THE GALLOWS NOOSE - Tales of those hung in Butte, Montana - 1889 to 1926

 THE GALLOWS NOOSE ---

Tales of those hung in Butte, Montana: 1889 to 1926

MEN HUNG IN BUTTE, MONTANA (AND MONTANA TERRITORY) FROM 1889 TO 1926: (Source: Silver Bow County, Montana Executions - Genealogytrails.com )

Montana had executed 71 men between 1863 and 1943.
16 of these execution were prior to Statehood, 55 after.

Hanging was the only method of execution used.

ROBERTS, HARRY 
LUCEY, DANIEL
MARTIN, JAMES
FULLER, MILES
POWELL, SHERMAN
O'NEILL, JOHN
FISHER, FRANK
HARRIS, WILLIAM
HARRIS, MONTE
VETTERE, TONY

#1 HARRY ROBERTS

A CLIPPING ABOUT THE ATTEMPT AT CLEMENCY

Hung: August 23rd, 1889 
Crime: Murder
Occupation: Wagon master
Race: White
Notes and quick version: Harry Roberts became the last man to be legally executed by Montana Territory. The Welsh-born Roberts, a wagon master in Butte, was convicted of shooting Teamster Tex Crawford in the washroom of the Silver Bow House in May. He was hanged near the county jail building in Butte.

A Hanging at Butte, Montana. ST. LOUIS, August 23rd, 1889 A special to the Republic from Butte, Montana, says: Harry Roberts was hanged to-day for the murder of J. W. Crawford. The drop fell at 1:12 and Roberts' neck was broken by the fall. A strong pressure was brought to bear by the Grand Army of the Republic comrades and a number of citizens to have the sentence commuted to life imprisonment, and it was not until 8:15 this morning that the condemned man abandoned all hope of clemency, when Sheriff Lloyd received a message from Governor White refusing to interfere with the law's decree. Roberts did not weaken to the last, and died as he bad lived, a cool and determined man. Roberts' crime was the unprovoked killing of Crawford, on May 11th, last. Crawford was a teamster under Roberts, and they had had a quarrel, and Roberts shot him while drinking. 

Harry Roberts was supposed to be hung on August 16th , but that was postponed to give time for clemency to be considered by the then Governor Benjamin F. White. 

That clemency would not come. 

“I cannot interfere in the Roberts case. This is final.” wrote the governor in response to a plea for clemency as sent by a Catholic priest. 
 
According to newspaper reports, on August 28th, 1889, the execution of the sentence which condemned Harry Roberts to meet a felon’s doom for murder of J.W. Crawford committed on May 14th of the same year, took place in the east side of the jail yard at 1:12 o’clock Friday afternoon. 

His last words spoken were “I’d have got my reprieve if it had not been for W.A. Clark and W.M. Jack. I forgive them and have prayed God to forgive them and me. I hope he will answer that prayer.” 

During his imprisonment, according to articles, Roberts was a most tact able and respectful prisoner and won goodwill and friendly feeling connected with the management of the jail. 

The murder was committed on May 14th, four days after its commission, Roberts was indicted for murder. 

The trial began in district court on June 1st two days were consumed in selecting a jury. 

June 5th, the jury retired and found him guilty on the first ballot. Motion for a new trial was made and after two weeks, Judge DeWolfe overruled the motion and sentenced Robert to be hung on August 16th.

The case was appealed and on August 3rd, the Supreme Court rendered a decision affirming that of the lower court. 

Roberts was hung on August 23rd. 

In an earlier life, Roberts was in the Federal Army during The Civil War and served two enlistments during which he took part in 16 battles and engagements. At the term of both enlistments, he received an honorable discharge. 

#2 DANIEL LUCEY

DAILY INTER MOUNTAIN - JULY 3RD, 1899

Hung: September 14th, 1900
Crime: Murder, Robbery
Occupation: Miner
Race: White
Notes and Quick Version: Details of the crime and the appeal and results of appeal found here

According to the appeal finding, On September 2nd, 1898, Daniel Lucey and Patrick L. Reagan, both residing in Butte, made preparations to head to the mining district of Coeur d'Alene Country to seek work in the mines there.

Reagan had tried to get money from the bank where he had in deposit of $550 to obtain expense money but the bank was closed at the time, so he had borrowed $25, which consisted partly in a $20 gold from a friend who resided at the same boarding house as Reagan.

After some other errands, the two men both took the train to Anaconda, about 28 miles to the northwest. 

About 10:30 o’clock they were seen together at Rocker, three miles from Butte, on the wagon road, leading to Anaconda. 

There they entered a saloon, bought some beer and a bottle of whiskey, and then departed for Silver Bow Junction, five miles further along the road, intending to find lodging for the night there. 

Neither was seen thereafter until the following morning, when Lucey came down the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Rail­road, walking from toward Butte to Gregson station, carry­ing his valise. 

His clothes were wet and torn, and his face and hands scratched and bleeding. 

This station is 18 miles from Butte, toward Anaconda. 

He accounted for his condition by saying that he was on the early morning train, going from Anaconda to Butte, and had been thrown off by a brakeman, falling into the water at the roadside. 

He at once began to drink at a saloon near the station house, offering in payment a 20 gold piece.

During the forenoon of September 3rd the body of Reagan was found in Deer Lodge river, a short distance above the mouth of the canon. 

The front of the head and face was crushed in as if by a blow from a blunt instrument. 

The pockets of the clothing upon the body were turned inside out, except the watch pocket in the pantaloons. 

A $5 gold piece was found in this pocket. 

Nothing else of value was found. 

At a distance of 1280 feet up the river, between it and the railroad, the ground showed evidences of a struggle. 

There were pools of blood by the track, and a trail of blood leading through a wire fence to the river, about 125 feet distant. 

The wire fence was broken.

 At the river bank, in the sand, were human tracks. 

Near the pools of blood were picked up stones having upon them clotted blood and human hair. On the trail leading to the river were picked up some small coins, and the trunk key belonging to deceased.

Daniel was convicted of 1st degree murder on July 1st of 1899 and condemned to death on September 26th of that year.  He appealed but lost the appeal on July 16th, 1900.

He was executed on September 14th, 1900.

According to newspaper accounts of the day of the hanging, Lucey made no confession—he neither denied nor affirmed his guilt, but just before the noose was placed about his neck he
delivered himself of the following:

"Well. Ladies and Gentlemen: The only Statement I have to make is that
I was convicted by the Anaconda Standard through prejudice. I also blame the county attorney. I want to thank all my friends for the way they have treated me while I have been in here and thank the good fathers and sisters for the wonderful things they have done for me."

"I forgive all and beg to be forgiven. I am ready and willing to die."

While Lucey was talking someone on the outside of the yard, probably on top of the wall, yelled "Shut up," but Lucey paid no attention to it.

Also according to reports,the execution was a clean job, not a hitch occurring in any part of the proceedings. 

Each officer was cool and collected and knew his place and the part that had been assigned to him. 

The sheriff adjusted the noose, Under Sheriff Murphy drew the black cap over Lucey's face and fastened one of the body straps, while Deputy Sheriff Evans fastened another of the straps. 

The identity of the man who cut the rope which dropped the weight is not known, as it was intended,
that the one who essayed this role should be kept secret.

Father De Siere, Father Harrington, Father Battens and Father MeGlynn accompanied Lucey on the march from his cell to the gallows. 

The two former were dressed in priestly vestments and walked at either side of the condemned man.
Father Dc Siere at the right and Father Harrington at the left, with the other
two priests bringing up the rear.

It was principally due to the spiritual consolation which Lucey was given and accepted
from the reverend gentlemen and two Sisters of Mercy that enabled him to face death as coolly as he did. 

In the march to the place of death Lucey carried in his right hand a small crucifix and
the clergymen prayed.

Lucey's step was firm, but he was a trifle pale.

He held the crucifix tightly, relaxing his grasp upon it only after he had been jerked up.

A platform about two feet wide, two and a half feet long and four inches high had
been prepared for him to stand upon under the noose.

It was covered by a piece of matting. 

When he reached the platform he hesitated and then stepped upon it .turned about and
took a hasty look at the crowd, raising his head to an angle of about twenty degrees. 

The process of strapping his arms and legs was at once commenced and it was while this work was in progress that he made his statement. 

While standing upon the platform the priests prayed for him and he repeated the prayers after

them. 

When the prayer was finished each of the priests kissed him, the black cap was adjusted and the trap sprung.

Lucev stood about six inches to one side of the center of the platform and when
the weight fell his body was jerked towards the west.

This probably accounts for the fact that his neck was broken.

The body shot into the air about three feet and then zig zagged back to the peripendicular, settling with the feet about twelve inches above the platform.

Drs. P. J. Sheeran and T. J. Murray kept track of the pulse and at the expiration of five minutes announced that the neck had been broken and the heart had ceased to beat. The pulsation was quite rapid at first, but it gradually slowed until there was none left. 

When life was extinct the body was cut down and turned over to Undertaker Sherman for burial.

The execution was witnessed by several thousand persons, many of whom were perched upon house tops, on top of telegraph poles, in the jail yard and in the
windows of surrounding residences.

It was not customary at the time for women to view an execution, but some witnessed this one, which fact no doubt prompted Lucey to address the crowd as "Ladies and Gentlemen." The "ladies," however,
were not in the jail yard, but their morbid curiosity prompted them to climb to the roofs of adjoining houses and peer out open windows wherever available.

#3 JAMES MARTIN

Hung: February 23rd, 1904
Crime: Murder, Robbery
Occupation: ?
Race: White
Notes and quick version: James Martin was covered on this blog before --- his information and case can be found here

In July of 1902, Charles Lennox, along with his companion, James Martin, were convicted to hang for shooting and killing John R. Williams during an attempted robbery at Silverbow Junction in May of 1902.


Williams was an Oregon Shortline railroad brakeman who attempted to prevent Lennox and Martin from stealing a ride, according to some newspaper articles at the time.


While Mr. Martin met his visit with the noose in the early dark morning hours of February of 1904, Lennox decided to escape the holdings of his jail cell on August 9th, 1903 and was never seen or heard from again.


17 years later, a reward of $200 was still offered for his capture.


James Martin , at trial, claimed he was entirely innocent of the murder declaring it had been his companion Charles Lennox who had done the shooting.

#4 MILES FULLER

Butte Miner May 18th, 1906 

Hung: May 18th, 1906
Crime: Murder
Occupation: Miner
Race: White
Notes and quick version:Good article on the murder and the story of the ghost of Miles Fuller here

Another good story of the ghost of Fuller here.

Miles Fuller was convicted of the brutal murder of Henry J. Gallahan, an “old-time placer miner,” whose bullet-riddled body was found near the McKinley School on Park Street on October 24, 1904. Fuller had reportedly threatened to kill Gallahan several times. The pair, both in their 60s, was known to have feuded over alleged ore thefts in their placer claims.

During his trial, Fuller claimed that Gallahan laced his flour with powered glass and his sugar with strychnine, but other witnesses testified it was the other way around.

Fuller stated that the longstanding quarrel between him and Gallahan had begun when he had stopped the other prospector from molesting a child.

According to reports by the newspapers at the time, the execution was the quickest at the time in Montana, taking exactly 2 minutes from the time the procession left the door to the time the weight was dropped.

Sheriff Quinn, assisted by Deputy Frank Burke and others, quickly strapped Fuller's legs, his arms having been previously strapped to his sides, and Quinn adjusted the rope with quick but steady fingers.

Almost before the crowd realized what had happened the victim's body shot upward a foot and one-half

and fell back, swinging only slightly from the swaying end of the rope.

The body twitched slightly. A few convulsive movements of the fingers, and a slight trembling of the limbs and shoulders.

 Dr. Tremblay, county physician, and Dr. Mavette constantly

felt the man's pulse and the heart's pulsation. 

They stated shortly after the weight had been sprung that the neck had been broken. In eight minutes Miles Fuller was pronounced dead.

Some say the ghost of Fuller still haunts the Butte court house, his ghostly foot steps echoing and other ghostly appearances. 

All three were hung on the same day; January 14th, 1918. Sherman Powell, a black porter, was hung for murder. John O'Neill (an alias of John (or Ray) Gullich) and Frank Fisher, both white and occupations unknown also had the addition of robbery added to their charges of murder.

#5 SHERMAN POWELL

#6 JOHN O'NEILL (Or some articles of the time stated Ray (or John) Gullich was hung on this date. Discovered John O'Neill was Ray's (or John. This part is very confusing) alias.)

#7 FRANK FISHER

John O'Neill (an alias. His real name was either John Gullich or Ray Gullich, mattering to reports at the time) and Frank Fisher were accused of shooting miner Thomas Higgins as he came upon the two men robbing a man on South Wyoming Street.

Although Higgins' wound to his foot and leg were not serious, he died of blood poisoning a month later.

Many, at the time, did not believe the crime was a capital offense.

Both men voiced they were innocent of the crimes.

Sherman Powell, a Great Northern employee, fatally stabbed a co-worker, J.A. Montgomery over a card game, who Powell thought Montgomery cheated him during a over night stopover at Butte.

Powell was very well-liked, according to reports at the time, he even left thank you notes for the jailers.

During the trial, Powell was quiet on his guilt or innocence.

All three men hoped Governor Sam Stewart would hear their appeals but the denial came hours before the execution.

The gallows, known as The Galloping Gallows, were constructed for the triple hangings by Butte building contractor Michael D. O'Connell.

The gallows were state of the art at the time, they could be disassembled in seconds and stored and shipped (or galloped).

It stood above a concrete pit ten feet deep and sixteen feet square.

The condemned stood on the crack where 2 hinged door joined.

At the touch of the lever, the doors opened and the men fell, theoretically, breaking their necks so they wouldn't strangle.

Powell fainted before the lever was pulled and the other two men had to wait several minutes while he was revived.

According to accounts at the time, the hangings were witnessed by a hundred people. A mob of over a 1000 clamored at the yard gate for admission and the Washington Coast artillery held the crowd back.

#8 WILLIAM HARRIS

#9 MONTE HARRIS

William Harris and Monte Harris, neither related to each other, were both hung on April 20th, 1923, for the murder of Cyril Schilling.

The trap was sprung at 3:08 o'clock and 7 minutes later they were pronounced dead.

The two men were tried and convicted of the murder of Cyril Schilling, proprietor of the Harrison Hotel on the night of November 24th, 1921.

According to the news reports at the time, the murder was one of the most cold blooded in the history of the country.

Cycil Schilling was summoned to the door by a knock on the door, ordered to throw up his hands and faced by three masked men with guns.

"For God sake, don't shoot!" said Schilling. "You can have anything I've got!"

The reply he got was he was shot through the heart and fell dead.

Several of the guests were robbed by the men.

The men, according to the confession of one of the men, were suppose to high tail it out of Butte and head to Nevada for the winter, till the heat died down.

But apparently the haul from the robbery was not as good as they thought and then planned to jump a train to Nevada, but apparently that plan never came to pass.

The suspects of the murder were arrested within 24 hours.

There was five men implicated in the murders.

According to a confession by one of the men obtained by a local newspaper apparently through "illegal" means, the five men had planned on robbing the Holland Ice Rink that night but one of the men apparently fell ill and the job required five men (four to hold the guests and such of the rink at bay while the fifth got the money, the fifth was the one who fell sick).

The four men apparently devised the plan at one of the men's cabin to rob the hotel.

The five men were all recent parolees from the state prison in Deer Lodge.

And due to these paroles and the murder, the parole system in Montana was made more difficult to obtain a parole, which after that required numerous people including opinions from the judge and sheriffs involved in the convicts' cases.

The five men and the results of their trial were:

1. William Harris - Alias William "Slim" Lemmox - Hung for the murder - Also during the trial, confessed to numerous other burglaries in Butte including the burglary of $1200 in jewelry from Paul Hudtloff's home at 1415 West Porphyry Street in broad day light, sneaking into the home and lowering the shades so the numerous neighbors did not see him rummaging through the home. 

He eluded police in that case by jumping a train to Salt Lake City, Utah where he sold the jewelry. 

2. Monte Harris - Alias none - Hung for the murder - Monte was a Butte boy, from a good family, had been in trouble with the law (mostly in Great Falls where, from the news reports, was a well known police character there before being committed to the state pen where he served considerable time before he was paroled. 

He was known as as a habitual drug user in his time in Butte but was never arrested for major crimes. He was picked up for vagrancy before this case.

3. Clyde Miller - Alias Earl McCoy - Life in prison - Tried to confess to other crimes as his alibi for the night of the murders. Apparently that failed as he was sentenced to life in prison.

4. Edward (or Jack) A. Graham - Alias Neil Mulcaster - Jack was released. According to sources, he confessed about the crimes but then during the trial of Clyde Miller on the stand, he repudiated it, stating he was at home during the murder and robbery. 

Jack stated it was William Harris who shot Schilling. Jack stated William exclaimed to Monte, "I'm sorry I had to blast that guy." during his complete confession but later, as stated above, repudiated it.

He may have been the fifth man who was suppose to be part of the rink robbery but fell ill.

5. George Beach - Alias None - Life in prison - George was supposedly from Cincinnati, Ohio. He received life in prison for his participation in the murder and robbery.  

#10 TONY VETTERE 

Hung: January 1st, 1926
Crime: Murder
Occupation: Miner
Race: White
Notes and quick version:A good run down of this case can be found here. Tony Vettere was executed on the “Galloping Gallows” in Butte, Montana. He would be the last person judicially hanged in Butte. After death, Vettere’s brain was removed and examined by two doctors, who found no visible anomalies.

On November 22 at 9:15 PM, the Italian-born Vettere had encountered John Deranja about a mile outside of the town of Meaderville, a suburb of Butte in Silver Bow County. For no apparent reason, Vettere shot Deranja in the left side and killed him instantly.

By 10:00 p.m., Vettere was on North Main Street in Meaderville and saw Joseph Cicarelli standing in front of a house talking to another man, Antone Favero. Vettere called out Cicarelli’s name, raised his shotgun, and fired on both men. Cicarelli was hit in the shoulder; he died within minutes. Favero got it in the abdomen and lived long enough to get to the hospital and make a statement implicating Vettere. Then he, too, succumbed at midnight.

He shot at still another Meaderville man, Angelino Gucciono, but missed. Gucciono hit the ground when he heard shots and the woman he was walking with ran for the nearest house, where the occupants let her inside. 

Vettere chased after her and broke several of the house’s windows, but didn’t go in; instead, he fled the scene.

(More of the case facts can be found here )

The next day the police found him hiding, unarmed, in a gully eight miles outside of town. His murder spree seems to have been motiveless: he had had some problems with Gucciono, but that had been years ago, and he didn’t seem to have had anything against the other men.

Vettere, according to witnesses, was drunk during the late afternoon hours on the day of the murder, but by 10:30 he appeared to be sober.

Some people, even before his shooting spree, thought Vettere was crazy. He behaved erratically in jail and claimed he didn’t remember the murders. His lawyer claimed he “spoke incoherently on many different subjects” and didn’t seem to know why he was locked up. The court decided he was legally sane, however.

Vettere became one of the few condemned men who actually put up a physical resistance en route to the gallows.

He fought back with a pipe and a sharpened spoon and they had to gas him and haul him, semi unconscious, to the gallows.

After death, Vettere’s brain was removed and examined by two doctors, who found no visible anomalies.


His friends gathered enough money for a proper funeral and he was not buried in a pauper's grave, according to FindaGrave.com