A Rancher Found on the Riverbank—and a Family That Suspected Murder

The body of Thomas Johnston, one of the prominent residents of the Blueslide country, was found lying on the riverbank not far from his ranch on Friday last.

From appearances Johnston had apparently fallen over a pole on the bank of the stream and expired. It appeared at first from a hurried examination of his body that his neck was broken and there were several other bruises on his person, and this caused his relatives to believe that the old gentleman had met with foul play. Justice Emery, of Crescent, was called and held an inquest, but the relatives of the dead man were not satisfied with the results of this inquest and have called upon the county coroner to have another one.

It appears from the story told by those who visited the place where Johnston's body was found that there was no evidence of a struggle there. The snow was still on the pole that he had stepped over before falling. He had been across the river and had returned in company with another rancher.

The body was brought to Newport on the steamer Newport late last Saturday night and taken to Miller's undertaking parlors.

Thomas Johnston was born in Cornwall, Stormont County, Canada, Oct. 22, 1840. He removed to the Newport country in 1902 and has resided most of the time in the vicinity of Blueslide. A son, Jack Johnston, a well-known timber cruiser, died early in the present year. The latter had a claim near the slide, which went to the parent on the death of the son. Since the son's death Mr. Johnston has resided on the claim with two other sons. He leaves six children: Mrs. Thomas Geary, Mrs. Wm. Geary, both of Newport, and Thomas and William Johnston, of Blueslide, and one daughter residing in Alberta and one in North Dakota.

T. J. Honsinger, of Crescent, was one of the jurors on the Johnston inquest and was a visitor to Newport on Monday. Mr. Honsinger states that from the evidence before the jury they could not have returned any other verdict than that the deceased came to his death from exposure and senile decay. He says that James Tipton, the rancher who accompanied Johnston across the river, assisted the deceased from the boat and carried him nearly 200 yards to a point near where the body was found. He then left for a saloon some distance away and secured a jug of whisky and on returning found Johnston seated where he had left him. He did not offer Johnston a drink, but did offer to accompany the old gentleman home. The latter said that he could get there alone, so Tipton started for his home. This was about 10 o'clock Thursday evening. The next morning a teamster working for U. S. Anderson and three railroad laborers discovered the body about 7 o'clock and notified the authorities.

The coroner of Stevens County could not be reached, so the local authorities decided to have a postmortem examination made by Dr. Phillips.

Dr. Phillips conducted a postmortem on the body on Tuesday. He found that the neck of the deceased was not broken. The fact that the man had frozen to death prevents rigor mortis from setting in. In his opinion death was caused from exposure.

The funeral services were held from the Methodist church on Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Robinson officiating. The interment was in the Odd Fellows' cemetery.