The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-04-01
Special 10 The Tribune.

Special 10 The Tribune.
BOISE, Ida, March 3l.-rhe courts OF
Idaho have docreed that the scaffoll a
the state pcnitcntiary VIII claim TWO
more victims within the next few months.
il the letter OF the law is carried out.
for capital punishment is 10 be inflicted
upon Fred Gruber and john Flcmming
on May 20. Both men occupy death
cells az the state penal institution in tins
city, awaiting their doom Neither is
worried over his fate. Flemming states
he Is tired OF hddllng around and
hopes they Yill soou do business, and
Grubcr declares. "Thcrcll be lot Of
fun before I'm hanged. but IL J am IN
so ii alone IL H. quite Drcba blc The
hanging will he a double one.
| 70 these two mon there is no hone for
possible escape from death. Inc SUI
rrcmc court has turned its back upon
them. refusing TO interfere In the de-
cision Of the lower court. while Governor
James H. Brady cannot be influenced to
grant either commutation oi sentence
or perdon. With apparent unconccrn.
both men wait for the end. Srupcr
boistcrous and with contemptuous laugh
ter. Flcmmiug silent and gloomy 1he
death sentence in the pcnitentlary while
his lawyers and the courts attempted TO
settle the legal tcChnicaliiics which
arose Grubcr fell into the clutches OF
tho law last fall. is i sclf-confcsscd muir
dcrcr. was tried last winter and sentenced
To hang week ago. arriving nj Inc state
pGnitcnIary but ,s bSSn lSw omEc 1mEJ and and ccr
tain while with Flcmmlrg II has been
slow and deliberate.
The extreme sections OF the stale ot
Idaho are represented in the fulhllmcnl
OF lho most severe sentence TO be found
on The statute books. for Gruber com
mitted his awful crime upon com
panion in Kootcnai county in tho far
north and Flcmmiug murdered his for
mcr neighbor In Lincoln county. near
Rupert, IN the south
Few men take the death sentence as
calmly as did Gruber, who never moved
a muscle or allowed the mask OF un-
concern To drop from his face when nc
sat in the district courtroom in Occur
the court pronounce his doom, the death
sentence 10 be carried out on May 20,
between the hours OF $ o'clock IN the
Wonderful nerve was displayed by this
man who was found guilty of taking
the life OF his friend. John Billings. re-
corded i'm the criminal annals OF koote-
mai county as one of the most brutal
and cold bloodcd murders in its his
tory. He had nothing to say when sen
portunlty he will have to speak out pub
iicIy viii be given him as he mounts the
scaftold to pass into eternity. r,,.
Cruber confessed 10 numbering Billings
on October OF last year. The two had
nccn companions. striking a friendship
when they Joined the Parker Carnival
rnmnany in this city. This was in the
carly fall Of last year. Grubcr was an
oincirjnian Lei and Billings a helper with
the company When the show reached
netit larceny and left the company. When
Il iisbanded in Spokane last winter he
was seen IN that city In company win
Billings. The men were dInd paid doiisrs %a a'n IN
Ms pocIct. Joined Gruber. The TWO went
lo Occur dNcne. where. under decoy,
Gruber. cnticod his victim 10 go o[, 10 an
iond which Gruber stated he intended TO
bmy. Jnsuspecting Billings accompanied
him but never returned. Sruper S,1 sWuch
his companion down from behind with q
boayv club crushing the 5 kull. robbed
him OF his money ana Nsiuaoies. en9
then dragging the body rom on II .hS roao
he buried 1t under pile OF underorush'
uo escaped before the body was iound.
The federal authorities were persist
emily OIL tho irai or booticsgers on Ine
- p.rce Indian reservation about this
,lo. and shortly afterward they arrest
cd C;rlbcr on this charge but under an
assumed name. ic was bound oyer TO
The grand jury and cast inlo Jau, III l,le
r-.ea5ti,no the body Of Billings was rccoy-
orcd aud the Knotenal county ofhGinls
%cra hunting for tho murderer. TheE
80, photographs of him broadcast over
SLii' Ea cnpmntT1e and one Of these was used In
| ! n.,istnn 10 Identify the arrested Doot-
| logger. He was released by tue icaeraI
anthorities to the state, tried and con
eSctnd, after he confessed 10 the crime
| ia notive. nc said was robbery.
Bv a peculiar coincidence me second
murderer who awaits ,Gs GS"'' ,,ctinILFranI; ,tPi,F
InaTs Ihnanssford~ln the month OF % October ; but
year earlier or n l'2Si }Sud We Which, tMo ,heI ieU
S,,1iIasSt SaI ,ae Ia their ranches in Idaho from
the T5e's Southern states They entered land Ian,
under the Carey act adjacent 10 saGn T%d on G;m
,rouiG not die down and, after a quarrel,
Eirmminc ETq took up an adcontaseous po-
sition In a grain heId near Inn ,'-laLii tnLih
T@%n' m,%n had m.ls' TO pass over the highway to
~ VII his nome. AS Langforo. uncow-