The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-04-28
+. TOO MUCH
Crime and Criminals in Butte
The Tramp Nuisance-Vi9-
liant Officers and Law
abiding Citizens.

ing cO-tem. frequently leads to exag'
gerated reports, which, while theil
a~bsurdities only provoke a smile in
this community, are likely to create
damaging impressions abroad. If q
drunken brawler' makes q foolish
flourish with his revolver, "the town
is over-run with cut-throats and as
sassins" If a sneak thief taps a
till, 1.-THE circumstances surrounding
the case indicate the existence in our
midst of a we'll organized band OF
professional burglars" and if a
poor miserable tramp who has
just struck the camp, out
Of work and penniless, asks for a
quarter of q dollar with which to
secure a cheap lodging, the Inter
Mountain says, 'for several weeks
past Butte has been infested with
tramps but as none of them have
been arrested they are daily becom-
ing holder and many of them bid
fair to become highway robbers,
4 \ ut is next to impossible fol
a citizen to walk down Main street
without being struck half a dozen
times" A recent issue of the
Inter Mountain with an IN
PRODUCTION similar to the
above; proceeds to detail the inso-
lent manner in which a leading citi-
zen had been accosted by four speci-
mems of the genus tramp, and winds
up with the statement that "in-
stances like the above are of almost
hourly occurrence" Inquiry at po-
lice headquarters elected the infor-
nation that in the last referred to
there were three tramps instead of
four, that an officer was close at hand
and attempted to arrest them, but they
stampeded, and only one was secured;
that they are the first genuine tramps
to invade the city this spring, and
that they came from Ogden on the
train which arrived the previous
These stories may do no
harm among u own citizens, to
VIII M their a~bsurdity is patent, but
a distant standpoint the city
presents small inducement as a
pleasant place to settle, where organ
lied burglars ply their midnight
trade, which is over-run with cnt-
throats and assassins, and where the
insolent demands of importunate
tramps are to be met with every hour
in the day. The occasional appearance
Of tramps is an annoyance peculiar
20 all large and prosperous mining
which attract rough charac-
5ers from other points; but it is a
act to which every citizen will bear
witness, that Butte has been remark
free from the nuisance during
he past winter. Nor is crime RAM
pant in u midst. We have an
excellent police force, who are
veil drilled in their duties and
vigilant in their surveil-
ance over the dangerous classes. !
Under their system of espionage over
unknown and suspicious characters
t would be impossible for a vagrant
o remain in the city twenty-four
hours without being spotted. Not
outstanding our large floating pop
and habitual state of excite
nent, no mining camp in the world
an present a better criminal record
han Butte. The arrests made are
for trivial offences, and are
comparatively few in number; SIS is
hown by the records of u police
curt, which is scarcely occupied two
avs in each week with the trial of a
ase, and the small number of felony
asses which appear on the District
'ourt calendar. Our city govern
lent is we'll organized, our officials
ficient, the laws promptly executed
nd u community is composed Of
Industrious, law-abiding citizens.