The Billings gazette. [volume], December 08, 1905, Image 1

About The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919

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The Billin Gazette.
VOL. XXI. BILLINGS. MONTANA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1905. NO. 64
MEDDLES IS
LOCKED UP
WAS BROUGHT HERE YESTERDAY
MORNING AND PLACED IN
COUNTY JAIL.
PERFORM AUTOPSY
One Bullet Hole Only Is Found in Mc
Claren's Neck-Ball Passed Through
Spinal Column and Severed the Cord
-Indian Police Are After the Boy.
James Meddles, who is suspected of
murdering Roy McClaren, whose dead
body was found on the reservation last
Monday and was brought to this city
Wednesday night, was brought here by
Sheriff Adams on yesterday morning's
Burlington train, and is locked up in
the county jail to await a hearing.
From evidence adduced at the cor
oner's inquest it appears that after Mc
Claren was killed that Meddles left his
dead body where it was lying and was
proceeding on his way to Dry Head,
when he was met by a gentleman who
ranches in southern Carbon county.
The man had previusly heard of Mc
Claren's death and as soon as they
met in the road Meddles asked hiM
what he thought of McClaren having
killed himself. The man replied that
he didn't know what to think of it. He
then asked Meddles if he had left the
body without notifying anyone at the
agency of McClaren's death, and upon
the advice of the man Meddles turned
around and went back to the agency
and reported the matter. The boy did
not want to go back, and Meddles
made his excuse for . not reporting
to the agency in the statement that the
boy didn't want to leave the wagon and
didn't want him to leave.
alan t want mnim to leave.
Boy to Be Brought Here.
The boy who was with the two men
is named Claude St. John and he is
stepson of G. W.. Berry, of the Hidden
Canyon Gold Mining company. Sher
iq Adams did not have the time to go
into the Dry Head country after him
and he deputized A. C. Van Hoose, sub
agent at Pryor, to go after and arrest
the boy. It is stated that Mr. Van
Hoose left the agency this morning,
accompanied by a number of the In
dian police, and went directly to the
Hidden Canyon, which is about 25
miles from the agency. Doubtless be
fore this time the boy has been placed
under arrest and it is thought that he
will be brought to this city tonight.
Persons who are acquainted with the
locality say that the Hidden Canyon
is not a very desirable place for an of
ficer to go single handed. Mr. Kelly,
the employment agent of this city, is
well acquainted with young St. John.
He says St. John is an honest boy and
that he believes he will tell a straight
story of the affair.
An Autopsy Performed.
At the direction of Coroner Rinehart
and County Attorney Wilson, Doctor
Cliff Lindsey yesterday performed an
autopsy upon the body of McClaren,
at George Setzler's undertaking rooms.
It was thought, upon a cursory examin
ation, that there were two bullet holes
in the dead man's neck. Only one was
found, however, the other place being
a bruise of some sort. The bullet
passed just back of the jugular vein on
the right side, crashed through the
vertebrae severing the spinal cord,
and was found in McClaren's left
shoulder near its point. The ball was
from a revolver of large caligre. Med
dles admits that McClaren had no gun
j of his own, but alleges that McClaren
used his, Meddles', gun, with which to
kill himself. Meddles says that he
and the boy were at the back of the
wagon in the act of lifting out a sask
of oats when they heard a shot from
the direction of where McClaren had
been standing. He and the boy went
around the wagon and found McClaren
sitting on the ground. McClaren said,
"Pick me up. I've been shot." Meddles
says he tried to load the body into the
wagon and take it along wvith him but
was unable to do so.
Story of a Fight.
There are several reputable men
who state that McClaren and Meddles
had two fights while they were in Bil
lings the day before they started out,
and that McClaren blacked one of
Meddles' eyes. Meddles acknowledg
ed on the witness stand that they had
had trouble but said it did not amount
to anything. He denied emphatically
that they had ever exchanged blows.
It is said also that McClaren made the
statement in a well known saloon the
day of his departure that he "hated to
go out with those fellows. I know
they will fix me some way if they get
a chance," he is reported as saying.
Physicians say that McClaren could
not have lived more than three min
utes fater receiving the wound.
HEAVY LOSS TO CODY.
All Horses Belonging to "Wild West"
Show Killed.
[By Associated Press]
Marseilles, France, Dec. 7.-All the
horses belonging to the "Wild West"
show of Colonel Wm. F. Cody were
killed here today. Although the gov
arnment veterinarians had certified
that glanders had been entirely eradi
cated from the stud, Cody and his
partner, James A. Bailey, decided on
.his radical measure in order to allay
the fears of the farmers regarding the
spread of the disease.
The saddles, bridles and other arti
laes of the equipment, as well as the
•lothing of the stablemen, were burn.
,d and the railroad cars belonging to
the show disinfected.
MUST SERVE SENTENCE.
[By Associated Press]
Buffalo Dec. 7.-Assistant District
Attorney Abbott received a telegram
stating that Judge Dickey of Brooklyn
had denied the application of A. J.
Whiteman for a certificate of reason
able doubt. Consequently Whiteman
will be taken to Auburn prison to serve
his sentence of eight years for grand
larceny.
GRAND JURY
USING PROBE
INDICTMENT OF OFFICIALS AND
RAILROAD EXPECTED.
REBATING, THE CHARGE
Traffic Manager for Large Packing
Concern Fined Last Fall Puts Gov
ernment in Possession of Informa
tion Long Desired.
[By Associated Press]
Chicago, Dec. 7.-Indictments are
expected within a few days from the
federal grand jury involving railroad
officials and at least one railroad.
B. S. Cusey, traffic manager of the
Schwarzchild & Sulzberger packing
concern, was before the inquisitorial
body today for several hours. At the
conclusion of his testimony it was
said that certain railroads and officials
would be indicted on charges of ex
tending rebates to the packing com
pany in violation of the law which
provides that one shipper shall not
be preferred above another by the
granting of rebates in the guise of
damage claims.
Last summer Mr. Cusey was indict
ed and pleaded guilty to a charge of
receiving railway rebates for, which
he paid a fine of $5,000.
Told by Cusey.
Later Cusey testified in the case of
the interstate commerce commission
against several railways to compel
them to comply with the orders of the
commission. At that time he was
asked concerning rebates alleged to
have been granted by certain rail
roads. He presented figures showing
that one railroad alone had paid his
firm more than $20,000 in damage
claims in tlhee years. These, he de
clared, were legitimate.
The government took this as a
nucleus for an investigations which re
sulted in several interviews between
Mr. Cusey and District Attorney C. D.
Morrison. Cusey, it is said, told the
district attorney that there was more
to the story of claims paid to the pack
ing company that he had testified to,
and with this knowledge the govern
ment took Mr. Cusey before the grand
jury.
SAFE BLOWERS' BIG HAUL.
[By Aeeocieted Press]
Spokane, Wash.-Dec. 7.-It is as
serted today that $30,000 worth of non
negotiable securities were stolen from
the store of the Coey Mercantile com
pany at Rockford by three safe blow
ers, who made the raid last Tuesday
morning. They also got about $2,100
cash.
NEARING TIlE
FINAL: STAGE
Whole Fabric of.Russian Govern
ment Threatened.
WiTTE FAST LOSING POWER
Unable to Cope with Ever Increasing
Dangers Rising AH Sides.
[By Associatel Press]
St. Petersburg, Wednesday night,
Dec. 6, via Eydkuhnen, East Prussia,
Dec. 7.-Public confidence in the gov
ernment's ability to weather the grow
ing storm is waning fast. Premier
Witte seems powerless to cope with
the new elements of danger which the
revolution is raising on very hand.
New mutinies among the troops are
constantly reported and lawlesssess
in the country is increasing.
Whenever the dreaded workmen's
organizations present a united front,
as .taey did last night, the premier is
compelled to strike his colors.
It now appears that the comrades
of Sokoloff, the railroad engineer in
Samara, whose condemnation to death
threatened the government with a gen
eral strike, independently organized
the strike on the trans-Caspian line
from Alexandrovsk to Tashkend. The
governor general of Kurshki, who ex
ercises plenary powers on the Afghan
frontier without consulting with the
St. Petersburg authorities, convened
a court martial and sentenced Soko
loff to death. The premier, as a re
sult of the action of the executive
committee of the railroad employes'
union in preparing for a general
strike, unless the sentence was re
versed before midnight, December 6,
was compelled to get M. Nemechaiff,
the minister of communications, to
employ the railroad telegraph to for
ward a stay of execution, which, for
tunately, arrived in time. Had the
man been shot, nothing would have
prevented a universal strike. This
danger for the moment has again
passed, but the weapon always hanga
over the head of the government as
a threat against any new arbitrary
act,
Country's Credit Endangered.
The immediate danger confrontina
the government is a. concerted attack
on the country's credit. The public
CARNEGIE WOULD PAY PREMIUM
TO IMMIGRANTS COMING HERE
[By Associated Press]
New York, Dec. 7.-Andrew Carne
gie said today that if he owned Amer
ica he would give a premium to immi
grants for coming here. Mr. Carne
gie was speaking on the immigration
question before the National Civic Fed.
eration and said:
"Our country has more than one ser
ious problem, but immigration is not
among them. We have solvqd the
question in the present, but somewhat
too drastic law that we have enacted.
It is not a problem for us. It is the
problem for the poor, unfortunate
countries, from which we are draining
the best blood.
"Now I hold that the prime test and
the only test we should enact is this:
"Has a man the ambition to enjoy
the rights of an American ci*.ison and
has he the habits of sobriety and
frugality to save the sum necessary for,
feat that the government can be
forced. to suspend gold payments in
0repsee daily. This would be the
ero4vnihg achievement of the revolu
*tiolists, who are satisfied that with
the attending financial crash, the
*hble 'house would come tumbling
do0n. The chances of driving the
Co try into bankruptcy they profess
to beliee , would be materially in
er sed :-it the confidence of the for
0e4 hlders of Russian obligahona
wa udermined, and the news thea
the LErench Investors, who hold four
fifths of Russia's immense foreign in
debtedness, were unloading was re
ceived with jubilation by the revolu
tionists. At the same time it created
a veritable panic\ on the bourse, im
perial fours falling to 74, fives to 94%
and the government lotteries to 295.
Banking and industrial shares went
down with a rush; Putiloff going from
93 to 86 and iron shares like Kolomo
and Moscow, hich a month ago
were quoted at 450, clo:ing at 360.
The Savings bank was subjected to a
run and at the State bank a long line
of nervous men and women waited for
hours to exchange paper money for
gold. The bank rificials :td not a,..
tempt to dissuade them and exchang
ed piles of gold for bills as fast as the
latter were presented.
At ~he ministry of finance it is esti
mated that about $60,000,000 has thus
far been withdrawn from the State
lank. The balance of gold in the
treasury and abroad now stands at
$586,500,000 and the outstanding pa
per totals $553b00,000, leaving the
government a margin of legally issu
01.bk paper of about $45,000,000.
Interio" in Devolt.
It is alleged that the strikers are
securing information from the inte
rior towns. Dispatches published to
day are said to have been received
hv the cnnneii of workmen's delegates.
him to reach this port? And is he
skillful enough to earn that surplus. I
want no better tetsimony than that. If
I owned America and was running it
as a business operation, I would not
only look for that man but I would
give every man of that kind a preniium
to come here and consider it the best
bargain that I had ever made in my
life. Taking the value of a man,
woman or child in this republic as low
as a slave, and that was an average of
about $1,000, 50 years ago, and you
are getting 400,000 a year, which
means $440,000,000 cash value. Fur
thermore, every man who comes here
is a consumer and 90 per cent of all
the earnings of even the most saving
goes to employ other labor of some
kind.
"It is not purity of blood you want,
it is the mingling of different bloods
that makes Americans."
According to these dispatches muti
neers have seized the arsenal at Ekat
erinodar and secured 16,000 rifles,
which have been distributed at Ekat
erinodar and Novorossiyk. It is also
said that a revolt has broken out at
Elizabethpol and that the insurrec
tionary troops are masters of the sit
uation at Novorosslysk.
The situation at Kieff is described
as being an extremely serious one.
Some accounts say that a massacre
has taken place in which 1,500 per
sons were killed.
DESERT SINKING SHIP.
Prominent Military Commanders Re
questing Permission to Resign.
[By Associated Press]
London, Dec. 7.-'Phe correspondent
of the Daily Mail in St. Petersburg in
a dispatch sent by way of Eydtkuhnen,
East Prussia, says:
"Prominent military commanders
everywhere are requesting permission
to resign. The minister of war him
self, Lieutenant General Rudiger, has
asked the emperor to allow him to re
tire. The minister of the interior, M.
Durnovo, and others have followed the
example of the minister of war. Count
Witte stands alone, but even he is
losing heart."
CONSPIRATORS FRUSTRATED.
[By Aesociated Poess]
London, Dec. 7.-The Tokio corres
pondent of the Daily Telegraph reports
that a secret meeting at Chinampho of
the leaders of a conspiracy to assassin
ate all the Korean ministers who sign
ed the treaty with Japan, was surpris
ed by Japanese troops, who arrested
10 of the conspirators.
MANY KILLED
AND WOUNDED
FRIGHTFUL WRECK OCCURS ON
UNION PACIFIC.
ORDERS ARE CONFUSED
Mistake on Part of Conductor and En
gineer Results in Ten Dead and
Nineteen Injured-Five Bodies
Burned Beyond Recognition in Fire
That Destroys Cars.
[By Associated Press]
Omaha, Neb., Dec. 7.-One of the
worst railway wrecks which has oc
curred on the Union Pacific for years
resulted from a head-on collision be
tween a freight train and the Over
land Limited, No. 2 passenger, east
bound, five miles west of Rock
Springs, Wyo., at 3 o'clock this morn
ing. Ten persons were killed and
19 injured, 11 of them railway em
ployes and eight passengers. Five of
the dead were burned beyond recogni
tion in the fire which destroyed the
mail car, the combination baggage
car and the dining car. Two of these
are known to be mail clerks and the
other three were cooks, who were
sleeping in the diner.
The mail and dining cars were the
scenes of the greater fatality, three
mail clerks and three cooks being
killed outright and one other clerk
being, perhaps, fatally injured, his
skull being fractured. Electrician
Stigers and his assistant, Frank Mc
Kenna, were in the baggage car, im
mediately following the engine, and
were also killed outright.
Misunderstood Orders.
From the Union Pacific it is ioficial
ly announced that the wreck was caus
ed by the engineer and conductor of
the freight confusing their orders.
They had received orders to meet
four passenger trains, the last of
which was the Overland Limited at
Ah Say, a siding five miles west of
Rock Springs. The freight took the
siding and when three of the trains,
all of which were running close to
gether, had passed, the freight started
for the west without waiting for the
Overland Limited. This latter train
and the freight came together head-on,
one and one-half miles west of Ah
Say.
Engineer Brink of the freight is
among the killed and his fireman, Os
car Peterson, was seriously injured.
Conductor Roy Darrell of the freight
admitted that he had been confused,
thinking that all the trains which
he expected to meet at Alt Say had
passed.
MAY TAK
NEW FORM
INSURANCE INVESTIGATION LIKE.
LY TO END IN CRIMINAL
ACTIONS.
HE WANTS A COPY
Jerome Inquires As To When He May
Have Committee's Report For Exam
ination-Ryan Ready To Give Testi-:
mony Concerning Equitable Matters
More Grafting in Mutual Reserve
Is Exposed.
[By Associated Press]
New York, Dec. 7.-Attention was
directed to the possibility of criminal
action growing out of the investigation
of life insurance methods by a visit'
paid by District Attorney Jerome to
the legislative committee while it was
holding its hearing in the city hall,
today. Mr. Jerome said that he want
ed to find out when he could get pos
session of a copy of the report of the
committee. Chairman Armstrong
already has said that he hopes to have'
it ready for the legislature when it
meets, next January.
Counsel for Thomas F. Ryan, who
bought the James H. Hyde stock 'of
the Equitable Life Assurance society,
conferred with Charles E. Hughes,
counsel for the investigating commit
tee, today, and said afterward that Mr.'
Ryan was holding himself in readiness
to testify before the committee.
Drain on Resources.
One of the points brought out by
Mr. Hughes in today's hearing was the
fact that the Mautual Reserve Life In
surance company had paid $134,000 to
the widow of Edward B. Harper, the
former president of the company, since
Harper's death, in 1895. The money is
derived from commissions which Har%,,
per drew on all business written by
the company. His widow, who had
since remarried, continues to receive
the commissions.
Incident to this inquiry Mr. Hughes
discovered an instance in which $8,000
had been paid to President Frederick
A. Barnham, of the company in 1896
and concerning which Vice President
George D. Eldredge of that company
testified that he knew nothing. The
bookkeeper, who made the payment
from the contingent fund, said he did
not know what it was paid for.
RESTS WITH CONGRESS
Secretary Bonaparte's Laconic Reply
to Request for Preservation of Fri
gate Constitution.
[By Associated Press]
Washington, Dec. 7.-Secretary
Bonaparte today received the follow
ing telegram from A. E. Pillsbury,
former attorney general for Massa
chusetts:
"May I not say to meeting to pre
serve 'Constitution' that she will not
be destroyed?"
Secretary Bonaparte's attitude re
garding the fate of the historic old
frigate is outlined in this telegram,
which he sent in reply:
"Fate of 'Constitution' in hands of
congress. Personally I wish to see
her rise like a phoenix, but am too
loyal to other constitution to take
unauthorized liberties with this one."
PEERAGE FOR SIR HENRY.
[By Associated Press]
London, Dec. 7.-It is now under
stood from the best informed quarters
that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
will be elevated to the peerage, so that
he may become the leader of his party
in the house of lords. In such an
event Herbert Henry Asquith will be
come first lord of the treasury and
the leader of the party in the house of
commons.
HERMIT INCINERATED.
[By Associated Prese]
Warsaw, N. Y., Dec. 7.-James L.
Blodgett, the hermit banker of Herm
Itage, Wyoming county, was burned to
death today in his house, which burned
to the ground. He was estimated to.ei
be worth a million dollars.