Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-08-07
.CRULL'S FAMOUS
PLEA PRESERVED
COPY OF GRAFTON WHICH HAS
BECOME HISTORIC IN MON
TANA OBTAINED BY HILGER
Occasion Was Legal Proceedings Fol-
lowing Arrest of Two Citizens Charged
With Horse Racing on Sunday In
Days When Roundup Was Young.

David Hilger, librarian of the Mon
tana Historical library, through the
good Offices of l.. C. Burns Of the
Helena revenue Office, and H. b. Glib,
on, ~stenographer of LewistOwn, has
secured a copy of the famous appeal
for leniency made by Colonel E. j.
Crull, back in 1909, in Judge E. X.
Cheadle's court, when he pleaded
guilty to the charge of racing horses
on Sunday.
Colonel Crull and B. F. Bruckert
were jointly accused, and while they let
1t 60 at that, and paid fines Of 500
each, the piece Of classic oratory with
which Colonel Crull assailed the ears
Of the court and convulsed the &C.
cupants of the court room, one OF whom
was Librarian Hilger, has created many
q chuckle since.
Colonel Crull opened his appeal with
the statement that it was a defense,
but in explanation of the "humiliating
position" he occupied. He said it was
a balmy Sunday afternoon, and that
he was on his way to attend an Ep-
worth League meeting when he fell
in with a party going in the same di-
rectiOn to a horse race.
After describing the beauty of the
sunshine and the city, and how he
was thrilled by the prospect of seeing
the greatest of sports, forgetting his
obligations as a Christian gentleman,
he fell into the deeply beaten trail that
led him into degradation.
He arrived at the racetrack, where
we're gathering in gallant array "the
beauty and chivalry of the Miracle Of
the Musselshell." And there was a
horse race. He saw the Pride Of For
syth, fleeter than q gazelle, and the
unbeatable Dixie. In prospect 1t was one
OF the greatest speed contests in 'musty
history"
He had $26. He determined to get
even with his whole life. He played
the Pride of Forsyth. He was told it
was a frameup, and he believed 1t was.
He touched on the law as follows:
1T is alleged by some of the par
Elephants, your honor, that this race
was held within an enclosure, in order
that there might not be a violation Of
the law, and according to the broad
minded view held by us who have lived
In the days of the unfenced range, it
was an enclosure. AS fragile memory
serves me, there was q barbed wire
fence bounding the enclosure on the
east; to the north, by the elasticity OF
my imagination, I could discern sthe
aurora borealis; on the south was the
procession Of the equinoxes and on the
west, sir, was eternity, the end OF time.
AS I recall now, your honor, those
sturdy horses could still be running
and not have covered one-ffth Of that
half mile, straight-away course"
The Pride Of Forsyth ran like a
wihded range COW, and did not come
under the wire till after the invfncible
Dixie had been twice curried down in a
stall. The day vas n Of "grievous
disappointment, dire humiliation and
financial engulfment."
He was not the only sucker; there
was a wall from Melstohe to Lavina;
but he admitted to the court that he
was ashamed. However,. he desired to
assure the latter that. If In the future
there should. be a horse race In one
direction and a dog fight in the other,
he would walk away from both, and
never again would be, accused OF horse
racing where The race was "jobbed,"
whether it be in a legal enclosure or
not.