La Junta tribune., 1910-08-27
Murdered BY . Crazy Man.

10 years Of age. who has been work
Ing at the Harvey House dairy cor.
raj for about ten days. WAS murder
ed In cold blood last Tuesday night
BY Eunis La Pierre. 4 crazy French
man, who had been working at the
same place for four days. and had
only known the murdered man for
that length Of time. Garrett was
shot to death about O'Clock Tues
day night, but nothing was known Of
the tragedy until $3.50 O'Clock the
next morning. when his dead body
was found In the separator room by
the four other employees at the cor.
raj, who got up At that hour TO COM
mence their daily labors.
Six men are employed at the Har-
vey House corral, and last Tuesday
night four OF them decided to come
to town. leaving Garrett and La
Pierre. who announced that they
would retire early. Later in the
evening the four men returned to
the corral, and one Of them found
that his grip had been broken open
and = revolver stolen. They found
no trace Of either Garrett or La
Pierre, although no particular search
was made for either Of them. and
concluded that both had decamped
after breaking open the grip and
possessing themselves Of what valu-
a les they could find. The four en-
ployes then retired. and next morn
ing about $3.50 o'clock one Of them
walked into the separator room where
he found the dead body OF Garrett.
There was a bullet hole In each shoul'
der. and another clear through the
head, from ear to ear. Near the
body was a washtub. and II was evil
dent that Garrett had been shot while
bending over the washtub washing his
clothes.
The employees Immediately tele-
phoned news Of the tragedy to the
Harveys House and from that point
Sheriff Potter vss notified. who CON-
menced the search for tAe mus4eref
aboul 5 o'clssA. taking TIE precas-
tion To notify the officers Of all Of
the adjoining towns In the meantime.
while the employees were bringing
A. -.hA ~. n
O'Clock In the morning one OF them
noticed \ man 10 . boxcaf near the
ice house that very much resembled
the murderer. and he reported the
tact to the Harvey House. Ben VII.
liams. chief OF the special service
Of the Santa Fe. happened TO be at
the Harvey House. and accompanied
BY the man who thought he had rec.
ognised the murderer In . car In the
east end Of the yards. started At
once for the scene. The employe
vas nos mistaken and Ia ftere was
soon located. lie made no resistance
aud admitted the shooting OF Garrett
- soon - be was Questioned. When
asked Why he shot Garrett. he re-
piled simply.
Because he was . devil"
How could you tell he was =
devtl!" asked ~ sfficer.
Because I ceull see II In bis eyes.
and I killed him because he was .
devil"
This was all that the murderer
would say or admit In reference to
the tragedy aud no amount Of ques.
tioning would induce him TO tell any
other 'alc. On other subjects he
seemed quite rational and would talk
intcliixcntly.
ben Williams brought him down to
the Harvey House where he VAS later
turned over to the shcriffs office and
landed In the county jail.
Sheriff Potter found that he had
buried the revolver with which he did
the shooting In . manure pile. Ls
Pierre says that alter the shooting he
went to the boxcsr near the Ice house
and went TO sleep. and Il was In
this same boxcar that he Was found
when arrested.
Robert Garrett. tho murdered man.
4 II thought. vas around 70 years
old. lie had been employed At the
Harvey House corral for about ten
days. and had evidently been hoboing
HE way over the country. He had
railroad map In Bile pocket. upon
which be had . route marked out Of
his travels from ~ Paso. Texas. 10
Dsavsr. VIA Ia Junta. There was also
. letter In biz pocket iron his mo.
thor. Mrs. Lou Garrett. Of Nashville.
Ark. Undsrtaksr King apprised her
of the tragedy ~ telegram. and In
feannnnn received n tU1enPnm of In.