Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1906-12-18
Man Twice Convicted of STEALING
Horses Goes 10 Pen For
Fourteen YeerS.
RYAN GOES UP FOR ONE YtAR
tiedi9an's ACCompIiCe Escapes with
Comparative LIGHT Sentence
Severe Lecture.

John r. Ryan, the young man from
| Gilt Edge who was an alleged ac-
complice of Barney Hedigan in the theft
of the Rooney horses, was found guilty
late last Thursday night of receiving
stolen property and was sentenced to
one years imprisonment i'm the state
penitentiary by Judge Cheadle.
The jury brought i'm its verdict Of
guilty after delibcrating from 4.30 to
| 1890 y. m. Ryan waived the statua-
tory time Of sentence. In passing SEN
tcnce Judge Cheadle made some point
| ed remarks by which the convicted
"a regret that young man of Ryan's
previous good character and good an
| tecedents should be found guilty Of d
crime Of this nature. Nevertheless til.
judge thought that the jury had bt en-
merciful in finding the defendant guilty
as their verdict should prove al object
from further evil associations. which
the judge said. were the cause of his
downfall.
You have been on intimate terms"
said Judge Cheadle, "With Il profes-
sional gang of horse thieves that oper-
ates on the east side of the mountains"
Reference made ~ thiG t'hnrGa
stealing gang" several times during he
course of the remarks made by the
Judge. The court said that he had no
words of reproach for Ryan, but on the
other hand expressed IA hope that Ryan
would reform, when he regained his
liberty and keep out of evil and shun
evil companions.
RYAN was found guilty upon an in
formation charging him with buying
and receiving small bunch of stolen
horses from Barney HedigHn, who was
previously found guilty of stealing the
animals from the firm of M. T.. Rooney
& Son of the Judith. The felony is
punishable by not to exceed five years
in the states prison.
The trial was a long drawn out af-
fair. and consumed many days in its
hearing. A large number of witnesses
were examined by both the state and
the defense nineteen, mostly unimpor-
tant, appearing for the latter.
County Attorney Ayers was ably as
sisted by o. w. Belden, who was re-
tanned by the Montana Stockgrowers
Association. J. C. Huntoon and Wor-
den & Scott appeared for Ryan. The |
tracted much attention.
In order to convict the defendant it |
was necessary for the state to prove |
that the horses received by Ryan were |
stolen property and secondly that Ryan |
purchased and received the horses with |
the full knowledge of the theft
Little difficulty was experienced In
proving the first premise. The point
was raised by the defense as to whether
Dram Stevens or Barney Hedigan stole
the horses, but no attempt was made
to deny that the horses were stolen
from Rooney.
The second question, viz: did Ryan
know that the horses were stolen prop,
erty, was where the result of the con-
test hinged. A number Of circumstances
were brought forward by the state to
show that Ryan was conscious of the
theft when he purchased the horses
One of the strongest points in the states
testimony was that Ryan tried to hide
theh horses, after he had purchased
[hem m, and when seen by the officers
refused to give any information as to
The whereabouts of the animals when
questioned by Sheriff Slater
To offs,t the n cusations of the state
Ryan went on the stand. and made a
strong witness for himself, having
eady ad elaborate answers for every |
question put to him. His previous good
character was proven by a number of
Witnesses from Gilt Edge where he is !
'est known. This undoubtedly had t
considerable weight with the judge in
'assing a light sentence.
After the completion of the Ryan S
ase. court adjourned until Monday
morning at 10 O'Clock