The Butte inter mountain., 1901-09-04
HARMLESS AFFRAY
BLOoDLEsS SHOOTING IN FRONT
OF THE COURT HOUSE.
BULLET GLANCED FROM BODY
Michael Farrell Shoots Daniel Sweeney
"A Slight Wound Inhicted-Bad
Blood Between Families
A Woman Involved.

shooting occurred in front of the
court house at half past II O'clock this
morning that disturbed the serenity Of
the law courts and the officials officers
for awhile and carried with 1t a narrow
escape from sudden death for Daniel
Sweeney. a miner. The wielder of the
revolver with which the shooting was
done is Michael E2r.::.l an engineer
at the st. Lawrence mine, and the
shooting resulted from bad blood which
involves the men and their wives or at
least Mrs. Sweeney.
Farrell fired one shot at Sweeney.
and the bullet struck the latter on the
right nipple and left blackened and
confused wound there of an insignifi-
cant nature, such as may be inflicted
by a slight blow with club. The bull
let perforated the coat and vest that
Sweeney wore, and 1t must have struck
his breast at very acute angle and
glanced off. not to have penetrated the
flesh and inflicted a much greater in
jury.
According to a statement made by
Sweeney, there was a collision between
his wife and Farrell just before the
shooting took place. Sweeney says
that Farrell struck Mrs. Sweeney in the
mouth with a stone this morning while
she was in her front yard. Sweeney and
Farrell are neighbors, and Farrell was
coming up to his home when this oc-
Cured.
No reason is given by Sweeney for
this act of Farrelrs. He says that his
wit mia har
to protect it. but that. nevertheless. the
stone bruised and battered the organ
very much.
After this occurred Sweeney started
for the court house to get a warrant 70"
Farrell. He was followed, he says. b.
the latter, who took short cut ant'
met him in front of that building. and
began to kick him there. He backed
into the street and Farrell pursued him
and drew his pistol and shot him.
Farrells story is different. He says
that when he came home from town,
where he had been to complain to the
county attorney of the conduct and
language of Mrs. Sweeney, he was met
by Mrs. Sweeney, who stood in her
yard, and abused him in exceedingly
filthy language.
He hurled a clod of earth at her, he
says. Whereupon she J>n into her
house and got pistol and shot at him.
and he left hurriedly. He is of the opin-
ion that the bullet from the pistol fired
by Mrs. Sweeney can be found in mat
tress in her ward, unless it has fallen
out and been lost.
Farrell had complained to the coun-
ty attorney about Mrs. Sweeney twice,
once before this time. and this morn-
ing Deputy County Attorney Mackel
caused a letter Of warning to be writ
ten notifying her that she would be ar
rested and prosecuted unless she mended
her ways regarding her treatment OF
Farrell and his family. The bad blood
has existed for some time. ~as-4
After the encounter with Mrs. Sweeney
Farrell returned to the court house to
make further complaint, he says, and
he met Sweeney in front of it. He says
he said to Sweeney, You're dandy not
to stop that woman's talk and then,
words of an unpleasant character fol-
lowed.
According to Farrelrs story, Sweeney
pulled out a knife and drove him OF
Of the sidewalk into the street, threat
ening to cut his intestines out, and In
order to defend himself, he drew his re-
volver and shot at the latter.
After the shooting Farrell was ar
rested and taken into the sheriff's office.
and his weapon taken from him. On the
way up the steps. Sweeney Aepped up
beside him and struck him in the face
with his fist, proving that he was still
undaunted. though shot.
Notwithstanding Farrell's statement,
only a small pocket knife was found on
Sweeney. Both men were jailed. A
charge of assault in the first degree was
placed against Farrell, and his bond
fixed at $1,000. which he furnished and
secured his liberty.
Mr.. Nackel expressed the intention of
arresting Mrs. Sweeney, if FarrelPs
statement that she shot at him should
be supported by the evidence of others.
Farrell lives at 815 Hornet street and
Sweeney lives next door to him. Far
rell says he has tried to sell his own
house to Sweeney and tried to: buy
sweeney's house from him in order to get
away from Mrs. Sweeney: but that
Sweeney refused to either buy or sell.
He says also that he sold Sweeney the
house the latter lives in for $3.50 and
has since offered to buy it back for $500.
raising the price in order to make 1t an
inducement to Sweeney to sell.