Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-18
The Penitentiary Investigation Com
mittee Meets, but Adjourns
Again Until Jan. 20.
The Board of Trustees to Be NOti-
fled of the Charges Pre-
terred Against Them.
But One Witness Examined Yester-
day, and Nothing Material Is
Brought Out in Testimony.
The Investigation Continued.


The senatorial investigation of the
charges of Encouragement preferred
against ex-Warden Haggart by State
Examiner Peabody, wa continued in the
rooms of the committee over the Capital
National bank this morning. The n
tire committee was present, as were also
the state examiner and deputy, MI. Hag-
CART and his attorney, M. A. Hildreth,
Governor Shortridge and several specta-
tors. Attorney General Cowan was not
present, and in his absence Chairman
Burke interrogated the witnesses as to
their knowledge in the matter.
The session of the board was unevent.
full and unproductive of result. Orr
Sanders, private secretary to the
ex-governor, was placed upon the stand,
and the subject of investigation was the
allegation that the board had received a
rake-otf of 81 a ton in the purchase of
pipe for the water mains, which we're
laid to and about the institution. The
witness had hardly begun his testimony
which was that he had made a personal
investigation OF the matter, when Attor-
ney Hildreth objected to the procedure.
He said the allegation was made against
the board of trustees, and. that he did
not think the testimony could be given
under the circumstances. 1t was not
relative to anything which had been done
by Mr.. Haggart, and he did not see how
the examination could proceed, unless
the board was notified and given an op-
p~ortunity to be present. The senators
concurred in this opinion, and after.Mr.
Burke had satisfied himself that the
witness had no personal knowledge of
facts which might sustains the allegation
against Mr.. Haggart as warden, 1t was
decided to have the secretary of the
board OF trustees, which is the same
board as that referred to in the report of
the examiner, notify the members of the
investigation, and the facts and allega-
tions made, that they might be present
at the examination.
Several afhdavits relative to the case
were upon the desk, and one OF them,
that of joseph Dietrich, was examined
by the senators, who said that, as it
seemed relative TO Mr.. Haggart, as war
den, the maker might be examined. The
sergeant-at-arms was accordingly sent
after MI. Dietrich, but the witness did
not materialize, and after waiting q half
hour or so, the committee adjourned to
meet again Monday, Jan. %, at 10 a. m.
An Instance of Narrow Escape.
Up in one of the committee rooms
yesterday morning, there was a general
discussion of the Butte mine explosion,
and Senator McGillivray cited an in
stance which occurred in the Lehigh
coal mine some time ago, and an example
of what narrow escapes result OCCASION
ally from explosions. One of the miners
had put a blast into the vein of coal,
lighted the fuse, and retreated to await
the explosion. In a moment he heard a
noise which he thought was the explo-
sion for which he was waiting, and
started to return to the scene. It turned
out to have been a false alarm, and just
as he approached the entrance of the
shaft, the real explosion took place. The
man was carried back a distance of fifty
or sixty feet by the shock, and a crow
bar which he carried was bent double in
striking against the side of shaft-and
the man was not injured in the least.
And then Senator Burke remarked that
he would make a good member of the
legislature, and the listeners smiled and
agreed with him.
Pretty Badly Dismantled.
Major w. G.. Gooding custodian of the
the old Fort Lincoln, was in the CITY