The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1894-01-13

place on the board Of J. ). Truscott and
Louis Bach. In the year 1891. DIR. T..
f. Fish and W. III. Bullard were elected
to take the place Of Ed Campbell, Bull
lard succeeding himself. In the year
1892, Tom Gibb and Pete Sorenson were
elected. both holding for the year 1893.
and in the election Of 1893 Mr.. McIntire
was elected in place Of DIR. Fish, Bull
lard succeeding himself. All whom are
well known in Milcs City. and have
known of the ordinance as passed in
lsSs heretofore referred to. and have
directly or indirectly instructed the city
attorney the same as he was instructed
by the mayor and city council at the
time the ordinance was passed.
1t may be possible that the city attor-
ney has been delelict OF duty, and if
that be true he has no desire to saddle
the blame upon anybody else; these hon
orable gentleman who have been named
as mayors and aldermen Of the city per
haps ought not to be dragged into this
matter. yet it is fact that mayor of
city. under the provisions Of our stat
ute. is the executive officer of city and
il is within his power at any time to or
der the city attorney to file complaints IN
any case that he may deem il necessary.
The honorable gentleman. Mr.. kreidier,
who was foreman Of the last grand jury.
as above indicated, was mayor Of the
city for twelve months; during that time
he never advised or instructed the city
attorney 10 bring any complaint against
these women for running these houses
OF prostitution. and never advised the
prosecution 81 saloon men for gambling
without license: whether he was dere-
iict Of duty ar an officer Of the city is
not for me 10 say.
Tventy-three indictments were re-
turned by the grand jury: all Of them
charge otfenses that under the laws are
misdemeanors. not a single one of them
charging felony.
THIS grand Jury was not called at the
beginning Of the term. and | do not
know why il was called al all. The con-
dititions AS they existed on the 21rd day
II December. 1893. when the grand jury
was convened, were III no respect differ
ent from what they had been for months
and wears back Of that time. All the
women who were indicted for MAINTAIN
ING nuisances have been in this town in
the same line of business for the last
I eight or nine years. Nearly all of the
saloon men who were indicted for gamb-
ling without a license have established
places of business. are taxpayers here,
/ well known in the community. and have
been in business for number of years;
WHY IL was necessary To indict these
women or these saloon men at this par
| ticular time ] do not know. IL is true
/ that number Of them have gone into
court and pleaded guilty. and. as | am
| informed. these women pleaded guilty by
reason Of the threat of the court that
! had been communicated to them. that If
/ they did not now plead guilty and pay their
/ fine. he would either convene another
| grand jury. or order the county attorney
to iile Iuformations against them. and
tnat he would never stop until they had
been convicted and if my information is
correct he went so far as to intimate
that if they would plead guilty to these
indictments he would grant them immu'
nifty for aLy further acts.
As To the saloon men who were induc
ed 10 plead guilty 10 gambling without d
| license. where the minimum tine could
not be less than $4,000, His Honor. the
Judge. boy an arrangement with the
county attorney entered HOtte prOSeqHi
conditioned. however. upon each one o'
the persons SO indicted paving TO the
county treasurer two Dlonths back license
whether they owed the license or not
This character of judicial procedure may
be correct. but | do not hesitate To char
acterize it as judicial ~ blackmaii
These men should have paid at least tn,
minimum fine. or. il not, they were en-
titled to be acquitted. The fact tina
they volunteered. rather than stand trial
To 90 IN and pay the county treasurer
two months back license, whether the,
owed it OF not. cannot in any way exon
crate the court.
IL l-t. 30 -l.s.sl -
this city that the social conditions il
this town on the BIRD day of December
1893. were no worse than they have beer
at all times since His Honor presided
over this court; why he deemed 1T nee
essary at that particular time to conven,
a grand Jury. instructing them to indic
in these matters. do not know. Hi.
honor was holding a term Of court II
Billings at about the same time, and i
would seem that there was certainly al
much necessity for grand jury there al
there was in Miles City. It is my opin
ion that this whole matter. when pub
lished to the world, as if undoubtedl,
has been already, will do Miles City more
harm than good. In making this remark
| do not desire to impugn the motives Of
the honorable gentleman who presides
over our district court, but believe thai
in fairness and Justice to myself as cit.
attorney and to the gentlemen who have
been officers of the city since 1888,
deem it my duty to make this statement
SO that it may be considered in connec
tien with the instruction Of the court te
the grand jury, the report of the grand
jury, and the remarks OF the court to tht
grand jury after they had completed
their labors.
In relation to the report Of the grand
jury touching the matter Of attorneys
fees in probate matters, desire to etatt
that the report is false in this. that the,
reported e1,S50.00 as having been paid a
attorneys fees in the estate Of c. d
Graham. deceased. when in truth ant
fact there was only 100000 paid. which
amount was paid to myself as sole attor
ney Of the administrator. which amoun
was agreed upon by all parties interestet
in the matter OF the estate in open cour
and was ordered to be paid by the court
c. r. MIDDLETON.