The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-06-03

in the face of the caller demanded his business.
The man protested that he meant no harm, but
had come from Buck Holley, who lived two
miles down the road and said he knew Captain
Mcdonald and wanted to see him. The Ranger
captain reflected a minute
81 don't know any Buck Holley," he said.
81 knew scoundrel by the name of Bin Holley
some years ago up in the Panhandle and IL that
is who it is don't want to see him. I Judge
you fellows have got gang down the road
there to shoot from ambush. Who are you,
anyway"
The man said his name was Monasco; that
he was staying at Holley's and that he had
brother named Bill Monasco, in Amarillo.
II know Bill Monasco," Mcdonald said, land
he has a brother that was sent to the peniten-
tiary. Is that your"
The visitor acknowledged that he was the
man-that he had been recently released.
"Well," said Mcdonald, that's about the
kind Of crowd would expect to find Bill Hol-
ley running with, and you can tell this Buck
Holley, as you call him, that I suspect him of
being connected with this mob and that used
to make him stand hitched in the Panhandle,
and that I'm going to do the same here"
Monasco said Good night" and Captain Nc
Donald never saw him again. Somewhat later,
when he met Bill Holley, he said:
Look here, Bill, I'm afraid your partner,
Monasco, didn't tell you the message sent the
ulSuI Cdme L SAID 1 QlQnL KNOW BUCK HOlIey,
but that / knew a sorry, buldozing scoundrel
by the name of Bill Holley and that supposed
he was down the road there to take shot at me
from ambush. You weren't in this lynchng
mob, I reckon, but they're your friends and
you'd help 'em If you could Now, Bill, you've
been counting funeral good while, and if you
try any of your nonsense here, you'll win out"
The Ranger captain was out early the morn
ing after his arrival in Alley. and on the trail
The tracks Of the five horses were followed to
the houses of Joe Wilkerson and his son Brooks
and to the homes of John and Arthur Greenhaw
In Joe Wilkerson's lot he found part of we'll
rope, the remainder of which had been cut away
1t matched precisely with the rope used to hang
the Humphreys-the freshly cut ends being the
same on both. The Wilkersons and one of the
Greenhaws were taken into custody forthwith
and other arrests followed as the criminals wese
tracked home.
The testimony brought out the facts thst
the Humphreys had known of an illicit still run
by two men-one Polk Weeks and man named
Johns Also that they had known of John
Greenhaw stealing cattle and hogs, and that
John Greenhaw had once drawn a gun on the
elder Humphrey, who had promptly taken it
away from him, instead Of killing him with it
and rendering the community a service. These
things, added to the other provocations already
named, had made the Humphreys sufficiently
unpopular in neighborhood like the Trans
limb, trussed up to swing clear of the ground
Guilty knowledge of the crime actually killed
man named Eli Sparks, whose conscience tor.
tured him day and night to the point of giving
testimony, yet whose fears upon the witness
stand caused him to withhold the truth He
was large, red-faced man, evidently greatly ex-
cited when questioned and concealing more than
he told Soon after his first examination he met
Captain Mcdonald and offered to testify again,
couir, hat a 1,oI h11.~
the truth the first time, but thought he could
do better now. The Ranger captain scrutinized
him keenly and made the prophecy that Eli
Sparks would not live 80 days, unless he got
rid Of the load on his conscience He died in
just half that time; not however, until he had
fully confessed.
The efforts of the men believed to be con.
cerned as principals in the crime, to establish
their innocence were sometimes wary some
times crudely absurd and always fruitless The
mesh of fact that was weaving and linking itself
about them became daily more tightly woven.
more impossible to tear away. Knowing them.
selves closely watched, they dared not attempt
flight. To do so would be to confess guilt and
capture would be well-nigh certain Like Ahab
having comprised the death of a neighbor thew
LAY in sackcloth and went SOFTLY" Finally it
came to pass that three of these children of
Belial," turned states evidence-that is. thew
confessed fully, sacrificing their comrades nm
der the law, to save themselves. Eleven men.
including these three, were brought to trial.
In the final trial John and Arthur Greenhaw
and Polk Weeks, who were not only murderers
but cowardly traitors were given their freedom
in exchange for their evidence that sent their
eight associates to the penitentiary for life.
Polk Weeks, in giving his evidence anneared
much disturbed, but confessed how he had
climbed the tree and tied the ropes and tied
them too long, making it necessary for the
legs OF the Humphreys to be bent upward to
clear the ground. John Greenhaw corroborated
this but grinned as he told it, remembering how
amusing 1t had been. He did not live to enioy
MS freedom, for he was shot dead soon after
his liberation, by Willie Humphrey, son of one
of the younger Humphreys, and no punishment
followed the righteous act