We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Reporter's note: This is part three of a four part series. Frank Sharples left a note on my desk asking if I knew about the Lidstone Murders. I recalled a photo in the Chinook centennial book, but that was about the extent of what I knew. I searched the archives of the "Chinook Opinion" and found many details of the 1932 double homicide in the northwest corner of Blaine County.
In the local history of northwest Blaine County, "The Unyielding Prairie...," there was a lot of information about William and Emily Lidstone, the victims.
Vernelia Tilleman, a co-editor of "The Unyielding..." suggested I contact Kay Johnson in the District Court office. There was a treasure trove of original documents relating to the case and the victims.
If I got it wrong, it's my fault. I do appreciate all the help folks offered gathering information for this story.
On July 2, 1932 William and Emily Lidstone, a farm couple in the Elloam area of extreme northwest Blaine County, were murdered. It would be nearly three days before their bodies were discovered when neighbors noticed no activity around the isolated farm house. The attacker was never found and brought to justice. In less than six months the case went cold.
William and Emily Lidstone,
immigrants and homesteaders
Both William and Emily Lidstone were born in England (he was born in 1876 and she in 1870) and first immigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada. The Lidstone's entered the U.S. at Sweet Grass, MT in 1913 via train from Canada and took the Great Northern Railway to Hill County. He immediately filed his intent to become a U.S. citizen and was granted a Petition of Naturalization in 1918-having waited the required five years. The Lidstones had no children.
He was granted his homestead patent in 1919 on 320 acres. The homestead was one mile south of the Canadian border and one mile from the Hill County line to the west-about 37 miles northwest of Chinook.
From various accounts in the "Elloam news" portion of the "Chinook Opinion," the Lidstones regularly interacted with their neighbors at various social events. The couple celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary before their deaths. William would return, periodically, to work short term jobs in Canada. In 1923 a news item noted "Wm. Lidstone purchased some fine turkeys." Other mentions are made of threshing by the Lidstones and his handling chores, for a month, of a neighbor who was at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
By the early 1930's times were tough on their farm. In 1932, the year they were murdered, it was reported they had planted no crops. They had a few head of livestock and a team of horses. Times were tough all over farm country in that era-the prelude to the 'dirty 30's' and the abandonment of farms and ranches that occurred during that period.
While no motive was ever found for the murders, the times might have had something to do with it. News articles about the double murder suggested a lot of tension among neighbors-fights over land lines, fences not properly maintained and wandering livestock. Lidstone had previously sued a neighbor's wife charging her with poisoning his horses. There was a trial and the neighbor was acquitted.
Edward Benz, who was first jailed for the murders, and the Lidstones reportedly had some disputes but they had interacted well through the previous winter. There was even a news item in the Elloam section of an earlier newspaper that "Wm. Lidstone is helping Ed Benz stack rye."
Just prior to the murders Lidstone had purchased some straw from Benz and about half of it had been hauled to the Lidstone place. Payment included a nesting of eggs, a loaf of bread and the promise of help moving a shack so Benz could plow the area where the shack was located.
July 2, 1932: a double homicide
July 2 was a Saturday. Several neighbors had seen William Lidstone, with his team of horses, repairing fence during the morning. That was the last anyone saw of William alive. But it was not the last person seen going to the Lidstone property. Later that evening a lone mounted rider was seen by at least three neighbors, but at the distance they could not identify the rider.
Witnesses reported they saw the rider come in from the south of the property and go into the house. About a half hour later witnesses saw the rider hurriedly leaving the farm through the north side of the farmyard and head into a deep coulee. The rider was never identified.
On Tuesday morning a neighbor commented to another that he had seen no activity around the Lidstone place. The reporting neighbor said the cow had not been milked and a muzzled calf had not been fed.
The second neighbor went to the house and found William dead of multiple gunshot wounds in the front yard-about 20 feet from the front door. In the house he found Emily, amid signs of a struggle, also dead from multiple gunshots. The neighbor immediately headed to Chinook to alert Sheriff G.W. Fleming who came to the farm with County Attorney Henry Burns. The Lidstones were in their late fifties at the time.
The sheriff reported it appeared the Lidstones had just finished a meal as some dishes and remnants of a meal were still on the table. A wagon was next to the house with a small box containing 14 eggs, a loaf of bread, a dozen tomato plants in a dish and a pitchfork-suggesting one or both of the Lidstones planned to visit Ed Benz, deliver their payment and load the rest of the straw. The horses were still harnessed and in the barn. Benz later told the sheriff that Lidstone never showed up on Saturday to help him move the shack and also explained the payment plan they had negotiated for the stack of straw.
The investigation
Three weeks after the investigation began a neighbor, Edward Benz, was arrested and taken to jail. In the application to file information, a charging document, attorney Burns wrote: "Ed.H. Benz did...willfully, unlawfully, feloniously, deliberately, premeditatedly and with premeditated malice aforethought, shoot, kill and murder one Emily Lidstone, a human being." Why there was no similar document for William's death is not clear. The judge issued a bench warrant on July 26 and Benz was taken to jail.
Sheriff Fleming and Attorney Burns conducted the investigation with help from others. Investigators surmised William was shot first in the area of the front yard, where he fell. Bloody footprints indicated the attacker then headed to the house to shoot Emily, who likely witnessed the shooting of her husband.
Emily tried to block the door with a chair and the attacker shot several times through the door. The chair was found overturned in the house. A dish was knocked to the floor as she tried to evade her attacker. After being shot twice in the legs, she fell against a doorway, on her back, and footprints showed the attacker stood over her to shoot two more bullets into her chest-the shots that killed her nearly instantly.
Tracking her blood back through the house, the attacker stood over William and shot him through the back where he lay in the yard. The sheriff reported that bullet was fired at point blank, with powder burns on the victim's shirt. The bullet was found on the ground where it passed through William.
The attack must have come as a complete surprise to the Lidstone's. It was reported that a shotgun was hanging on the wall just inside the house, but still had a heavy layer of dust on it.
Luke May, an investigator from Seattle, came later and found no additional evidence. May did conclude the weapon was a .38 pistol and the bullets were a match to a shipment made to Buttrey's, a grocery store in Havre-it so happened this was an unusual type of ammunition and easy to track. With 11-12 bullets from the victims and some found at random locations in the house, investigators concluded the shooter either had two weapons, of a similar type, or took time to reload a single six-shooter. None of the shell casings were found nor was the murder weapon.
Benz, who had been arrested, had blood on his clothing when first interviewed. He claimed he had shot a rabbit over the weekend. A report in the Chinook newspaper said the bloody footprints were not William's but did match the size of Benz's feet. Still no one came forward with helpful information as to the identification of the lone rider seen late on the day of the murders.
During the Saturday afternoon shooting there were eleven people, at different times, within about a half mile of the Lidstone place. Though at least three saw the lone rider enter and leave the yard, they never heard the multiple gun shots as the wind was blowing away from the nearest witnesses and neighbors. The farmstead was in a depression and not clearly visible from all surrounding points.
The bodies of the victims had started to decompose. The bodies, because of their condition, were taken directly to the Chinook cemetery (not yet named for Herman Kuper who was the coroner and local mortician at the time) for an autopsy. Local physician P.H. O'Malley assisted. At a later coroner's inquest Dr. O'Malley and Sheriff Fleming explained the cause of death to both Lidstone's-death by shooting.
Motive
Aside from mention of some disputes among neighbors, no clear motive was ever established. It seemed clear the attacker was someone known by the Lidstone's as no apparent attempts were made to defend themselves before the shooting began.
Robbery was eliminated as the Lidstone's, because of their financial condition, had very little of value and likely minimal cash. The idea of a transient being the attacker was also rejected. The Lidstone's place was far from any road used by travelers and was a bit hard to access. Most concluded that the motive was personal and the attacker was a local person. Beyond that, no other information ever came to light.
Bail and termination of charges
Benz, a bachelor, maintained he never left his farm on the fateful Saturday-his claim could never be confirmed or refuted. In early August Benz was represented by attorney D.J. Sias and entered a "not guilty" plea. By late August Benz was released on a $7500 ($120,000 in 2015 dollars) bond underwritten by six men, including his brother, A.H. Benz.
From August to December of 1932 there is no mention in the local newspaper of any activity regarding the case. Benz was free on bail. In November, national elections were held. Locally, Sheriff Fleming was defeated by his Undersheriff, C.B. Reser. Harry Burns did not run for reelection for the County Attorney position, and D.J. Sias, Benz's defense attorney, was elected County Attorney.
In the December 29, 1932 edition of the "Chinook Opinion" it was reported that all charges were dropped against Benz "for lack of evidence to convict." The newspaper story further noted "the new sheriff and county attorney will have a clean slate as far as the case is concerned." Benz left the area and was later killed, along with three co-workers, in a ditch cave in at a construction site in Pocatello, ID.
Cold case
It's safe to say the case went cold at the end of 1932. A quick read of the newspapers from 1933 never mentioned the case or additional investigations. The Lidstone farm was one of many sold back to the federal government during 1939. The site is now a part of the Hartland Colony.
Most locals seem to have never heard of the case. A few seniors recall their parents or other relatives mentioning the case. But most of the memories are of vague theories or speculations about motives and who the attacker might have been. A photo of the county sheriff and county attorney, at the crime scene, in the centennial book for Chinook is about the only easily accessible evidence of the murders.
The Lidstone double homicide is definitely a cold case. It also seems conclusive that a local committed the murders. And it's a sure thing the attacker took the secret to their grave.
