The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1917-05-05

Stark in death, with head shat
tered and face crushed almost beyond
recognition by a high-powered bullet,
James H. CALDWELL, wealthy Stark
county rancher and nationally famous
as one of the chief figures in the j..
C. R. case, was found dead by neigh
bors in a cattle shed at his:SWinter
ranch, ten miles south and as3sinile
west of Taylor, late Monday evening.
Four feet away, with her windpips sl-
most severed by a shot from stthe
same rifle, lay the remains Of his
wife. On the verge Of a nervous col
lapse, brought about by day and
nj ght of terror, was a 14-year-old
girl, Ella Croy, companion of Mrs.
Caldwell. And lowering between life
and death in the Dickinson hospital,
the author of the shocking tragedy,
Mike Chumick,; employe Of the dead
couple, lies, gasping in pain-racked
accents for the boon Of death.
Gasping his confession in broken
English, punctuated by means of an
guish, muttering incoherently and
then bursting forth in fiery denuncia-
ton of the slain man, Chumick told a
sordid tale of the life at the ranch
home during the past two months.
Expressing no regret for his act and
declaring that only to save his own
life did he commit the double Staying,
he described in detail the events of
the day. 49,.
Slain at Winter Ranch.
Caldwell and his wife were slain
in a cattle shed about 20 rods from
- Hhnrn1ok
states that an alteration Of
Sunday had intensified the i'll
feeling between Caldwell and his en-
ploye to the point where only a word
was needed to send the pair into
murderous rage. And that was sup
piled when Chumick mentioned the
famous J. C. r. case. Immediately,
according to the confession of
Chumick, the ranchman poured tor
rent of abuse on him, cursing him
and calling him all the foul names at
his command. Caldwell then started
for the house and in few moments
returned. With him he carried a
1880 Winchester repeating rifle, and
he was accompanied by his wife.
Without word he leveled the weapon
at Chumick, his finger on the trigger.
Chumick says that, certain that
Caldwell was in deadly earnest, that ne
intended taking his life, leaped at him,
Selling him by the throat with his right
hand and showing the gun aside with
his left. A momentary scufle and the
gun was in Chumick's possession. He
showed Caldwell to one side, then
Mrs. Caldwell was upon him with a
rush, clutching at his throat and at
tempting to seize the gun. Without a
moments hesitation he shot her, the
bullet tearing through her throat, and
killing her almost instantly. With
the blood lust upon him he turned
and fired second shot, and Caldwell
dropped to the floor Of the shed, shot
through the head, striking full on his
face against one of the heavy sup
porting posts Of the building. Only
quiver and he, too, died, and then
the slayer, going to nianger nearby,
returned with an armful Of hay, par
TALLY covered the bodies and departed
from the scene of the double staying.
= Apparently unmoved by the horror
of the brief struggle and it's terrible
outcome, he proceeded to where his
team was standing, Embarrassed them
and attended to some other chores
about the place. <tt s5.s
II Girl Is Misused. 4
He then returned to the Caldwell
home, where the Croy girl was alone.
He demanded that she bring him
whiskey, according to the story
Concluded on page 81