T Ke WKitefisK
VOLUME 7
WHITEFISH, FLATHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA, THURSDAY, AUGUST U, 1910,
NUMBER 32
TILL IS
TAPPED
The till in Roy Young's barber
shop was tapped last Friday night
ami about 830 in cash taken. The
money was locked in a wooden
drawer in front, and to get at it the
thief had to lift up the marble slab
and then cut through a thin l)onrd
with his jackknife, through which
he extracted the money. Every
thing was then put back in its
proper place again so that there
was nothing to indicate that any
thing was wrong till the drawer was
opened late in the morning, when
the money was found missing and
the drawer full of wood chips
which explaiued how it was gotten
into. It is not known who com
mitted the deed. That morn
ing the doors to the place
.were found unlocked and the port
er claims that he was drunk that
night and went in there to sleep,
forgetting to lock the doors. He
claims that he was also touched for
815.00. Whoever it was, was
very familiar with the place and
evidently knew just where to look
for the money. No arrests were
made.
STEFFENS BOTEL
READY FOR BUSINEES
Carl Steffen, who recently pur
chased the Whitefish hotel has just
finished remodeling the place and
it is now known as the Steffen ho
tel. It has been overhauled all the
way through and is now fited up in
inodern style from attic to cellar.
The rooms have all been renovat
ed and refurnished with new furni
ture, the bar room and office have
been finished up with new fixtures,
linoleums, electric chandeliers and
steel walls and ceilings, so that it
does not look like the same place
at all, and the outside has been re
painted and a cement walk laid in
front. In all Mr. Steffen has ex
panded a sum in excess of 81,000
^o put this place in shape and it
now compares very favorably with
any place of business in town.
Arens=Prince.
On the evening of August 4, Mr.
Charles H. Arens of Springfield,
Mass., and Miss Elizabeth Frances
Prince of Whitefish were quietly
■parried in the presence of a few
riends and relatives. Mr. Arens
is a very popular young man, who
same west from the New England
states a little over a year ago in a
spirit of rdventure to spend the
eason hunting and fishing. He is
i friend of judge Garr's and has
)een making himself at home on
he Judge's ranch, where it seems
hat he has made good use of his
»me. He not only captured deer
n the hunting season, but during
le closed season lie captured a
dear' '. Miss Prince is the charm
ing daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
rince who live on a ranch just
ast of town and has a wide circle
f friends whose congratulations
ley will receive. Mr. and Mrs.
irens are at present residing with
he bride's parents, but expect to
Q to Springfield, Mass., in a short
me.
Cut By Mower.
Alvin Anthony of Eureka, who
been working for Billy Rich of
t place this summer, met with a
nful accident last week while
owing, by falling on the blade of
e scythe, cutting his knee badly,
e was brought here on No. 2
ursday and placed in the hos
tal.
NEW HARDWARE
ESTABLISHMENT
Turning a business over twice in
side of a week is certainly going
some, and that is what was done
last week by F. \V. Zu felt, the real
estate man. On that account he
l>eat us out of a scoop after we
had it all ready to print, but this
week we have a bigger and better
one.
CTn August 1st the defunct hard
ware business formerly owned by II.
E. Doebler, was transferred to F.
H. Hennessy of Kalispell, who has
made his home here in the valley
for the past five years.
Mr. Hennessy had just taken an
invoice of the place and was
straightening things up and clean
ing out, preparatory to opening,
when Me- Zufelt heard from V. B.
McGuire of Sherwood, N. D., who
was looking for a location to open a
hardware store, and having heard a
great deal of this town was anxious
to come. He offered a price in ad
vance of what Mr. Hennessy had
paid for the business, so the trans
action was promptly closed, and
Mr. McGuire became the proprie
tor. He was here to close the deal
Friday, and returned to Sherwood
immediately to settle up his affairs
there and move to Whitefish. He
expects to return about August 20.
Mr. McGuire, we are informed,
is an exprienced hardware man.
The stock will be moved out ot the'
building that is occupied into the
large and commodious store known
as the Cut Bank building, that has
stood vacant for so long, where he
will open up the first part of Sep
tember with a complete stock of
everything in the hardware line,
also a full line of furniture.
STRINGING WIRES
TO COLUMBIA FALLS
It won't be long now before Col
umbia Falls will also be electric
lighted. The Northern Idaho and
Montana Power company began
this week to string the wires from
this sub-station, which will carry
12,000 volts to that burg. The
line goes out of here on the same
poles that carry the juice up from
Kalispell, as far as the State mill,
and from there it branches off on a
line of its own to Columbia Falls.
A new telephone line is strung
along the same route, which, when
completed will give us an improved
service to that town.
Hard On The "Champs."
The famous Sweet Grass team got
together again last week and played
a series of three games here which
spoiled their splendid reputation
considerably. Thursday they were
defeated 9 to' 5. Friday they were
shut out 4 to 0, something that
has not happened to them since
they have been on the road- Saturday
afternoon they pulled together a lit
tie and managed to get the big end
of the score, 4 to 6. There was
good snappy ball playing at all the
games and a fair attendance.
It was intended to play another
game here Sunday, but half of the
Sweet Grass team was signed up
with Kalispell, so they went down
there to take their part in the game
against Hamilton which left us
without a game at home, as had
been advertised.
Structural Steel Arrived
After being held back with their
work for over ten days for the
want of the structural steel for the
new building, the contractors were
able to go ahead with the work
Monday morning. The steel beams
in question arrived from Pittsburg
Sunday morning and it wont be
long now before the fronts on the
two new buildings will be com
pleted.
VICTIMS OF
WHOLESALE FRAUD
Very Clever and Systematic Plan of Raising Checks
to Fictitious Values Has Been Practiced
Whereby Many Business Men Are Heavy Losers
Merchants and other business
men of Whitefish received a se
vere shock Tuesday when it
was discovered that in the aggre
gate they had been defrauded
to the tune of 82,300, or there
abouts, thru raised checks that
had been issued by Grant, Smith
& Co., contractors of Spokane,
who are building the double track
for the Grgat Northern from
Java to Summit.
They have a force of over a
thousand men at work in the va
rious camps, the majority of
them foreigners, and most of
them come to Whitefish to buy
their clothing and supplies, and
their checks have been accepted
by the business men without any
question whatever. In this case
some of them had come in and
purchased a small bill of goods, |
offering these checks in payment |
and receiving the difference in
cash.
All the checks in question had
been made out to Italians, and as
far as the merchants can tell
they were presented to them by
Italians, and no two checks by
the same man.
The original amounts were all
small, none of them being over
$9, but it seems had been raised
by very cleverly forging the let
ters "ty" after the amount writ
ten out, and a cipher annexed to
the numerals, thereby raising it
to fen times its original value.
Six dollar checks were made to
read "sixty,''seven dollar checks
raised to read "seventy," etc.
Some think the original figures
were erased by an acid and new
ones substituted, and so it ap
pears in some cases; but if such
is the case it is one of the clev
ervest pieces of work ever done
in this line,because close scrutiny
fails to reveal that they have
been tampered with in the least
in erasing.
Just how or by whom the forg
ery was executed is a mystery,
and not the slightest clue has
been obtained up to the present
date, as the time which has
elapsed since the forgery was
committed has given the crimi
nals ample opportunity to make
good their escape.
The First National Bank of
Whitefish has notified the Bank
ers' Association, who will take
the matter in hand and endeavor
to discover who is responsible.
It was a comparatively easy
matter to raise these checks, as
the company issuing them does
Pleased with Situation.
E. A. Wilson, who is connected
with the Great Northern experi
mental farms of the state, was in
the valley Saturday looking over
the stations in his charge. He was
very much pleased with the results
as he finds them here, and is es
pecially elated over the experiment
farm at Chester, where they have
had practically np rain at all. Good
crops of wheat and oats were raised,
while in the country about those
cereals were a total failure, which
goes to prove again that if the soil
is properly worked good crops can
be raised in spite of the light rain
fall.
Mr. and Mrs. John McIntosh
and Mrs. Watson, of Kalispell
spent Sunday here visiting with
Mr. and Mrs. E. O. Laiter.
not use a check protector to per
forate them so they could not be
made payable over a certain
amount or erasures made.
The first intimation of the
trouble appeared here Saturday,
when the First National Bank re
ceived notification from the head
quarters of Grant, Smith & Co.,
that their checks had been raised,
and to look out for them. The
bank officials here wired back
for the cancelled checks, so that
the matter could be checked up.
Tuesday morning Mr. Hunt,
representing Grant, Smith & Co.,
arrived with the raised checks,
and after going over the books
the merchants here were found
to be heavy losers.
The report was made public
Tuesday afternoon when the men
who had been defrauded
were notified. Sixty checks
in all had been tampered
with, which, being raised ten
times their value, made a very
neat haul. Most of the paper
had been cashed in Whitefish,
and a few in Kalispell, Butte,
Helena and a few other outside
points.
Nearly every business man
here was stuck for various sums,
ranging from 840 to $400.
A great many theories are ad
vanced as to how the game was
worked, but it was done so nicely
that even experts are at sea,
as each check was properly en
dorsed.
All were time checks and had
been issued during the month of
April, May and June, and were
cashed here by business men Sat
urday night, July 2, until the
4th, as they were nearly all de
posited in the bank July 5.
It is believed by some that an
organized gang had been gath
ering up these small checks for
some time and making them
over, then came to Whitefish at
the most opportune time and dis
posed of them during the time
the bank was closed, so there
was no chance for detection from
that source. No fraudulent
checks have been found outside
of this bunch, or since this date,
so apparently they just fixed up
the one batch, got them cashed,
and cleared out.
The trouble was not discovered
until the cancelled checks were
sent back to Grant, Smith & Co.
and passed into the auditor's
hands, who found that the
amount did not coincide with the
time books.
Kalispell 9; Hamilton 2
Kalispell toqk an awful fall out
of our manager, Archie Goins, last
Monday when he pitched the game
for Hamilton and lost 9 to 2. It
seems to have done their poor weak
hearts a great deal of good to see
Archie defeated, and lays it all up
to him, when,as a matter of fact,he
was the only one on the team that
did do anything in that game. He
brought in the only two scores that
were made. If the others had done
as well Kalispell would have had a
different story to tell. Archie
pitched a good game, but he could
not win it alone. They feel differ
ent about it, and don't crow so
loud when Archie has his own
men to back him.
Before you boast of your ances
ters hide the family photograph
lhum.
INDIAN HORSE THIEF
IS ROUNDED UP
Joe Magee, a half breed from the
Blackfeet reservation at Browning,
was arrested Monday afternoon by
Officer Metcalf on a charge of horse
stealing. Both Metcalf and Special
Agtent Harmon had received tips
that he was in town. Metcalf
rounded him up in the Brewery
saloon, where he accosted him and
releived him of a gun before he re
alized what had happened, and
then took him to jail, where with
the assistance of Harmon, the
evidence was put to him so strong
that he confessed to the crime.
He says he stole three colts from
another Indian on the reseve, who
had also stolen them from another
man by the name of Broadwater,
that he had turned them back to
the man he had stolen from, but
being apprehended by the Indain
police thought it best to get out of
the country and was making his
way to Portland.
It apppeàrs that there has been a
gang of horse thieves operating on
the reservation for the past few
years, that the agents have been
having a great dewl of trouble with
and have not been able to lay
hands on. From the evidence
found in this mans pockets he
might be one of them.
DOUBLE TRACK
IS IN OPERATION
Seven miles of new double track
over the "hump" between Skyland
and Fielding was put into operation
last Friday at noon. All east
bound trains now take the right
hand track from Summit.
Sign boards have been placed at
Skyland and Summit to indicate to
all concerned the end of the double
track and are warned not to leave
any cars on the present main line,
which was the passing track at
Summit.
Double track rules govern the
operations of the trains, and a clear
ance card must be secured from
the dispatcher at Java whilst on
duty, and at Whitefish when the
block is operated by the Whitefish
dispatcher. All west-bound trains
must come to a full stop and clear
switches to the main line at Sky
land.
The short stretch of track is only
a part q| the distance from Summit
to Java, which will be put into
service as fast as it is completed,
and will do away with the great
difficulties that have been experi
enced in the past in handling the
trains over the mountains. Besides
securing a double track, the grade
has been reduced and as many
curves have been done away with
as possible, so that the tonnage
over this section of the road can be
increased materially.
Officer Has a Chase.
Saturday night a couple of men
got mixed up in a fistic encounter
in the rear of the Combination sa
loon where their loud language at
tracted the attention of Officer Met
calf and Special Agent Harmon.
One of the participants was easily
captured, but the other one
made a break for liberty and led
Metcalf a merry chase up the ce
ment walks on Central avenue.
He then dodged into an alley and
made his get-away. The fellow
that was captured is doing ten days
in the stump gang.
First Dance of Season.
The social season is getting a
rather early start this year. The
G. I. A. to the B. of L. E. have
placards out announcing a grand
ball in Skyles' hall on Wednesday
evening, August 24. The football
team comes next with their dance
on September 9.
DESERVE
SUPPORT
The people here do not seem to
appreciate what the baseball asso
ciation is doing for them in trying
to maintain a fast baseball team
and keep up our present reputa
tion. We have one of the fastest
teams in the state, but they arc
not receiving the proper support.
In order to hold ball players here
we have to pay them. The asso
ciation has l>een devising every
possible scheme to make all ends
meet, but the gate receipts for the
past few games have not been up
to the average and are not suffiei
to keep up the running expenses.
If there are not better turnouts to
the games the o gnnization will
probably have to disaband for the
season, unless some other support
comes in soon. There are a num
ber here who signed up for dona
tions hist spring that have not yet
come through with them. They
would come in very handy right
now. It is very discouraging for
anyone to try to keep up an organ
ization when the public does not
take more interest in it. We issue
an urgent appeal to the public for
better support for our team, turn
out to see every game,show that we
are loyal to our team, and help
boost them up, so that we can
claim the championship title.
CHANCE TO CAP
TURE SOMETHING
Some time ago Louis W. Hill,
president of the Great Northern,
who has been taking ^bçh a per
sonAf Interest in building up the
fruit and agricultural industries of
the Flathead, offered to the county
fair association two beautiful silver
cups valued at 850 each, to be given
as premiums for fruit and grain dis
plays as the association thought
best.
The final details regarding them
have been settled as follows: One
will be given as a premium for the
best collection of sheaf grains,
grasses, roots and vegetables, and
the other for the best collection of
fruit exhibited by any chamber of
commerce or any other society of
not less than twelve members, and
not organized for profit.
There is also a long list of first
and second ribbon prizes that are
worth while striving for.
They Will Admit It.
Manager McNeely has wired for
J. G. Thompson at Idaho Falls,
Idaho, offering inducements for
him to come here and pitch a game
against the Hamilton baseball team,
Sunday or Monday. For these
games the local team will lie
strengthened up and, we think,
will win the series without Thomp
son. If Manager McNeely wants
to add to bis pitching staff, we
would suggest Archie Goins, the
Whitefish star, who has many ad
mirers for bis baseball sense, and
would probably not object to help
ing out the local team against rank
outsiders. Archie would sure look
good in a Kalispell uniform.—Kal
ispell Times.
Archie is using that level base
ball noodle of his to get the White
fish team to the top where it can
rightfully claim the title, "Champa
of the state", and it looks as if he
will get there, too, so he will not
have time to save Kalispell's shat
tered baseball reputation.
Announces Engagement
Mrs Jemima Duncan announces
the engagement of her daughter
Catherine, to Mr. John Woodworth
Goodell.