Newspaper Page Text
HELENA«, / « i , i -ass !*= VOLUME THIRTY. NUMBER THIRTY-BIGHT. BELT, MONTANA. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1924. $2.00 PER YEAR IN ADYANGM ¥ ft HIGH SCHOOL 5 TRIMS LEAGUERS The Baynesford Eighth grade girls team visited the Eighth grade girls on Wednesday evening and tried conclu sions with the girls team of that grade. The Belt girls were larger and bad had infinitely more practice so that the home team won but the vis itors put up a game battle. The visit ing girls were Ella Skadsen, Angeline and Irene Col arch ik, Mary Evans, Gladys Pish and Vyna Nulliner. They wer« accompanied by their coach, Mrs. Watson. i The Eighth grade boys nosed out the Seventh grade team by one point in & fiercely contested battle at the Gym last evening, Myron Robinson throwing his half of a doable foul af ter the whistle had blown for time. Hie score was 9 to 8j The high school trimmed the Tri bunes by one point in the principal fray of the evening by a score of 13 to 12. At one time in the second half the Belt team had a nice lead but No. 4 on the Tribunes caged three long ones in succession from past the cen ter and nearly overcame Belt's lead. The high school team say that Belt people will We a smoothly working machine when they watch the Port 6haw boys on Friday night. Tournament Games— Custer 1«, Poplar 5. Butte Central 17. Whitehall I«. Butte 32, Flathead 28. The people of Belt will watch with interest the work of the -Big Sandy and Great Falls teams at the tourna ment. Great Falls has a good record for the season and may be depended on for a hard fight for a place among the leaders. ^Big Sandy started the season badly but has improved con sistently until they were able to beat out the Falls team for district honors. Harlem failed in the pinch although touted to win while Big Sandy, a dark horse, came from behind and played at top form. The results of only a few games will be published in this issue and be fore the day of publication comes again the tournament will have been won and lost. Helena is the favorite among the western teams while Poplar from the northeast, with Miles City and Bill ings of the southeast, are the teams about which little is known. The Pop lar team is composed mainly of In dians who play by spurts a flashy, brilliant game but heretofore they have never shown the stamina and «ondition to enable them to stand the terrific strain of the toumarsmt. Miles City looks like a strong con tender for honors having beaten Bill ing» recently. The latter team should nevertheless make a good showing. Great Fails a ppears to have be«* this ter by the addition of Evans whose weight makes him a hard man to stop. Kalispell is a team about which lit tle is known. Several seasons they have sent teams to the tournament which have been undisputed champ ions of the northwestern district and have considered themselves and also have been cortsidered by others as dan gerous opponents. Usually they have gone home without winning a game. Still the unexpected might happen and they might get into the money. Ana conda, Butte Central and Livingston have teams that are. dangerous at all The tournament promises to be one of the fastest in years. At Anaconda the Harlem team was defeated by Butte by a score of 22-5. METHODIST CHURCH NOTES Harry T. Stoag. Pastor Morning worship at 11 o'clock. Ser mon by the pastor. Evening se r vice at 7:80. Prayer service Thursday af-.'J M. Choir practice Saturday «t-#8fclock. Regular Wednesday afternoon. Sunday school at 10 o'clock. Junior Lcsfot at 8 p. m. Sunday. Epwwrth League at 6:86 permits, the Gospel IBM ting of ladies Aid on w-*th S» ot the ford this coming Sunday A cordial welcome always at the M, 11 » — ■ L. B. Lockhart, E. E. Dawson and M. T. Messelt Arrested Early This Week. Messelt Out bn Bail; Dawson in Seattle, Lockhart in Cal. - v Two former bank officials were ar i&ted Sunday on indictments issued Saturday by the Cascade county grand jury, L. B. Lockhart, former vice president of the Miners State bank at Sand Coulee, and former president of the Belt State bank, was arrested in Los Angeles and held in $18,000 bail. Six indictments specifying two counts were preferred against him. M. T. Messelt, former assistant cashier of) the Belt State bank, was detained byj the Havre sheriff to answer two in dictments, with three counts, charging 1 irregularities in his dealings while anj official of the Belt bank. Messelt is named in two indictments the first charging him with intent to defraud the state banking superin tendent and others by a ledger entry made in January, 1922, concerning a transfer in stock of the Belt State bank to the Miners State bank of Sand Coulee. The second indictment, in the first count, charges Messelt with accept ing funds for deposit in the Belt bank after he knew the bank to be insol vent, die second count alleging he had reason to know the bank was unsound at the time the deposit specified was made, Lockhart is alleged to have received the Belt bank stock, valued at $2,400, as an individual, while the entry al leged to have been approved by Mes selt, debited the stock to the account of the Sand Coulee bank. Lockhart faced trial in district court here last summer for grand larceny in connection with transactions in the Belt bank. The jury failed to agree in the caae ami was dismissed in the fore part of June. Lockhart was re leased under bond. Messelt is g dep uty state examiner, recently appoint ed receiver of the Security National bank of Havre. Both men were ar rested on telegraphic warrants sent ROBERT NONE 3 HAS BIC PARTY Saturday night Mrs. G. G. Nohl en tertained for her son Robert, the oc casion being his 16th birthday. Those present were Ella Graybeal, Erma Wilson, Lucille Brady, Alice Robin son, Dorothy Robinson, Billie Staffel, Bernice Staffel, Anatosia Klimas, Verna Moe, Jay Leland, Gua Probst, Howard Grayfoeal, Ralph Millard, Florian Florek, Pat Sanderson, Chaa. Remington, Robert Nohl. The first part of the evening was spent playing "600" at which Chaa. Remington and Alice Robinson won the head prizes. The table and house were decorated in St. Patrick's day colors and the birthday cake carried 16 flaming candles which Robert ex tinguished with one breath, thus fore casting Mi early marriage. - ion« time, After lunch various guessing games and testa of skill were tried. Gas Probet received the prize for finding the pieces of paper which put together formed a shamrock. Florian Florek guessed what a lot of pictures adver tised and was rewarded. Lucille Brady proved herself most proficient in outlining an animal with needle and thread, while Gua Probet again distinguished himself by find ing the most trees hidden away in sen tences. The young people had a glor Legion Dance On St. Patrick'» night the Ameri can Legion will give a grand library ball at the high school auditorium. The object of this dance is to secure funds with which to buy books and periodicals for the public library which they are conducting. No more worthy cause could be found than. this. The Legion have dreams of a future Legion building which shall contain the Legion hall and house the library, but this enter tainment is not in any way connected with the building program. The dance given some wefks ago by the Legion netted them only a few dollars besides s bunch of books for which they were grateful but on the night of the 17th they hope to have * ptoawmt evening and a racord-tonsok Latest Reports M. T. Messelt was in Balt on Monday and Tuesday arranging for bail, the redaction of which he had secured from $6JM0 to $2,000. A plea of not guilty was entered to the two charges on Tuesday afternoon and having furnished bail, Messelt was re leased until called for trial. It it expected that E. E. Daw son, who has been arrested in Seattle, will resist extradition. According to word received by the sheriff's office his attorneys ate filing habeas corpus pro ceedings and the sheriff eras called upon for a telegraphic copy of the indictment Extra dition papers are also being pre pared for L. B Lockhart and Harry Skinner in case they should change their minds about returning. Té Deputy Sheriffs Dennis and Paiagi left Wednesday morning to bring back the accused men from California. by Sheriff Bob Gardon. It is expect ed that a deputy will leave today for Havre to bring Messelt to Great Falla. The two arrests Sunday were the first made on the nine indictments issued taterday. Additional arrests aw ex pected today, officers stated Sunday night. , , t The chargee against Lockhart to brief are as follows; Lockhart is charged with grand larceny on two counts—first, that on October 31, 1921, he appropriated to his own ase $3,500 which belonged to the Miners State Bank of Sand Coulee, and second, that he, as vice president of the said bank, defrauded the bank of the money. Another indictment charges Lock hart with a felony, that of furnishing a false statement to the superintend ent of banka on January 4, 1922, with reference to the time certificates of deposit in the State Bank of Belt, of which he was a director. The second count chargee a felony in that Lock hart, with felonious intent, deceived the superintendent of banks. Grand larceny on two counts is charged in another indictment, it W ing alleged that Lockhart appropriat ed to his own use $2,400 belonging to the State Bank of Belt, Jan. 14, 1922, the second count charging felonious intent to defraud the bank out of the money. Lockhart is also charged with a fel ony in two counts, for alleged issu ance of a false statement on July 14, 1921, to the superintendent of banks to the amount of bills payable at the Miners State bank of Sand Coulee it being alleged that the report showed that the bank did not have any bills payable, whereas the indictment charges that the report should have shown that the bank had borrowed $10,000 from the Midland National bank of Minneapolis; file second count charging intent to deceive the super intendent of banks. Another indictment charges Lock hart with grand larceny., appropriat ing to his own use on November 4, 1921, $1,048.20 belonging to the Min ers State bank of Sand Coulee; and the second count charges him with de frauding file bank out of the money. Issuance of a false statement with reference to the amounts due the Min ers State bank of Sand Coulee on July 18, 1922, is also charged, it being al leged that he reported that the Com mercial National bank of Great Falls owed the bank $268-86; «the Midland E >nal bank of Minneapolis owed «nk $4,422.28, ala© the First Na- 1 1 bank of Great Falls owed the Sand Coulee inatitutioh $7,700.63. It is alleged that a true statement of the facts shows that the Sand Coulee bank owed the Commercial National bank : of Great Falls $4,781.14; that there was ne money due from the Commer cia) National bank, and that the Sand, Coulee bank owed the Midland Ns- , tional bank of Ktoneapolia $577.72 in- j stead of that institution owing the Sand Coulee bank; and that instead of, the First National bank of Great Falls | owing the Sand Coulee bank $7,700.78 tfce correct »mount was $2,700.63. The* ■écond count charges Lockhart with Making the false report to deceive the Superintendent of banks. S Los Angeles, Cal., March 3.— L. B. Lockhart/ former official of two Mon banka was arrested by deputy fa here Sunday night on a tele »raphic warrant from Great Falla, Montana. The fugitive warrant au thorising his arrest fixed his bail at $18,000, in default of which he lodged in the county jail. , To newspapermen Lockhart said he ums formerly president of the State k of Belt and the Miners State nk of Sand Coulee, both situated in Otoal) towns within 25 miles of Orest Falls "The banks failed more than a year ago," he explained. ."I knew that the «rend jury was investigating tanks and learned from my attorney «(today that I had been indicted. I Wired in return that I would be to dfeat Falls next Wednesday and was Stoking preparations for the trip when «Brea tod." tat»« Aerif was 8 = tfae that not fight *ictredition and was eager to Jeee the «h$rges made against him. One banks involved was capitalised 000, be said, and the other for «$0,000. —Monday's Tribune. & ■» . _, «*07! U™*! °1 State Bank of Belt and the State Bank of Stockett. now closed wa. ar rested in Los Ange es Monday on Oscsde county grand jury Indict Z W, S Stockeu bank. States gf toBBBsf be nd h tafrant on indictments returned against Elmer E. Dawson, former cashier of the Belt bank, was made Monday in Seattle, bringing the total number arrested on the nine true bills returned Saturday to four. Los Angeles authorities Sunday ar rested L. B. Lockhart, former yice preeident of the Miners State bank at Sand Coulee and former president of the State Bank of Belt, on four sep arat% indictsments and two joint In dictments and M. T. Messelt, named jointly with Dawson in a true bill al leging receipt of deposits when the bank was insolvent, was also taken in custody, Sunday Messelt, former assistant cashier of the Belt bank and now a deputy state bank examiner, was ar rested at Havre, where he 4s in charge of the Security State bank. The indictment against Skinner ac cuses him of larceny on two counts, the theft of $3,600 from the Stockett bank in May, 1920, when he was pres ident of the institution. The former Montana banker was released from custody late Monday afternoon on $8,000 bail, which Forrest Nelson, un* der indictment in connection with the failure of the American Bank A Trust company here, helped him arrange In an interview with newspaper men Skinner denied the charges against him and intimated that he would waive extradition. He said he was prepar ing to enter business when taken into custody. He has established a home attle. Harry J. Skinner, a few years ago was rated as one of the wealthiest men in Cascade county, but due to the adversities of the postwar depression he is understood to have lost virtually jail of his fortune. ~ In one true bill against both Daw son and Messelt, it is alleged that on October 9, 1922. they accepted and placed on deposit in the State Bank of Belt a deposit of $316 from Ora L. Wilson when they knew the bank was impaired This indictment carries two counts. In the second indictment against them, Messelt and Dawson are accused of making an entry in the Belt bank's general ledger under the aecount of near Monrovia, a suburban town. Lockhart is »till in jail, unable to raise $18,000; bail. He has announced that he will waive extradition. It is not known whether Dawson will oppose return to Montana. He was indicted jointly with Lockhart and Messelt on charges of making a false report as to the condition of the bank, false entry, and accepting deposits when the bank was known to be insol vent. He is a relative of A. L. Brad ley, former president of the Gilman State bank, now under arrest in Se MINE WORKERS ADOPT NATIONAL WAGE SCALE Billings.—Miners wage scales as adopted by the national board of United Mine Workers of America at the meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., last month were presented to the district convention here Tuesday morn ing and adopted by unanimous vote. The district includes Montana and North Dakota. The matter will now be re ferred to a convention commit tee which will meet the coal op erators at G real Faljs March 12. the Miners State bank of Sand Coulee charging the account of that bank $2,400 on a certificat» of deposit is sued to Lockhart as peri payment for the J. P. Healey bank stock when it should have been * charged to Lock hart's individual account. Dawson and Lockhart are named in the third joint indictment, Hating two of counts. It is claimed that during the months of December, 1921, and Janu ary, 1922, whan a report was made on the condition of file State Bank of Belt, that it was falsely shown that the bank had $87,118.45 on deposit to . certificate« of deposit when actually th * citation had $77.118.4«. or $10. m ^ ^ to the state BOperintelKUnt tomka. — " Information ha« been received here the ^ B#f * Washington had *>»««* «tradition paper, for the w ^ BradltT ^ ^ 0Uramn 8 t»ta ^ ç w. Tewell. former snaMSar of that Institution Hearing on habeas corpus proceedings begun to Beattie by their counsel will be held in the coast city today.—Tuesday's Tribuns, BASEBALL MEN ELECT OFFICERS Saturday evening a good represen tation of business men met in the club room of the Knights of Pythias and talked over the baseball situation for this season. Everyone seemed to be in favor of putting a team in the field but realized that the successful finan cial backing of a team was consider able of an undertaking. On the Wed nesday evening previous to this meet ing the Miners Union had had the matter under discussion at their reg ular meeting and had appointed Mat Le sell, Andrew Wants and Ernest Siegling as three members of the board of directors. Saturday night the business men followed suit and elected Waiter Blom quist, C. A. Straight and John Jaap on this ai their three board. Jhis board will elect a secretary treasurer outside of their number and a president and vice-president from among themselves. This will be the executive board of the organization and will have com plete charge of all arrangements. The first thing on their program is to find out to what extent the citizens of Belt will back the team. If the response is satisfactory steps will be taken to insure their entrance into the league and players will be signed up. If the response ia discouraging, the subject will be dropped. 35 Lester Funeral The funeral of George Lester was held in St. Mark's church on Monday morning at 10 o'clock. The ladies of the local Slavish society acted as es cort from the Lester home to the church. Fred Jurcak, John Want», Andrew Bo both, D. Spogen, Charles Lochray and Mike Havenictz acted pall bearers. The regular Catholic choir and Father T. O- Rocque sang requiem high mass for the deceased, after which an eloquent sermon was preach ed by the officiating clergyman. Burial wa* made in Pleasant View cemetery. Besides the widow, three sons were present: Rudolf, who is engaged to the an < ROY ANDERSON GETS PROMOTED We have a 'clipping from the Francisco Examiner which states two East Bay bankers are leasing soon for Europe where they will make an eight-months' survey of and market conditions in Fnaag Germany, England, Austria and Italy. These men are T. M. Robinson, Jr, manager of the Elmwood branch ot the Mercantile Trust Co. at Berkley, and T. N. Barrows, son of foi President David Scott Barrows of the University of California, and bar of the staff of the Mercantile Trust Co. During the absence of these gentle men, Roy C. Anderson, son of Mra. Hilda Anderson of Belt, and who in now cashier of the Elmwood branch, will be the manager. In the article are cuts of Mr. Bar rows and Boy. The latter looks very natural and any one would have ns difficulty in recognising the man who spent all hit youth to midst. He Is to be congratulated his suecsss and Belt can make of her boys who are making good. 20 Years Ago Prod Borrows was visiting his friends on Lower Balt last week. A stone mason from Grant Faite to rebuilding the piers on the across Lower Balt. Messrs. son. Wetaal, Damuth, Mahoney Wye Black «te »too working on «tea Lawtenro Farin» W4.a on Big Wilts* near the school fit« other day Fortunately La hit s— s was unhurt but he pr ea ch ed a tog funeral service for tbs tana as lar traveled down the road on too 1 August Probst and Frank bautn were at Charles Atkinson's oa business Wednesday. Harry Williams died this week at Great Fails. He bad made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Mat Richardson of this place. ✓ The electric light* have bean re placed by tallow dips, lantern* and this week sines the dynamo ad the works burned out The ladies of lbs Altar Society are arranging for a big 8t Patrick's day dance. Walter Goodman mad« a trip to Has county seat on business Tu e sd ay. Howard Browning returned yester day from a two months' visit with art stive« near Calais, Maine. The family of Charles Holmberg ot lows arrived last Friday and have been stopping with Mr. and Mrs. Ber nard Johnson, who are relative». Mr. Holmberg arrived Tuesday with » ear load of household goods and stock. He has rented the farm of Swan Andersen eight mile» sots thee« t of town and will move there immediately. Mr. and Mrs. Homer Thomas of Belt Park returned home Monday after a few days visit in the county seat. John Qonsler and daughter, Mias Annie, of Monarch passed through town Saturday on their way to Groat Falls. Mrs. Archie Frye and son Frankly» are visiting friends in Groat Falls. Mr. and Mrs. Abe Hedrick of Wil low creek were among those in town Saturday. About 76 of the coke ovens are now fired and within a few days the whole plant will be in operation. Miss Minnie Heiner of Portland, Ore., Grand Guardian of the Neigh bors of Woodcraft, came to Groat Falls to meet Silver Leaf Circle No. last week. Miss Myrtle Springer and her mother brought her out to Belt to visit Mizpah Circle No. 162. Two cars of Great Falb» Neighbor» accompanied them. meat business to Log angele»; Frank, who is running a printing «hop to Marshfield, Wto.. and Louis, custodB ■■of the Odd Fellows Tempi* «h ' Sioux Falls, S- D. The church wps filled wit|i friends and neighbor» of the departed who joined with the family to paying Ä» final act of respect to one who had lived for nearly thhtg year*