–Natrona County Tribune–
-Casper Wyoming-
-June 3, 1897-
-Page 1-
Robert Gordon Shot in the Side by a Rifle Sunday Morning
Last Sunday morning at about 7:30 o’clock in Kenneth McRae’s sheep camp, about sixty miles from Casper, Robert Gordon, a young man about 27 years of age, met with his death by the discharge of a rifle, the ball entering one side of his breast, at the top of the lungs, and coming out the other side. Death followed, it is supposed, almost instantly after the ball had entered his body. The body was brought to Casper, arriving here Wednesday afternoon, and a coroner’s jury, consisting of W. H. Koru’s, W. E. Tubbs and G. L. Andre was empanelled to hold an inquest. Mr. McRae, the only witness, testified about as follows concerning the affair:
About 7:30 a.m. last Sunday morning Robert Gordon came into my sheep camp and ate breakfast. He talked to me a few words, while I was in bed. He was sitting on the bench on the inside of the wagon the last I saw of him before the shooting occurred. Only a minute after he had spoken to me. I heard the report of a gun, and felt the force of the explosion. The gun was lying on the foot of the bed. Then I heard Gordon scream “I am shot, I am shot,” and saw him jump out of the wagon. I went out to where he was lying on the ground and saw the blood coming from his side.
Mr. KcRae says that Gordon had worked for him since last July, and he was a faithful worker and a good young man. Another man, named Pete, in the employ of McRae, was sleeping under the wagon when the affair occurred, and it is understood that he had sent word to Casper that the affair had better undergo a thorough investigation, and on the strength of this statement a post mortem examination was made by Drs. Garner, Dean and Leeper and what their decision was will be told to the coroner’s jury on next Saturday, the inquest being postponed until that time in order that witnesses who were present at the time of the shooting may arrive here and testify. In the meantime County Attorney Norton deemed it wise to hold Mr. McRae under arrest until after the inquest Saturday, so that the matter may be cleared up without leaving any room for ugly rumors or suspicion.
Mr. McRae gave the affair in a straightforward, clear manner, and he is perfectly satisfied that a thorough investigation should be made, and is now in the charge of Coroner H. A. Lilly and will be under arrest until the final inquest Saturday afternoon. Sheriff Patten and County Attorney Norton left this morning for the scene of the shooting and also to bring other witnesses.
The Story
A man is dead, mysteriously killed by the discharge of a rifle while another man sleeps below him. Mr. Kenneth McRae is conveniently the only witness (although Pete is under the wagon I guess) and Mr. Robert Gordon dies instantly (but not so instantly that he couldn’t exclaim that he was shot, and jump out of the wagon). There’s some suspicious stuff going on here, and County Attorney Norton agrees, since he detained Mr. McRae and went to investigate the scene.
The Indictment
This here is the front page of the Natrona County Tribune on November 18, 1897. This trial must’ve been a big deal back then because the entire front page describes the arraignment of Kenneth McRae. Most of the words are old-timey lawyer-speak; here’s an example:
At a term of the district court, begun and held in said county of Natrona, on the 9th day of November, A.D., 1897, the jurors of the grand jury of the state of Wyoming, in the county of Natrona, duly drawn, impanelled, charged and sworn to enquire of the offences committed within the boundery of the county of Natrona, in the district aforesaid, and in the state aforesaid, in the name and by the authority of the state of Wyoming, on their oaths do present and find that Kenneth McRae, on the 30th day of May, A. D., 1897, in the said county of Natrona, in and upon one Robert Gordon then and their being, unlawfully, feloniously, purposefully and of his premeditated malice, did make an assault with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a rifle commonly called a Winchester, with intent, him, the aforesaid Robert Gordon, unlawfully, purposely, feloniously, and of his premeditated malice, to kill and murder; and that the said Kenneth McRae a certain rifle, commonly called a Winchester, then and there charged with gun powder and a leaden bullet which he, the said Kenneth McRae in both his hands, then and there held, then and there, unlawfully, feloniously, purposely and of his premeditated malice, did charge and shoot off, to, at, against and upon the said Robert Gordon; and that the said Kenneth McRae, with the leaden bullet aforesaid, out of the rifle aforesaid, commonly called a Winchester, then and there, by force of the gun powder aforesaid, by the said Kenneth McRae discharged and shot off as aforesaid, then and there unlawfully, feloniously, purposely and of his premeditated malice, and strike, perpetrate and wound with the intent aforesaid thereby, then and there, unlawfully feloniously, purposely, and of his premeditated malice, giving to the said Robert Gordon then and there, with the bullet aforesaid, so discharged and shot out of the rifle aforesaid, commonly called a Winchester, by force of the gun powder aforesaid by the said Kenneth McRae, in and upon the right side of the body of him, the said Robert Gordon, of which said mortal wound, extending through the entire body, from the right to the left side of him, the said Robert Gordon of which said mortal wound, he, the said Robert Gordon, immediately died, and so the grand jury aforesaid, and upon their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said Kenneth McRae the said Robert Gordon, unlawfully, purposely feloniously, and of his premeditated malice did kill and murder, contrary to the form of the statutue in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Wyoming.
I’m no lawyer, but I believe that the same thing could be said in a more concise way. “The grand jury finds that Kenneth McRae did kill and murder Robert Gordon, purposefully and with premeditated intent and malice, with a Winchester rifle by charging it with gunpowder and shooting a leaden bullet at against and upon him, the said aforesaid Robert Gordon.” That’s how I would’ve said it. Anyway, the defense had a problem with the whole situation and asked to quash the trial, citing these issues (as paraphrased by me):
The Objections
- The body that’s presenting the indictment isn’t actually a grand jury
- The supposed grand jury wasn’t ordered to be summoned
- The supposed indictment isn’t due process of the law in Wyoming
- The supposed indictment says the jury was duly drawn, but actually it was just the sheriff choosing people
- One of the guys the Sheriff chose, Martin Gothberg, shouldn’t have been able to be on the grand jury since he had been a trial juror already for a previous term
- Martin Gothberg is unqualified to serve on the grand jury because he served a term as a trial juror in the previous term. (I can’t figure out how this point is different from the last, but the lawyer used a lot more words to make this point. I think the implication though is that because he had served as a trial juror in the same district, he already knew of the case and had already made up is mind, and that’s why he wasn’t qualified.)
- The Venue isn’t set in the indictment
- The indictment isn’t good enough for the defendant to plead or to put the defendant on trial
- The Court hasn’t gotten jursidiction to require the defendant to plead, or to put the defendant on trial
There were some arguments that followed these objections, but the said objections were all overruled:
The court took up each of Mr. Bradley’s objections and overruled them all, declaring that the mispelling of the word there as “their” was the most fatal made. The court said the jury was legally empanelled. Motion to quash was overruled.
Failing there motion to quash, the defense filed a plea in abatement, which basically is asking for a delay until a problem is fixed. The problem in this case being another juror who seemed to be already decided on the case:
William Kranich, has frequently and in public places in the town of Casper, in said county and state, since the first day of June, A. D., 1897, expressed violent and bitter opinions as to the guilt or innocence of this defendant. That on two occasions such opinions were expressed in the presence of this defendant, and on many other occasions when this defendant was not present and concerning which he, said defendant, had no knowledge or information until after the said supposed grand jury had been impaneled and sworn, the said William Kranich expressed violent sentiments of animosity towards this defendand and against the defendant, and expressed fixed and decided opinions as to the guilt of this defendant, so that said William Kranich was not a fair and impartial person to be summoned, impaneled and sworn to investigate this case against this defendant, and did not as against this defendant at any of the times in this paragraph mentioned possess the qualifications of a petit juror in the district courts of this state.
According to the defense, this Juror, William Kranich, had also been advising and counseling people who were raising money for the prosecution of this case, and had promised to donate $40 himself (before he became part of the grand jury). Seems like a conflict of interest to me.
Another issue, according to the defense, was that a bunch of the other jurors had also made up their minds before joining the grand jury, and so this whole thing just wasn’t fair and should be quashed and Kenneth McRae should be set free. The Judge again disagreed with the defense and said they should have challenged the jurors sooner, back when they had the chance, but they didn’t even show up.
Kenneth McRae plead not-guilty to killing and murdering Robert Gordon. The trial was set for January 17, 1898. We’ll pick it up again there.
Conclusion
Kenneth McRae is incredibly suspicious. He’s a (probably) wealthy powerful sheep herder at the tail end of the Wild West. Probably thought he could shoot poor hapless Robert Gordon and get away with it, but Wyoming doesn’t stand for that sort of behavior anymore. The whole town seems to have turned against him, against the good old days of itchy trigger fingers on Winchester rifles. In fact, the town has turned so hard against him that many of the jurors have already made up their minds. I wonder if that’s gonna be a problem later.
End of Part 1
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