The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-01-26
RECALLS MURDER
OF W. ]. PENROSE
MYSTERY OF THE KILLING OF
BUTTE EDITOR BAFFLED
MANY DETECTIVES
Shot Down at Midnight as He Was
on His Way Home; James A. Muir
rays Efforts to Locate the MUIR
derer; Penrose's Controversy With
Mine Superintendent.
BY Frank Trainor

There is al old saying ''mur-
der will out" and there are many
old timers in Montana who +
wondering if that expression will
come true in one of the many I'M
solved mysteries of Butte. Will
the future death-bed confession of
some conscience-tortured wretch
bare the details of the atrocious
crime which stirred Montana to it's
depths, or will the tragedy go down
in criminal annals as another of
the long list of crimes awaiting
solution on judgment day? For
it was thirty years ago last June
hat w. j. Penrose was shot down
at midnight OF a street corner of
hat city, and the motive of the
crime and the identity of his slayer
or slayers are yelled in as much
obScurity now as when his IifeIess
body was found within one hun
bred feet of his home.
Feeling in Butte ran high over the
horror of the tragedy. 1t was ap-
parently the cold-blooded, deliberate
act of some miscreant who had lain
in wait for his victim. The assassin
made sure of his work, for Penrose
was first struck down with a billy
made of a sawed-off shovel handle
plugged with lead and while pros
trate the gun was held at close range
to the back of his head and a bullet
sent crashing through his brain. To
all appearances it was a murder for
revenge and not for robbery. 1t was
not only the righteousness of the
crime that stirred Butte, but the fear
views might meet the same fate. The
dead man had been outspoken and
vigorous in condemnation of what
ever he believed to be wrong and
the popular belief was that his death
was the work of some cowardly
wretch who had suffered exposure
for his misdeeds by the unsparing
pen of his victim.
Conjectures, suspicious and theor-
ies there were a-plenty. Big rewards
were offered for the apprehension of
the assassins and scores of detectives
followed blind trails leading to no.
For months the town was
by an army of detectives all
eager to earn the rewards and suS-
poets were surrounded by swarms Of
and female sleuths. Detectives
given jobs in mines, mills and
shelters in the hope that some
word spoken by a worker
furnish a clue. Sweethearts
Of suspects suddenly found them
selves the center of attraction for
the attentions of newly-arrived gal
n n+- 1yh DNnnI oa rrAr1rs orr1 ~ - h1xf /
who we're Pinkerton detectives. The
emulation of all their efforts was
the arrest of three suspects, who
later freed after a rather SEN
hearing in the Butte courts.
There was one ludicrous incident
If the grim tragedy, which has never
been told. The late James A. Murray
vas a warm friend of Penrose and
le took an active interest in the
for the murderers. He engag-
ID a number of detectives, one of
hem being Walsh of the Denver Pin
Ierton force, noted for his success
n running down criminals. Walsh
ecured a job in a mine and worked
here several weeks. He was a lib
raj spender and ~hail-fellow, we'll
net among his miner comrades whom
le facetiously dubbed his "Molly
daguire chums." Now Pinkerton
nen were never at any time hospit-
bly, welcomed by certain elements in
Butte, and at this particular time
hey were unquestionably persona
Ion grata-as they used to say in
dublin gulch-for there was a strong
-~ndercurrent of feeling among many
f the workers that the deceased Pen
ose had fastened his own obsequies
y his untimely criticism.
Detective is Unmasked
One night in a Granite street bar
DOM, Walsh and a bunch of his al
eyed MOLLY Mcguire" comrades
drinking success to crime when
Colorado miner ambled in and join
d the group. Beneath the rough dis
use of the miner the newcomer de-
7cted M of the hated Pinkertons,
he had met Walsh before and he
robably regretted the meeting. The
liners were pretty we'll along in
heir cups and ripe for mischief so
1ere was a decided sensation in their
lidst when the stranger "bawled
ut" the Pinkerton "spy." Now were
lis tale founded on fiction instead
t fact, the detective at bay would
ave pulled some melodramatic stunt,
onfounded his accusers and bought