Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1911-02-14
Old Resident, While Temporarily In.
sane, Sends a Bullet Through
His Head.
one PECULIAR FEATURE
Gave Rise at First to Belief That Muir
der Had Been Done
Not Explained.


morning the body of Dollar Brabant,
resident of this section for about
thirty years, was found lying at the
gate of his place on East Fork, some
ten miles from town, with a bullet
wound in the head. Although the
barrel of a .22-caliber rifle, the
weapon with which the wound was in
ficted, was found clutched in the left
hand, it was at first thought that it
might be murder. but complete in
quiry convinced those having the in
vestigation in hand that Brabant had
taken his own life. Immediately fol
lowing the discovery Of the body, |
footprints were found coming in
from the field, passing through the
gate where the body was stretched
out and going on to the railroad
grade, where they were traced for a
distance of mile. This added color
to the murder theory, which was fur
ther strengthened by the fact that
one of the pockets of the dead mans
trousers was pulled out and some sill
yer, over three dollars, was found on
the ground some feet away. Within
a short time it was positively ascer-
tanned that the footprints were made
by half breed youth, Fred Laver-
dure, who returned to his home near
the Brabant place from town at about
o'clock Sunday morning and went
through the Brabant place to save
distance, Just where Brabant was at
that time is not known, but the body
was not then where it was later
found.
In support of the suicide theory it
was brought out that Brabant who
was getting along in years. and had
always lived alone in his little place,
was very peculiar and not long ago
had made remarks indicating that he
contemplated taking his own life. AS
late as last Friday it was observed
that he was acting in peculiar man.
| ner. The wound in the head must
have been inflicted by weapon held
! almost against it, as shown by the
powder burns The one fact that does
! not harmonic with the suicide theory
| is that the pocket was turned inside
| out and that silver was found on the
ground near the body
Verdict of Suicide.
However. after listening to the testi
| mony, the jurors yesterday afternoon
were satisfied and returned a verdict
setting out that the decedent came
to his death from gunshot wound,
inflicted by his own hand and with
suicidal intent
Was Road Supervisor.
Mr.. Brabant was French Canadian
and had no relatives in this state, so
far as known For many years he
had acted as road supervisor Per-
haps his closest friend was Mayor
Samuel Phillips, who had known him
over twenty years. He frequently
went to Mr.. Phillips for advice and
was also frequent visitor at the
mayors home. this being the only
house in Lewistown that he ever
visited Mayor Phillips says the de-
cedent was man Of splendid char
acter. honest, industrious and truth
full. He was a peculiar man. this be-
ing due in large measure to the fact
that he had lived alone so many
years. Through his industry he had
accumulated a modest fortune, esti-
mated at around $4,000
The Inquest.
At the inquest L. Lang, Perry
Heath, Art Hall, B. E. Gibson, Ray
d'Autremont and Dan Crowley were
sworn as jurors and County Attor-
ney Marshall conducted the examina-
ton of witnesses.
Samuel Bowman was the first wit
ness. He was neighbor of the de-
cedent and merely testified that he
was a peculiar man. The witness
saw the body lying near the gate OF
the Brabant place Sunday morning
Found the Body.
Roy Daily, who first discovered the
body, testified that he was driving
out to Bowman's place Sunday morn
ing and about half past eight noticed
Brabant's body lying at the gate, with
rifle apparently in one hand. He
made no examination at the time
simply reporting what he had seen as
quickly as possible. Returning then
with some other men he viewed the
conditions generally. There were nc
footprints around where the body was
lying.
Saw Brabant Saturday.
B. II. Mendenhall another neigh.
Dor of the decedent, testified to hav-
ing visited Brabant at the latters
home last Saturday afternoon. The
decedent was very peculiar man
II II