The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-12-26

his meals there. On the morning of
the tragedy her father appeared at
times in excellent humor and at others
respondent and nervous.
Mrs. Harry Lanier, whose ranch
home is located up Bridger canyon,
and who was passing the house in her
cutter at the time of the tragedy, said
she heard a shot and saw Fred Mag
gard, the ~14-year-old son of the couple
running from the house, followed by
the elder Maggard, with a club of
some kind in his hand. He called to
the boy to stop, but the lad kept on
running to the home of his married
sister. Maggard then shot his wife
in the head for the last time while
she was on her hands and knees on the
porch and calling for help.
Needy, the boarder, who together
with the Maggard lad, were the only
eye-witnesses, ran out of the house
at the firing of the first shots, and
telephoned to the police from the
Shookman grocery. He returned later
to straighten up the premises after
the mortally wounded couple had been
removed to the hospital. Needy was
later arrested on orders of the coun-
ty attorney and is locked up in the
county Jail awaiting the calling of
the coroner's inquest and the result
of Maggard's injuries.
Sheriff Smith found five empty
cartridges on the floor of the kitchen
where the shooting took place. Mag
gard had eviedntly re-loaed the pistol
with three cartridges, two of which
had been exploded. Seven shots in
all had been fired by the crazed man
with telling effect, the accuracy of his
aim testifying to a great extent to his
probable sobriety.
A cheap comb and the woman's
lower set of false teeth were picked
up by the sheriff from the porch,
where she had fallen.
Two neighbors, who were on the
sidewalk at their homes nearby, said
they heard only two shots fired, as
did Mrs. Shookman.
The Maggards came to Bozeman
just six years ago this Christmas to
be with their son, Chester Maggard,
and their married daughter, Mrs. Cub
bage. They were natives of Okla
homa.
Arrested, Then Released
Immediately following the tragedy,
Sheriff Jim Smith instructed Under
sheriff Orville Jones and Deputy E.
M. Howell to proceed to the Maggard
ranch to attempt to locate the source
of the supply of moonshine liquor
which the officers had suspected Mag
gard of obtaining, with the result that
Jack Johnson, a Norwegian lumber
jack, was arrested on the place while
in the act of manufacturing moon
shine whisky.
A complete distilling outfit, includ-
ing a copper boiler, condenser and
coil, together with a quantity of mash
and several gallons of "first run"
moon, was c~onfiscated. The mash in
the boiler was still hot when brought
into the sheriff's office. Three bar
rels of fermenting mash were destroy
ed by the officers. johnson, who
gave his age at % years, refused tC
implicate Chester Maggard in the op-
Grafton of the still, giving as his reas-
on that he would never "peach" or
anyone. He also Dragged of having
"lots of bullet holes in me-"
AS young Maggard was known tt
have left the place about 80 minutes
before the officers raided the premises
about which time the still must have
been put into operation, the Officers
arrested him in this city and put him
in the county jail. He was later re
leased from custody on his recog
nizance, because of his extreme grie
over the tragedy. He had gotten int
trouble several weeks ago over a
: automobile and was saved from a peni
tertiary term through the leniency o
Judge Law who parOled him on hi
good behavior.