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One of the most sensational murder trials in Garfield County history was
that in which Amanda J. de Lertigue was accused of killing her husband
on September 23, 1902. Mrs. de Lertigue was the widow of a pioneer
and was quite a bit older when she married Henry de Lertigue, a young
cowboy. Sometime in the fall of 1902, neighbors of the de
Lertigues began to wonder what had become of Henry.
By comparing some notes they realized no one had seen him since
September. One man testified that he talked with Henry on
September 23, and bought a set of harnesses from him, which he would
deliver that evening, but that he never saw him again. At the time
of selling the harness, Henry told him that he was having trouble with
his wife and was going to leave and that they had made a property
settlement. Henry had told other neighbors that he was having
marital difficulties and that he was going to leave. The facts of
the trial revealed that the de Lertigues led a somewhat stormy life,
that at times led to beatings inflicted by Henry upon his wife.
Amanda would have most likely not been tried if she had not been caught
in conflicting stories as to the where-abouts of her husband. The
County hired a detective to find the body, because there could be no
murder conviction without a body. Somehow the detective convinced Amanda
to leave her home and he began to look around. He discovered a
number of rivets, commonly used in chaps, in the ashes from the
cook-stove. The detective then began searching the ground outside
and probing the ground with a long bar. About 30 feet from the
house, while probing in the potato pit he struck something solid and
began digging. He soon found a saddle and beneath it, the body of
Henry de Lertigue. Amanda was then charged on February 28, 1903
with her husband's murder and moved to the Garfield County jail.
Her testimony follows:
| "Henry
and I had been having trouble for a year or more.
Sometimes he would come home under the influence of liquor and
quarrel and beat me up. We were living in the same house
but separate and apart. On that night he did not
come home on time so I left his supper on the table and went to
bed. He came home and ate his supper, then he came
upstairs to my room, and tried to get in bed with me. I
told him to go away. He grabbed for me and I slipped out
of bed on the opposite side, and ran down the stairs. He
followed me, grabbing the rifle which stood behind the stairway
door. I ran out of the house. He was coming behind
me with a rifle. He fired at me but it was dark and he
missed me. There was a loose board on the walk and he
tripped and fell to his knees. I was opposite the chopping
block by the woodshed and the ax was on the block. I knew
he would kill me if I didn't stop him. I grabbed the ax
and struck him with the blunt side on the back of his head while
he was getting up. I guess I struck him harder than I
intended. I was all alone. There was no one to whom
I could go for advice. I had no witnesses to prove that I
was defending myself. I was afraid to give myself up, as I
should have done. I buried him and his saddle in the
potato pit. I burned his chaps in the stove. " |
On
cross examination, she admitted that she had lied to her neighbors about
Henry de Lertigues going away. Nearly one hundred witnesses were
sworn in and examined. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty
on June 23, 1903.
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