Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1912-10-22
B0HUNKS KILL
MAN At MOORE
N. BURKE, FROM OKLAHOMA,
LOSES LIFE AND WALTER
RUSSE Is WOUNDED.
CONFLICTING VERSIONS
Bohunk Section Men Claim They Were
Attacked by Burke and His Two
Companions Without Any Provoca.
tion-Others Saw the Shooting
Was Wanton Affair.


was shot and killed at Moore Sunday |
afternoon shortly after o'clock and
Walter Busse was shot in the left arm
and badly wounded by a crowd Of Bo-
hunk section men. Walter Hoover,
who was with them, escaped injury by
lodging behind some cars, later max
ing his way to LeWistown. Hoover
was the only eye witness aside from
Busse and the Bohunks. A number
of shots were fired, and the fusilade
created lot of excitement at Moore.
9. M. Clary secured gun and went
to the scene soon after the shooting,
but the Bohunks had made their way
up town and were surrendering to the
police. Eleven of them were put in
jail tnen and three more were gath
cred in later.
Hoover came on to Lewistown, be-
| ing given ride by some parties who
| were driving in, arriving here at mid
night. He was taken into custody by
Sheriff w. r. Woods little later and
neld at the county Jail as a witness.
| Yesterday morning he was taken down
20 Moore to testify at the inquest con-
Quoted by Acting Coroner Kleinfelter
oy Deputy Sheriff VIM. Lacock, As
sistant County Attorney Stewart Nc
Conochie also going down.
Cause Of Killing.
Burke, Busse and Hoover had been
81 ~,
men being comparative strangers in
this section. They were on their way
20 the Flatwillow section, expecting
70 work there, and Sunday afternoon
went from saloon in Moore to a
rooming house, only to find it vacant.
It is claimed that they kicked in one
of the doors, but Hoover says this was
accidental. From there they went on
toward the houses on the right OF
way where the Bonunks were quar-.
tered. Hoover says he and his com
panions did nothing in particular to
provoke the attack, and that as they
passed along the Bohunks yelled after
them and one OF them threw rock
At them. Without more ado the sec
ton hands then opened fire, using re
volvers, rifles and shot gun loaded
] with No. shot. Burke went down
quickly, being instantly killed, while
Busse received full charge of shot
in his arm and Hoover lodged behind
the cars on the siding.
The Bohunks speak little English
but managed to make their side of the
story fairly clear. They claim thai
Burke, Busse and Hoover after kick
ing in the door at rooming house
came down to their quarters and
without any proyocation whatever
knocked the foreman down and were
starting in to clean up the place, wher
one of the section men ran into the
houses for weapons and began firing
in self defense. They professed no
to know which one of them fired thu
shots that killed Burke and wounded
Busse
Burke, who was generally know
| as "Slim," came here from Oklahom;
and little is known regarding him.
These are the versions given sool
after the tragedy and before the in
: quiry was made by the officers yes
terday.
f The Inquest.
ii The inquest over Burke was hel,
: yesterday at Moore before Acting Cor
oner H. N. Klinefelter. Assistan
County Attorney McConochie conduct
5 ed the examination of the witnesses
l The evidence showed that Burke
' Busse and Hoover had gone to th
. rooming house near the section mem
, cabins and, after breaking in the door
V had gone over to the section men
4 The foreman, Mike Valini, remon
3 strated with them for breaking in
door and Busy hit him id the cal
3 knocking him out. Then two nephew
!, of Valani, John DeAngelis and Thoma
Carafe, got guns and commence
shooting. Both were held as the one
responsible for the death of Burke an
the wounding of Busse. The latte
+ received a charge of shot in the lei
q arm, while three shot entered the al
q domn, and he is in a serious cond
e ton. He was brought to lewiston
q and is now at the hospital,