The Bozeman courier., October 24, 1923, Image 1

About The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
The Bozeman Courier
BOZEMAN, MONTANA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1923
53rd. YEAR
NUMBER 45
Mrs. Danner Holds Up Under Gruelling Cross-Examination
STATE TAX COMMISSION UPHELD
BÏ DECISION OF SUPREME COURT
JUSTICE ALBERT P. STARK WRITES OPINION THAT WIPES
OUT "RED TAPE" IN FAVOR OF THE WILL
AND WISHES OF THE PEOPLE
That mere technicalities of legis
lative procedure are not to be allowed
to stand in the way of the enactment
and enforcement of the plain will and
wishes of the people of the state of
Montana, as evinced by voters at the
polls, is seen in the recent decision of
the supreme court, in which the legali
ty of the creation of the present Mon
tana state board of equalization, or so
called state tax commission, has been
upheld by that tribunal.
An able opinion, written by Associ
ate Justice Albert P. Stark, and con
curred in by Chief Justice Lew L. Call
away and Associate Justice W. L.
Holloway, was delivered in the high
court last Saturday morning, whereby
the judgment and order of Judge Jos-,
eph R. Jackson, of Butte, sitting in the
district court in Helena several weeks
ago, were reversed, and the case re
manded with instructions to enter
judgment in favor of the members of
the commissions, whose salaries and
tenure were attacked in the original
action.
Attorney General Wellington D.
R;...kiii, who was in charge of the
ca^c for .he State of Montana, con-1
duc ted one of the most forceful de
fense actions of his entire legal ca
recr, bringing out every possible argu
mont and point of law in the interest
of the taxpayers and voters as against
those who would nullify the will and
wishes of the people on a mere tech
nicality and for their own selfish pur
poses.
In his defense of the suit, the at
torney general was ably assisted by
Attorney M. R. Wilson, of Bozeman,
who was personally invited by Mr.
Rankin to testify and aid in every pos
sible way in the state's conduct of the
trial before the supreme bench.
On His Birthday
October 27
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The birthplace of Theodore Roose-
velt In New York City has been re
stored and on Saturday, Oct. 27th-
the 65th anniversary Of his birth,
dedicated to perpetuate his Ideal of
Americanism. The complete Boose
veit exhibit will be boused there.
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Separate dissenting opinions were 1
delivered by the minority on the bench !
Associate Justices A. J. Galen and !
Charles H. Cooper.
The decision was the outcome of the I
suit in equity brought in the Lewis !
and Clark district court by C. H. Mar- j
tien, assessor of Lewis and Clark ;
county, at whose instance Judge Jack
son, sitting for Judge W. H. Poorman,
disqualified, restrained the state treas
urer and the state auditor from paying
the salaries and expenses of the mem
bers of the tax commission and their
assistants after July 1, this year, on
the ground that the constitutional j
amendment providing for the creation I
of the so-called tax commission had ■
not been set forth in full on the senate
| journal of the legislative assembly of
1921.
I
:
Act Is Held Valid
The opinion of Justice Stark, de
j livered Saturday, holds that failure to
spread the proposed amendment on the
senate journal does not make the act,
nor the creation of the board invalid.
of the fact that the bill providing for
the amendment to the constitution
j
j having been passed in both the house
Justice Stark also held that in view
; and senate, had been submitted to the
people and had been ratified by a vote
of the people constituted a substantial
compliance with the provisions of the
state constitution prescribing how the
constitution could be amended. The
opinion also held that those attacking
the legality of the commission should
have assailed the proposal for the cre
ation of the commission before amend
ment was submitted to the people.
In all of his views Jn writing the
majority opinion in this case Justice
Stark was concurred in by Chief Jus
tice Callaway and Justice Holloway.
A Victory for Dixon
This means, according to the major
ity opinion, that the tax commission is
vested with authority to continue to
function in equalizing the taxes levied
in Montana, and that Governor Joseph
M. Dixon had power to name the mem
bers of the commission, which appoint
ments were confirmed by the state
senate during the legislative assem
bly of last winter.
LABOR NAT'L BANK
NOT TO BE MOVED
DIRECTOR DENIES RUMOR THAT
THREE FORKS BANK WILL
REMOVE TO ROUNDUP
In an interview with The Courier
yesterday, one of the members of the
board of directors of the Labor Na
tional bank of Three Forks, who is
a prominent "resident of this city, em
phatically denied the rumor that had
gained statewide currency last week
to the effect that the Three Forks
banking institution was to be removed
to Roundup.
There is absolutely no truth either
in the rumor or in the alleged news
item which was carried last week in
number of the newspapers through
out the state that the Labor National
bank of Three Forks was to be re
moved to Roundup," said the director.
I have been-trying to trace the source
of the rumor and while I first found
the item in the Helena Independent,
am, of course, not sure that it was
that paper which first carried it in
their* news columns.
(t
The bank is in excellent finan
cial condition," continuer the local di
rector, "and both its list of depositors
and its actual cash and collateral de
posits show a steady gain from month
to month.
..
The only possible reason
or excuse I can see for the dissemina
tion of the removal rumor was the
fact that Mr. LeFever, president of
the bank, recently made a business
trip to Roundup fot the purpose of
interviewing officials and members of
the labor organizations at that place
and securing additional depositors for
the Three Forks bank, incidentally ad
vertising the institution as a desirable
and financially sound depository for
either their savings or working
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SETH ORRIN DANNER — ON TRIAL FOR MURDER
con-jers,
sidered "distinctive but not necessarily
dissimilar" are warned to be on the
lookout for "tame-wild geese and
ducks which neighboring ranchers and
LOCAL NIMRODS ARE
WARNED BÏ SHERIFF
TO SAVE TAME BIRDS
Hunters, Nimrods or Sportsmen—
all three of which terms may be
farmers have captured alive and
trying to domesticate. While the state
law protects a hunter who either ac
cidentally or purposely kills such a
domesticated "wild" bird during the
legal open hunting season on migra
tory birds, the true sportsman will
not draw a bead on any bird that he
has even the faintest reason to believe
may be tame. The story is told of
an old Park county trapper and hunt
er who ran into a young buck deer in
the upper Mill creek country, whose
antlers had become entangled in a
clump of heavy underbrush and whose
helpless position made a tempting
target for the hunter's ready rifle.
Immediately realizing the situation,
the hunter, who was a true sportsman
as well, dropped his rifle against
tree trunk and, tearing away the
branches and brush released the im
prisoned animal whom he "sent
his way rejoicing" with a boot of his
foot and the following merry saluta
tory farewell: "Git to h . . . out- of
here. I guess the world's big enough
for both of us.
are
a
on
The shooting of tame
migratory birds was brought to the
(Continued on Page Twelve)
VATERS RANCHERS
SURRENDER BONDS
Sheriff James McClarty, of Park
county, was an official visitor in
Bozeman yesterday, returning home
on this morning's early morning train.
Mr. McClarty said he had effected
the arrest early Sunday morning of A,
A. Davis, and his son, Arthur Davis,
of Vaters postoffice in Park county,
On charge of running Sunday dances
and maintaining a disorderly public
dance where boisterous conduct and
free flowing of moonshine liquor had
been the order çf the day, as well as
of the night.
The two defendants were taken to
Livingston where they were arraigned
Monday morning before Justice of the
Peace John Martin, Jr., who listened ;
ing the following morning,
to their pleas of not guilty and put
them under cash bail bond of $160
each, which they furnished, for a hear
Because of their non-appearance in
justice court Tuesday, the justice
A crowd of Gallatin county ranch
farmers and stockgrowers, and
Bozeman business men and citizens of
nearby town, and cities, variously esti-1
. , . , . , ,■
matedatbetWeenl ' 500 and2 ' 000 men
women and children, viewed the 14
LARGE CROWD VIEW
PURE-BRED CATTLE
IN RAILROAD YARD
car loads of pure-bred dairy beef cattle
in the state of Montana. The student
body of both the Gallatin county high
and the Manhattan high school agri
cultural departments attended the
show in a body, while a large num
and thoroughbred horses and ponies
that stopped in the local yards of the
Northern Pacific railway Monday
from 11:56 o'clock until 2 o'clock .p on.
The train was being taken from
Syracuse, N. Y., where they were
entered in the big eastern stock show,
to Portland, Ore., for exhibition in
that city, at the Pacific International
Livestock show.
The stop in Boze
man was the last to have been made
ber of M. S. C. students were also
present.
After the lecturer in charge of the
train explained the various types and
breeds of livestock, and told of the va
rious premiums they had won, the
cattle were then led up and down the
foot of Main street, where all could
view them at close range.
A large number of the dairy cows
were from the exhibits of the Carna
tion Milk Company.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
GUEST OF ROTARY
- Attorney General Wellington D.
Rankin, 5f Helena, who is in Bozeman
this week in charge of the prosecution
of the state's case against Seth Orrin
Danner for the double murder of Mr.
and Mrs. John Sprouse, was the guest
of honor and principal speaker at the
regular weekly noonday luncheon and
meeting of the Bozeman Rotary club
held yesterday noon. Mr. Rankin dis
cussed the subject of railroad freight
rates from the standpoint of the ship
per and taxpayer and said that while
it is generally admitted that rates are
too high in Montana, except on sand
and gravel, the roads hesitate to put
into effect reductions that may re
suit in the same consideration being
later demanded by other states. His
address created a very favorable im
pression on the Rotarians present, es
de-Uecially the fairness of his
tent
Idefense finds IT8ËÎT unable to
SHAKE TESTIMONY OF MAIN WITNESS
IMMENSE CROWDS VAINLY STRIVE FOR ADMISSION IN
COURTROOM WHICH JUDGE LAW WARNED
HAD BEEN BUILT 50 YEARS AGO
INTENSE INTEREST SHOWN
j Accusing Witness Describes Details of the Most Horrible Crime Ever Re
corded in the Criminal Annals of Gallatin County While the Spectators Sit
Spellbound at the Dramatic Points Brought Out by Attorney General
Wellington D. Rankin—Danner Uneffected.
The predominating feature of the j
Danner double-murder case, which is *
still in process of trial before Judge I
Ben B. Law and a jury in the district !
court of Gallatin county in this city, j
and one upon which either the guilt
or innocence of the accused will ulti
mately be largely determined by the
"twelve men and true," in the jury
box, was the testimony given from
the witness stand yesterday and to
day by Mrs. Iva B. Danner, the com
plaining witness for the state, and
wife, cousin and step-daughter of the
man whose fate hangs in the balance,
While the verdict of the jury can
neither be forecasted or indicated, it
was plainly seen that the sepetators
in the crowded courtroom on both of
the principal days of the trial were
greatly impressed by Mrs. Danner's
Gruelling Cross-Examination
straightforward testimony, both under
the friendly but determined question
ing of .-ittomey General Wellington i
j D. Rankin for the state on Tuesday, i
1 and under the gruelling cross-exami
I na ^ on Attorney Justin Mi Smith
i for the defense yesterday momin e .
j fn t0 Her ° ngmal story
wonderfully well, the nature and man-!
ner of delivery of her testimony be -1
lft £ direct and free from hysterical
oat urst ® and mental confusion so
° m " rd . Gr ? r "!® in wh ; C u h
ÄZ'sUte He" ^
! . . e s a ^f', Her com
'i POSUre J* ma ' ned u "™ ffled and she
! a PP eared to b e a t all times master of
j her emotions and sure of her story,
although she plainly showed, in her,
countenance, the effects of an hurcu
lean effort at self-repression and the
suppression of tears.
Lin a United Deer ^
Fear, at times, appeared to be
mingled with suppressed emotion, as
!
ACCIDENTAL DEATH
IS JURY'S VERDICT
CORONER'S JURY ABSOLVES
' ENGINEER DEAN OF ALL
BLAME IN ACCIDENT
As the result of a cornorer's inquest
held Monday evening at the Harland
undertaking parlors, in the case of the
death, last Wednesday, of Mrs. Cora
E. Clinton, who was instantly killed
on a grade crossing east of Manhat
tan when the car she was driving was
struck by eastbound Northern Pacific
passenger train No. 2, the jury re
turned a verdict that deceased came
to her death through accidental means.
According to the verdict^ "the party
known and identified as Mrs. Cora E.
Clinton met her death at a point about
2,000 feet east of the N. P. passenger
depot in Manhattan on the street
crossing of the N. P. right of way, by
being accidentally struck (on the 17th
of October, 1923) by passenger train
No. 2, while attempting to cross rail
road tracks in a Ford touring car.
The witnesses summoned to testi
fy fit the inquest were: I. U. Danley,
garage proprietor at Manhattan; Wil
liam Dean, of Livingston, state legis
lative representative from Park coun
ty who was the engineer on the loco
motive which struck Mrs. Clinton's
»»
car; M. M. Murray, his fireman; C.
1W. Pearson and Ault Brouwer, sec
tion laborer; Robert Kyink, warehouse
man at the Manhattan flour mill, and
George Verwolf, stockman, of Man
hattan.
[ Those on the jury weTe: J, A, Man
.ger, foreman, Raymond Bert, H. L.
Holm, J. A. Stafford, H. P. White and
The proceedings in
J. W. Yeargy.
charge of Coroner E. W. Harland were
conducted for the state by County At-
torney E. A. Peterson, the stenogre-
taken down by Court
record
could be seen in the furtive glances
she cast in the direction of her hus
band, the accused man, who sat behind
his counsel at the opposite side of the
trial table almost with reaching dis
tance.. At one of the recesses during
the proceedings yesterday afternoon,
while the judge had left the bench and
the four attorneys in the case had
retired to the ante-room, leaving the
accused and accuser alone in the trial
rostrum of the big room, Mrs. Dan
ner's face registered positive fear,
while her eyes were cast in a stead
fast glance across the table at her
j husband, and her body poised for
! ward on the edge of her chair as if
■ she felt herself in an insecure situa
I tion and was making ready to run to
| safety in the event of an attack. This
; sense of fear evidently wore off during
the course of her direct examination
under the friendly questioning of Mr.
Rankin.
Evidences of preliminary coaching
of witnesses by the attornevs on eith
e r side, were noticeably absent so far
jn the progress of the present trial,
Danner a Human Sphvnx
Although Danner shows none of t
emotion of an innocent man unjustly
accused of the commission of a crime,
his stoic demeanor and apparent lassi
tude, even while he was examining, at
arm ' s len S th * the skull of Mrs.
IZT,' " ?
when it was shown to him yesterday
afternoon by his attorney, is one of
the mystifying features
anger, resentment nor even interest,
and retained his composure in the
face of the damning accusations and
appelations hurled at him at close
range by the attorney general in the
course of his opening statement to the
j ury yesterday morning. The only
outward manifestation of the strain
under which he must be laboring is
an occasional excessive sweating of
the hands which he unconsciously
wipes during the introduction of the
testimony of any of the witnesses hav
ing to do with the actual commission
of the in
teresting trial. He registers neither
of the crime and the manner and place
of burial in the wet and shallow grave.
This action of the accused
man,
—the only evidence of nervousness he
has yet displayed— was particularly
apparent yesterday afternoon while
the battered skull of one of his al
leged victims and the lower jaw of the
other were physiologically discussed
from the witness stand by Dr. C. S.
Smith, and displayed individually to
the members of the jury by Attorney
General Rankin. At this time Dan
ner's thin, compressed lips appeared
to be more bloodless than and
his eyelids blinked incessantly.
Tuesday's Proceedings
Court opened Tuesday morning with
the opposing attorneys still striving
to fill the jury box, the state still hav
ing two peremptory challenges to ex
ercise and the defense four.
By 11 o'clock the twelve men had
been helected from a total of 42 talis
man called and examined, as follows:
Burton Thompson, Willow Creek,
S arried - fartner; . C. L. Watkins,
audlow, married, farmer; Ralph
Bates, Manhattan, married, farmer;
A. B. Carter, Salesville, married, farm
er; Ralph Newkirk, Belgrade, mar
ried, farmer; W. J. Booher, Manhat
tan, married, farmer; W. J. Heaston,
Logan, married, teamster; L. W. Wat
son, Bozeman, married, contractor and
painter; A. F. Dawes, Trident, single,
shipping clerk; E. H, Dean, Bozeman,
farmer and dairyman, married; E. C.
Leonard Hinson, Bozeman, farm
er, married. »
Watwood, Reese Creek, farmer, m&r
The opening address was then de-
livered to the court by Attorney Gen-
eral Wellington D. Rankin, who out-
lined the state's case in which the
prosecution woaki
to