The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-04-19
IN A TEA POT.
Judge Bucks Characterization OF the
Controversy About Little
Linnie Connor.
The Father Retains Custody OF
Her, Subject to the
w" Courts Orders.
judicial Advice Upon tho ProprIety Of
bringing Neighb0rIiood Hrawls Into
the District Court.

the District Court.
Judge Bucks department of the district
court WIS taxed to Its limit yesterday
hearing on tho raturn of the restraining
order issued Saturday evening on the
petition Of Linnie Common asking for the
removal Of her father as guardian Of her
person, and the appointment OF another.
There was a fair %sprinkling Of ladies and a
large representation from the immediate
neighborhood of the Conner residence.
Linnie Conner. the petitioner, a young girl
who, by her answe on tho stand displayed
q good deal Of brightness and intelligent
mental aptness and comprehension, sat by
her counsel, Miss Ella L. Knowles. During
tho sntire days proceedings she preserved
her self-posssssion, INT seemed ~intently
Interested in the proceedings. but during
the summing up of Col. Nolan she broke
down and wept coriously. W.. @o..@
The first witness was John T.. Ford, who
testified to seeing the father and stepmother
OF the girl dragging her through the street
on the night OF April H.. and saw the father
strike Linnie in the head with his fist, and
whom the girl screamed her stepmother put
her hand over her mouth.
Mrs. Ida M. Hall testified to seeing Lin
ME beat with ropes, straps and a stick, and
also to giving Linnie clothes and raiment
of different kinds, claiming that she was in
sufficiently attircd. -@.
Mrs. Ward testified that Mrs. Conner told
her to tell Linnis not to come back home;
that if she did she would kill her. She said
Linnis's reputation was good.
Col. Nolan endeavored to elicit the fact
from the witness that she had had some
trouble with the Connors. growing out of
contemplated divorce proceedings between
witness and her husband. an6 succeeded.
Several other witnesses testified to the
fact that the child was beaten, and one wit
ness testified TO seeing a black and blue
a beating.
Linnie Conner said she was Is years old
and lived with her father and STEP mother.
She substantially repeated the ayerments
set out in her petition, and said she had
been frequently beaten by her father and
stap-mother. but said she deserved the pun
ishMent on some occasions. She had been
beaten with ropes, broomsticks and any
thing that was handy. She testified that
she had been kicked by her father and step
mother. The day she left home she had a
waist on under her outer garment, it was
old n unfit to wear on the outside Of her
dress and she had worn it under meath her
dress to make her form look better. Her
step-mother was going to punish her for
this iii she hadn't made for the door,"
Her step-mother picked up her wraps that
she had dropped in her exit from the house,
threw them after her and told her never to
come back again. Her father had beaten
hnr VIC va~nl- Ak4 Lcl l-a,. ul.---l
for breaking dishes-that was one of her
faults. On Christmas day, when she had been
chastised che had broken a dish that her
stspmother had received for a wedding
present. Her father usually beat her atthe
suggestion of her ~stepmother. Her step
mother treated her kindly until about a
year after her father was married. She was
in grade seven in the Jefferson school and
wanted to remain there. She did not want
to 60 to st. Peters mission because she I'M
derstood it was an Indian school, and she
did not want to be a Catholic, but wanted
to remain a Christian. On cross-examina-
ton Linnie said that her father had never
to her best recollection struck her with his
closed hand, but had done so with his open
hand. He had whipped her for not being
neat in person and for breaking dishes.
She had gone Fl night to Mabel Best's
house, unknown to her parents, to give her
the address of a male friend. She returned
obOAV VANoV SioSAs 4ACA Opu 01lu 6c0l
her walking with another girl and n male
friend one night and that had created some
trouble. The girl was a member of the
Congregational church and the male friend
WAS q proper person. He simply saw them
home. She had destroyed some under
she was afraid to let her parents see them.
DR.. Salvail testified that Linnis was sub
ject to epilepsy, and he thought that to
CROSS her feelings by placing her in a school
unwillingly would tend to aggravate her
nervous trouble. He thought it would
seriously affect the child's henlth to beat
her or subject her to violent excitement.
Several Of the neighbors testified to Che
child being beaten, and said that her cloth
ing was insufficient.
Charles Fl. Conner, the father of the girl,
was the first witness put on the stand in
defonse, and testified that he had never ill
used the child in any way. That she was
and he had ohastised her, but with nothing
more formidable than a trunk strap. He
exercised nothing but q reasonable parental
control. OF late Linnis had evincod a dis
position to disobey, and when spoken to
would not answer. She was obstinate and
it was not unreasonably. The girl had been
urged on in a course of disobedience to
himself and his wife by intermeddlinQ
neighbors who we're his personal enemies,
and who endeavored to embltter his child
against him.. He wished to send her to
st. Peters school unless some bsttsr ar
rangements could be made. He was will
ing the child should be placed any
where where o~ticious %neiehbors and
enemies would not have access to her. He
was her father and had natural affection
for his child and desired to see her brought
up properly. The witness, on oross-exami-
nation, was pressed to give tho cause of the
trouble between the n%eighbors, and narrst-
ed u very unsavory pieoe of gossip relating
to Mrs. Hall and her husband and the cause
Of their divorce proceedings, unfit for pub
location.
The stepmother, Mrs. Conner, and the
sister-in-lnw. Miss Euphemia West, were
then put on the stand, and corroborated
the boy. Linnio's brother testified to Lin
MES provoking disobedieuce and wilful
venialities. She had never been undulyo or
severely chastised, and whenever she had
she deserved II. There were times when
she deserved it that she WAS not chastissd,
but mildly reproved.
An array OF witnesses testified to tho OK