Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-10
OTHER S|[:. OF
HUntj;T CASE
County Attorney Hom:s
Answers Connolly.
CONVICTION WAS LEGAL
He Dwells Upon the Fact That the
Supreme Court Has Sustained the
Verdict of the Jury The Evidence
Is Reviewed.
CONVICTION WAS LEGAL
To the Editor of the Inter Mountain:

To the Editor of the Inter Mountain:
The remarkable article over the sigma
ture Of c. p Connolly, county attorney
OF Silver Bow county, concerning the
conviction Of Joseph c.. Hurst, for the
murder of Sheriff Dominick Cavanaugh,
appearing in the Anaconda Standard of
February %. prompts me to lay before
the public statement of the facts i'm re-
lation to the trial Of Hurst as I was a
witness to them in the district court at
Glendive. My duty as prosecuting attor-
ney OF Dawson county required me to in
vestlgate all the facts and circumstances
touching the commission of this offense
before filing the information, and 1t fur
ther required me to direct and conduct
the prosecution of this case before the
coroner's jury, the committing magis-
trate, and in the district court presided
over by Judge Loud.
Inc statement in this matter published
by Mr.. Connolly under a flaming head
line, is we'll calculated to arouse the SYM
pathies Of amy person who may read it
and who believes one-tenth of it to be
true. If NOT a single one Of the damaging
statements made by Mr.. Connolly was
IN fact true, the pardon of Joseph c.
Hurst might be rightfully urged upon the
executive Of this state.
Mr.. Connolly assumes to be more COM
petent to review the evidence in this
case than the supreme court Of Montana
He declares that Hurst ''is In the shadow
or the gallows. as innocent Of the crime
as you or I. Innocent, as can be demon
strated beyond the question of q doubt.
in my opinion" This Is a remarkable
proposition to be advanced by man who
Is the prosecuting officer of the county
OF Silver Bow, which is notorious as the
refuge and haven Of unconvicted and
inexperienced murderers: county
which Is unequaled by it's record in that
respect during the past two years under
the peculiar prosecuting efforts Of Mr..
Connolly, who leaves his official duty and
declares that without compensation (?)
he will impeach and annul the result of
a criminal prosecution, justly, fairly and
solemnly carried from coroner's jury to
the highest tribunal Of the state of Mon
tana. through the various stages OF four
separate proceedings. and each one Of
those proceedings resulting in finding
OF the guilt Of the defendant such a
finding that the supreme court in it's
opinion (Pacific Reporter No. 50, March
l, 1900, at page 913) says: 1.-THE fore
going is a brief statement OF the salient
parts of the evidence. We have made no
attempt to set out a complete analysis
Of it, nor shall we. The jury having
found all these facts established beyond
a reasonable doubt, as they must have
done. they were led irresistibly to the
conclusion that the defendant is guilty
of the murder of Cavanaugh. We have
given out attention carefully and patient
ly to an examination of the whole of the
evidence, and we cannot say that the re-
suit reached by the jury is not justified
by 1t, nor that there Is, upon the whole
OF the evidence, a reasonable doubt of
the defendants guilt" In the face of
this determination of the case upon re-
view by the supreme tribunal of this
state. acting under the solemn oaths of
the justices of that court, Mr.. Connolly,
who never had any connection with this
case until within a short time, rushes
into print with the remarkable PROPOSE
tion that he can demonstrate the inmo-
cence of the defendant beyond the ques-
ton Of a doubt" For his demonstrat ton,
absolutely without pecuniary motive"
he makes malicious and absolutely un-
warranted attack upon the citizens of
Dawson county and upon the district
court and the supreme court which have
tried this case. and does this declaring
that, EVERY statement shall make con-
cerning this case can. I believe. be veri-
fed: not. as this man was convicted. by
public rumor and frothy declarat tions.
but upon the evidence"
The spirit in which Mr.. Conmolly enters
upon this stupendOus task is well evil
denced by his statement. 'If the evidence
upon which this man has been convicted
and twice sentenced to death. had been
laid before me as the prosecuting officer
OF this county. I should be ashamed to
think had compelled Hurst to employ a
lawyer and submit to a prosecution be-
fore a magistrate" Yet this evidence
reviewed by the supreme court in the
constitutional manner produced the dec
laration which we have already quoted
in this article from the decision of the
supreme court. But not only does Mr.
Connolly. by the vigor of his Imagination
overcome that evidence which caused the
supreme court to declare that IT, cannot
find that there is. upon the whole OF the
evidence. reasonable doubt of the de-
fendant's guilt" but he gratuitcusly at
tacfs the people and thu courts Of east
e~n Montana. He says. ''This mans con-
vict!on and tYea tment have made It pos
sible for me to believe that we have in