James Lynch: Burglary to Murder

James Lynch AKA James Welch was born About 1871 in Rochester, NY, his mother was Mary Welch, (maiden name unknown).

He was 24 years old when he committed burglary in Fremont, Idaho in 1895.  




Inmate #457 Idaho State Prison
Rec: 12 Oct 1895
Crine: Burglary
Term: 6 years

In the records with the above document I found this letter from a warden in Utah to the warden in Idaho, imagine my surprise to see a photo of James attached.


He was sentenced on 8 Nov 1900 to death for murder, execution date 2 Jan 1904.


So I did more investigating I found a newspaper clipping with photos.


Here is what the paper says, sorry if there are errors but Newspapers.com transcribe them and I fix as many as I could find.


PROUSSE IS HEAD Wound Inflicted by Robber Proves Fatal DEATH CAME LAST EVENING- After it Was Thought That the Wounded Proprietor of tho Sheep Ranch Gambling-House Would Recover His Condition Changed and if He Was ToM Last Evening that He Could Not Live, Captured Robber Has Epileptic fits Another Story of of tho Shooting- Col I George Prousse part proprietor- of the Sheep Ranch gambling club who I was shot by a holdup early yesterday morning died at St Marks hospital about 930 last night from his wound During the earlier part of the day Col Prousse scummed to have excellent chances for recovery but JIG grew weaker toward evening Efforts were made to locate tho bullet by Dr Pinkerton between 7 and 5 o'clock the bullet could not be found Col Prousse became unconscious about half an hour until the Col George Prousse, Who Lost His Life before his death and passed away in that condition James Lynch the man who was shot by Col Prousse and who is supposed to have fired the bullet which caused the Colonels death was not so badly injured as at first supposed He appeared before Judge Testimony in Police court yesterday with his head bandaged and appeared to be slightly nervous. He was charged with burglary to which he entered plea of not guilty and said he desired to waive examination and to await the action of the District court. His bond was placed at $2,500 which he could not furnish and he was accordingly taken to the county jail The charge against him will be changed to murder. At the time of his arraignment It was not thought Col Prousse would die, WILL RECOVER Ernest Seydel the peacekeeper who was shot luring the melee passed a comparatively easy day at the Holy Cross hospital His wound appears to be entirely a nosh wound and while he is still very weak and his lower limbs paralyzed as a result of the shot which passed through his ear and the muscles of his back his recovery i is regarded as certain Col Prousse was about 51 years old at the time of his death He had no near relatives here and It is exceedingly difficult to collect any accurate Information about his life, It Is known downriver that he has lived nearly all his life in the West He was for many years a railroad man and was engaged in the construction of the Southern Pacific railroad while that was being built through Arizona New Mexico, While engaged In this work one of his legs was broken by falling rock This leg was again broken about six years ago by a rail down a shaft In Colorado which explains his lameness. After he quit railroading Col Prousse was for many years engaged In mining and stock raising in Colorado and Montana his friends have heard him relate experiences he had In Montana when he was a boy of 15 years He moved to Salt Lake In 1887 and has lived here at Intervals ever since When John Benbrook left for Nome last spring the Sheep Ranch club was purchased by Col Prousse and J G Williams who have since conducted the place Col Prousse was a widower and leaves one child a boy of about 12 years whom he always called Baby The boy has been in Salt Lake under the care of a nurse for some time, The child Is delicate and accompanied by the nurse left last Friday for Florida to spend the winter A stopover In Denver was arranged for and the nurse and child are now there Col Prousse was said by his friends to be devoted to the boy find lavished everything the child desired upon him Col Proussc wife and another son died several years ago In California The entire family lived for a time In Park City during the early nineties SAYS SHE WAS WIFE A woman who says she Is Col Prousses wife Is living at East Third South She refused to talk about I be matter last night merely I saying that she was not his wife any longer had not lived with him for some time and slammed the door In the face of the reporter- It is doubtful If Salt Lake ever knew- a sorting man more generally those who knew him than was CoL Prousse Expressions of sincere regret at his being wounded were heard all over the streets among the sporting men yesterday and when the his death was announced the sorrow was general among the men of his class He was always referred to as n dead square sport the highest tribute known to Poppadom He was n familiar figure on the streets during the afternoon He wan a very large man very erect with- a flowing gray mustache Ho always carried a cane and walked with a pronounced ¬ limp During the summer his vest was almost Invariably unbuttoned and a largo and flue diamond adorned the front of his colored shirt He was a most generous disposition and seemed always striving to render a service to some of his friends DEVOTED TO BENBROOK- None of the gambling fraternity I > roe themselves better friends of Benbrook during Benbrooks troubles here than Col Prousse lie was never heard to express an opinion In the case but ho was prompt and liberal in his tenders of scrvlcC and money from the start time trial He never missed a day trial and when the jury retired wept like a little child When Ponbrook loft acre soiling the house Col Proueao to the home of Mrs Benbrook and retained a room In that house the time of his death Mrs Ben could not find words to express regard she had for him and the t she felt at his death he has to been almost like a father to me ever, Scene of Attempted Hold Up since John left she said last night and I can scarcely realize that he is dead I think he was the kindest and best hearted old man I ever knew MRS BENBROOK VISITED HIM Col Proussc sent for Mrs Benbrook soon after he was taken to the hospital yesterday morning She responded promptly but found that he was sleeping when she got to the hospital She called again about 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon He talked to her In a rational manner for n while telling lieu other things that he was going to die and requesting her to settle some affairs for him She tried to persuade him that he was getting along nicely calling attention to his natural color and apparent vigor but failed to convince him His mind later appeared to be wandering and he began to talk of railroad tickets and other matters wholly Irrelevant I asked him how he got shot Mrs Benbrook said and he told me where the wound was v l r fit I l James Lynch the Wounded Bobber I didn't shoot first he said they shot at me first I stayed there with him for about an hour and then came home They called for me again tonight and said he was dying I started right out but he died just as I got there Wo shall miss him around the house here Mrs Benbrook wept freely when she arrived at the hospital and found that the Colonel lied died On being taken to his bedside she bent over and kissed the body on the forehead before leaving the room COURSE OF THE BULLET The exact location of the bullet In tho body has not been definitely determined as yet butt seems almost certain that It entered the abdominal cavity and that death resulted from peritonitis ¬ A postmortem will be held today Tho bullet entered the thigh about three and a half inches from the body and ran set transversely across and remains were taken to Evans's undertaking parlors last night Col Prousse made no official dying statement as to how the shooting occurred but there will doubtless be found eyewitnesses whose testimony will be sufficient to render such a statement unnecessary County Attorney Putnam was called to the hospital about 4 o'clock yesterday morning belong taken there in the patrol wagon for the purpose of taking a dying statement. On arriving at the hospital Mr Putnam says he was met by the house doctor who stated that the parent wag sleeping and that there seemed little danger of a fatal result In order for dying statement to be admissible as n evidence It must be taken when the person making the statement believes himself to be dying and as In the Judgment of the hospital doctors Col Prousse seemed unlikely to die Mr Putnam returned to his home Shortly before time Colonel died Mr Putnam while on the street accidentally learned that the patient was very low Mr Putnam at once sought Chief Hilton and together they to the hospital finding on their arrival that the patient had died MEETS DEATH BRAVELY- Col Prousse received tho announcement ¬ that ho was dying with great calmness tanking no comment whatever ¬ lie seemed to be suffering considerably ¬ from his wound but made no complaint and said very little to anyone He was attended only by the hospital attaches when ho died Numbers of friends made Inquiries as to his condition during the day but that his wound was 10rnlnr a dangerous nature none of thorn remained ¬ there long OTHER HOLDUPS AT LARGE No trace of the two holdups who escaped has been found an yet Willie Wittenberg an A D T messenger boy says he talked with one of them almost Immediately after the shooting ten berg was In the Vienna cafe when the shooting began He ran out into tho alloy with the employees and saw the two men running through According to VllcnhelI story ho Immediately after them The shorter of the two men pulled a handkerchief from his face as he ran and entered time tear door of Reilly's East Second South street saloon The other man stopped at tIme door under a lampost also removed a handkerchief then following the first man Into the saloon Wittenberg says he went around to the front door of the saloon thinking the men would run out Not seeing them he went In and found them both there Time shorter one wore a dark suit with n long coat and soft hint Tie was of dark complexion and had a dark The other man was quite of light complexion and much better dressed titan his companion Wittenberg says the sImon man came up and slapping him on the shoulder fid This kids all right come und haven drink and don't say anything Wittenberg says he refused the drink and went out to call someone Not seeing an officer he whl at some i men on the street but they refused to I pay any attention to him Wittenberg then went on up Commercial street and saw no more of the men Frank the I night bartender at Heillcys remembered ¬ that he observed time two men conic In but says heroes not recall peeing Wittenberg there The men were In time saloon about live minute-sand bought a couple of beers They seemed- a trlllc nervous hut Frank says he Is convinced from time length off ti\me they were In there that they were not tim holdups His description tallies with that of Wittenberg The Sheep Ranch club was closed last right time chairs being piled on top of the tables and the doors draped with black The house will not be opened again until after the funeral PRISONER HAS EPILEPSY It is something of a coincidence that during the moments Col Proussc was dying at St Marks hospital James Lynch the man who is supposed to have shotgun was seized with a severe epileptic nt In his cell In the county Jail Lynchs condition became such that Night Jailer Gulbransen summoned Dr Harrison who worked with Lynch for some time before reviving him An opiate was then admlnlctcrxd and Lynch wont Into a sound sleep I which lasted all night Ho has not yet been informed of Cal Prousses death STORY OF THE SHOOTING Paul Johnson assistant at time roulette wheel in the Sheep Ranch has what is probably time best and most ac ¬ curate story of time shooting I had been talking to Bill Barnett the wheel man he said and started to go out of time door when I met three men with handkerchiefs on their faces They told me to throw up my hands I thought It was a josh and laughed They told me it was no laughing matter and poked three big blue guns in my face I threw up my hands then not having U t gun or any chance to use one and backed into time room They then made the other boys at the table hold up their hands and ono of the gang walked across toward the Colonel The Colonel saw him coming and started to get his gun out of the i drawer Time fellow now under arrest I stopped about ten feet northwest of lie Colonel and they both shot at once The fellow caught his head with his i hand and fell Time Colonel kept on I pumping and Rags and I took a fall under tile crap table where two of the Colonels bullets missed us about a foot The two men who were in I the door then skipped out the back way TIme Colonel who had been standing up sat down and said I got one of them then putting his hand on his stomach but they got mo too Im done for Ho wont awful white and we thought he would die right there but he got better after awhile The fellow they arrested seemed to me to be time nerviest one of the lot Time short one carried time satchel He had It fastened around his neck with a string and the bag was open Lynch was time man who did all time talking and I saw him when ho shot the Colonel It was a quartering shot and the Colonel was standing up when he got it It was believed by some that time holdups were the same men who robbed the Sheep Ranch sonic time ago Johnson also saw that and says these men are not at all like the others There were at least nine shots fired luring lie fusillade The room bears evidence of eight and cno is In Cal Prousses body Cal Prousso fired five shots and Lynch fired one showing that time two men who escaped must have fired at leastthreeshots It was I thought that Seydel might have been shot by time Colonel on St was believed tIme bullet passed through his ear and then Into his body Seydel said yesterday ¬ that it went Into his back first and came out through his ear showIng It was fired by some one behind him and not by time Colonel who was facing him SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.


The Salt Lake Tribune,12 Sep 1900, Wed,    Page 8








































Nowhere in this paperwork does it state he was given his pardon to a life sentence. I found no death record.

I made him a tree as I always do, I know there's more out there just gotta find it.



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