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itèt» Historical Library p ' I»» Belt Valley Times h > BELT, MONTANA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1921 VOLUME 28, NUMBER 30 $2.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE 9 City Council Fails to Discuss Ap pointment ot Policeman as Rec ommended by Mayor in Address For the first time in many montha the full roster of the city council were in their seats at roll call last Thursday evening, but aside from a reporter slouching in a comer, the audience was confined to one visitor who pre sen ted a modest request during the] session . The usual routine of roll call and reading the minutes of previous meeting was disposed of and official communications called for. Clerk Heron fished up a couple of volum hums documents which he proceeded to read but was choked off when their import dawned upon the mayor who informed him that the waste basket was the receptacle of communications of a purely advertising character, Before starting on the monthly re ports of officials the mayor delivered a message to the council calling at-1 tention to the need of public protection in Belt and urged the council to take the matter under consideration. The verbal message of the mayor was quite lengthy but as no discussion of the matter was forthcoming the report of Water Overseer Sommerville vas read. The report showed a slight in crease in the pumping record owing to a few small breaks in the line dur ing December, and also called atten-1 tion to the practice of many who leave the water taps open during cold weather to prevent freezing and the consequent waste of water in this manner. There were no recommend ations in the report. Treasurer Provin submitted his re port for the months of November and December showing a balance in all funds on December 31 to be $17913.02. Much of the joy engendered by the hearing of this good news was dissi pated by the further statement of the treasurer that he had issued a call for sufficient registered war-! rants to pracically exhaust the sur plus. The reports of water overseer and treasurer were accepted and or der ed f i le d An error in drawing warrants No. 5031 and 5033 on the street fund was corrected by Resolution No. 110, trans ferring them to one of the improve-! ment district funds. The additional bond of $5,000 required by the city treasurer was received and accepted by the council. Rev. Alexander Aiton asked the attention of the council for a few min ates with a request for the use of; the upper hall as a practice ground, for the Epworth League basket ball team. He stated that the League | would take steps to guard the windows! put in lights, and fit up the hall suit-1 able for their purpose and intimated i. that any concessions in the matter of, rental would be appreciated. Some of the council members appeared opposed to granting the free use of the hall, | unless it was thrown open to the pub lie generally. Mr. Aiton agreed with ! that view of the matter, only he, pointed out the need of some organiz- | ation to assume the responsibility of seeing that the privilege waa not ! abused, and stated that in case other societies or arganizations desired the use of the hall at any time, the League would gladly defer to them. The mat-J 9 The publication of bank statements , ... .... -. . „ alive of a better condition financially .. . , u . , throughout Montana, so far as they have come to our notice. In the three local banks there has) been a substantia] increase in deposits since the last statement published in September and also a decrease in the amount of loans of that date. The change for the better is not of a de gree to be starling but it does show that Belt, as well as the rest of the state, is well started on the upgrade toward conditions financially that,! coupled with the rapid approach 0 f normal industrial Montana, will make progress one of the realities of the near future. The bankers have occupied no bed of roses during the past two or three years in Montana, as they act as the financial barometer of the conditions in their own field of service. The problems of any community in the matter of welfare are also the prob- j lems of the banks of that community and the way the banks handle these | problems is' the point which makes I for success or failure in that commun ity. The fact* evident in the bank statement# just issued by our local financial institutions is evidence of a careful and conscientious management ; during a period that has tested the stability of every industry in the 1 state. Our home banks have never lost faith in the Bek valley and its re-, sources, and we may add that that faith has been reciprocated on the part of the people of the community. ^ The hearvesting of wild oats al ways goes against the griffn Banks All Show! Substantial Gains of the call of December 31. are indie r— Friday Nite Basketball TETON COUNTY Vs. BELT VALLEY ter was finally placed in the hands of a committee on Public Welfare, Coun 'cilmen Leveille, Hamer and Wanta. ' Mayor Spogen announced that he had appointed Dr. J. W. Graybeal as j city health officer, at the request of Dr. G. A. Puson who had called his attention to the matter. He also named Chas. F. Holt and himself as members of the health board to serve! ; without salary. The nominations were j confirmed by the council. Dr. Gray beal, as chairman of the health board, ' will draw a salry of $20 per month, 1 City Treasurer Provin and Alderman Remington were named a committee to consult with Larue Smith, attorney i of the Municipal League, to acquire, | if possible, the correct mode of pro ' cedure in regard to the delinquent taxes of the City of Belt. The ques-1 tion of public protection which was j the burden of the mayor's message, j at the opening of the session was j again brought up and discussed pro j and con—mainly con—and was fin j ally lost sight of among the more uu j portant subjects of high taxes, low wheat, bobbed hair, the obsolete 5 j cent loaf and why dogs turn around ! three times before they lie down. The reporter and Police Magistrate Sulli i van woke up just in time to hear the current bills passed and the déclara tion that a motion to adjourn was in order. - A good fast game assured for Fri day night. Admission 26 cents and 36 | œnts. _ Adv. ___ a ■ a |f|l|l| II MOIVIIIOOII |l IJ 1111 M , l/ulllUuii 1 • f a*« 1 VI J MlftflPPr IQ llPPH I lUIIUUl I 10 UuuU ' Johrr^: Dempsey of Beit, aged 82 , died Monday at the Columbus hospital in Great Falls from the infirmities due to old age. Mr. Dempsey had been an inmate of the hospital for the pasi : two years. The funeral was held yesterday afternoon at 2 o'clock from j the O'Connor company's chapel, Rev, j Fr. Millner conducting the services, burial being made in Calvary ceme- j tery. Mr. Dempsey had been a resident of Belt for the past 27 years. He | was a native of Ireland, coming to America at the age of 22. In New York state, his first location, he learned the trade of stone mason, and j later traveled extensively, going to New Orleons, St. Louis and later to Minneapolis. In the late seventies he came to Montana settling at Miles City and was employed in the build ing of Fort Keogh and in contract work in Miles City. It was there he first met his future wife, whom he married later in Neihart. In 1891 Mr. Dempsey came to Neihart where he followed contracting until 1896, then moving to Belt, also working here at his trade until incapaciated by ad vancmg yeors. I In 1892 Mr. Dempsey was a candi date for county treasurer of Meagher (County on the Populist ticket, but;—in was defeated. As the Populist party waned in numbers and influence, Mr. Dempsey returned to his first, alleg- j «nee the republican party. He was j elected Justice of the Peace in Belt and served for several years in that j 'capacity and also one or two years as j police magistrate. He had no child ren. but it is known he had some rel- ; atives living in the United States and it is thought a nephew is now living in ivr nr ,fo n n At nn» tim*. Mr ln Montana. At one time Mr. Uemp 3ey had acquired a modest competence which proved sufficient to care for him during his later years, and his friends aa ?' that he had proper care ln hi« declining years. Mrs. Demp- i ge Y died about three years ago during ! the epidemic of influenza in Belt. j - inHiKPH OF PUIPfPN TMPFT "WUUutU Ul LMlIUMn IIILI I - A warrant sworn out by David Gra-; ham t was '»sued from Justice Hark "haws court Monday charging Wade Wilson with absorbing a portion of the Graham herd of chickens. Wilson; was brought before the Justice, to Fether with a number of the chickens ^ rom Wilson's yard and while Mr. Graham insisted that the general ap oearance of the fowls coincided with those which he alleged had been stoIen could not positively identify them, ;^ e claimed to have traced the tracks an sutomobile from his premises to that ot the Wilson place, two miles : distant, but the judge decided the evi dence altogether as too vague to war rant hold'"* Wilson on the charge, »Ithongh he placed him under $100 bonds pending the efforts of Graham produce more convincing evidence, Gra Wilson and Ray Wilson, brothers the accused, furnished the required b° n d and Mr Wilson was released. ----- i When men cultivate vices they us. uallv have some harrowifig experience, It's barely possible he's called the consumer because he will swallow any 'thing. ]0 Œ ( Rainbow rr Ü 'J?) ÛÊSm «H m « 7 - & * *0 ft* » | 1 y . V> i m j i { 1 ! < ' ■ I 1 * i* Wm 8 ytST m \ - $ mx ' ? - 1 IP -m m j j j | ; I INDICATIONS OF EXTENSIVE OPER ATION OF EAST CELT COAL FIELD ... . The preliminary Survey of an l ens ' on the power line to the work-la in * s ot the E * st coal mines, the • efurln » °* • sit « for • coal chute the «ding: south of the Rocky Moun. j tain Elevator, the filing of a certifl* cate °* brm name of Highwood|çhosen_for Goal Mines, and lastly the presence j |of several strangers in the city who are apparently connected with all these activities, are grounds for the supposition that there is something out t * ,e ortl ' nar y happening in this )coal industry of Belt. For * ome time the 1 "« 1*** been rum ora °* an impending change at the East H«lt and w, th t h— « visible signs the inference is that immediate eg pansion of operations is cont«mplat«d in that property Inquiry develop« the fact that those most interested in the matter have nothing to say regard ing the future operations of the newly created Highwood Coal Mines. While the active work of building a loading chute upon the ground selected for a « The perennial rumor of things do in b the M ,i wa ukee was set afloat . ... . , . ., a g* in during the past week by the ap pearance of a mysterious board of inspection, said to be representative« of the Milwaukee system, who toured the Neihart branch, paying partie ular attention to the depots, trackage. bridges, etc. It revives recollections of the assertions made in past years that the Milwaukee has always had designs upon the Belt coal fields and several branches have already keen built from some convenient point near Highwood directly up Belt creek imagination—an*i even exten {sions have been projected by the ultra wise to some indefinite point over the mountains toward Smith river, al though the object of such a line ha* been somewhat hazy, even to the most enthusiastic railroad extenders of the crossroads directorate It is true there is an unopened!. field of proved coal in the Belt d'» trict that is sufficient to tempt thejj Milwaukee to extend its lines here, i. especially as the distance is not great,. from the main line with no engineer mg difficulties in the way. It is also! true that a great expansion in th< mining industry of the Neihart dis trict is a very posible reality of the near future and will probably be on a scale that will tempt a rival carrier to invade that section with another railroa d Strangers of this character are nol prolific sources of news for newspaper reporters, so there is little authority for the foregoing surmises, but thea 1 a'-ain there might be something to it after all. - LEGION WILL ENTERTAIN LADIES AND EX-SERVICE MEM - Tonight is the regular meetinf j K ht of Belt Valley Post No. 101, Am er j can Legion, but the meeting will be open to all ev-service men and all i ladies eligible as members of the WV men's Auxiliary of the American Le (r j oni t j, e local post extending a cordial invitation to all such to be present, a short musical program has bees prepared and brief talks will be made outlining the aspirations of the I^egion and allied organization, the gath (ring being of an informal nature. The committee in charge of to night's entertainment desire to «très« he fact that all wives, mother«, daughter* and sisters of veterans of the world war are eligible to become members of the Women'« Auxiliary; regardless of whether their husbands, j brother* or fathers belong to the Ij*-, gion or not, . Mysterious Visit Cause Speculation ex-[location was held up this morning permit from the Great Northern rail way. it may be stated that part of the on]material is on the ground and the new company are apparently sanguine the Jjpermit will be granted. The aite the loading chut* is on the high ground on the storage track used by the G. W. Merkte Coal company. The East Belt Coal Mines comprise home 1600 acres of coal land lying ««st and north of Belt which has been developed sufficiently to demonstrate its value as one of the best in the Belt district. For the past several months ft has been producing in a limited way for the commercial market on a roy alty basis under the management of Sam Williamson and is stated to be in condition for a rapid increase in pro auction. Under present conditions the coal for shipment has to be hauled about a mile by wagon or truck, bat there are no engineering difficulties in the way of putting a spur in from the Great Northern, The Belt high basket ball team played the season's first out of town ... _, ^ , game with Fort Benton last Frit-ay night on Benton's floor. Although the score was 20 to 3 in Benton s fa j vor an excellent game was played by ; ' Thrm.ehmn the « °° ln vram *' mrougnom me u a ti» a ; great deal of speed and skill was shown. During the first ten min uteg 0 f p ) ay g e i t b ad the Benton sec . . th.ir nnm.ncm» hot th. n«i t bovs were suoerior In teiim work " . ^ Hi J, .■ ' ! *. ^ th . f th « minutes there was a hard f OUB . ht K battle neither side icorinu- ! . F , , _ , • . J* f ' The first half w?th the tore seven toone" Benton ' . . fj ld baskets and three - . , R f ^ cond ha , d f bejfan wj th both the 1 " 6 8e f on ". v, al J. ncK an witn Dotn tne the^ame wfme cxcïwfinSy'fas^Uy^ 6 waTexhibited bv both teams Ben ! * "" 6 , 7 . ?St, iscored five field baskets anw three ; throws bnt Belt seemed unable to con ™ t th ' basket OirtH the h ««-ond of olav when a field baaket whUethe timf k.ewr's Thp follows i ' Benton McCoy Center Harris 1 Butt* R- Forward Hogan) Pattsner L. Forward Murray Shannon R. Guard Schoonover Johnson L. Guard McGlish I^eater, Sub. i Belt Second in De bate and Basketball \ game is scheduled to be played tomorrow evening at the Belt audi toriuni between the Belt high and the Teton high. This will be a real game, as to the best of recollections i the Chouteau boys have never won a game on the Belt floor, which is evened up by the fact that the Belt team has never won from them on ; the Chouteau floor. Equally luckles« was the debating , contest between the Belt high and the Geraldine high held Friday evening at Geraldine, Superintendent Culver I accompanying Pearl Marquardt, Ber- I nice Sutherland and T. A. Remington, Jr., the contestant« representing the Belt high school. As only two judge« ! were available the requirement# were that the decision should be unanimous with the result the judges disagreed. later after conference deciding in fa vor of Geraldine. The manner of de eiaton indicates that the Belt repre- ' sentative* made a most excellent showing aftd it wa* further conceded that in the rebuttal they had much tha best of it Society of Eternal Nuisances Stage Badger Fight tor Entertainment ot Selves and Education of Tenderfeet With the coming of the chinook winds Saturday, several residents brought reports to town that badgers had commenced to come from their holes where they had been hibernât ing for the winter, and with the infor-ja mation the Society of Eternal Nuia ancte which has its meeting place at the Morrow garage, holding regular sessions each evening, began to long for an old fashioned badger fight, something that had not been staged for some time. Accordingl mittee composed of John Ben Kennedy were appointed to make the plans and procure the badger, Sunday, with a coninuance of the chi nook, they had no trouble in procur ing a badger, and after considerable coaxing finally gained the consent of W. J. Harner to pit his brindle bull pup against the animal, which had been taken to the Belt Hardware store, securely anchored to a heavy chain, and to make its safekeeping doubly sure, placed in a box under two heavy crates of hardware. Dur ing the balance of Sunday the badger was fed raw meat to arouse his fer ooity. then starved all day Monday so that he would be in a stag« ready to tackle anything for a square meal At Sunday evening's session of the Society of Eternal Nuisance# the com ing fight was the only subject of dis cussion. and all day Monday members and visitors dropped into the meeting place to talk of the affair. Betting on the outcome was free, Jaap and Ken nedy as well as others picking the - -— , „ lisaniAP lllarLa see« Hen er wonts on IIUIIIUI If 0100 Mil _ flnnninn'A D w. T UUblllilM Ml Dl & I VpUlllllg HI Ml W II y a com Jaap and The plans for reopening the Amer icon Bank & Trust company at Great balls are of local interest from the fact that Leo A. Henter, formerly cashier of the First National Bank of Belt. is active in the matter and ha# already submitted several propositions to the stockholders and directors. A meeting was held Monday evening at, holders and depositors are requested which Mr. Henter aubmitted a plan to the stockholder« present and which wilh be submitted again tonight at a medtmg called at which all stock Henter is to form a holding corpor to be present. According to the state ment of one of the directors present at l Monday night's meeting, the plan «f : Mr. Henter isto form a holding corpor «tion in which deoositors of the bank w jjj s tock to the amount of their dppogjt*, the corporatfo n to secure funds by subscription to the treasury j stock of the holding corporotion, nec-1 essary for reopening the bank. The not ^ f u i| y worked out but the plan appeared feasible to those who heard Mr. Henter explain it. suf- j ficiently so at least that the meeting has been called for this evening. Albert W. Springhorn, chief deputy in the office of State Superintendent j of Banks L. Q. Skelton, was recom mended as receiver of the Ameriran 1 Bank Ä Truat company of Great Falls! to Judge J. B. Leslie in the district | court Friday morning by Mr. Skelton! * n< * Mr - Springhorn was duly ap- j Pointed by the court, ALTAR SOCIETY TO GIVE THIRD CARD PARTY SOON? - j Tht ' of the Altar Society of j Mark's Catholic church are ar "*■ T-i T * ™nging « or the third of a senes of P^P^hir card parties, to be given at : th c P ariah ha ' l two weeks from to night. Thursday, January 26. 'Hie next | party of the series will be on Wash ington's Birthday, Wednesday even ing, Femruary 22. The usual excel , nt ) um .b prepared by the ladies will be served on both occasions. * - : - DrPT|||D|MT UlM CAMP nCO I Ä'JflÄn I WÄH 10 uUlfC i Neil Wallace, who for the past sev eral months conducted the restaurant in the Nets Roman building opposite the city hall, is a much sought nan. Not only is his absence from the city i missed by the proprietors of several business houses but Sheriff Bob G«r don and hi# local deputy. Jay Lelnnd. would like awfully well to know his whereabout*. Wallace Saturday completed a deal ; for the sale of his restaurant business and that evening loaded hi« few be longings into s Studebaker car and departed for point# unknown The car , he had recently purchased for $50. ; the garage taking a mortgage on the car for the balance due. Now Fred L. SeigTing, the proprietor, has the sheriff's office searching for Wallace on a charge of removing stolen prop < rty from the county, while it is also said the sheriff hold* paper» war ranting the arrest of Wallace on a charge of issuing a worthies« check. ( The garage is not the only one to suffer loss, as Wallace owed a num ber of accounts about the city for merchandie of various kinds. ■ badger to win, twain«« Hamer's brin die boll pup was plainly showing signs of an over-indulgence in food and carrying weight, which made it certain that he could not last through long fight, which the promoters be lieved the badger capable of putting up. However, there were those who believed the pup would make short work of the badger and ao which ever way one wanted to fcet, he had no ; trouble finding a taker, nois and has been here for the past j few monhs looking the country over in quest of a ranch. Tom has seen lots of.ranches—but never a badger fight, but as he is a likable boy, anxious to i learn and adopt the ways j to make the sports of the west his sports, some member of the chib sug gested that he be invited to attend the j fight sgreed to this suggestion but insisted that if on« non-member was to be ad ; mitted that the affair be thrown open | to the public. And this was finally decided upon, with the result that Monday evening found the entire male population gathered at the Belt Hard ware store. places from whiçh a view of the ring could be had. Manager Jaap instructed Mr. Hamer to bring on his dog, and he did so a breathless silence fell over the assemblage. The dog made .for the box in which the badger re- poeed—but nary a move from Mr. Badger—and Jaap and Kennedy began to think their •money was a thing of the past. Someone suggested that the badger be pulled from the box by ** ^ ^ ® who hails from Nebraska and has only been in Montana the past few months 'as manager of the Farmers' elevator, «« 1 ls »»I quite familiar with all f(irm8 of we8tt>ni S p or t though he is learning fast -kindly consented to do pulling . However, he waa wear j A frequent visitor at the garage is one Tom Foley, who hails from Illi. of the west, that night. The other members When all had found _ „ ln K on '>' dress shoe«, while Foley was wearing a pair of high boots and the committee in charge thought it safer f or ( Boley to do the pulling, parttcu lafly •• he was * < i rt Kue«t °* the Society of Eternal Nuisance« as well as having his legs protected by boots. But Tom did not like to himself conspicuous, demurred a little,and it waa only Jaap • to that the badger be palled from in * way that he Would have an 'advantage over the "Of the first fling that Finally gained Foley s conaeiVt, though Hotch was willing and anxious to take a chance all the time, But once his mind made up Foley '° 8t no a*" 1 P 01 iwxxictent strength to his pull to land a utensil common household use a few years a *o , in midst of the ring■--much to own amazement and the am usement of the crowd Evidently fiarmg the badger would follow above m« n tioned utensil, Foley hot-footed ,() end of the room, hut when the significance of the affair dawned "P 011 !' irn -.„ î î7. "hodght" and re marked Well.its only throughex that " w,ow l « arn, ' 1 | j .. ... .. . t1 , . j _ M y rtle M.. wife of Chas^Atkmson of j Cora creek, died Monday following an operation at one of the Great Fall# ^ ... ... .o hospitals. Mr«. Atkinson wai 42 : „ of and thi# wag tbo third y ^ | operation she had undergone during the last 18 months, and it was con sidered as an alternative effort to pro long her life. It is stated that she realized the seriousness of her condL tion and was resigned to the at tempt, though she felt a premonition that if w <>uld be useless. The body was brought to Belt yesterday morn ) j n g and taken in charge by C. E. Peterson who directed the funeral which was held at 2 o'clock from the M. E. church. Rev. Alexander Aiton conducting the services. Interment was made in Pleasant View cemetery, . The funeral was largely attended by neighbor« and friends of the fam ily. Mrs. Atkinson was one of the best known and generally respected wo men of the Belt valley. She was born in Springville, Ind., coming to Mon tana with her parents jn 1890 and had made her home in this vicinity ever since. She was married to Chas. At kinaon in 1894 at Arromgton and was the mother of 12 children, 11 of whom are now living. Four daughters and ^ seven sons, namely Mrs. McConkey of Warrick and Lueuw. Mabel and Martha and Harry, Don aid, George, John,Charles. Howard and Henry . ^ She is also survn^d by her husband and moth«', Mrs. Matoe Monier of Raynesford. The family Have the sincere sympathy of the en- . lire community in the untimely death of a faithful, conscientious and loving wife and mother. Passing of Mrs. Charles Atkinson