The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-11-09
ANACONDA NEWS,
ION TRAIL OF A MURDERER
] Detectives Follow 1t for Seven
teen Thousand Miles.
/ THE CRIMINAL ROUNDEDU UP
Strange Detective Story That Begins and
Ends in Montana How Red
4 Handed Rancher Was Pur-
4 sued and Captured.
THE CRIMINAL ROUNDED UP

Seventeen thousand miles of travel
sin search of a cowardly murderer, and
the criminal caught on foreign soil and
drought back in irons to face Justice
at last-such is briefly the record of the
#Thiel Detective Service company in eff
afecting the capture of Milton o. How
ell, who, in a spirit of petty revenge,
Wtreacherously killed his neighbor and
friend in a lonely spot on a Montana
ranch last year." says the Seattle Post
sIntelligencer in telling of one of the
most remarkable cases on record, one
i that concerns Montana people.
Il, In the summer of 1898 Thomas Row.
+ ling and Milton O. Howell were fore
men on adjoining sheep and cattle
/. ranches in Fergus county in that state.
Z Tom Rowling was an easy-going, good
natured fellow, living happily and con-
i tentedly in his little home with his
& young wife and their two children; Milt
S Howell was without ties of family or
kindred, tall dark man showing the
dash of Indian blood which ran in his
veins no less in his morose, revengeful
temperament than in his swarthy COM
4 plexion. Naturally of an irritable dis
position, easily excited and quick to
take offense, he was very retcent as to
4 his past, and known as a dead shot
with pistol or rifle.
"A ditch used in common irrigated
II both ranches through the same box.
v On July rs Rowling found the box
j moved so that the fields of his employer
f were deprived Of their rightful share of
Il water. He set to work replacing it,
& when Howell appeared and forbade
4 aim to do So Howell had taken the
Il box out Rowling paid no attention to
md he lot
ter struck at him with a heavy ditching
\ spade. Rowling evaded the blow and
closed in with his assailant, and in the
hand-to-hand combat which followed
/. overpowered and threw him.
while held to the ground Howell
& confessed that he was in the wrong in
s the matter and promised that he would
Il hold no enmity against Rowling nor
L trespass on his employers water rights
I again. In this apparently amicabie
.sfranle of mind on Howell's part they
Il separated, but the sequel showed that
& there was no sincerity in his words,
Il and that he made these professions Of
h friendliness simply to throw Rowling
&of his guard
@ Once Again in Place.
"On the following morning on visit
sing the ditch Rowling found the box
Aagain taken out, which had evidently
been done by Howell as soon as Row
tling was out of sight on the day be-
fore. With the assistance of a ranch
hand Rowling once more put the box
back into it's proper place, and leaving
his helper at the ditch, he went, UNI
tomary duties. He started, spade in
hand, to inspect field, Of alfalfa at
the lower end of the ranch, and the
cheerful words with which he directed
the laborer in his task We're the last
sound ever heard from his lips, unless
he hat Ar
heard a dying groan which must have
thrilled the coward brain when the as
sassins bullet reached it's mark. Not
$ long after Rowlng's departure the man
at the box heard a distant shot, cut
thought nothing of it, supposing it was
from some antelope hunter.
Rowling had mentioned to his wife
Howells action of, the preceding day,
and when her husband left the cabin
that morning Mrs: Rowling, warned
I collision with the treacherous neigh
Dor Rowling laughed at his wife's
fears, and to help her throw off her
anxiety by making light of them, said
In his usual joking manner that he
expected to come back in box; but
lsttle did either of them dream how
true would her forebodings prove, nor
that that mornings parting was to be
their last
The Body Discovered.
.'Several hours after he left the hap
by home his horse came back at a gal
lop and with an empty saddle. His
wife, now fearing that her worst pre-
sentiment of the morning had become
bitter truth, lifted her little son into
his fathers accustomed place on the
horse and sent him to look foS her hus-
band. And soon the boy found the
body of the dead man lying prone upon
his face on the moist earth among the
growing alfalfa, shot from behind
through head and heart, the victim of
HowelTs unerring shots.
1.-THE horror-stricken boy returned
home as fast as the horse could carry
him. bearing to his now widowed moth
err the dreadful news. The home of her
husbands employer, Philip Moule, was
II miles away, but a telephone wire
connected the two buildings, and by
this means Mrs. Rowling Immediately
Informed him of what had taken place.
knowing of the quarrel with Howell
the day before, Mr.. Moule felt at once
that Howell was the assassin, and
mounting his horse he rode at full
speed to Peerys ranch, where Howell
was employed, to endeavor to intercept
the murderer.
But Howell was not to be found.
All that Mr.. Moule could learn concern
ing him bearing on the matter was that