Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-08-01
SAT 80 YEARS
IN STATE PRISON
FOR Staying MAN
TOM RILEY. CRIPPLED BY BLAST
SHOT BUTTE BANKER TO
DEATH; GOT LIFE

kAAnG IA AUC FcChDAfuB Oh B man
/ life. Yet it was that long since
Thomas !. Riley, who ls nov dead,
heard the words Of q Judge, nov
/ dead, that sent him, life prisoner,
TO the Deer Lodge penitentlary.
Then he was 80 years Of age-tn
the glorious prime Of manhood.
At so, before his death IN prison,
| his hair was snow white, rs Of
/ man much elder, and the lines I'm
his face had been deepened not by
| time alone. Thirty years Of terrible
bitterness had added their inerad-
/ icabIe mark.
For through all his years he never
once showed repentance for his act
and that Is one reason. so 1t Is said,
why his pleas for pardon were refused.
That is why governor after governor
denied him his freedom. They feared
that he would seek revenge-revenge
upon the world for the theft Of 80
years of his life. Perhaps their fear
was well grounded Perhaps because
they saw that revenge might constitute
long-delayed justice, they hesitated TO
open the prison gates for Thomas
Riley. Then, too, he was growing old
and one leg was crippled. The accident
which caused that injury was the first
Of the long series of events which
brought about Riley's downfall.
And so he sat In a cell at Deer
Lodge. crippled and gray. and braided
ropes and brides and trinkets TO keep
his tortured mind from the hopeless
confusion that long suffering brings.
The Butte Explosion
1t was on the night of the great
explosion In Butte that the chain OF
circumstances began which finally led
Thomas j. Riley TO the solitude Of a
prison cell to drag out his life between
grim gray walls where straight black
bars cast endless, changeless shadows.
There we're three warehouses at the
Butte station. All Of them were used
for hardware and all Of them we're
constructed Of corrugated iron. a
flimsy enough support for the stock OF
heavy goods they carried. In those days
an important article In hardwood stock
In butte was the ravel head. II was
made Of STEEL l0a inches long and 6
inches wide, and was attached TO q
long handle, much as Is hoe blade.
They were used in the smelters In the
huge watts where the melted ore was
contained. The heat melted the ravel
heads very quickly and requirements
we're necessary very often so that q
large supply was constantly IN demand.
These ravel heads were used TO line
the flimsy walls of the warehouse.
As Is the case now there was q state
law which prohibited the storing Of
more than 100 pounds within the city
limits, but the law was very generally
disregarded and In every one Of the
three warehouses great quantities of
high explosives we're stored.
Crowd Watched Fire
At $50 in the evening the warehouse
Of the Montana Hardware Co. caught
fire. The Butte fire department re-
sponded to the call from all directions
A huge crowd Of spectators congre-
gated on the slope above the building
to watch the fire. The firemen, mean
while, were working from the broad
loading platform that surrounded the
warehouse.
Then suddenly came a terrific ex-
plosion-the merchandise" within had
been ignited. And the ravel heads that
lined the walls were hurled In every
direction like bits Of shrapnel-with
effect scarcely less deadly. The entire
fire department was wiped out. The
complete list of injured has never been
known, but 1t is known that los per-
sons lost their lives.
In the crowd was Thomas Riley, a
miner employed In the Anaconda mine |
He was so badly wounded In the right
leg that he became a cripple fof life
and he was also seriously cut about
lAAC AACaAs G1E AGAu6nAC0 IA l&AC AADSk44teAA
for IS months. Then, seeking employ
ment. he found, OF course, that his
old Job was closed to him. He got |
work as porter and at odd Jobs, liv- !
ing as best he could The company had |
made money settlements with most Of |
the victims but though Riley had been |
to Pat Largey, the president, many |
times. he had been able to secure only /
a few hundred dollars in all. January, /
1893, almost three years after the 1
tragedy. found him dishwasher in q !
Chinese restaurants humiliation that 1
an Irish miner would find hard TO |
bear
Hear Pistol Shot
Pat Largely, one Of the best known |
men In Montana. who had made his :
fortune In freighting and trading, was
also president at this time Of the Mon
tana Savings bank IN Butte. To his
office Thomas Riley had often come,
so that when he entered the bank
during the noon hour one day and went
to the private office OF Largely IN the
rear, no one tried to stop him. What
happened during that visit Is not
heard. The employees OF the bank
rushed to the office in the rear. There
they found Largely dying from q bullet
wound while Riley stood nearby.
Riley was Immediately arrested.
Feeling ran very high In Butte. Many
OF Silver Bow and Madison
county were living In Butte. and with
visions of the Vigilantes IN their minds,
their first thought was summary pun
shment. II seemed for few hours as
Il there would be a lynching
On the other hand, the mining pop
1lation Of Butte felt Just as strongly
In favor Of Riley. The threatened
lynching seemed more likely TO be q
riot. Finally, however, the sheriff man
aged TO transfer Riley 70 Deer Lodge
Tor safekeeptng.
The county attorney, c. p. Connolly,
alleging that q fair trial could not be
In Silver Bow county because
Of the prejudice IN favor OF Riley, Sc
cured a change Of venue and the case
came to trial at Boulder IN jefferson
county.
On May a, almost 43 years ago, the
Jury brought in q verdict that found
him guilty Of second degree murder
and later he was sentenced 70 life inn
For 30 years Riley was In Deer Lodge