Monday, April 8, 1901, Montana
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| Butte Daily Inter Mountain |
John Warne, the 72-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the death of 9-year-old Eveline Blewett at Walkerville on Saturday afternoon, was taken to Anaconda by Sheriff Furey an hour or two after his arrest and given temporary quarters in the county jail in that city. In view of the fact that public feeling was running high against the old man at that time, especially among the citizens of Walkerville, the sheriff considered it the more necessary in order to prevent the prisoner from meeting a fate that might have been as horrible as that of his alleged victim. The trip was made in a buggy, and as the old man was only thinly clad he was quite chilly when he reached the smelter city. As soon as the lynching sentiment expressed Saturday evening gives way to more conservative consideration of the case Warne will be brought back to this city and retained until the court disposes of him. When Warne was first taken into custody there was nothing of a positive nature to show that he made a criminal assault upon the child and then murdered her to obliterate all traces of the crime, but after an examination of the body of the dead girl had been made the case assumed a darker appearance against Warne and will yield n court a chain of circumstantial evidence as strong as has ever been forged in the fired of justice. That the child entered Warne's cabin some time before the fire broke out is a known fact that her body was taken out after the fire was extinguished is equally well known, but just what transpired between the time she entered and the time the shack cought fire is not positively known. There is a very strong belief, however, that Warne first committed a criminal assault upon the child then murdered her and set fire to the little house in order to destroy all evidence of his act. It is asserted that if this surmise is correct Warne poured coal oil over the clothing of the child after killing her, for some portions of her body were burned worse than others, indicating that the oil had touched these portions.
WARNE'S EXPLANATION.
After being arrested Warne told a story of how the thing happened, and while it appeared plausible enough as far as it went it did not go far enough - it did not explain the means by which the child's skull was fractured. As stated in the extra edition of Saturday's Inter Mountain, the old man was acting as watchman at the reservoir of the Butte Water company which stands on the hill in East Walkerville. The reservoir is enclosed by a high board fence. At the south side of the enclosure stood what was called the "valve" house which was built over a pit about 25 feet deep. At the bottom of the pit are the valves used in letting the water out of the reservoirs. To prevent the cold from reaching the valves the house was built double and the space between the boards filled with sawdust. Warne made the house over the pit his headquarters and, it is said, made a business of inviting children into his place. Among the children was little Eveline Blewett, one of two children belonging to Julia Blewett, a widow, who has had a hard struggle with the world singe the death of her husband several years ago. Eveline is the child who lost her life in the valve house. Warne is alleged to have said that on Friday Eveline paid him a visit and he told her that Saturday would be his payday and that if she would then call on him he would give her a nickel. Shortly before 2 o'clock on Saturday the little girl had called and asked for the nickel and he held it back from her. She had then attempted to take it out of his pocket and in so doing the gasoline stove was upset, its fiery contents being spread over the floor, setting ablaze the inflammable material within the room. In an effort to subdue the conflagration he had picked up the stove and carried it outside, but could not get back into the place again because of the intense heat.
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| Eveline Blewett |
Warne did not attempt to explain why he had carried the stove to a place of safety and left the child to perish in the flames, which fact is considered a link in the chain of evidence against him, or how the child's skull came to be fractured. If he is guilty of the crime with which he stands charged he evidently thought he could attribute his failure to save the child to the excitement of the moment, evidently believing that the fire would lick up all traces of the double crime of assault and subsequent murder.
SAYS HE IS INNOCENT.
Sheriff Furey and Warne talked about the case on the way to Anaconda on Saturday evening. Among other things Warne told the sheriff he was as innocent as a baby. He said further that little girls in the neighborhood of the scene of the alleged crime, had been in the habit of asking him for nickels; and on Saturday morning little Eveline had paid him a visit and asked him for a coin and he told her to call again in the afternoon after he had received his pay, and he would give her one. She called as requested, he said, and he told her he had no money, whereupon she had commenced to search his pockets. He had endeavored to get away from her and the coal oil stove had been upset. This statement was followed by the allegation that instead of running to the outside the little girl had laid on the bed and burned to death. The sheriff says the story sounded "fishy" to him, but in the absence of something to offset it he would have to consider it all right.
WARNE'S ARREST
Shortly after the fire was discovered the old man was placed under arrest by City Marshal William Kennedy of Walkerville, who placed him in charge of another man while he, Kennedy, loaned his assistance in the work of extinguishing the flames. The feeling at the very outset was strong against Warne and was growing in intensity every minute. It finally became so pronounced that Robert Thomas grabbed the prisoner and threw him over the embankment. The city marshal then realized that unless he ushered the prisoner to a place of safety in short order the coroner instead of the sheriff might get him, and he at once escorted Warne to the county jail. It is quite probable that had some stock not been taken in the old man's story the crowd that had assembled would have lynched him on the spot and tried him afterwards, justifying its actions on the proposition that any man who permitted or enticed little girls into his den should be hanged, no matter whether or not he committed an assault and then murder. The crowd was mad, too, because Warne had failed to notify some one when the fire broke out that the child was in the flames.
EUGENE CARROLL ON WARNE.
Eugene Carroll, general manager and receiver for the Butte Water company, says he believes that if he could see and talk with the prisoner a few minutes he could tell whether he was guilty. Mr. Carroll and the old man were well acquainted with each other by reason of the latter's connection with the water company as an employe [sic], which had covered a period of ten years. Warne always talked freely to Mr. Carroll, and the latter considered him to be in his dotage. Warne told him he was 72 years old, but to Mr. Carroll he appeared to be 80 and very feeble. Warne, he says, had very little knowledge of things in general, and appeared to be too old for intelligent action of any kind. Warne, he also says, had spoken to him about his two daughters, who resided somewhere on the coast, and had also mentioned his grandchildren. Warne had saved his money and kept it in one of the banks. About four years ago Warne told him he had heard the water company needed money; that he had $500 in bank, and would let the company have it if it desired to use it, adding to the offer that he knew the company would pay it back when times became more prosperous. Warne had frequently uttered remarks that led Mr. Carroll to believe he was short in sound judgement.
Mr. Carroll says, further, that there were some cans of coal oil in the valve house; that after Warne was locked up in the county jail he sent him a note asking him to call and see him, but when he called at the jail the sheriff had already started with Warne for Anaconda. Warne was a Canadian by birth, he says, and took out his first papers last fall. As to his character, he never knew anything about it, but had always heard him spoken of in a kindly way.
THE CORONER INVESTIGATES.
After the body of the child had been taken from the burning house the coroner was notified. He visited the scene and ordered the remains to be sent to the Richards undertaking rooms. The mother of the child, however, begged Coroner Johnson to have the remains restored to her after they had been prepared for burial, and the wishes of the lady were complied with. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Johnson took steps towards and official investigation. With Dr. C.V. NorcRoss he isited the house about 2:30 o'clock and examined the body with a view to ascertaining whether the child had been assaulted and murdered before the fire completed what is thought to be the final chapter in the commission of a crime the equal of which has never been known in this county. The examination disclosed the fact that the skull of the child had been fractured by some blunt instrument, presumably a hammer, the blow haviing [sic] been wielded with force enough to produce instant death. This revelation convinced both the coroner and the physician that the blow had taken the life of the little one before the flames began to complete the work of destruction. It was also found that the pelvic region was badly burned, leading the physician to believe that an extra attempt to destroy this part of the body by the use of coal oil had been made.
DR. NORCOSS' [sic] STATEMENT.
Dr. C.V. Norcross, who made a partial examination of the body yesterday and completed it today, says: (This part gets pretty graphic.)
"I found a hole in the skull about the size of a silver dollar, which looked as if it had been made with a hammer or other blunt instrument. The bone had been driven into the brain and when the brain became heated the substance inside of the skull forced the broken pieces of skull out and they were burned away. The brain was oozing through the hole in the skull. The hole is located just above the back of the right ear. The eyes dried in their sockets and the hands burned away. The legs were burned away almost to the knees, but the knees where not badly burned. The middle of the body was burned to a charcoal, but further up the marks of the flames were not so great.
"Today, in the presence of Drs. Renick, Sheerin and O'Leary, I removed the heart and lungs, my object to determine whether the child had enhaled any fire after being struck the blow on the head. I found that she had breathed after being struck, as the evidence of fire was in the lungs. Nevertheless, this does not alter my opinion that the blow was struck before the fire was started and the child rendered unconscious by it. I found something else that I had not noticed yesterday. When I began to prepare the body for examination I found clothing rolled up under the arms, which would seem to dissipate the old man's allegation that the child had run and jumped on the bed after the fire started. At the inquest, which will be commenced at 4 o'clock this afternoon, I shall state that it is my belief that the blow on the head was struck before the fire was started, and although death did not ensue before the fire the child was unconscious when flames started."
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| April 12, 1901., The Kalispell Bee |
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| April 13, 1901., The Kalispell Bee |
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| April 18, 1901., Butte Daily Inter Mountain |
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| June 18, 1901., Butte Daily Inter Mountain |
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| July 10, 1901., Butte Daily Inter Mountain |
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| October 16, 1901., Butte Daily Inter Mountain |
Last evening a jury composed of citizens of Powell county declared by their verdict that John Warne was not guilty of the murder of little Eveline Blewett. Residents of Silver Bow county have taken more than usual interest in this trial. The circumstances surrounding the death of the little girl, the inflames condition of the public mind, and the caution of the public mind, and the caution exercised by Silver Bow county's sheriff in spiriting Warne by night out of reach of possible violence, all indicated plainly that residents of Butte were inclined to prejudge the case and charge the old man with a crime without waiting for the forms of law to be observed.
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| November 6, 1901., Kalispell Bee |
