The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-09-21
TIE WEEKLY MINER.
MR.. CooPER, r
Developments or q New Idea I'm Police
Circles.

will be found o letter in which
the writer, Mr.. o. G.. Cooper, complains of
the manner in which he has been treated by
our city government through one of its repre-
sentatives, Mr.. Brown, the city attorney. 1t
Is a long time since there has been an occa-
sion for any exchange of couItesies between
The press and the powers that be; but the
present instance is of such q nature that po-
lice circles would probably feel sighted if it
were allowed to pass unnoticed. Not wish
ing our friends at the corner of Main and
Park to feel that they have been forgotten or
even overlooked, we deem it proper to i'm
prove the present occasion by referring brief
ly to the matter forming the groundwork of
Mr.. Cooper's complaint.
The facts of the case appear to be these:
When returning from delivering a load of
lumber one of Cooper's teams came to a
standstill at the corner of Main and Park
through the obstinacy of the lead mule,
which persisted in turning up Park street,
while the driver wished to proceed along
Main. This difference of opinion between
the two bosses brought on a crisis in which
the driver demonstrated with the refractory
mule, attempting by the use of his blacksnake
whip to convince him of the error of his
ways. In so doing the driver maintains that
he struck with one hand only, and that the
blows were not delivered over the animals
head, but upon that part of his anatomy
whose fate it would have been to make ac-
quaintance with the slipper had the gentle
mule been so fortunate as to he born into a
higher grade In the scale of being. However,
the punishment was witnessed by Mr.. Brown,
city attorney, who took it upon himself to
arrest the tedmster, and afterwards to
lay charge, conduct the prosecution and Sc
cure the imposition of a SIS fine with SIS
costs, of which $40 found its way in due
course of nature into Mr.. Browns private
pocket, that being the amount of his fee as
prosecuting attorney. Now with the dispute
as to whether the punishment was excessive
or inhuman we shall have nothing to do,
merely venturing the remark that if the ener-
getic mule-skinner or exhorting ~bull-wbacker
is to be put under arrest every time he adj
monishes a lazy OK or exhorts a balky mule
by an appeal to his finer feeling through the
instrumentality of blacksnake or of a Pike
county revolver, then the business of team
ing and freighting is liable to a very sudden
suspension. 1t is liable to play out at any
minute and become one of the things that
were, like the hopes that the republicans
once entertained of carrying Maine.
But there is another aspect of the case
which may properly be considered. In view
ing the operation of a balky mule being
whipped, if the sensitive nature of our city
attorney was so outrageously shocked, if the
cords OF his tenderly% sympathetic heart were
so worked upon that he could not possibly
resist the impulse of making a Mr.. Bergh of
himself for the nonce by having the cruel
driver arrested and punished, then it was
quite in his power to relieve himself of all
suspicion of being actuated by selfish motives
in SO doing. He could have lone this simply
by remitting his attorneys fee, when even the
most captiOus could have found nothing to
criticise in his action, more than in the case
of any other citizen Who might act in like
manner. But Mr.. Brown took particular care
not to remit that fee. His hold on that $40
is tenacious after the manner of grim death
when he gets his grip on a dead darkey. And
this leads all but the most charitable of per-
sons to suspect that personal interest acted as
a powerful auxiliary to the promptings of
humanity in suggesting that prosecution. 1t
is limited, indeed, that our worthy city attor-
ney had one eye on the mule and the other
OH the X with so strong a divergence of view
that there was imminent danger of strabis-
mus supervening. This is the uncharitable
view of the case, and unfortunately there are
a great many uncharitable people in this i'm
perfect world. If the impression gets abroad
that our city officers sally out into the streets
and "snatch" a teamster every time they
find themselves a little short, Butte may not
be benefited thereby.
Come to think of it, though, we don't
know that it is the city officers duty to trou-
BILE themselves about Butte's reputation; and
when VIZ calmly consider the possibilities
of the tealnster-snatcling industry we con-
fess we are fairly dazzled by the prospect il
unfolds. The Alice has heretofore been con-
sidered the big bonanza of the camp, but il
our city officers will only diligently work out
the mine on which a prospect has lately been
struck, a bonanza eclipsing the Comstock it.
self Will be developed. BY stationing them.
selves along Main street and arresting every
bull-whacker that attempts anything like an
animated discussion with the animals in his
charge, the revenue to be derived will soon
make an interest in the Butte police court a
most valuable possession, and ere long we
~outranking the Alice on the eastern markets.
We see no reason why this industry should
not be cultivated. The more industries we