The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-25
AFTER Mr.. sALDwIN's SCALP.
A Man who Posts His Grievances On
Posts and Sign Boards.

Special Correspondence OF the standard.
BUTTE, July 2~i.-Alexander Monteath
has declared CORY war against the Mon
ana Union Railway company. His dec
laration was issued to-day and given pub
licity by means of posting printed copies
of II on telegraph poles and other con-
venient places. The documen, opens
with a grandiloquent appeal to the police
to assist in throttling' the grasping mo
nopoly that hauls ore for the Anaconda
company and whose sole purpose is to
grind the downtrodden poor into the Stag
piles that ~enliven its tracks south Of the
city. Alex has evidently at some time
in his life listened to some spouter
of the Lucy Parsons order. The
word monopoly" seems 10 be par
ticularly pleasing TO his ears, for IL occurs
about as often in his manifesto as do the
three articles. Alex is in to the death and
wants everybody to know il.
Securing n o p of the pronunciamento
a STANDARD reporter called this after
noon upon General Manager Baldwin
who is guiding the destiny of that giant
octopus. With In entreaty for mercy
the reporter Shove n copy of Mr..
Monteath's "War Cry" to Mr.. Baldwin,
but that gentleman had one of his own
and calmly produced IL and mt once be-
gan To cite the railroad company's side of
the matter.
''Out of claims against the company ag-
gregating $4,000, for goods destroyed by
the burning of our depot. | have author
lied the payment of fully $1,000. This,
too, Notwithstanding Mr.. Monteath's
statement that we refuse absolutely to
sides this" he continued. 'out of the Sl5,-
90 so paid we were not legally liable for
more than $1,000, rs the people tn whom
the damages were paid would have
learned had they decided 10 proceed
against MS in In courts. The reason l
paid so much more than the legal claims
against us would have been, was simply
to be just and equitable with n number of
people whom ! considered had not bee
given sufficient notice of the arrival of
their goods TO enable their removal.
Now as TO Mr.. Monteath's statement
in his circular that we carried a blanket
insurance more than enough to cover the
loss of everything destroyed by the fire.
IL is false. All the insurance we carried
was $500 OH the building and 5000 to
cover furniture, Office fixtures, books,
stationary supplies, etc. The latter
amount we will be unable TO collect in
full, as we cannot prove that the amount
of stationery on hand at the time Of the
fire was sufficiently large 10 justify full
payment of the value given il in the
policy. So much for the Insurance.
A TO Monteath's personal claim he is
trying To collect for something he himself
has admitted he did not possess. His bill
is for the destruction of household goods.
When he shipped them, in order to obtain
the benefit OF low rates, he placed a valu-
alton upon the goods much lower than
they actually possessed. As soon as he
presented his claim we offered to settle
with him for the value of the goods
nS SCI but ,0'' to this hi f ns " obi cd
and insisted that the company
pay him the actual value of the
shipment as then given by himself. This
We naturally refused TO do and he still
holds his claim. Whenever he is ready
to accept payment of his loss as recorded
on the bills OF lading We are ready and
willing To settle. The courts all over the
land have repeatedly held that railroad
companies are responsible only for the
value of goods transported by them to the
extent OF the valuations contained in the
way bills.
'Thc goods lost by the man Jansen
were in the depot over thirty days, and
that, too, after he had received due no
tice of their arrival. We are not in the
storage u insurance business and con-
s~equently not responsible for goods al
Owed TO remain on our hands after their
owners have been notified TO rcmove
them.
Fortunately for the railroad company
all the books and papers were saved or
we would have To go into bankruptcy To
pay all claims presented. A great many
people were under the impression that
our records had been burnt, and acting
on this belief, persons who never shipped
a pound of freight over u line began Ia
send i'm claims for damages. There are
filed in the general freight agents Office
at b present time sufficient of these
fraudulent claims To noun To more
than twice the sum we have already paid
To actual losers. But because il is a rail
road company that is called upon To set
tie people think il their boundcn duty to
he dishonest and rob us IL they ran.
AS we have said SO often before, we
are willing to pay every fair and just
claim against us, but will fight to the end
all claims that we consider 10 he other
WISE"