The Dickinson press., 1917-05-05
AGED RANCHER AND WIFE
SLAIN BY EMPLOYE, WHO
THEN ATTEMPTS SUICIDE

SLAIN BY EMPLOYE, WHO
THEN ATTEMPTS SUICIDE
Concluded from page ~
which she told at the inquest, and
when she returned with it, he threw
her to the floor and then bound her,
hand and foot with strips of cloth
which were lying near the sewing
machine. Testimony of the girl and
the slayer conflict as to happenings of
the day following his return to the
home. That Chumick, apparently
crazed, assaulted her a number of
times is her statement. In his con-
fession Chumick denies this.
Then Attempts Suicide.
Later in the day, Chumick, declar-
ing that he intended burning the
house, shooting himself and perishing
in the flames, brought a horse from
the barn and saddled it. Placing the
girl in the saddle, he ordered her to
go to the home of a neighbor. He
accompanied her to the gate which
leads to the road passing the Cald-
we'll place, and there, bidding her
good-by, crawled through the fence
and started across a stubble field be-
longing to John Elkin, a neighbor.
A short distance from the fence,
perhaps 20 feet, he sat down and
pulled the trigger of the As Colts
revolver which he carried in the belt
about his body. Then he crawled, shot
through the body, a half inch below
the heart, with blood gushing from
the wound, to the Elkin home, and
collapsed on the back porch Of the
little home.
Mrs. Elkin, terrified by the CHASTITY
spectacle which met her eye when
she opened the door in response to
his feeble knocking, sent the small
son of Elkin's hired man for her
husband. Elkin hurried to the house,
heard the story of Chumick and
fastened for aid. Then when help ar
rived and medical aid for the wounded
man reached the scene, Elkin and sew
eral of his neighbors went to the
ranch, where the bodies were found.
Claims Self Defense.
Chumick, in his story of the af-
fray, told haltingly to the Elkins,
declared that Caldwell had first shot
him with the rifle and that he then
wrested the weapon from Caldwell,
shot him and then killed Mrs. Cald-
we'll, fearing that she would wait till
he was so weakened that he could not
defend himself, and then take his life,
if he spared her. He then told of at
tending to all the chores after being
wounded, and then Of dragging him
self to the house, a half mile dis
tant, where he asserts he helped the
girl to mount the horse, telling her to
go for help. Then he crawled across
the Caldwell field and through the
fence, across the stubble and garden
to the Elkin place. In his first state
ment he said that the killing took
place about noon.
1t was about $50 in the evening
when he reached the Elkin place and
he stated that he had been the en-
tire time, struggling through the
fields, in getting there. He asserted
that he had been lying near a hay
stack when Elkin passed by with his
team in the afternoon, but that his
feeble calls for help had not been
heard by Elkin.
Girls Story Shocking.
Doubt was first cast on his story
when the girl was found at the
Nels Swenning home, about eight
miles from the scene of the tragedy,
where she had fled when released by
Chumick. There she told States At
torney Burgeson and members Of his
party. including w. F. Burnett and
George Nolan and O. P. Branick, dep
uty sheriffs, who had left Dickinson
about 9 o'clock for the Caldwell ranch,
her story.
Testimony at the inquest, substanti-
ally the same as she gave when first
questioned by Mr.. Burgeson, was that
Chumick had gone to the lower
ranch about 8 o'clock in the morn
ing to attend to the chores. He re-
turned in about 20 minutes and asked
Caldwell to return with him to look
at a bull which he said was ill. He
came back again to the ranch house
for some salts and water and this time
Mrs. Caldwell accompanied him.
And then Chumick, for the third
time came to the house. He seized
the girl, she declares, after asking her
for whiskey, and threw her to the
floor. Brokenly, she told of his ac-
tons thereafter. Then he tied her,
hand and foot, and kept her prisoner
for about an hour, when, in response
to her pleadings, he unfastened her