The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1924-01-09

hermit the visitors TO silently and
sadly depart from the secluded cell
room that seemed to them more like
a mausoleum than a place OF human
h~abitation.
When asked for her views on the
Danner case. a local woman who was
a member of a party that visited
the condemned mar in his cell last
week said:
One Life for Three
Like every other human being,
especially a who abhOrs every
form of killing in either man or
beast, l cannot but feel a certain
sympathy for Banner and genuine
sorrow over the fact that he must
/ pay the penalty of his crimes with
his own life. More acute seems to
be my feeling Of sympathy after l
have seen him and talked with him;
but this feeling SEEING 70 disappear
when the Nervousness of his crimes
comes into my thoughts. When !
think of the agony of suspense suf-
fered by Mrs. Sprouse all during the
afternoon and evening Of the day Of
the double murder, n%ervously and
/ imDatiently awaiting the return OF
her husband whose body during that
time, was lying along the river bank
with the entire upper part of his
head torn away with a shot gun
fired at close range by his travelling
companion whom he trusted and in
whom he had placed such implicit
confidence, my thoughts Of sym
pathy turns away from Danner and
goes to the bereaved wife.
"Then. when my thoughts turn TO
the fiendishly cruel and inhuman
method used by Banner in killing the
woman who was 0 TO become a
mother, as he said for the purpose
of Keeping her mouth shut and let
ting her know where John is now. 3
by striking her twice from behind
with the hand axe and then. to make
assurance Of death doubly sure and 70
stop the throat-gurgling of her death
throbs, binding her neck round and
! round with a piece of rawhide whang-
string, l can only hold Banner in the
most abject adherence. Even the
Sprouses' little dog, when he missed
r his masters and whined plaintively
for their lost companionship, wa.
l. killed with the hand axe by a blow
: also delivered from behind.
"YOu ask me how I feel about tn,
Danner case. / can only say, in tn,
light Of all the circumstances, that !
is a shame he has only one life t,
give IN return for the three human
lives he so ruthless, so cowardly an
so fiendishly snuffed out. l hea
Attorney General Rankin's scatchini
announcement of the accused murder
er in the district court, and at tn
time | though his arrangement wa
somewhat we're | am now cor
. WINGED that no one but a cowardl
cur and a guilty criminal of the low
est type could have sat, as Dame
x sat, unmoved, unaffected and appal
emily unperturbed while Mr.. Rank
branded him with all the most o.
p%robriOus appellations on the crimin
4 calendar, ranging from thievery ar
bOOtlegging to rape and murder
both the living and the unborn. That
an what think of the Banner case"
Banner Has Grown Fat
Not only has banners manner su
III fered a complete change, but his ph
steal appearance is noticeably diffe
ent. He has grown so fat that he 7
tic marked about being unable to ma
- both ends of his belt meet. His ia
and neck have also gotten so files
;+b that they have almost the appearan
OF being swollen or bloated. The DE-
on pallor Of ashy grayness which
always possessed, has deepened. a
the large circles under his eyes ha
greatly intensified their CLASSY z
pearance and rendered his counte
ance anything but pleasant to 10
at, the result, no doubt, of the inter
ave strain under which he must now
4 d liz"