Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-11
IS RAPIDLY
NEARING END
GOOD PROGRESS IS BEING MADE
IN THE FELKER- CUNNING
HAM CASE.
PROSECUTION HAS
FINISHED ITS SIDE.
Mrs. Cunningham, the Widow of the
Murdered Man. Tells Her Story
OF the Shooting.

In ali proba bi itS the fate of L. l.. Eek
er. who shot and killed J. c. Cunning
ham. his bro,her-in-law in this city on
December IA. viii rest with the jury at
an early period, as the trial of the de-
PENDANT is rapidly nearing the end. The
taking of testimony was commenced on
Friday morning and continued through
Saturday without serious interruption.
but during the entire time only one eye
witness to the actual deed was examined.
That witness was e. S. Mcknstry who.
at the time of the killing. was employed
by Cunningham as a clerk at the Cash
lodging house. Mr.. McKinstry began his
testimony about 1 o'clock on Saturday
afternoon In the course of his story he
said he had known Felker since last Au-
gust and had seen him in the Cash lods-
ing house in the morning of the 18th of
December. the day on which the killing
occurred. about u o'clock on that day"
said he. cunningham and l went for /.
walk Cunningham said he was soin.
to his home near the Big Butte and ask
ed me to accompany him. I consented.
When we entered the bedroom we found
Mrs Cunningham, Mrs Fe,ker ana Mr.
Feiker the defendant. there. The latter
was occupying the chair near the foot
of Mrs. Cunningham's bed Cunningham
gave his wife a bunch of flowers kissed
her and asked her how she was getting
along. Mrs. Felker. her mother remark
ed that it was too late for spoonns-
that. she said. ought to have been done
Ions aga. To this Cunningham replied:
Never mind ma: let those old things go
Cunningham then asked his wife if there
was anything wanted. adding a sugges-
ton that he might get some groceries,
Mrs. Fe,ker told him she did not want
him to get groceries; that her son could
do it. Cunningham answered that he
would have some groceries sent up ana
Mrs. Ecker did not object to that. Cum
ninSham told them he had not had
his breakfast and asked for some
thing to eat. Ms. Felker told him she
| had no time to prepare him anything,
but she provided him with some wine
and cake | drank some of the wine AMI
ate some of the cake and so did Mr.. and
Mrs. Cunningham During all of this
time CUNNINGHAM was sitting on The
edge of the bed in which his wife was
lying. After eating the cake and drink
ing the wine he .Xp-e SSe1 a desire to
talk to his wife alone and asked US al
if We would go out. Some objection 20
tbs was made but it was decided that
if Mrs. Cunningham was willing to be
left alone With him ii would be all rlSft.
Curntngh m was then no ding his wifes
hand He whispered something to her
and then some remarks which I did not
hear passed between Felker and Gun
ninsham. Felker called Cunningham a
d lar AMI Cunningham raised his
hand ana replied: Never mind that Cut
il out. We do not want any trouble
here. Felker arose from his chair be-
hind the foot of the bed and started to
walk around. and I put my hand on his
shoulder and told him it was no place 70
have trouble. He continued to move
and after passing me drew a revolver
and began firing. At the first shot Cum
bingham raised from a leaning position
he had been occupying on the edge OF
tn. bed and exclaimed: My God, Lew
eilyn. don't Those We're his last words,
for an instant later he settled to his
knees with his hea1 resting on the bed.
Felk=r then walked up to him.
to k him by the shoulder ana
pulled him over on the moor
While the shooting was in progress
Cunningham's wife raised to a sitting
nosition in bed and screamed Don't
Lew. DON'T. After Felker pulled Cum
ninghams body over on the floor Mrs
Cunningham leaned over the edge OF
the bed and looked at it. The remark
was made by someone that the body
ought TO be taken from the room on
account of the condition of Mrs. Cum
bingham, and Felker then dragged Il
into an adjoining room. When ] Went
out there l saw that Cunningham was
dead At Felkers suggestion l re-
NAMED at the house awhile and f'elker
went down and gave himself up
On being further questioned by the
prosecution, McKinstry said that when
Cunningham expressed desire to see
his wife alone, the latter said
Jack, whatever you have to say to
me YOU had better say it right now"
The witness said ne interpreted this
to mean that she did not care to BE-
left alone with him.
The prosecution showed McKinstry a
revolver and dagger and asked him if
| he had ever seen them before. to which
question the witness said he thought
they were the weapons he had seen in
Felker's hands after the shooting. He
held the revolver in his right hand and
| the dagger III the lelt, sdlu he, ano
as he lifted the latter up he remarked:
| Look he had a knife and was going
| to stab me with it l did not see that
knife until ! saw il in Felkers hands"
Asked on cross examination if he hat
not shaken hands with Feiker after the
shooting and remarked to him: You
| did right. kid: YOU ought to have done
| il long ago" the witness said he had
shaken Felker's hand. but had not ut
| tered the remark attributed to him in
| connection with it.
| s.fter a few more questions of an un-
| important nature had been asked and
! answered court adjourned until this
! morning. s =.
| When the trial was resumed today.
Daniel Brown. who was coroner at the
| time of the killing, was recalled tc