The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-04-19
THE BEG1NNENG.

At1Es nEUHNNANU. t. o. .
Yesterday evening the county commission
ers of Silver Bow county were nor to
appear at Deer Lodge on Saturday, April
10th, inst, at I o'clock a. H., to show cause
why an Injunction should not be granted on
restraining them from acting or pretending to
act as the board of county commissioner Of
Silver Bow county, and from issuing or deliv-
ering certificates of election as such board,
and for such other relief as may DE Just,
and from doing any act as such officers, or as
such board of county commissioners, and ia
the meantime, and until the hearing of said
application, they are restrained from issuing
certificates to any one.
The summons was issued on the 14th inst.
James B. McMaster appearing as plaintiff and
Lee W. Foster, VIM. NJ. Jack and James Ross
Clark defendants. TIL grounds for action as
appears in the complaint are, first: That the
council of the last legislative assembly did
not have an opportunity to vote upon the
final passage of Fl. B. No. 6, and therefore it
did not become a law. Second: That the
act does not sufficiently designate the bound
airy lines of Silver Bow county: and third:
That II. b. No. 6, provides that the present
officers of Deer Lodge county are the officers
for Silver Bow county until the LIST day Of
May, 1881, and also provides for the election
of county officers and for their qualifying
and entering upon the discharge of their du-
ties before that time, thereby %depnving the
officers of Deer Lodge county of their just
rights, etc, etc.
The citizens of this county have, for some
time, been aware that proceedings were to be
instituted for the purpose Of testing the valid
ity Of the division act. The MINER, in a late
issue, gave the history of the act and con-
tended, as it now contends, that the action Of
the council on the bill was warranted by pre-
cedents and sustained by usage that the
speaker of the house and the president of the
council signed the bill in the presence of the
members of their respective bodies that the
governor signed the same, and that, bearing
these evidences of its genuineness upon its
face, no court can 60 behind this record and
question the irreguiarity Of the passage of
the bill. Furthermore, subsequent to
its passage aud becoming a law, the commits
sioners created by the act itself have discharg-
ed the several duties imposed upon them
without objection being raised BY any party
or parties. Among the first of their official
acts was the adjustment Of the Indebtedness
of Deer Lodge county and The issuance of
warrants by the commissioners Of Silver Bow
county to Deer Lodge county in payment for
its proportion Of such indebtedness. Again,
Judge Galbraith, Of this judicial district, &C.
knowledged the existence Of Silver Bow coun-
ty in refusing to allow . number Of its eiti-
zens to sit upon the Jury for Deer Lodge
county, Then again the supreme court Of
tine territory has certified to it's existence by
appointing a day for a session Of the
district court to be held at Butte,
in Silver Bow County. The sheriff of
this county has taken from the Deer Lodge
county Jail pr prisoners belonging to this county
and incarcerated them In Butte. The coun-
" commissioners have ordered an election
which has been held in pursuance Of the act
and officers of the county have been elected.
Other acts in pursuance of the requirments
of the law have been perfected, and contracts
have been entered into by the commissioners,
in the partial performance of which, several
hundred dollars have been already expended.
In view of the above facts, it must not be
expected the citizens of Silver Bow county
will readily or quickly yieldth rights to graf.
ify the selfish desires of two or three disap'
pointed men. We consider this whole
proceeding as a blow aimed
at the dearest rights and libertie.
of our people. A miserable pretext is raised fol-
the purpose of wrestling from them the sacred
right of self-goYernment. Citizens of Silver
Bow, are you prepared to submit to this
Must you be dragged as captiyes and slaves t.
the feet of a clique who would be your lor(
and your master. We think re answer fo
you when we say no-a thousand times No
As for the MINER, it knows no politics il
this fight. 1t recognizes only that the libert.
of our people is being trampled upon and II
defending their cause all partisan feeling i
sunk and lost to sight. If fight we must le
it be a fight to the knife and the knife to tn
hilt, for II We fail we become chained cap
tive of a merciless foe.
On the 10th inst. at St.Jo., No., the Nilsson
RI river was seventeen feet and six inche
! above low water marx.