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SECOND SECTION The independent has VOLUME 7. NUMBER 1 Gust Johnson, a well to do farmer residing eight miles southwest of Ken mare, on Section 24-159-89, was mur dered some time last Thursday night and his body buried in the cellar of his home. Robert S. Noah, aged 27 years, and Patsy Coyle, aged 21 years, are in the Ward county jail, held without bail, charged with the crime. The story of the cold-blooded mur der is one of the most blood-curdling in the history of Ward county, and the evidence points without a sem blance of a doubt to the guilt of the two men held for the crime. The last time that Johnson was seen alive, by his neighbors, was Wednes day night of last week, when he spent the evening at the home of a close 9neighbor, Monger Johnson. He went home at an early hour. The murder was probably not committed until some time Thursday. Pat Coyle, the younger of the sus pects, began working for Johnson on March 16, but quit the job on March 26 and went to Kenmare. This was Thursday. The following day he .went back to the Johnson farm and met the victim. That day another man appeared at the farm, Robert S. Noah and the two likely laid the plans for the murder. It is supposed that the men killed Johnson, then threw the body down thru the trap door of the cellar, and secreted it between the stairs and the potato bin where it was found last Monday by neighbors. Tie body was covered With djrt and rubbish and dust was 'sprinkled over it to make the pile of rubbish appear as tho it had lain in the cellar undisturbed for a long time. When Johnson did not appear about the place on Friday and Saturday the neighbors became auspicious and questioned the two men as to the whereabouts of Johnson. Noah had a nice little story all fix ed up. He said that he had known Johnson for a good many years, in fact he said that Johnson had worked for his father years ago when he, Noah, was a little boy. He said that the day that he came to Johnson's place, Johnson received a letter from Sweden stating that hie mother was about to die and asked him to come home immediately. Noah says that the old man wanted to rent him the farm, and accordingly a contract was made out by Coyle, and signed by Johnson. The signature to the con tract is not that of Johnson at all, so the neighbors say. iilii A a 1 ti»c Kenmare Farmer Brutally Murdered Gust Johnson's Head Shot Off By Robert S. Noah, a Con vict—Patsy Coyle His Partner in Crime—Noah Con fesses the Entire Story—Men in Jail. Irrigated Fruit Farms Frank P. Woodmansee of the International Land, Irrigation and Development Company, of Ash 1 craft, British Columbia is in the City and will be glad to meet all persons interested in irrigated lands at F* E. Graves office, Optic Block, where there is a dis= play of fruit produced on the lands which he has for sale. .. Largest Noah says that Johnson authorized him to sell the grain, and accordingly he started hauling the grain away from the farm to Kenmare on Friday. He hauled one load Friday and another Saturday. He also intended disposing of the horses and paying up the debts and in the fall he was to pay up other debts for the man and if there was any money left, he was going to send it to Johnson in Sweden. He stated that he took Johnson to Kenmare Thursday night, saw him pay $12 for his ticket to Minneapolis and get on the train with him bidding him good bye. When it became- apparent to the neighbors that the two men at the Johnson farm were lying like troopers, word was sent to Kenmare and 011 Monday the officers communicated wuh Sheriff Lee who ordered an in vestigation at once. Deputy Sheriff Frank Hoffine accom panied by Chief of Police Jack Kenser of Kenmare and Mr. Brunner, went out towards the Johnson farm. At Kenaston they met Noah when he was on his way to Kenmare with a third load of wheat. He had taken a buggy and left it at the livery barn at Ken aston and had started on and when arrested was a little ways outside of Kenaston. He accompanied the officers back to the farm where Coyle was ar rested. Noah says that he had hired Coyle to work for him for the coming season at $35 per month. After his arrest, Noah was very cool and laughed and told stories to the officers en the way~baek to. thq farju He said he must change his clothes before going any further and opened his trunk and put on his better clothes. By that time a large crowd of the neighbors had arrived at the farm and began a search for the body. The officers left at once for Ken mare and when they arrived there about 35 minutes later., word had been telephoned in that the body of the murdered man had been found in the cellar. The men were in Hoffine's office when word came in, and as Noah heard it, he looked up quickly, as if surprised, and then his head fell down on his breast He showed no further emotion. Everything points strongly to the guilt of the two men. Johnson had bought some new lin oleum from Peter Bertleson, but had not yet put it down on the floor. "The men unrolled it and nailed it to the floor, completely covering the trap door with it. There was no other CTCUJdtion of any 'Mozkly means of getting into the cellar. They afterwards claimed that .the door was in an unhandy place and they intended making an outside cellarway. They said that the last time they were in the cellar was on Friday. Noah went down after a pail of po tatoes. He handed them up to Coyle and says that if the body of Johnson had been in the cellar at the time, he would have seen it. He says that he was surprised to know that the body was found in the cellar, for he had supposed that the. man was well on his way to Sweden. The story sounds very fishy. Johnson was a widower 47 years of age. His son-in-law lived in the vicin ity of his home. It is believed that Coyle will weak en and turn state's evidence, and will cough up the entire story. Coyle is a bad actor and under the training of a man like Noah, would be apt to do most anything. Two years ago Coyle with a compan ion went to Newport, near Kenmare and attempted to hold up a store keeper. The fellow managed to get away from the young ruffiians, and they became alarmed and started out of town in their rig. Several shots fol lowed them, but they escaped. Later they were arrested, brot to Minot and tried. Coyle was sent to Bismarck for eighteen months, Judge Goss at the time lecturing him severely. At the penitentiary he met Noah, who bunked with him. The two men likely made up. to kill some wealthy farmer when they got out, and the murder of Johnson is undoubtedly the result of plans hatched in the pen. Noah had been in the pen for pig ging. His father-in-law, Mills, runs a livery barn at Douglas, and his wife and baby have been Iving with the father. They have been sent for and it is expected that they will soon ar rive in Minot. Noah is a well built fellow with black hair and has quite a neat ap pearance. ,. He Is a dare devil. To the officers he sai3, "If I am convicted I will step upon the gallows and stick my head under the noose with a smile on my face." it is believed that he would do so, and he will probably have an op portunity. The neighbors are very much incens ed over the murder and had the body been discovered before the men were taken away by the officers, there un doubtedly would have been a double lynching. When the neighbors found the body, they merely uncovered the face enough to learn that it was of their friend, and then left it unmolest ed, awaiting the coming of Coroner Ekrem. They then started for Ken mare and attempted to catch up the officers. Had they done so, they would have made an attempt to take the prisoners away rrom them and in that case there would have been a lynching. Pulling the trigger with a stiff wire on a gun that lay on a trunk, Robert S. Noah, according to his own con fession, murdered Gus Johnson, a Kenmare farmer, in cold blood last Thursday. The complete confession of the hor rible murdere was mad# by Noah yes terday afternoon to State's Attorney George A. McGee. Noah says that he and Johnson went to Kenmare last Wednesday, bought some whiskey and went home, sobering up by Thursday morning. He says that the two men got up and did the chores. Noah says that he got breakfast and went out after a bucket of water. He entered the house and laid his gun across a trunk in the room. He said Johnson was sitting at one end of the breakfast .table, with his back toward him, and that he, Noah, pulled the trigger on the gun with a stiff wire. The bullet struck Johnson in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Noah said that he became very frightened, not knowing what to do. He first intended to dig a hole and bury the body, but he finally decided to throw the body down cellar. He went to Kenmare the next day with a load of wheat and bought some household furniture, although he did not know what he wanted it for. Later he made a trip to Kenaston, where he was arrested. The complete confession follows: Examination by Mr. McGee Q. What is your name A. Rob ert S. NOah. Q. That is your true name? A. Yes Q. How old are you. A. 27. Q. Where were you born? A. In Texas. Q. How long did you live there? A. We lived there only—when I was a little over a year old we left there. My mother died there. Q. Tour mother died there when you were small? A. Tes. Q. Your father Is still living? A. Paper in THE WARD COUNTY INDEPENDENT MI NOT, WARD COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1908 SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 PER ANNUM Q. In Texas A. No, Ghoteau, Ok lahoma. Q. Go ahead and tell us in your own way just what took place up here at Johnson's place. A. The only thihg was I was not there with Mr. John-on, and I went out with him somewheres along the 15th or the morning of the 16th. Q. Of what month? A. March, this same month. I went out there with him and he wanted me to stay with him and send and get my wife and keep house for us and me work for him on the farm. Q. Did you work for him during the fall? A. No. I was there ten days. We was cleaning grain and there was not much to do then, haul ing a little coal and just peddling around there, so we went to town on Wednesday at the sale on the 24th and bought a lot of old harness and stuff. Q. Who did you buy that from? A. I don't know who it, it was a sale there. We bought $2.75, that is what it cost. And then we went over to Kenmare and got two quarts of some kind of—old brandy he called it, and I got 1hat quart of alcohol and we went our and we had a little jag that night and the next morning we were both sober when we woke up. Q. You slept with him that night? A. No, he slept in one bed and I slept in the other one. So we went out and done the chores and I got breakfast and I went and got a bucket of water and I don't know how I ever done it. I laid the gun. across the trunk. He was sitting at that fable (indicating) and I was sitting at that end (indicating) and I had a long piece of wire that—a pretty good sized wire, stiff like a telegraph wire, and "I just shoved the trigger on the gun—it was all cocked and I just shoved and it hit him in the back. I was scared so I didn't know what I was going to do then and I never said a word after the gun went off. I was scared so I just tumbled him down in the basement, and I thought I would go in town and tell it and I thought if I told it then I would get in trouble and I thought I would keep it then iiiiii the Slats of North Dakota—5SOO Copies Each Week and go back and take him out and wash him off and bury him some place, build a box and bury him some place myself and I didn't know what to do then and I got the whiskey and drank that and there was a load of grain there and I took it into Ken mare and sold it in Kemare and I bought the bedstead and mattress am1, springs and two comforts and two pil lows and a wash stana and an ironing board. I don't know what I was buy-1 ing them for. I Q. What did you do with the b°d that was there? A. It is laying out side. I took it down and put it out side. Q. Did vou put him in the bed? A. No. Q. Did he fall over A. The bed was like this, but it was on that side (indicating). He never fell over, just leaned his head over like that. Q. Where did the charge hit him? A. On the neck there I don't know whether it was on the side or in the center of his neck, I never no ticed it, might have been a little up on the head a little. Q. Did he say anything after he was shot? A. Never said anything at all, not a word. Q. About what time in the day was this? A. A little after eight, I guess. Q. In the morning? A. In the morning. Q. On what morning A. On Thursday morning a little after eight o'clock. Q. How long did you leave him sit ting there in the chair? A. I sort of ran first out of the house. I thought I would go away and lock the house up and pull out and then I thought I would not do that. He was in that chair five or six or ten min utes probably—I went out to the barn and back, and then when I came back from the barn I thought I better lay him in that hole there and there was a lot of old rags and stuff he had thrown down on the steps and a box of sand was there that he was going to make a box and put around the Flowers and Seeds VALKER & EKMAN THE FLORISTS Have arrived from Minneapolis and are located in the ECONOMY DRUG STORE, South Main Street THEY HAVE A VERY FINE CARNATIONS, VIOLETS, EASTER LILi.iL Fully As Nice a Line As the Large Cities Afford Funeral and Wedding designs a Specialty Easter, Palms and Other Potted Plants Seeds For the Garden and Flower Beds Out of Town Business Given Prompt Attention Satisfaction Guaranteed The Flowers are always FRES Phone 7J3,r MINOT, N. fr PACES 9 TO 16 stove to spit in and catch the ashes, and was setting there and when he went down the hole I kicked the box and slammed the door and hitched up the team and drove to town. Q. Did you put a blanket or any thing around him? A. Not a thing. Q. Did he bleed there on the floor? A. Some, yes, but there was an old niece of blanket or robe or something, I -lon't know what it was, I just put iyiy foot on it and gave it a shove like hat, and mopped it across. Q. How did you get him in the cellar? A. I just took him and pulled him along there and started hie feet down and turned him loose and let him slide down the steps about as near as I can tell it, I don't know how he fell. I didn't go back until Friday night and then I didn't reach where he was. There was a lot of spuds—there are a lot of steps on the ladder but there was three steps here where you go to reach into the bin. They were not as far as him and I was scared and I threw a few spuds in the bucket and handed the bucket to the kid and slammed the door and late that night we put a carpet on the front floor. It is just a little two room shack and I got it and I throwed the sipuds away and then I said I be lieve I will go down again, no, I says, all right—so I don't know what to do, and I stood a long time and I thought I would catch a freight and get out of the country. So the next day I took a Joad of grain to town, another load to town and I took that to Ken aston. I hauled it there and the boy with me that day and we got to Ken mare and I sent the ticket to my wife and five dollars and I thought when she reached there I would sell an other couple of loads of wheat and pull out of the country and bury him somewheres in a box and tie the old steps down and fill the cellar up with dirt and get out, that is what I thought we would do. I didn't know what else to do. Q. What did you do with the gun? A. I put it behind a little wash stand (Continued on Page 16) ASSORT^fNT OS S* 1®