The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1895-06-01
The 'BIG.JAW' ChSE.
ALPHONSE MARION FOUND
GUILTY..
He will be Sentenced his Mnrning-
A Case that will attract attention.
other BUSINESS Z transacted in the
District { Ourt.

luC Ill " COult WHICH 4 emu iD-udN Is
that Of Alphonse Marion. charged with sell
ling diseased. corrupted and unwholesome
provisions, in the shape of meat from a
beet, which. at the time it Was slaughtered.
was suffering from an advanced case of &C.
~tinomycOsis, or. as it is more commonly
called. "big-jaw." The prominence of the
defendant, who Is one OF the Wealthlest
ranchmen of the Central Ruby valley. and
the fact that this was one OF the first pros
ecutlons OF the character ever occurring IN
the state make the case a particularly inter-
esting one. The defendant was represented
by w. A. Clark, OF this city. and Robert &.
Smith, Of Helena. the prosecution being
conducted by County Attorney Lew L..
Galloway.
The trial began Tuesday morning after
the impannelllng OF the following jury:
Gabriel Morltz, foreman; G. 3. Goetsch,us,
d. N. Jones. &. B. Gordon, l.. S. Briggs.
Geo. C. Biacknan, Jas. Cowan, VIM. Glow
son, L. d. Foster, Jacob Bauer, W.. S.
Lowe and John l.. Hartman.
Amos Hogelaud was the first witness tor
the state. In substance he testified that he.
wEne in the employ of Marion. killed the
stag under his employers direction, who
assisted him in dressing the beef and helped
him to hang 1t in his meat house. When
he left the place on the 2nd day OF Febru.
airy there were four quarters and Il piece
weighing about % pounds IN the meat
house and when he returned at night one
OF the hind quarters was missing. During
the cross examination the witness became
badly ratified. the defendants counsel de-
velOping the TACT that the only Gate that he
could recall to a certainty was the second
day OF February, the day on which the
meat was alleged TO have been sold.
John Dauterman. David Williams and
James Sommers were called to show the
means taken in conveying the head OF the
diseased stag to Virginia for preservation.
under the direction OF the county attorney.
Joseph Pollock testified in substance thai
on February , he bought a hind quarter OF
beet OF the defendant. on his assurance that
T. was good beef, which he himself had
been using. Meeting Hogeland Il few days
later he was informed that the beet was
that obtained from Il big-jawed stag, and
Ills subsequent investigations proved this
to his own mind. The evidence OF Hoge-
land and Pollock was to the fleet that the
meat was very poor, Hageland testltying
that the stag was very poor when killed.
The next witness tor the state was DR..
w. l.. Williams. professor of veterinary
medicine ana surgery in the Montana agri-
cultural college at Bozemau. His tcsti-
mony was very Interesting from a scientific
standpoint. He showed a complete mastery
OF the subject and his evidence was very
weighty. He exhibited a ghastly relic Of
the stag in question, being the diseased
jaw bone, the bone being honeycombed.
showing that in life the major portion had
been eaten away by some disease. He tes-
tilted that there was no doubt that the AMI
nal in its lifetime had been afflicted with
ectlnomycocis or big jaw" and that at
the time of death the disease was IN an ad-
vanced stage; that he would consider it a
very Virulent case. On being asked as to
the fitness OF meat OF such an animal tor
food he said he would consider it highly
dangerous; that the disease was the result
OF a specific germ and that it was entirely
possible for the germ to be communicated
from INC u1StiSpu meal 10 lilt person eat
ing it. thus transmitting the disease to man;
that the disease was known in man and is
quite prevalent in cattle: that where the
disease was advanced there was another
danger besides that OF transmitting the
germ, that the germs threw Off a large
quantity OF poison. which is indicted
throughout the entire system of the d.
cnoco6 oOivnaI onh fhSt madam coinnnc
knows of no means, either by cooking or
curing. to eradicate the danger that lies IN
the meat.
Upon cross examination he testified that
1T was more than probable that the diseased
matter was carried through the stomach
into the blood, finally permeatlng the en-
entire system: that meat from such an ami
NAL would not only be unfit for food but
highly dangerous. In reply to a question
he stated that the disease was considered a
fatal one in both man and beast. WIT. this
the state rested.
For the defense, S. II. Dutord, George
Gohn and II. $. Gilbert testified to the
good character OF the defendant: Mr.. Gil
bert testified that PJilock had told him and
j. B. Laurin that he would drop the prose
cutlon tor 81 900. Joseph Vancelette testi-
fed that Hogeland said he would leave the
country so as not to appear against Marion
for $500; Dr.. McNulty testified that he
would consider the condition of the jaw to
be the result of necrosis. or bone death.
Charles Williams testified that he had
helped brand a stag belonging to Marion