The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-12-13
THE cAsHEL MURDER CASE

hCiC LCoIH IA III Gil
physical endurance in the servie
in which a troopers early trai1
ing spelled the difference betwee
life and death. Constable Doa
would never have lost his reaso.
during a trip from Herscheil Islam
had he cultivated the self-compos
ure encouraged by his lessons a
a recruit. While, in this instance
Doak is to be pitied rather thai
c%ensured, | cite his case as prov
ing my contention that every
step Of the early training had
meaning, concealed though il
might have been at the time.
Inspector Phillips-Tubby Phil
lips we called him because OF his
stature-with Constable Doak and
another trooper, was stationed al
Herschell Island to collect the
whale tax. AS the three left an
island in a light skiff, a squall
came up and their boat was crush
ed by an ice floe. Initiating not
inaccurately Eliza crossing the
ice, they had almost reached the
mainland in this grim race with
death, when Doak slipped and fell
into the water. BY the time he
was rescued his reason had de-
parted. The men succeeded in
reaching their detachment after
days of hardships, intensified by
the necessity of caring for a mad
man. The written report by In
spector Phillips, after barely men
tioning Doak's plight, regretted
that the tax money had been lost
in escaping from the ice and wat
ers.
AS compared with the m
u instances of gun play depict
ed by the chroniclers of the Mount
ed Police, the actual occurrences
were conspicuously infrequent. In
the first place, a policeman's train
ing in the handling of a gun was
based, | might say, on the %injunc-
tion that he must never draw his
revolver as a threat. Not until
the emergency demanded that he
fire, was he allowed to unsheath
his weapon. But the regulations
were explicit in that they impress
ed upon the recruit that when he
did fire he should do so quickly
and accurately, "for the man who
plays the fastest tune wins" ran
the barracks ballad. In dealing
with a gunman, the police bene-
fitted by the criminals knowledge
that the officer, when necessary.
fired straight and quickly. That
was the reputation the force build
ed early in it's career and it serv-
ed to avert many a shooting |
scrape. The bad men knew, too,
that to shoot a member of the
Mounted would throw every mem
Der of the service upon his heels.
Sergeant Biggs walked nonchal-
antly into a barroom where a So
called bad man had shot up ev-
erything in sight. The gunman's
weapon was pointed straight at
his breast, but the officer continu-
ed his approach as if he were
walking up to the canteen count
er. He did not even speak to the
man behind that revolver; he
simply reached for the weapon
and, with a quick twist, gained
possession of it. The gunman was
tried and got a short sentence.
He realized that had he fired at
the officer, possibly killing him,
he would have been hung. A po-
liceman's life was held little less
than sacred in the good old days.
Sergeant Biggs played an i'm
portant, though tragic, role in the
Cashel Murder Case. Ernest Cash
ell, a hired man, killed his employ
er and escaped with $50 Ii mon
ey. Biggs, then a detective SER
geant, and, incidentally, a very
efficient one, discovered shortly al
ter reaching the scene that the
old rancher had been slain with
a hammer. The seam around the {
hole in the river was mute evil
dence of how the body had been
disposed Of. Because of the tenn
p%erature then prevalent, it was (
impossible to keep the ice open ]
long enough to search for the
body, so the sergeant set out to
trace the fugitive, who vas astride
a stolen horse. After three weeks
of days and nights in the saddle,
the capture was made and Cashel
was placed in jail at Calgary, AL
berta, to await trial.
Under the Canadian law, a pris-
oner awaiting trial is allowed to
see friends as long as a guard is
present. Frequent calls to the Wis
itor's cell were made by a Cath
Ollie priest. After some time the
good fathers presence became so
commonplace as to attract little
attention except for the routine
questions all visitors were asked.
On one particular visit the clergy
man stood leaning with his arms
raised against the cell bars and
with his back to the guards desk.
In the folds of his outer coat a
gun was concealed and this Cash