The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-10-24

NO
lower jaw and the lower part of the
skull of the man, which were wrapped
In a gunny sack, becoming detached
from the body while it was being re-
moved from the pool.
He described the woman as having
weighed, in life, from 16O to 1875
pounds, short and stout and with large
thighs and bust, and the man as about
six feet tall and of slight frame. He
said the torsos were examined later
at his undertaking establishment by
DIR. c. S. Smith and the late DR..
James E. Elliott. He was then x
cused and returned later with the
woman's skull and the mans lower
jaw, which had been packed in saw
dust in a paper carton. These
some exhibits were first marked for
record by the court reporter and then
passed by the attorney general to the
jury for minute examination after the
two separate fractures on the woman's
skull had been described by DR.. G. S.
Smith on the stand.
Court Officials Testify
County Attorney E. A. Peterson was
called to the stand after an arrange
ment had been made with the court
that his presence on the witness stand
would not debar him from participant
ing in the closing arguments for the
state.
He testified that on June II, Dan
ner signed two statements in the
presence of Sheriff Smith, Deputy
Sheriff Patterson and Guy E. Marvin,
the court reporter who took down
stenographic notes, in which the ac-
cused man described his actions since
the year 1920 when he first met
Sprouse and his wife at Garland, N,
D., and from which place he and his
wife departed alone in their Ford
truck ION Nov. IL, arriving about two
weeks later in Rocky canyon, where
they camped the first night and OF
Baker creek, where they camped the
second night in Gallatin county. Ir
these statements Banner said that
when he reached Three Forks he wa:
given a job driving a big county
track by Ed. Avery, the garage mar
at that place. The county Attorne!
was vigorously cross-examined by At
torney Smith.
The testimony of Court Reportec
Marvin was introduced for the pur
pose of positively identifying tn
documents, which were entered a
plaintiffs exhibits Two and Three.
DIR. c. S. Smith, one of the tw
physicians who examined the tw
! bodies in the undertaking parlors
testified as to the nature of the in
juries that resulted in the death o
Sprouse and his wife. He said tha
, the top of S~prouse's head had evident
I, ly been blown off with a shotgun
) while the fractures on the skull {
the woman could have been produce
by a blow from either the sharp edg
or blunt end of an axe. The sku
and jaw bone exhibits were marke
Five, Six, and Seven.
Mrs. banners Testimony
Mrs. Iva Bertha banners test
. mony, to the introduction of whiC
: Attorney Smith waived all objection
" was begun with her statement TIL
= she was wife, cousin and s%tep-daug,
: ter to the accused man whom she h;
" known and called papa" since 81
2 was three years of age at the tin
of banners marriage to her mothe
: She said she was born somewhere
Kansas in the year 1901 after t
:. death of her father.
In 1915 her mother died and ea1
"a the following year she and her ha
n sister, Florence accompanied Damn
- to Dillon where she was married
= him Dec. %, 1915, and where h
- first baby, Della Eldora, was DO
IN the following day. Her second chi
Marvin Eugene, was born the folio
ing year, and. a third child was be
A at Three Forks after the commissi
of the crimes at Central Park.
She described her nomadic life a
of said they had lived at various tin
he in Bozeman, Ennis, Ruby, Wills;
ng Livingston, Yellowstone Park a
IL other places, making their abode,
en- the most part in tents pitched alo
RS the road. Only in this city and
as Livingston did the family reside
he a house.
he She described first meeting
of Sprouses at Britton, S. D., in 19
Ilv and that Mr.. and Mrs. Sprouce 6
Dr. her family departed from Mobrid
OIL S. D., in the spring Of 1920, the +