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Kansas Charley doesn’t stand a chance at his trial according to the prosecution and the opinion of the cattle barons who want to make an example of him.
Kansas Charley, having now confessed to the murders of Waldo Emerson and Ross Fishbaugh, was soon transported back to Cheyenne, Wyoming where his crime had been discovered. There, Charley Miller, who now called himself Kansas Charley, would stand trial and a court of law would decided whether Charley would spend the rest of his years behind bars or swing from a rope until he was dead. Walter Stroll, ProsecutorIn Cheyenne, Wyoming Charley Miller's case for the prosecution was assigned to attorney Walter Stroll. Stroll was well on his way up the Cheyenne ladder of success when he took on Kansas Charlie's Murder Case. Since 1889, when he had become a member of the political and socially prestigious Cheyenne Club:, Stroll had been rubbing elbows with the elite. Amongst his acquaintances were United States Senators, Wyoming's Acting Governor, the State Attorney, as well as the editors of Cheyenne's two daily newspapers. Not in the least of these important persons that Stroll associated with were the local cattle barons "whose economic interests set the pace in Wyoming politics" as it looked forward to statehood. In other words, it was the cattle barons who actually ran the show. It was a production that Stroll desperately desired to have a leading role in. If Stroll won this case he could look forward to that staring role. Condemned Before TriedIn the "Miller Case" the cattle barons shared a common opinion because of a little ole problem they, themselves, had. At this time the cattle barons were irate over settlers moving onto public lands. First off, the big cattle boys considered these public lands theirs for grazing of their vast herds by right since they were using them first. Secondly, and according to the cattlemen, the settlers were rustling their cattle. It was the cattle baron's opinion that Kansas Charley, murderer that he was, should be punished to the fullest. That is, he should be hung. It would make a fine example for any one else who wanted to go against the law-the real law or that assumed by the big cattlemen. Cattlemen Condemn Kansas Charley: Boy Murderer Makes Fine Example , continues with Kansas Charley Goes on Trial: Defense Attorney Still a Greenhorn. Previous: Kansas Charley Makes Headlines: Waiting an Uncertain Fate.
The copyright of the article Cattlemen Condemn Kansas Charley in American History is owned by Mary Trotter Kion. Permission to republish Cattlemen Condemn Kansas Charley in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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