Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-02-23

Steve Wells better known as Missouri
Steve" we'll known character in Butte.
was mysteriously murdered at about
1870 O'Clock last night in a cabin in the
alley just back of the city Jail.
The bullet which ended his life entered
the center of the forehead and death was
undoubtedly instantaneous.
Two witnesses to the shooting have
been arrested, but the stories told by
them do not correspond, and greatly
complexities matters. While they are
simply being held as witnesses at tn.
present, the chances are that charge
of murder will be placed against one Of
them.
The cabin in which the shooting took
place contains two rooms, the rear one
containing a faro layout. which was con-
Quoted by the dead man and Charles
Slaton. one of the witnesses who is under
arrest The other witness is Jack Cox.
The first intimation that the police had
that anything was wrong was when otti-
Ger Ferns. who was coming up the city
hall alley at the time mentioned. saw
a man in his shirt sleeves hurriedly
cross the alley. He approached the
man, who proved to be Slaton. and asked
him what the matter was. Slaton told
him that a man had been shot in 4 CAD
in in the alley to the right of the old
postof1ice building.
The officer accompanied Slaton to the
cabin and found Wells lying in the CEN
ter of the floor of the front room. The
blood was oozing from a wound i'll the
center of the forehead and a glance was
sufficient to show that the man was be-
You'd human help.
Slaton told the officer that he was in
the front room with Wells and Cox. talk
ing, when two men with black handker-
chiefs over their faces, burst in the front
door and. presenting revolvers. ordered
all of them to throw up their hands.
Almost at the same instant the gun
held by one of the intruders exploded.
and Wells fell to the floor Slaton said
that he became much frightened and
ran past the two men and out into the
alley, expecting every moment to be
shot. Officer Ferns took Slaton to the
JAIL where he was locked up as a wit
nas..
About ten minutes later Cox was seen
returning to the cabin. but was inter-
cepted by Officer Mathews The story
told by him differed from that told by
Slaton. He at first denied all knowledge
of the affair. and later SAID that he heard
the shot and saw Wells fall Later in
the evening, when interviewed by the
chief of police. he said that he was ex-
cited at the time and did not know eX-
actly what had occurred, and that there
We're no masked men in the room. The
only men in the room at the time of the
shooting were himself, Wells and Sla-
ton. He was asked if he could identify
any men who had entered the cabiH just
before the shooting, and he said that he
could not. When asked if he would have
known if two men entered the cabin. he
said that he would.
The two men were locked up in differ
ent cells, and We're interviewed this
morning by Detective Murphy and May
or Mccarthy. and their stories differed
| still further. Slaton said to the detec-
tive that there was one man who en-
| tered the place and demanded money al
| the point of a revolver, an dthe weapon
exploded almost at the same moment
| He said that Cox was drunk at the time
and did not know just what had trans
! pired. When asked if he could identify
the man who entered the cabin, ht