Glacier County chief. [volume], March 26, 1937, Magazine Section, Image 11

About Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
pear Creek Prospectors Ignored Jail Sentences
and Fines Imposed on Them by Court in 1867
■ ‘'Nothin but blood or ground
■ foeo.”
■ These were fighting words among
■ the placer miners on Bear creek
■ In western Montana In 1867. As a
■ result of them being bandied back
■ and forth among a group of pros
■ sectors that year, Bill Berry, an
■ old-timer in the region and for
I many years afterward a resident
■ d Missoula, always claimed that
■ according to the records he was
| in jail at Deer Lodge and not walk*
| Ing about the streets of Missoula
I m he seemed to be.
■ Bill, as a matter of fact, was fined
I iso for contempt of court, along with
I a number of others, by Judge Willis
■ ton at Deer Lodge. The men were also
I ordered to pay $46 costs each, and were
I ordered to jail until the fines and
I costs were paid. However, there was no
■ jail—there wasn’t one in the territory
Ist that time—and the boys just nat
lurally paid no attention to the item
lof costs. They walked from the court
■ room where the Judgment had been
■ rendered, mounted their horses and
I went on home. _
I Early in the spring of 1867 three
I Missourians had located a bar claim
lon Bear creek, And were having
I trouble holding it. An Englishman
I named William Ely held the creek
I claim at the same place, and under
I the mining law as it was being admin*
I istered at that time, was therefore the
I rightful owner of the bar claim also.
| The Fighting Claim
I The Missouri,ans offered Berry a
I quarter interest in their bar claim if
I he would help them hold it. He told
I them that he would take them up if
I they would obey his orders. They agreed
I to that, and Berry took command. The
I claim was long afterwards known as
I "the Fighting Claim” because of the
I legal battles which were waged over
I it. There was never any actual shoot -
I ing. although the situation looked se
rious several times.
After Berry and his partners started
working the claim, Ely went to Deer
Lodge and obtained from Judge Wil
liston an injunction intended to halt
their operations. Berry said afterward
that Judge Williston’s injunction was
a queer looking document—written on
rough paper and not official looking.
Also, it was served on him, as boss of
the claim, by a private citizen named
Williams, who had no authority to
serve it. Berry told him so and he and
his partners kept right on working.
On Ely’s claim there was an almost
perpendicular raise of bed rock. The
law was that all creek claims should
run from summit to summit and take
in all bars. Upon that legal definition
Ely claimed the ground which Berry
and his partners were working.
Legal Battle Started
Berry, however, refused to see it
that way.
Ely hired a big Irishman named Mike
Sullivan to work for him.
Both sides kept on working on their
respective claims ,and finally Ely pro
posed they submit their dispute to a
referee. Berry stood Ely off for a time,
but finally decided to acquiesce to the
request. He found Sullivan, Ely’s man,
in Jim Talbot’s saloon one night and
said:
“Mike, tell Ely that we’ll leave the
case out.” (The manner in which a
referee proceeding was referred to at
that time.)
“No,” replied Sullivan. “You’ll not
leave it out. Nothing but blood or
ground goes.”
that suits me,” replied Berry.
Now we know where we stand."
The next morning Berry and his Mis
sourians tore down a small log cabin
located about 200 yards from their
Ground, and which was unoccupied, and
moved it to the bar. They marked the
logs as they took them from the build
ing and speedily erected it again in
its new location, after dragging the
logs there with horses.
While the four were moving the
n and Sull vain w’ere out rust-
ling fighting men. Berry also recruited
several. When, next morning Ely and
Sullivan approached the cabin there
were 15 men in it, all armed and with
plenty of ammunition. The cabin was
about 20 feet wide, 30 feet long and
the walls were 15 feet high. It had no
roof. The only way the attackers could
get to the men inside was either by
crawling under the sides or climbing
over the top.
Ely and Sullivan walked around the
place and looked it over, while the 15
men inside watched them through the
chimes and made pointed, personal re
marks to and about them, pushing the
muzz e of a rifle or revolver through
• chink now and then just to give
emphasis to their words. Ely and Sul
u*an retired to their own camp ano
■ent three men up under a flag of
truce to talk the situation over. The
conversation was carried on through
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Montana College Bobcat Band Completes 27th Annual Tour of Treasure State
The 27th annual tour
of the Montana State
college Bobcat band,
taken March 17 to 25,
was named the Golden
Jubilee tour by students
at the college in honor
of the 50th ye,ar of
bandwork in Montana
by its director—Lou
Howard. A total of 17
concerts were played in
Montana cities and
towns during the band’s
1937 tour.
According to the
Golden Jubilee band
program, Mr. Howard
played the first note of
his 50-year band career
in Dillon in 1886. He
spent several years in
Butte and blew the
bugle that announced
the birth of Montana
as a state. He organ
ized Montana’s first
boys’ band at Bozeman
in 1892 and became the state’s young
est director at the age of 12 when
he led the Bozeman city band. For
a time Mr. Howard directed the band
at Montana State university but re
turned to Montana State college in
1907 to become its band director, a
position he has held since.
It was Mr. Howard's boys’ band that
played during the cornerstone laying
ceremonies for Montana hall, present
Golden Tour Leader
MS \
Lou Howard, director of the Bobrat
band at Montana State college, who
this year enters his 50th year of band
work in Montana.
the chinks in the log fortress. The
! enemy wanted to settle. Berry refused.
"Nothing but blood or ground goes,"
he said.
The committee from Ely’s camp fi
nally withdrew, and having had ample
opportunity to see the munitions of war
1 stored in Berry’s fortress, also with
drew their forces. Berry’s men waited
for the attack, but it didn't come.
Finally Ely’s committee returned and
proposed that the matter be arbitrated.
Terms of the agreement were that each
side select three men, the six to name
the seventh of an arbitration board, the
decision of which was to be final.
Berry’s crowd didn’t like it, but Berry
kept them in line and agreed to the
plan.
Seventh Man Hard to Find
Berry chose as his representatives
Henry Mulkey, John Downes and a
Frenchman whose name is lost to his
tory. They argued with Ely's men for
a long time but couldn't agree on the
seventh man. Finally Downes proposed
that each side send one man to the
mouth of Bear creek, that these two
men ride either up or down the Deer
Lodge valley and that the first man
they met who didn’t live on Bear creek
should be the seventh man on the ar
bitration board.
Ely, however, wouldn’t agree to that.
Instead he wrote out a new agreement
to govern the arbitration proceedings
and gave it to Downes to submit to
Berry. Berry, standing on a pile of
timber near his windlass, took the
paper, read it, tore it into pieces and
threw them away.
"That settles it,” he said. "Nothing
but blood or ground goes.”
The other side, however, didn’t want
blood. But they did want the ground.
Ely mounted a mule and rode to Deer
Lodge. There he got the injunction
that Williams tried to serve and which
8018 waul > jnKH
administration building at the state ]
college. When he became director of
the college band in 1907 the organ- :
ization had but eight members com- 1
pared with more than 100 members
today. He has taken the Bobcat band
into every corner of the state during
its tours and this year 41 musicians
are making the Golden Jubilee tour.
Members of the band and their in
strument are: Ben Brumfield, piccolo..
resulted in Berry and the others being
fined and sentenced to jail if they
didn’t pay.
Berry and his men paid no attention
to the injunction. Then came a war
rant for their arrest. Fred Burr was i
the sheriff and he brought the war- ,
rant over from Deer Lodge to Bear
gulch himself.
He met Berry that night in Jim Tai- j
bot’s saloon.
"Where'll you be in the morning, i
Bill?” he asked.
"On the claim, at work, of course,"
replied Berry.
"I'm coming down to see you."
“All right, you'll find me at the i
windlass.”
Next morning Burr and Tom Beebe. 1
a constable, went to Berry's claim to
gether. Fer some reason Burr had
given the warrant to Beebe to serve,
while h? himself ;\ood by.
The constable handed Berry die war
rant.
"Read it." said Derry. "I'm busy and
don't want to s\cp and keep the boys
waiting below."
But Beebe’s hands trembled so that
he couldn’t, read it. So Berry called to
the beys in the hole to stop work, and
he himself read the warrant.
"Bill, you’ve got to go,” said the
sheriff.
"We can’t do it." replied Berry.
"We’re so busy we have no time for i
lawsuits. We can't go."
"Then I'll have to get men enough
to take you," said the sheriff.
"You can’t find enough on Bear,"
replied Berry.
Then the sheriff asked that just one ’
of Berry’s party go. Berry parleyed ;
with his friends. They decided no, that .
none could spare the time.
As Burr started back to Deer Ledge |
alone, he asked if one of them would |
come if the judge m.ade a fuss about !
the matter. Berry told him to wait and
see if there was any fuss.
As the sheriff disappeared from
sight Berry told his partners that the
next day about 1 o'clock they would
see Burr coming down the hill on a
gallop. They did.
"Bill,” he shouted as he slid his
lathered horse to a stop, "get ready. I
got hell from the judge."
"I knew you would," replied Berry.
"Boys," he called to his partners, "We 1
got to go with Fred.”
Sheriff’s Orders Obeyed
"Get your horses ready." he said
to Burr, "and we’ll start with you.”
While Berry and his partners were
getting their camp in shape to leave,
Burr went to rustle horses to carry
the party to Deer Lodge. At the min
ing camp he found Tobacco George
1 with his pack train and the sheriff
hired six of his cayuses. The under-
i standing between the sheriff and To- ,
1 bacco George was that the horses were
! to be ridden to the mouth of Bear, from
j where they would be returned to him,
and the party would take a team the
I remainder of the way to Deer Lodge.
But at the mouth of Bear there was
no team available and Berry and his
partners rode the horses all the way
to Deer Lodge. The bill for horse hire
was SBO and as Tobacco had told Berry
to look out for his horses, the sheriff
paid Berry the SBO upon their arrival
at their destination.
Next morning the sheriff and his
prisoners reported at court in the log
courthouse. There were six in Berry's
party, all in their shirt sleeves, arms
bare to the elbows and with six-shoot
ers strapped to their belts. The judg<*
didn’t even order the guns taken away
from them. Berry had hired Lawyer
Jim Brown to defend him and his
friends. They had no defense, except
that Berry said he didn't think the in
junction that had been served on him
was genuine because it wasn't gotten
up in legal form. The matter was dis
cussed at length by the court and
counsel.
"This is the first time in my ex
perience,” said the Judge finally, "that
I have encountered a group of men
who set themselves up against a court.
But I am disposed to be lenient.”
He then fined them SSO each plus
$46 costs apiece and ordered them ;
jailed until the fines and costs were
paid. The men walked from the court
room, mounted their horses and rode I
back to Bear creek. There was no jail |
and the sheriff made no attempt to ।
restrain them. They paid neither fines
nor costs.
Berry and his men worked all that
summer on the claim unmolested The
next June, however, they were sum
moned to appear to answer to a suit
filed against them for possession ot
the property. It was a Jury trial an t
the sheriff picked up the first eight
men he encountered on the street w
form the panel. One of the men who
had had a similar case himself and
settled It with a shotgun. hung the
Jury and it was dismissed Another
Jury was empanelled. It heard the evi
dence, wae out 10 minutes and re
turned a verdict for Berry n.hd his
partners.
Berry and his men worked tile claim I
the remainder of the summer, 'cleaned I
it of all Ito gold, and abandoned it. I
GLACIER COUNTY CHIEF
Bozeman; Robeson Allport, oboe, Bill
, Ings; Eugene Lieberg, flute, Helena;
Robert Fransham, Milton Chauner,
1 William Hess, Bozeman; Edmund Kelly,
Hardin: Norman Donaldson. Great
Falls; Jesse Knoll, Roundup; Charles
Mather. Lewistown, all clarinets.
George Sime. Bozeman: Thomas
Leedham, Glasgow: Harlan Bixby. Pol
son; Carl Pfeiffer, Helena; Roland
. Breed. Helena: John Robison. Choteau;
MONTANA LIFE
PAYS MILLIONS
PAYMENTS TO POLICYHOLDERS
MORE THAN MILLION AN-
NUALLY SINCE 1910
Payments to policyholders and their
beneficiaries by the Montana Life In
surance company have averaged more
than a million dollars a year ever
since the company began business in
1910. according to its annual state
ment. In 1936 it paid $1,939,144.00 to
p "lie;. holders and bencfic.arics and in
the past 26 years has paid a total of
$27,738,921.00.
Notwithstanding that it carries its
quarter of a million dollar Home Of
fice building at Helena in its assets
at only sl. the statement shows an
increase in assets over 1935 of more
than half a million dollars. “For each
SIOO ol obligations,” says the state
ment. "the Montana Life has $l2O in
resources." Net a single bond was in
default December 31. 1936, and the
market value of the company's hold
ings substantially exceeded the current
value.
In 1936 the Montana Life gained
nearly a million dollars of insurance
in force, and increased its unassigned
surplus from a million to a million
and one half dollars.
The statement shows the company
has on deposit with the state insurance
commissioner of Montana $1,742,030.00
Twenty-Seventh Annual Statement
MONTANA LIFE INSURANCE CO.
Helena, Montana
RESOURCES
Home Office Building S 1.00 0%
(Cost $245.51622 in 1924)
Bonds S 6,735.906.06 50.21%
U. S. Government 11.020,818 78
State. County and Mu
nicipal 12.337.013.43
Ratings
AAA 33 "j
A A 28 '. 1,87 ■
A 26 *< ]
Utility, 1
Railroad bbb io q"j
and bb j lias'.
Industrial B j ßq |
ccc 0.5^ l 0 s';
$3,378,073.85
First Mortgage Loans $ 2,541,178.07 18.94%
Real Estate $ 160,500.00 1.19%
Balance Due on Real Estate
Sold S 192,997 Al 1.44%
(Being paid for in Installment*>
Loans to Policyholders $ 3,800,154.38 24.60%
Other Resources $ 485,018.01 3.62%
Cash I 137.524 31
Interest earned I 107.317. 92
Current net premiums
and other Items t 240,175.78
TOTAL RESOURCES $13,415,755.03 100.00%
For each SIOO of obligations, the
Montana Life has $l2O in resources.
Under the law of Montana the
present worth of all policies of Mon
tana insurance companies must be
kept on deposit with the State In
surance Commissioner. The Mon
tana Life has on deposit with him
$12,457,304.40 which is $1,742,030.40
or fourteen percent in excess of
what the law requires.
The market or actual value of
Surplus to Policyholders Including Voluntary Reserve
Over $2,200,000.00
Paid Policyholders and Beneficiaries in 1936,
$1,039,144.00 Since Organization,
$27,738,921.00 .
Carl Rasch R. B. Richardson
President Executive Vice President
Edward Sullivan, Stevensville; Chester
Abbott* Conrad, all cornets.
George Cline. Richard Warner, Ralph
White. Bozeman: Perry Chisholm, Hel
ena; Vincent Irie, Glasgow, all horns.
James Finn, Great Falls; Ray An
derson, Deer Lodge; Ben Veldhuls,
Wolf Point; Cecil Haight, Howard
Hess. Bozeman; Cecil Haight. Howard
Glendive: Andrew Spranger, Libby,
all trombones.
in excess of the legal reserve the law
requires of $12,457,304.00.
In his annual report to stockholders,
R. B. Richardson, executive vice pres
i ident of the Montana Life, says the
immediate major problem confronting
insurance companies is the investment I
and reinvestment of funds in the face
cf continued low’ interest rates and
rising taxes. "Many companies already
have been affected,” he continues. "A
number of eastern non-participatinc
companies have already found it nec
essary to increase their premium rate.*
I and most mutual companies have been
I compelled to cut dividends to policy
i holders. How far these conditions will
| affect operations, it is impossible to .
। say at this time.”
*
Polson Sheepman Fed
Stock 2,000 Tons Hay
"Yes, it has been a long, hard winter
; —for the sheepman,” said C. D. Small.
1 sheepman of Polson. Mr. Small, who -
j maintains a band of 15,090 sheep in !
| the Lake county district, reports that
he has fed 2,000 tons of hay during i
• the winter.
Mr. Small said the situation has not
ended in this district, as the feeding
। operations are still going on. Snow on
I the hillsides is about eight inches deep,
1 and almost solid ice. The sheep, he
j said, c<in not get down to spring graz
ing until the snow is gone and the
grass starts.
A full grown blue duiker antelope
in Fleishacker zoo. San Francisco, is
onlv as large as a rabbit.
| OBLIGATIONS
Present Worth of Outstanding Policies . ,$10,715,274.00
। (LeKal reserve)
Present Worth of Balance Due Under
Claims Being Paid in Installments. $ 222,983.00
Claims $ 50,532.00
Notice of claims received but proof not yet
submitted * 25.532.00
Set aside for any possible 1936 claims not re-
ported by December 31. 1936 25.000.00
Interest Paid in Advance.. S 86,890.00
<Not yet earned)
I’remium.s Paid in Advance . $ 67,933.00
; (Not yet duet
Taxes (for 1936 but payable in 1937> * 17,707.00
j Current Expense, . S 2LIS2J3
TOTAL OBLIGATIONS 111,182,473^3
I Surplus to Policyholders $ 2.233,281.50
Capital stock | 500.000.00
Voluntary contingency surplus . . 233.281.50
F«EE SIRFLIS 81.500.MM.M
—
TOTAL $13,415,75M3
bonds owned by the Montana Life
December 31. 1936. substantially ex
ceeded the values shown in this
statement. Not a single bond was in
default.
Mortgage loans are confined to
improved city and country property,
in .amounts not more than 50 per
cent of a conservative appraisal. Of
these loans. 90 percent provide for
the payment of interest monthly
and a reduction in the amount of
the loan each month. The amount
Richard Timmel, Billings; Milton
Voelker, Kalispell; Ralph Smith, Big
Timber, all baritones.
Howard Hoffman, Earl Fertig, Boze
man; Fred Orton, Helena; Bert Bad
ham, Miles City, all basses.
Clifford Davis, Judith Gap: Willard
Willis, Plains; Ray Purdy. Bozeman;
William Steinberger, Deer Lodge, all
drums.
President Andrew Jackson was im
peached for alleged usurpation of the
law, but was acquitted.
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19J Broadway, Billing,
107 East Broadway, Butte
of Interest earned Included in the
statement of resources does not In
clude interest in anv case where it
is more than 30 days prut due.
Because Home Office buildings
cannot be used to pay death and
other claims, the beautiful Mon
tana Life building is carried as an
asset In the sum of only 81.00. All
other real estate Is listed conserv
atively. demonstrated by the fact
that all sales In 1936 were for
amounts In excess of the book value.