Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1900-03-21
THE AWFUL CRIME.
Cremation Was Added to Murder by the
Young Trio, William and James
Calder and iii Fisher,
tRepubllshed from Fridays Extra.

(Republished from Fridays Extra.)
Farquhar Mcltea, an elderly man
and with a good reputation Of long
standing, lived on Box Elder creek
near the point where it empties into
Flatwillow, which Is about twenty
miles from where the Flatwillow
emptles into the Musselshell, the
boundary line between Fergus and
Dawson counties. NcRae's home
was about seventy miles distant and
"A little south of east Of Lewistown.
This is a very sparsely settled coun-
try, rough and almost entirely de.
voted to stock raising. The section
Is far removed from communication
with the county-seat and an ideal
place for the commission Of such a
crime. He had working for him one
John Allen, n man little known ex-
ccpt as n good herder, and one who
differed from many employed in that
business in that it was not his us
tom to pass his wages regularly over
the bar.
McRea owned 700 sheep and fur
Their had 300 bend on shares, the
property of Max Hildebrant, whose
son was last year killed in Custer
county not far from the scene OF the
murder Of McRea and Allen.
The parents Of william and James
Calder were divorced sixteen years
ago, Mrs. Calder and her sons COM
ing to Montana.
Some two years later Mrs. Calder
married Sam Smith and Mt the time
Of the murder the family lived on Box
Elder, not far from Mcl,ea's home.
William had always been n hard boy
to manage and had never taken
kindly to the mastery Of Sam Smith,
frequent quarrels ensuing, Smith
claiming at the trial that Billy had
frequently threatened to kill him, and
1t was related by II nelghbor, though
not put in evidence, that upon one
occasion Billy had kept Smith under
IA bed for several hours, the boy sit
ting in n chair near by with n shot
gun across his knees. Jimmy Calder
had lived more %peaceably with his
step-father and Mrs. Smith has said
that but for Billy's influence, Jimmy
would have been n good boy. Part
of the time Billy worked out upon
ranches in that section, % rsometime
being employed by Mcliea, where
doubtless the plans were first laid.
His complete mastery his bro
thcr has never been questioned, al
though this defense for Jimmy will
hardly answer as the testimony
shows Jimmy had abundant time to
get away before the crimes had actu-
ally been committed or later to in
form Others of the affair.
Billy had lived several months in
Bozeman and Billings and other
points along the Northern Pacific.
At Billings he had been taken into
custody for some minor oifense and
served n term in Jail. While in Boze-
man one time he had met Fisher who
had come out from Wisconsin and
was then employed as piano player
i'm n disreputable house. He invited
Fisher to visit him at the Smith
ranch saying there was 'big game
in that section. Whether this re-
ferred to McTea and his sheep or only
tn deer and elk, is left to the imagin-
alton. Fisher accepted and after re-
turning to- the Smith ranch, early in
September Billy sent his brother jim
my to Billings to meet Fisher, also
providing him with money with
which to purchase n new gun.
When Fisher and Jimmy arrived
a few days were spent at the
ranch laying plans, ostensibly for a
hunt, but without question Billy was
simply taking time to work out the
details Of his scheme to kill McIiea
and get away with the sheep.
Saturday morning, September "a,
1898, the three boys started early
down the creek, but did not see any
game and returned to the ranch. In
the afternoon they went down tc
near where McRea and his herdel
were cutting out some sheep prepar
atory to taking a bunch Of ewes tC
Elisha Clark's 10 be traded for som'
wethers. When about half way tC
McRea's and near a little clump o
I willows which figured quite promi
nently in the testimony, the threes a'
. down to rest. Billy here said he haC
. n little scheme To propose whereof,
they could make some money. IL
reply to inquiry Billy said Eve viii
r kill this man McRea and John AlleI
and run away with the sheep" Jim
my testified he demurred to this pro
position while Fisher said nothing
Fisher testified both he and Jimm.
protested but to no avail. Accord