The Hanging in Choteau, Teton County, Montana

Compiled by Gordon Merritt July 12, 2020

 

Grandpa James Levan Merritt (1877-1949) went to Choteau, Montana, after learning to become a pharmacist with his brother in Iowa.  He was a twenty-year-old man and came on April 28, 1898.  He had previously worked in Montana putting in poles for telegraphs; he said that that was the hardest work he ever did. 

Choteau was a town of about a thousand, in eastern Montana.  It is east of the Rocky Mountain front, an abrupt upwelling likened to the great wall of China.  West of town is the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, and the China Wall.  The Blackfeet Reservation is north of town, as is Glacier National Park.  The area around town is known for fossil dinosaur bones and dinosaur nests with eggs. 

In Choteau James was hired by The City Drug Store.  It was a store that sold cigars, drugs, candy, shoes, clothing, knives, razors, wallpaper, fruit, nuts, patent medicines, perfume, photographic equipment, and supplies.  Very soon he must have purchased an Eastman Kodak camera that had 100 shots and when the snapshots were completed the owner sent the camera back to The Eastman Kodak Company at cattle Rochester, New York, and the film would be developed, and printed without  enlarging, and then mounted on cardstock and sent back to the owner. 

James Levan Merritt in The City Drug Store.

Newspaper ad for The City Drug Store, March 9, 1900, The Montanian, Choteau, Mont., page 3.

Two of James’ photos that survive are of a prisoner in the County Jail.  There is also a large photo of a gallows at the jail, done by a professional photographer.  I always wondered about these photos.

The big news of the day when Grandpa Merritt came to Choteau was the finding of a murdered man in a cabin north of town on Muddy Creek, south of Bynam.   Who the murdered man was and who had killed him was a mystery. 

When people met the man who was finally accused of the crime, William Pepo, they thought he must have some mental problems, from the way that he talked. 

Pepo was caught in Washington State, near Davenport: 

“A MURDERER CAUGHT. Sheriff Hagen Locates, Arrests, and Cages Wm. Pepo.  Pepo was located through letters he had written to his former friends, under the name of Win. Ferris, from Davenport, in Lincoln county. Washington. He was found by Sheriff at work on a farm about 14 miles out in the country...”  (The Montanian, Choteau, Montana, April 7,1899, page 1).

William Pepo in the Teton County jail at Choteau.  Photo by James L. Merritt

William Pepo at Teton County Jail, Choteau.  Photo by James Levan Merritt

Gallows in the jail yard at Choteau, 1900.  An enlarged professional photograph.

He was hung after almost two years, and an extensive newspaper told the story in some detail:

 

William Pepo was hanged in the jail yard early this morning (Saturday) in the presence of fifty to sixty witnesses.

Pepo had passed a restless night. To Rev. Cunningham he said: “I had no rest last night—People in here until three o’clock; maybe I slept two hours—Every­ thing is all right—I am not afraid to go— I am innocent, as I have told you in my letter—I never killed anyone, but I have been a very bad man.”- To the inquiry: Do you love everybody?  He said: “I forgive all, but I don’t want to discuss that now; I think forgiveness is enough; that is all the Bible requires.” “Now that you are going, you had bet­ter confess,” said Mr. C.  “ I do not see what use that would be: ''I am innocent.”. Pepo replied. Father Snell also had some talk with him but it resulted in nothing more than an argument on religion. At 6 o’clock Under Sheriff Hagerty read the death warrant to the condemned man in his cell. Immediately after the harness was ad­justed, and Pepo, escorted by Jailor Armstrong and Guard Devlin, was led into the jail yard where a little rug lay under the beam from which hung the noose. Pepo appeared to be the least disturbed of the three and recognizing several faces he bowed and stood calm but pale with the rope dangling by his left ear. Sheriff Hagen asked him if he had any­ thing to say. Pepo said: “Gentlemen—I have nothing to say ex­cept that I am about to be hanged and die an innocent man.” The rope was then adjusted by the sheriff and the stays placed about bis knees by Mr. Devlin. Pepo then said to Mr. Cunningham: “You’ll pray, won’t you?” The minister offered a short prayer and then the black cap was adjusted by the sheriff. Scarcely was that done, and exactly at 9 minutes past six o’clock the weight dropped and William Pepo shot upward into the air about three feet and back, tightening the rope so that the feet were about 18 inches from the ground. Scarcely a tremor disturbed the body, only once or twice was there a slight contraction of the lower limbs and body and in ten minutes the pulse stopped beating. The neck was evidently broken and death instantanious. A few minutes later the body was taken down and turned over to the county con­tractor for burial, which will take place at 3 o’clock this P. M. During the night Pepo wrote a letter addressed to Rev. Cunningham to be opened and read after the hanging and in the presence of Jailor Armstrong. The letter contains nothing but a denial of his guilt and thanks for the kindnesses shown him.  Several other letters were written by him in the same vein. 

HISTORY OF THE CRIME. On Wednesday afternoon, Juno 29,1898, word was conveyed by “ Bud” England to Coroner Jacob Schmidt that a dead man had been found in a cabin on Frank Truchot’s land, leased by Robert Davis, located about 15 miles northeast of Cho­teau and 12 miles east of Bynum, on the Muddy. The coroner, accompanied by Ewing Steele, drove out to the above designated place in the evening to con­vince himself that the report was correct They found the body in a bad state of decomposition, probably having laid there for two or three weeks. They returned to town late in the evening and on Thurs­day morning early, the coroner sum­moned a jury, consisting of O. G. Cooper, Thos. Smith, Win. Jones, Julian Burd, Ewing Steele and M. H. Ormsby, and repaired to the place to hold an inquest The jury on arriving at the place and entering the cabin, found the corpse lying on a bunk on his left side with bis bedding, consisting of three blankets and one quilt, covering his entire body, in­cluding bis head. The covering being removed from the head, the jury soon dis­covered that the man had been struck over the bead with a heavy instrument of some kind which had crushed the skull bone in, while back of the right ear he had received a heavy blow. Upon farther examination it was found that the blood from the wounds on his head had run down on the pillow and saturated his slicker suit underneath the pillow and on to his shoes, which sat immediately under the head of the bunk on the floor. The flesh had entirely dropped off the skull bone. He had apparently been a medium sized man, about five feet six inches in height. He was well dressed— apparently English made clothes—in up-to-date style. A fine overcoat, bearing an English trademark lay over the top of the bed cover of the corpse. Upon a careful search of the pockets of the clothes found, the following articles: A memorandum book, one towel, a pipe, and tobacco, a small pen knife, a lead pencil and some matches. A small horseshoe watch charm with several links of chain attached lay on the floor by the side of the bunk… In the memorandum book were notes of work done in 1895-1896 and numerous other writings were in the book, comprising scraps of poetry and ac­counts of goods bought and sold. He was also a short-hand writer, as part of the book fully showed. The verdict of the coroner’s jury was “That the deceased came to his death by blows inflicted upon his head by a heavy weapon in the bands of some person or persons unknown to the jury.” -The memorandum book purported to be the property of Wm. Pepo and this was the only clue that Sheriff Hagen had when he began the work of ferreting out the great mystery. He issued over 3,000 descriptive circulars and sent them broad­ cast through the country to chiefs of police, sheriffs, and others.  It was soon learned who Pepo was and where he belonged, but he had disap­peared. H . M. Kingsbury, the railroad agent at Shelby, upon bearing of the tragedy, remembered that, he had in his charge two bundles shipped from Leth­bridge to Julius Plath and Wm. Pepo, and that two men had called and stated that they were going south into the country to look for work and that as soon as they found it they would direct him where to send the bundles. This was about the 14th of June. Mr. Kingsbury never saw either of those men again until after Pepo’s incarceration. Not long after this the sheriff learned that about the 15th of June two men came to the ranch of Aug. Kropp, between Pondera and the Muddy, hunting for work. Mr. Kropp and other members of his family fully described the two men their clothing and particularly a watch chain worn by one of them. (This chain as was later shown on the trial was worn by Plath when seen by the Kropps but was found on the person of Pepo when he was arrested.) These men had stayed to dinner, and, all being Germans, had conversed quite freely. During the conversation Pepo remarked that that was a very lonely place and inquired if murders were not frequent. Not securing work, the men inquired the way and were directed on the way to Choteau, and the identical cabin where the murder was committed had been mentioned as a place where they could stop overnight, if belated. Here all trace of Pepo and his companion was lost, until Pepo wrote from Davenport, Wash., to Billy Welsh at Pinchor Creek, Alberta. Welsh at once notified Sheriff Hagen of Pepo’s whereabouts and the latter was soon arrested at a farm where he was working in Washington and brought here and lodged in jail.

DETAILS OF THE TRIAL. At the trial, Pepo’s letter was produced in court and acknowledged by him. In it he said he had changed his name to Wm. Ferris and asked that his where­ abouts be kept secret. It was also shown by the evidence of Sergt. Bertles and Constable Kruger of the N. W. Mounted police, stationed at Pincher Creek, that Pepo and Plath were acquainted and that both had disappeared from Lethbridge at the same time; that Plath had money while Pepo had very little, if any. Robt. Kroger was well ac­quainted with Plath and knew he had $120 immediately preceding his disappearance. He also know Pepo. He knew Plath to be a good citizen while Pepo was quite the reverse. Pepo was without money and besides had a very bad reputation. He had served a four-year term in the penitentiary for horse stealing and short terms in jail for thefts. Sergt. Bertles also knew Pepo but knew nothing good of him. Thus had the prosecution followed Pepo and Plath from Lethbringe to Shelby, thence to Kropp’s and the cabin on the Muddy, where the two men separated, one remaining behind with his skull crushed out and his teeth knocked out by his companion. By the testimony of James Hannon who lives in the North Fork Canyon, Pepo was shown to have attempted to cross the mountains at that point. He had come to Hannon’s place with his pack upon his back and inquired the way over the range. Hannon and noticed the man closely because he had thought him crazy who would ask such a question.  He finally directed him to retrace his steps down the river and thence south along the mountains to Gadot’s Pass. He thought nothing more of the matter until Pepo was brought from Washington, when it occurred to him. that possibly the man he had seen might be the suspected murderer. When he came to town he saw Pepo and recog­nized him, but waited until he heard his voice in court - before making the fact known to the authorities. The sound of Pepo’s voice was more readily recognized than his general appearance. which had changed slightly during confinement; and Hannon at once made his discovery known. By this testimony the state deemed the chain of criminating evidence complete and rested.

The defense, represented at the bar by J. G. Bair and Major Baldwin, setup an alibi. Their only witness was Pepo, and this is the story he told as elicited by the attorneys, pro and con:

 “I was born in Germany 48 years ago, and when I grew up I was run out of the country for stealing. I came to Canada and worked at various occupations finally coming to the Northwest Territories. Here I got into trouble and finally I landed in the pen, where I served four years. I also served a term or so in jail for various offenses. I was constantly getting into trouble. When working on the “Crow’s Nest” pass I met Julius Plath. I saw him last at Lethbridge. He was a nice follow and I sort of liked him. I had been advised by the authorities to leave the country, change my name and turn over a new leaf. This I resolved to do. I wanted company and so induced Plath to accompany me. We intended to go to the Palouse country to work in the harvest fields. He had some money, probably $30. I was short, having spent mine in drink and carousal. I saw Plath that evening, but when the gang (meaning others who intended to beat their way south) got onto the train I saw nothing of him. I never saw him again and do not know what became of him. We had shipped our two bundles of dunnage to Shelby, but I never saw Plath. We were put off the train several times along the road, but finally got to Shelby. I left my overcoat lying on the platform, in it was that little book (meaning the memoran­dum.) I left my coat in my hurry to get aboard the train. I was beating my way and found it inconvenient to take the coat. “From Shelby I went to Great Falls and from there to Butte, then to Ana­conda and from there to Helena, staying but a few days in each place. I followed the railroad because I was lame and could not walk very well. I had cut my foot in February, ’97, and the wound left me lame. (The prisoner was allowed to exhibit his foot to the jury. It showed an old scar.) That is the reason I did not go out into, the country to look for work, and besides I wanted to go away where no one knew me. From Helena I went to Spokane and thence to numerous other places looking for work. I found work in the harvest field, but it was too hard for me and I sought other employ­ment. I saved some money but spent it for drink. This spring I was working on a ranch about 14 miles from Davenport. One day Sheriff Hagen came and arrested me. At that time I had a chain on my watch which a Mr. Morgan had loaned. I took it off and laid it upon the table, stating that it was Mr. Morgan's and that I did not wish to take away with me. I thought it was left there, but I see it here in evidence against me as the chain worn by Julius Plath at the time he disappeared. Plath wore a small steel chain at that time. This one belongs to Mr. Morgan and if you don't believe me you can write to him and he will tell you I am telling the truth.  This practically was all the defense had to offer in the way of an alibi. Coroner Schmidt, Joe Arnold and Dr. Cooper were sworn and questioned to the proba­ble length of time the body had lain in the cabin when discovered, but no length of time could be settled upon by either of the witnesses, so that the date of the murder could not be established, though none thought the body could have lain there over three or four weeks. This completed the testimony for the. defense.

Mr. Sulgrove then made the opening, argument for the prosecution and was followed by M. D. Baldwin and J. G. Bair for the defense, after which County Attorney Erickson closed the case for the state. The jury was out all night and did not agree upon a verdict until after breakfast Friday morning. Their verdict was:

“ We, the jury in the above entitled ac­tion, find the defendant, Wm. Pepo,. guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in the information. H. A. Gillette , Foreman.”’

When that eventful moment came, Pepo stood up in his place and replied “I’m not guilty.” These were the only words: spoken by him. Judge Smith then sen­tenced him to be hanged on Saturday, July 8th, 1899. On July 6th a motion for a new trial was argued before Judge Smith.  The motion was denied and on the 17th of the month an appeal was certified to the supreme court. That court affirmed the judgment of the lower court on January 22nd. In speaking of the evidence the supreme court used the following language: “We are also asked to reverse the judgment because the verdict is not sustained by the evidence. To this assignment we have given the most attentive consideration, and our judgment is that it is very seldom that a case presents itself which so entirely fulfills the exact requirements of the law in relation to the measurement of proof demanded to sustain a conviction of murder where the state relies upon circumstantial evidence.”

 Further on in the opinion the court reviews the evidence in the following words:

‘The evidence in all respects sustains the verdict of the jury. It appears Julius Plath and this defendant knew one another well in the Dominion of Canada and that they said when leaving they said that they were going to this section of United States. Plath had about $120 in money when he left Canada.  He was clad in blue overalls with a bib, a black coat with braid upon it, and black shirt.  Defendant and a shorter man, recognized by photographs as Plath.  They w e r e together in Teton county at or near the railway station not many miles from where the body was found, a day before June l5th. Pepo and Plath both had sacks of clothing shipped to them at Shelby, from Lethbride. For these they never called.  The two men were seen together by several  ranchmen about June 13 and 14^th going toward Choteau, and about June 14 were told by a farmer that if they were overtaken by night they could find a place to sleep in a little log cabin about five miles from this place, and toward this log cabin they took their footsteps. It was in this cabin that the body was afterwards found. Nothing more was seen of the smaller man, recognized by photographs as Plath. The defendant was seen several weeks afterwards near the North Fork Canyon, where he asked the way of a trail through the mountains. “About nine months afterwards the de­fendant was arrested in the state of Washington. He was then living under an assumed name, and when arrested told the sheriff that the watch chain which he was wearing did not belong to him and he wished to give it to the man on the place where he was working, who owned it; no one claimed the chain there, however, and it was brought back to Montana by the sheriff. The coat found upon the dead body was identified by the persons who had seen the two men before as having been worn by the shorter man and particularly was it recognized by the brother of the deceased, who pointed out a hole in the side of the coat that had been torn and sewed up by his mother before his brother Julius left his home in Canada months before, The blue overalls on the body were identified as being such us Plath had worn. The shirt was also identified. So were the trousers on the body. The color of the hair and the height of the body were sworn to as cor­responding with Plath’s. The watch charm picked up on the floor of the cabin was also recognized by a child who had seen the two men at the ranch of her father the day before the murder was al­leged to have been committed, June 15, and who observed the charm on the smaller man’s vest. In the pocket of the overcoat found in the cabin where the body lay was a memorandum book con­taining entries sworn to have been made in the handwriting of defendant Pepo.  A blanket found near the body was recognized to be the same one that Pepo had had in Canada a year before. The watch chain which Pepo wore at the time of his arrest was said to resemble the one the deceased had on. A cracker box with some crackers in it and a handkerchief found on the floor of the cabin near the body were identified as resembling ones that had been observed in the possession of the smaller man by several persons who had seen the men a few days before the murder was said to have been com­mitted. The defendant denied that he had been with Julius Plath at all in Mon­tana and denied that he had seen any of the persons who said they recognized him. But the truth or falsity of his story was a matter exclusively for the jury and cannot be accepted by us now as sufficient to overthrow the overwhelming force of the evidence on the part of the state.

“We find no error in the record and must affirm the judgment and order ap­pealed from.”

 March 5th Judge Smith re-sentenced Pepo, fixing the date of his execution for April 7th, between 6 and 10 a. m.

Attorney Bair continued his efforts on behalf of his client and made a last strong appeal to the governor to commute the sentence to life imprisonment. Tuesday he received the following dispatch:

“J. G. Bair: After careful examina­tion of the record must decline to inter­fere in behalf of Pepo. Robt. B. Smith, Governor.”

This was the last card played in the desperate game in which the life of Wm. Pepo was the stake.

During the pendency of Pepo’s trial and appeal he was in a vicious frame of mind, cursing his fate and everybody and everything almost constantly. He refused all spiritual consolation, not wishing minis­ters or priests to call on him or talk with him upon the subject of the hereafter. However, after the supreme court affirmed the judgment of the lower court he became a changed man. He began to read the Bible, solicited visits from Rev. Cunningham and from the Epworth Lcague and professed to have sought and found forgiveness of his sins. The following letter written in Pepo’s own handwriting, with the request that it be not published until after his death, shows the condition of his mind as the fatal hour drew near:

'Choteau, Mont., April 6, 1900. The Epworth League and Members of The Methodist   Church: Friends

As my time on this earth is drawing to a finish I am looking more and more forward to my happy home with our Savior, He who died for me a sinner, that I might be saved through his innocent blood shed for the world on Calvary. I know that He also has a place for me in His mansion. I am willing to serve him God helping me, and be satisfied with the crumbs that fall from His glory seat.

Yes, glory be to God and our Lord Jesus Christ, that He has opened even my poor mouth to shout His praises. Many and many a night I have fought alone with my God in bitter tears of repentance of my sins until the Lord said: “Lay down thy weary head upon my breast, come unto me and rest.”

I wish, my friends that you give my thanks to Mr. Cunningham and also to Mr, Rogers, two earnest workers in the Lord’s vineyard. When Mr. Cunningham came to me the first time, I had almost given up hope, thinking myself forsaken by God and man. I hope that none of you or any other human being may ever know what it is without some brother or sister in Christ standing ready to grasp him. Dear Mr. Cunningham has been that brother to me, with you, dear friends, helping him, you helped to fan that little spark Divine that still remained, into a flame, and it burns so that I am not ashamed now to tell people what I be­lieve, and who has saved me from hell and damnation; namely, Our Lord Jesus now and forever, amen. If I lived a thousand years I could not find it long enough to tell of the happiness it gives me to know and feel that even I a social outcast, so to speak, have a friend in Jesus who cares for me  more than a mother would and forgives me all my sins and makes me fit to enter the kingdom of heaven. A mother’s love and care I have never known in this world but I hope to meet her there, and many things that are now dark to me I shall know.  When I was a boy, about 15, 1 had a dream one night. 1 remember it now as if it had been but last night. I dreamt I saw mother on her death bed, brothers and sisters standing about, and my step­ father; my mother told him to look after me, that I was alone in the world. Two days later my guardian told me that my mother had died. I dreamt about her although I never knew before that my mother was alive. I have always remembered that dream and it has been the cause of many a conflict in me between good and evil. Please thank all of your members who have been kind to me here in this world and I hope to meet you all hereafter in heaven. We all have but a short time to live in this world and I think it could not be better employed than to fit ourselves for the next, through the grace of our Lord to whom be all the glory now and forever. Very thankfully yours, William Pepo.  (Montanian, Choteau, Mont., April 6, 1900 – Delayed Edition, pages 1 and 4).

William Pepo was buried at the Choteau Cemetery in Block 62, and lot 6, as marked in the original burial record, the cause of his death was not noted. 

Another story in about a year shows that Pepo’s story continued:

Pepo’s Ghost.

Strange stories are told these days about Pepo’s ghost which it is alleged makes its appearance almost, nightly at the jail. It usually appears just after dark and in almost the same place where the murderer was hanged. If anyone else than Undersheriff Acton were the tel­ler of the story no one would pay any attention to it. But Acton is known to be without fear and he is not in the least superstitious. He says the first time be saw the ghost was one night just after dark when he went out to the coal house for a hod of coal. The ghost was dancing or sort of waltzing around on the loose plank right where the hanging took place. Acton says it looked exactly like Pepo only it had a kind of kink in the neck. This appearance is what one might expect to see when it is remem­bered what a twist poor Pepo’s neck got at that identical spot at the time he was made into a ghost nearly a year ago. When Acton first saw the ghost which was but a few feet away be spoke to it or him and tried to converse but the ghost wouldn’t talk but kept on dancing. The plucky undersheriff admits that it is a terror. He declares that the very thought of meeting that ghosty apparition in the dark gives him a creepy crawly feeling that he never felt before, and never wants to feel again. Moreover he has outstanding invitation for any one doubting the literal truth of the story he tells to go to the jail any dark night and he predicts such person will never want to go the second time. Undersheriff Acton and, Jailor Davis take no more chances of carrying coal after dark but make sure of a supply before darkness comes out. Ghosts always seem to prefer darkness rather than light and Pepo’s is no exception to the rule. (The Montanian, Choteau, Mont.,  Feb 22, 1901, page 3).

James Merritt at The City Drug Store, Choteau, Montana