Two Powder Kegs and a Spark

By Shane Dunning

http://www.redshalereflections.com

According to the precise definition, Rosebud County Sheriff Billy Moses died in the line of duty. On January 14, 1914, Sheriff Moses arrived at the Rosebud (the town) residence of Johnnie Burgess to serve a misdemeanor warrant for disturbance. Moses was dead only a few minutes later, shot in the chest and the neck. Law enforcement officers face terrible uncertainty, never knowing what awaits them, even in the most routine of duties. However, this was in no way a routine service of a warrant, and Billy Moses knew this.

Originally from Texas, William Moses came to the northern plains working the trail herds. In 1900, he was elected Sheriff of Butte County, South Dakota. Its county seat, Belle Fourche, was a rough and tumble-town on the crossroads of three states. Moses was a successful Sheriff and was re-elected several times. In 1906, tragedy struck when his wife Nellie died unexpectedly.

He went seeking new surroundings and found it as a livestock inspector in Northern Wyoming and Southeast Montana. Livestock rustling was a chronic problem in the area, and Moses' reputation as a dogged enforcer of the law attracted the attention of some large cattlemen in the area. John B. Kendrick and the Spear Brothers helped to recruit the former Butte County Sheriff to relocate a few clicks west. He was an effective livestock inspector, and within a few years he settled down enough to marry twenty-one-year-old Dora Wright. In 1912, Billy Moses ran for Sheriff of Rosebud County and won.

Johnnie H. Burgess had been a long-term resident of the territory between the Tongue and the Powder. He had a successful career as the trail boss of the SH Cattle ranch on Powder River. He married Martha Bowles (widow of William Bowles) and settled down in the town of Rosebud. Johnnie Burgess seriously considered running for Rosebud County Sheriff in 1912 but declined in order to support the candidacy of his good friend, Billy Moses. One of Sheriff Moses' first acts was the appointment of Johnnie Burgess as deputy. Only two years later, their relationship radically changed. A local newspaper explained:

There has been a bitter feeling between the two men which arose less than six weeks ago, when the sheriff's wife left him because of brutal and inhuman treatment and came to the Burgess home and asked if she might stay there...

Mrs. Burgess had conferred a number of favors on Mrs. Moses before and they were very good friends and naturally, in her hour of trouble, Mrs. [Moses] came to Mrs. Burgess for help and consolation. Mrs. Moses told them how she had been beat and choked by Mr. Moses and that she could no longer stand his brutal and inhuman treatment and that she had left him for good and was going to secure a divorce and asked Mrs. Burgess if she could stay there until she could get her divorce and set up some business matters. She told them she did not have sufficient funds to go to a hotel. Mrs. Burgess told her that she could.

Sheriff Moses deeply resented what he viewed as Burgess's interference in his personal affairs. "The sheriff, it is said, had determined to fight the matter [the divorce] to the utmost." Johnnie Burgess resigned his position as a deputy in early January 1914. Days later, the two got into a physical altercation in the streets of Forsyth. In fear of his life, Burgess received the written permission of Rosebud County Judge Crum to carry a pistol specifically for the purpose of self-protection from Moses.

Such was the situation when Billy Moses traveled to Rosebud for a Sheriff's sale. After this routine business was concluded, he was handed an arrest warrant against John Burgess. The previous day, Burgess had caused a disruption in a local saloon, displaying a gun in the process. Anticipating trouble, Moses hired a local man, William Finch, to drive him up to the Burgess house in his wagon and to witness any subsequent events.

The Forsyth paper stated: "It was as though two kegs of powder stood side by side only awaiting a spark to cause an explosion." When Moses exited the wagon and walked up to the Burgess residence he was met at the door by Martha Burgess holding a Winchester rifle. Mrs. Burgess testified:

"Don't come in," she told the sheriff.

"Madam, I'm an officer of the law, and go where I please," was the sheriff's reply.

"You ordered me out of your house, now you stay out of mine," she replied.

"You put down that gun," said the sheriff.

"You have threatened to kill Johnnie and me both," she said.

"Yes, and I will," she testified the sheriff replied.

The sheriff then told her he had a paper to serve on her husband, and she answered: "All right, Johnnie will come to the door." She testified to having told Bill Bailey [a family friend who was staying at the house] to call her husband, who came to the door.

"What is it Bill?" said Burgess when he reached the porch.

"I have a warrant for you," said the sheriff.

"All right, I'll get my coat and hat."

"It's a misdemeanor," said the sheriff.

"All right, I'll go," answered Burgess.

Mrs. Burgess testified to putting on her sweater and preparing to accompany them when the sheriff said to her: "You're not going."

"Yes, I am," she said and instructed Bill Bailey to go with them also.

At this moment, Mrs. Burgess testified, her Winchester went off accidentally, the bullet going through the toe sole of her shoe and into the porch. She exhibited the shoe with the tear in the sole.

"That was an accident, Billy," she said she told the sheriff.

"What do you mean? Give me that gun, God damn you," said the sheriff, stepping toward her and grabbing her right arm with his left hand but keeping his right hand out of her sight.

Then the sheriff fired a shot, followed by a shot from [Johnnie] Burgess and then more firing. Finally, Moses fell and Burgess ceased firing.

During the struggle, Martha received a gunshot wound in her shoulder. Thus the "accidental explosion of the gun held by Mrs. Burgess furnished the spark to the powder," as the Forsyth paper continued its metaphor.

Testifying that he knew Moses was dead, Johnnie Burgess and Bill Finch drove the wagon to fetch the doctor. Burgess surrendered to the authorities after ensuring his wife's medical attention. He was quickly transferred to the Rosebud County jail in Forsyth. Martha was treated for a broken collarbone.

The trial of Johnnie and Martha Burgess was moved to Custer County in Miles City, providing virtually all of the Eastern Montana papers with its salacious details. Judge C.C. Hurley made several important rulings that greatly impacted the trial. Murder charges against Martha Burgess were dropped. Testimony regarding Moses' marital issues was excluded. Most importantly, testimony regarding Moses' threats to Burgess were also disallowed unless the defense could demonstrate that the sheriff actually intended to carry out those specific threats. Overall, the trial was characterized by wildly conflicting witness testimony and uncertainty as to who shot who, and when.

Moses had several family members who tried to get involved in the trial. Dayton Moses, one of Billy Moses' younger half-brothers, was an influential lawyer in Texas and was not impressed with the prosecution team. He urged powerful cattle baron John B. Kendrick (then a Wyoming State Senator) to use his political influence to have himself added to the prosecution.

The prosecution was expanded but did not include Dayton Moses or any of his suggested alternatives because the younger Moses "had entirely too much feeling in the matter to allow us to participate in the trial."

Prosecutors argued that four shots were fired after Martha's accidental Winchester discharge. They claimed that Burgess had fired first, quickly followed by one shot from Moses, with Burgess firing a final two. The doctor testified that either of Moses' two wounds would have produced his almost instantaneous death. The defense claimed self-defense and that Moses had shot first. Both sides seem to agree that both Moses' and Johnnie Burgess' first shots were fired nearly simultaneously.

Then mudslinging began. Each side presented several witnesses who heard Moses threaten Burgess' life and vice versa. The defense then presented multiple witnesses who claimed Moses had a reputation for being a violent and quarrelsome man. Other witnesses testified to Moses violently abusing his official powers as sheriff in Montana and South Dakota. Apparently, Moses' effectiveness had won him several enemies willing to disparage the dead man's reputation.

To counter this, the prosecution also produced their own slate of witnesses confirming Billy Moses's reputation as an effective lawman with a good reputation. These witnesses included former Rosebud Sheriff Robert Guy and several colleagues from Belle Fourche and Forsyth.

On May 27th, after four hours of deliberations, the Custer County jury found Johnnie Burgess not guilty. Friends of the accused were naturally elated, while those close to Moses were despondent. Johnnie and Martha Burgess continued to live in Rosebud well into old age.

Embittered, Dayton Moses returned to Texas, but not without lambasting anyone remotely involved in his brother's career in Montana. He wrote John B. Kendrick:

I feel that, to a large extent, Spear Brothers & Kendrick are responsible for Billy Moses moving to Rosebud County. I think you will agree that during his stay in the County the custom of stealing cattle belonging to you gentlemen has ceased and that this condition is due to the activity of my late brother and the fear he instilled into the minds of cattle rustlers in the vicinity of your ranches, thus saving you gentlemen many times over the salary you paid him as inspector. I feel that it is also true that [the] many enemies [my] brother had in Rosebud County were made by his devotion to duty in guarding your interests and his personal loyalty to yourself as an old-time friend. I feel that I know if conditions were different, and after losing all of your property you, instead of Billy Moses, had been murdered, he would have gone to the limit in time and money to assist, in so far as was possible, the conviction of your murderer...

I am going home, trusting it will never become necessary for me to return to the State of Montana. I am so thoroughly disgusted with the judicial proceedings in this State that I hope I may be able to spend the remainder of my life in a State in whose judiciary I have confidence.