The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-13
Thieves ARE NUMEROUS
Chief of Police Guerin Cleverly
). Captures a Couple.
THEY MADE A BIG BLUFF
Mr. Ballou Got Onto Them and Notified
the P~oIce-There Seems to Be All
Sorts of Petty Robbers in
Town at Present.

Great Falls. Sept. 12.-Early this
morning Chief OF Police Guerin made
another clever catch. The number Of
alarming Of late; in fact. it has increased
from none at all to several. and that in
crease is alarming in a town that is
ordinarily kept as quiet as Great Falls.
Sunday evening the chief thought he
would take a run around the town him
self and see If it was not possible to
round up some of the sneak thieves. 1t
has been noted that whoever has been
working the city has shown a prefer
.ence for rooms occupied by railroad
men. This class is accustomed to having
call boys walk INTO their rooms at all
times of the night TO summon them TO
work and NAM Of them leave their
doors unlocked so that the boy may
ave no trouble in waking them up.
Consequently the thief. or thieves, have
had a snap. They could walk into d
mans room, go through his pockets ana
clear out without mi the least dan
ger of waking their victims.
Guerin therefore paid particular at
tention to the lodging houses frequented
by the railroaders. He had made the
round of the city without finding any
trouble brewing, and sometime between
midnight and / o'clock this morning he
reached Central avenue. Some few min
utes before c. b. Ballou, one of the pro-
prietors of the Great Falls Cycle Co,
whose place of business is just a few
doors below the Standard office, was
doing some extra work in the shop.
While so engaged, the curtains being
drawn closely and shutting in all the
light, he heard some one evidently try
fnU 70 NHnlnnL a GiAn 6nnP The noise
continued for some time, and finally Mr..
Ballou went to the front door, very
quietly locking it behind him. Just then
the lookout, who was standing on the
opposite side Of the street, whistled, n
the k~ey-worker ran out of the passage
and Joined him. Then the two ndulged
in a sham drunken scufhe.
Meantime Mr.. Ballou had gone quietly
down the street, looking for an officer
and apparently paying no attention to
the two men on the sidewalk, who
waited until he had gone about a block,
n then made a bolt pack into the pas
sageway together. They remained there
about 10 minutes and by that time Bal
lou had returned with Guerin. to whom
he had told his experience. The men
came out and AYere promptly nailed by
the chief. They made a little bluff Of
injured innocence at first and insisted
on seeing Guerin's star, but they finally
MADE up their mlnus 10 go IN pedCs. AT
the station they gave he names of
James Fargo and Fred Becker. Fargo
later switched to King. Each of them
mad skeleton keys in his possession and
a charge of having burglars tools was
booked against them. This morning,
when they learned their offense, they
first inquired If 1t was a pe~nitentiary
charge. Finding that ii was not, they
Immediately volunteered to plead guilty
TO II. They were taken before Justice
Burleigh, who this afternoon sentenced
them to six months in the county Jail.
Unfortunately this does not close the
list of sneak thieves. This afternoon
a man giving the name Of Frank Kline
was caught stealing a pair of gloves
in Strain Bros store. He was prompt
ly seized by a clerk, and officer Blssett
seeing the scuffle from across the
street, came over and took him down.
Apparently this has been a good day
for criminal business. About two
months ago William Small, a colored
man working as a piano player in a
colored dive on the south side. shot
one of the women OF the house, Loretta
Shelby, through the shoulder. At the
request of Chief Guerin the Standard
reported IL as an accident, and the
story was circulated among the coiored
population that Small would ave no
trouble from the police, as they
thought the shooting was entirely ac-
cidental. Small did not. therefore,, 90