The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-06-20
IS STILL 4 MYSTERY
There r No Glue 70 the Giant
Powder vandala.
SIX SIMILAR ATTEMPTS
Ths Omoers Have Exhausted An Thsir
Resources In Trying to Locate
the Criminals-No Trace
Len Behind.

The forces Of the sherif's once are
greatly mystiAed and considerably
worked up over the dastardly act of
the vandals who put giant powder un-
der the residence Of James M. Keesan.
superintendent Of the Mountain Con
and Green Mountain mines. night be-
fore last. The officials are mystified
over the purpose OF the perpetrators
Of the ~atrocious deed. as 1t was quite
obvious it was not their intention to
kill the inmates of the house, and are
disturbed because of the frequency Of
such acts in the past yea without the
officers being able to find a clue to in
dictate who 10 doing the work.
Within the past year there have been
no less than six similar attempts to de-
stroy property. and In all but this &C.
casion to TAX life as well. The officers
have exhausted all their resources in
~endeavoring to locate the perpetrators
of the crimes. and from present pros
poets. the same result will obtain in
this case. - neither the officers nor
parties interested have any suspicion
as to the guilty parties and the NJ
who did the deed left no trace behind
for the ofhcers to work on.
Under Sheriff Jerry Murphy investi-
gated the explosion yesterday. but dis
covered nothing and stated last even
ing that he was utterly at q loss for
a solution OF the mystery. Oh1cer MUIR
ply questioned Mr.. Keegan very close
ly yesterday In the hope of getting in
formation that would helm solve the
problem. but without success. Mr.. Kee-
gan said he could think Of no one who
might have fancied grievances that
might prompt him to commit such an
act to get even. He said ne was salts
fed 1t was no discharged employee who
might feel sore over losing his job. as
was suggested by Oficer Murphy, and
might wish to do him injury to such
an extent as would nave been possible
or as he m his family would doubt
less have suffered had the powder been
placed in another portion of his
house.
In his investigation Under Sheriff
Murphy found the powder had been
placed against the rear end Of the sum-
mer kitchen 30 or 40 feet from the
main part of the house where the in
mates were asleep. The force of the
powder against the end OF the kitchen,
tore off a few board and ratified the
dishes Off the shelves within, but there
was no further damage to Mr.. Kee-
gan's property. From the manner i'm
which h powder must nave been
placed to do no more damage, m from
the further fact that whoever did the
work must have known no one slept in
the little kitchen. 1t Ia apparent IL was
no part of the evil doer's intention to
blow up the family. n hence the mys-
terry as to Its purpose. From the fact
that Mr.. keegan could suggest no one
who might have been guilty OF the act,
and from all the other circumstances
the officer came to the conclusion last
evening that the explosion was to be
attributed to one of three things.
Either some one did II to scare Mr..
Keegan or II was the act Of a crank
with a mania for such work, or else IL
was the pure deviltry Of hoodlums.
circumstance inclined Officer
Murphy to the latter opinion. He
found some of the neighbors who said
they saw two young fellows leave the
neighborhood from the direction of Mr..
Keegan's house shortly before the ex-
occurred, and the result of the
explosion led Mr.. Murphy to him the
powder a been merely thrown down
the ground at the end of the kitchen
as hoodlums might have thrown 1t and
doubtless would had they been bent on
mischief alone. There is nothing else
support the theory. however. n alb
nothing for the officers to
on The explosion will doubtless
remain another of Butte's I'M
solved mysteries. Owing to the number
OF such cases hat have occurred, the
officers would very much like
to catch the guilty parties and make
example OF them.
The greatest damage done by the ex-
was suffered by Mrs. Mary G. |
Ryan. whose residence Is directly
the street. Nearly every win
low in her house was broken and II
rost $2s to put in the glass yesterday.
Mrs. Ryan's house II further from the
spot where the powder exploded than
IS the main portion of Mr.. Keegan's
residence. From the terrific report of
explosion. II IL thought at least two
sticks of giant powder were set off.
The report was heard all over the town
in the immediate neighborhood
great excitement. The total
lamage will not amount to more than