The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1908-01-03
MURDER WILL OUT.
Jimmy 'O'Brien killed his chum
Arthur saClaire in cnld hlood.

aEtuuE AoNl6lI0 IN CO4O DlOOQ.
Such was the inevitable conclusion of
the circumstances surrounding the aw-
full deed when the Investigations were
made. Not all Of these are yet public,
as much of the investigation has been
made quietly under, the supervision of a
q Pinkerton detective, but that which
has been made known pointed diepctly to
the boy who was last in the company Of
the victim. On Saturday O'Brien was
arrested and brought to the county jail.
On Sunday and Monday he was sub
ject to close cross.questioning by the
detective and states attorney Brynjolfson
andat last broke down and acknowledge
ed that he alone was guilty of the awful
crime, and on Monday placed the con-
fession in his own handwriting in the
hands of the sheriff.
Personally he seems to have little
comprehension of the horror OF the
deed and its probable consequences to
himself and family. Only few minutes
after he had written out his confession
in his own hand, he asked to have the
Sunny papers" of Sunday brought to
him. As part of the detectives work
at Neche, he was asked and served as
one OF the pail for the dead man
and though watched closely gave 10
sign He was one of the first to 70 to
the river when the news was noised,
about town, and when there offered to
help chop out the the ice to get the
body. And he Is only sixteen years of
age. He seems, when measured by
ordinary individuals, to be utterly de-
praved morally. and so much 80 that he
must be naturally and morally deficient
in his physical makeup. The crime
itself as shown by the details was most
clumsily conceived and carried out, SO
that escape from consequences was most
impossible.
OF the details there is not much to
add to our brief statements of last week.
The German who was arrested practi-
cally provided an alibi, as he was sleep
ing in livery stable at the time OF. the
murder. The negro who was also held
who had shown nervousness and haste
the next morning and who had walked
to Bathgate, could NOT otherwise be
connected with the crime, and later it
was thought that he had reason tb BE
nervous and in hurry to leave Neche
because of his possession of a fur.lined
oyercoat that it is thought he had stolen
at Gretna the day before.
OF the ten wounds found by the coron-
er's jury at the post mortem, any one of
|seveniwould have been fatal, three be-
ing very deep. The wounds were made
by lathing hatchet which was found
on the river ice near the scene. It had
thawed into the ice to such a degree
that it proved that it was warm when
thrown there and therefore had been
carried on someone's person for some.
time. Itiwas said that similar hat
chet had been found by young O'Brien
some time before and that he had fitted
q handle into it at the blacksmith shop,
and that he had driven in a horseshoe
nail to secure the handle, similar to
that in the one found. A bloody neck
handkerchief was found in the bushes
which was identified as belonging to the
boy. The:clothes worn by O'Brien that
day were found in the woodshed of the
residence and they had blood upon them.
O'Brien.was with the detective when
these clothes were found. Still O'Prien
went on the stand on Saturday before
the coroner's jury for four hourd and
tried to show that he was innocent,
His parents believed him innocent
until the confession was made and his
father told him that he would defeEd
him if he were innocent. When the boy
was taken on the team from Neche he
remarked that.h wondered they didn't
have the band,out to see him off.
Feeling ran pretty high in Neche and
when after 80 much evidence was pro-
duced that connected 'Brien with the
crime, there was considerable criticism
because he was not Immediately put un-
der arrest, and the explanation had to
be made to some that he was practically
under arrest all the time as he was be-
ing under strict watch, but that he
had not been confined as the officials
wanted to see if he would do anything
to compromise himself.
The coroner's jury did not adjourn on
on Saturday as expected, owing mostly
to the fact that the evidence which was
being transcribed at Crookston for the
the signature Of the the witnesses was
accidentally mailed to Langdon, instead
|of Neche, and it took some time to get
it back.
The written confession reads as fol-
lows: .,.s
4To j: 9. Crawford, Pinkerton Detec-
tive .sl
sOn Sunday December 23nd, Claire
and went tot Gretna twice and drank