given
Ten Years in the Pen.
Shepard Case on Trial to Be Fol-
lowed by That Of Patrick
Dwyer,

Judge DuBOse reached town We'd
nesday night from Benton and Sat
urday held two sessions of court pre-
liminary tn the trying OF cases.
The examination OF George Shepard
had resulted in his being held to ap
pear on the charge of assault in the
first degree, and Saturday County
Attorney Smith presented and filed
Information against Shepard and
Patrick Dwyer, the former charging
assault in the first degree and
the latter murder in the first degree.
Both men were allowed to remain at
large under the bonds already given.
Louis Seguin, charged with larceny,
was arraiged and f. X. Cheadle was
appointed to defend him.
Monday morning E. r. Russell of
Great Falls was present and sworn
in as court stenographer for this
term, Mr.. Mettler being in Alaska.
The trial jurors had many of them
approached the Judge on the street
and pleaded to he excused, and upon
their appearing in the jury box the
Judge brought smiles to many by
speaking of the complaints as "hay
fever" He gave them a good talk
regarding their duty to thestate and
when he had concluded not a single
one asked to- be excused.
Mr.. Cort, appearing for Patrick
Dwyer, moved for a continuance Of
the case against his client on the
ground of the brief time allowed
since the offense was committed for
preparations for trial. but the mo
tion was overruled and the case set
for Thursday morning. Dwyer en-
tered formal plea OF not guilty.
George Shepard entered a like plea
and his case began today.
+. X. Cheadle was entered as asso-
ciate counsel with Cort & Worden in
the Dwyer case. Attorney John A.
Largent of Great Falls arrived this
morning and will also appear in this
case.
Nick Weber, Annie Mccarthy, Brun.
dage Kiersted, Oswald Metcalfe and
Soren Petersen were admitted to
citizenship.
Before noon adjournment the following jury
had been secured in the case of the state agains
Odlon Ouelette charged with the murder q
John Goodwin Wills in Lewstown on III,
fourth day of May last; Michael Brass, l.. II
Sweetland. John Sellers, Fred Jenni, Thos
Duffy, Frank Sweers, +. +. Flanagan. +. \
Rehder, Robert Day. VIM. Battams. J. J.
Gerde and Chas. Calbreath. The state haC
waived all its challenges. while the defense hac
peremtorily discharged w. a. Forsyth, +. +
Chandler. Ed. Gilkey. w. \. Waite. Ed Me
Donnell. A. Jackman, ID. w. Bowen and J. 4
Doores
The taking of testimony was commenced
after dinner and not concluded until Tuesday
noon. after which the attorneys addressed tn,
jury w Ts NOIt III VI
F. Z. Smith for the state.
The story of the crime committed as relate,
to the jury, did not differ in any material par
ticulars from that which appeared in the ARGU'
of May 10th last, which was as follows:
Thursday last the two boys, Ouelette anC
Wills, accompanied by Ernest and Ear
Sprague, sons of Mrs. Susan Sprague. auC
aged u and 10 years respectively, went dow
the creek bottom Il short distance hunting
ducks. the breed boy carrying a II -caliber Win
. chester rifle. Ducks not Appearing plentiful
the boys sat down on the hill near the Cat,I Io.lt
burying ground to smoke cigarettes. Fron
this point the stories of the Sprague boys and
the deceased differ from that told by Ouelette
Ouelette claims that the Sprague boys sat dowr
behind him and that they persisted in tooling
with the gun, WEIGH lay across his lap pointed
|, toward Wills. Finally the gun was discharged
the barrel raising up and striking Ouelette II
the jaw and the ball entering Wills. Prior Il
his death Wills made statement to the county
attorney which precisely agrees with that giyer
at the inquest by the Sprague boys and alst
with what Ouelette is said To have admitted
Immediately after the affair. Their story I
that Wills took from his pocket a pipe, ~hlcl
he was proceeding to Till when Oueette asked
for il, receiving a refusal, Ouelette persisted
in trying to secure the pipe, tho entirely by de
mand, and finally said: IF you don't give i tt
: gun which lay near on the hill, one OF IL,
Sprague boys said to Wills: Look out, Bud,
bud" being the Wills boys nickname. Iht
gun was lifted quickly and discharged by
Ouelette, the ball entering the right breast ant
passing thro the lungs and liver and on. nea
/. the spinal column. All the boys assisted thei
injured playmate in walking home, dstanc,
of about a mile and quarter, and after The
house was reached the story was related, Que
lette merely claiming that he did not intend 4
do tit was accidental.
The witnesses examined on behalf of th
state were: Eli Wills. Earl Sprague, Gordie /
Clark. l.. p. Slater Pearl Sprague, q. l.. Hogan
Dave Wills; those testifying for the defens
were the defendant, Antoine Ouelette, hi
father. his brother Noses and cousin George
also Chas. LaMeyer. The only eve witnes
. testfying was Earl Sprague. the other Spragu
boy having run away from home some week
ago and not found by the sheriff.
An attempt was made to introduce as evi
dence the statement made by deceased on hi
death bed and referred to in the above accoun
of the crime. but the cour decided il inadmis
sable under the careful provisions Of the Law
relating 10 such matters the point being that
had not been clearly proven to have beef
made when the wounded boy considered him