Soapweed
Well-known member
1937, Thursday November 18, MERRIMAN MONITOR
PROMINENT RANCHER IS FOUND SLAIN
Walter Adamson, prominent rancher of south of Nenzel, was found slain in his automobile near a windmill in the vicinity of his ranch late last Saturday. Investigation led at once to the arrest of William E. Tillotson, a ranch hand at the home of the murdered man for the past several years. Adamson has been missing from his home since last Thursday, November 11th, when he left his ranch late that evening to take Tillotson to Cody after having dismissed him a few days previous.
According to officers, Tillotson had some differences with Adamson over his dismissal, and shortly after leaving the place for town, fired two bullets into his head as he sat in the seat of the car beside him. The slayer then stopped the car, moved the body from the driver's side, and drove on about five miles where he drove the car about a half mile off the highway near a well on the Adamson place. Leaving the car with the body of the man he murdered, Tillotson took one of his suitcases from the car, and walked to a ranch near the Niobrara River where he arranged to be taken to Cody. There he boarded the train for Chadron where he stayed the next day until the passenger train left for Omaha. He doubled back and went to Omaha where his wife works in a café.
Relatives did not become alarmed when Adamson failed to return to the ranch, until Saturday when a search was started. William Larsen of Nenzel on his way to town from the Adamson ranch about 7:00 Saturday evening noticed the top of the abandoned car from the highway, and upon investigation found the dead body slumped in the passenger compartment. The sheriff responding to a call from Larsen went to the scene and returned the body to Valentine.
Officers traced Tillotson's movements and found that he was still in Omaha, and called upon the Omaha police to cooperate. Within a very few hours the police department of that city had located the murderer in a rooming house in Omaha where they seized him. He had called upon his wife, and it was she who told police where he might be found, ignorant of the fact that her husband was wanted for murder.
Upon being notified of the capture, Sheriff Otho Kime and County Attorney W.B. Quigley were flown to Omaha by C.M. Miller of Valentine and immediately obtained a confession from the fugitive. He was brought back to Valentine and placed in jail where he was arraigned on a first degree murder charge last Monday. He waived preliminary hearing and was bound over without bail for trial to the District Court at the December term which opens December 6th.
Tillotson was employed in the Galloway Barber Shop during the celebrations here last summer.
Walter Adamson was widely and favorably known through the cattle country, having been one of the leading cattlemen and having one of the finest ranches in Cherry County. He was universally liked, and it was not known that he had an enemy anywhere. His death was a shock to citizens all over the county. He was a son of the late Dan Adamson, Commissioner of the 3rd District of Cherry County, in which Merriman is located.
In his immediate family he leaves to mourn his loss, his wife, one son and one daughter. Both son and daughter are sophomores at Chadron Normal, where they were at the time of the tragedy. Also surviving are his mother, Mrs. Dan Adamson of Cody, one sister, Mrs. Burrell Booth, two brothers, Irwin and Emmett, all of Cody.
Funeral services were held at the Presbyterian Church at Valentine on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock and burial was in the cemetery there. Pallbearers were County Attorney Quigley of Valentine, Fred Stotts and Boon Stotts, both of Cody; Tom Arnold, Fred Hoffman, and Moses Rossiter, all of Nenzel.
PROMINENT RANCHER IS FOUND SLAIN
Walter Adamson, prominent rancher of south of Nenzel, was found slain in his automobile near a windmill in the vicinity of his ranch late last Saturday. Investigation led at once to the arrest of William E. Tillotson, a ranch hand at the home of the murdered man for the past several years. Adamson has been missing from his home since last Thursday, November 11th, when he left his ranch late that evening to take Tillotson to Cody after having dismissed him a few days previous.
According to officers, Tillotson had some differences with Adamson over his dismissal, and shortly after leaving the place for town, fired two bullets into his head as he sat in the seat of the car beside him. The slayer then stopped the car, moved the body from the driver's side, and drove on about five miles where he drove the car about a half mile off the highway near a well on the Adamson place. Leaving the car with the body of the man he murdered, Tillotson took one of his suitcases from the car, and walked to a ranch near the Niobrara River where he arranged to be taken to Cody. There he boarded the train for Chadron where he stayed the next day until the passenger train left for Omaha. He doubled back and went to Omaha where his wife works in a café.
Relatives did not become alarmed when Adamson failed to return to the ranch, until Saturday when a search was started. William Larsen of Nenzel on his way to town from the Adamson ranch about 7:00 Saturday evening noticed the top of the abandoned car from the highway, and upon investigation found the dead body slumped in the passenger compartment. The sheriff responding to a call from Larsen went to the scene and returned the body to Valentine.
Officers traced Tillotson's movements and found that he was still in Omaha, and called upon the Omaha police to cooperate. Within a very few hours the police department of that city had located the murderer in a rooming house in Omaha where they seized him. He had called upon his wife, and it was she who told police where he might be found, ignorant of the fact that her husband was wanted for murder.
Upon being notified of the capture, Sheriff Otho Kime and County Attorney W.B. Quigley were flown to Omaha by C.M. Miller of Valentine and immediately obtained a confession from the fugitive. He was brought back to Valentine and placed in jail where he was arraigned on a first degree murder charge last Monday. He waived preliminary hearing and was bound over without bail for trial to the District Court at the December term which opens December 6th.
Tillotson was employed in the Galloway Barber Shop during the celebrations here last summer.
Walter Adamson was widely and favorably known through the cattle country, having been one of the leading cattlemen and having one of the finest ranches in Cherry County. He was universally liked, and it was not known that he had an enemy anywhere. His death was a shock to citizens all over the county. He was a son of the late Dan Adamson, Commissioner of the 3rd District of Cherry County, in which Merriman is located.
In his immediate family he leaves to mourn his loss, his wife, one son and one daughter. Both son and daughter are sophomores at Chadron Normal, where they were at the time of the tragedy. Also surviving are his mother, Mrs. Dan Adamson of Cody, one sister, Mrs. Burrell Booth, two brothers, Irwin and Emmett, all of Cody.
Funeral services were held at the Presbyterian Church at Valentine on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock and burial was in the cemetery there. Pallbearers were County Attorney Quigley of Valentine, Fred Stotts and Boon Stotts, both of Cody; Tom Arnold, Fred Hoffman, and Moses Rossiter, all of Nenzel.