The Wolf Point herald., 1924-07-10

Crumpled in boulder grave on
Red Rock cliff between Bernice
and Basin, the skeleton of muir
dered woman, which may prove to
be that of the long missing Mrs.
Ernest LaCasse of Butte, was
found recently by Basin boy. The
woman had been killed by blow
on the temple, the crushed skull
shows.
The skeleton, tied in blanket, had
been covered by big rocks. Strands
of red hair which clung to the skull
and dental work and other details
led to the immediate theory that the
mystery of the disappearance of Mrs.
LaCasse had been cleared, while re-
lations declared they believed it to
be her body.
A piece of what was apparently a
sofa pillow, embroidered with roses,
was also found and may identify the
skeleton as that of Mrs. LaCasse.
Mrs. Fred Taylor of Basin, an aunt
of Mr.. LaCasse, viewed the scene at
Red Rock and was struck with the re-
semblance of the embroidered article
to the one presented to Mrs. LaCasse
by Mrs. Fred Wedlake of Butte, mo-
ther of Ernest LaCasse. Mrs. Wed
lake embroidered the pillow cover and
will endeavor to identify it. Mrs. Tay-
lor was of the opinion that it was the
body of her nephew's wife.
Ernest LaCasse, husband of the
missing woman, says that from de-
scriptions of the skeleton it was un-
doubtedly that of his wife and will
attempt to make positive identifica-
ton.
Turn to Skidmore
Should identification be made of
the skeleton as that of the Butte
woman, G. G. Skidmore, alias D. E.
Montaigne, now convict in the
Colorado penitentiary, who has long
been suspected of holding the key
to themystery, will be brought back
to Butte to stand trial for murder, |
Chief of Police Murphy has an
nounced.
The skeleton was discovered by
Harvey Burrough, 18 years old, of |
Basin, while he tramped around the |
rocks waiting for comrade. Bur-
rough and Charles Collins were mo-
toring in the vicinity when they ran
out of gasoline. Collins walked to
Basin to secure some and Burrough
remained with the car.
During his wait Burrough walked
toward the foot of Red Rock cliff,
about 100 feet from the roadside.
Noticing pile of rocks which indi-
Gated cache of some kind, he in
VeStigated an dfound the skeleton
1t had been jammed into a small
space among heavy boulders and
rocks had been placed over the grave.
Shreds of clothing lay about the shall
low burial place and the bones had
fallen apart.
Sheriff John w. Mountjoy of Boul- Y
der was notified and investigated the
discovery. The murdered woman's j.,
skull bore a heavy dent back of the |
right temple and the skull bone was Y
split, apparently the result of heavy r
blow from a hammer or some other l
instrument.
A rope had been tied about light I
blue colored blanket or robe in which n
he bones lay and pieces of what was q
blue and white house /
lress and silken undergarments were
n the blanket. u
In the seleton were a number of
,old teeth and two pieces of bridge a
work. LaCasse declares his wife had :,
imilar dental work. Some of the "
eeth had fallen out but were found
n the resting place. n
While DR.. II. B. Anderson, form H
rly of Butte, who performed the den :,
al work for Mrs. LaCasse, is now liv- :,
ng California, LaCasse hopes to be u
BILE to identify the skeleton through
be. teeth. O
Had Red Hair. A.
The victim in the Jefferson county =
ills had large amount of red hair, q
lch as the missing Butte woman =
ad, and the stature was of a small th
oman like Mrs. LaCasse. st
Ihe skeleton was taken to as
Iorgue in Boulder. re