The Anaconda standard., 1899-10-23
And Aunt Jane Was Very In
dignant.
THOUSAND DOLLAR BILLS
She Testified That Carr Bought the Ranch
for Her and 1t Was No Ones
Business Where She Got
the Money.

"A @ie past week was tne preilmin-
ary hearing of Fred Whiteside and tes-
timony of the witnesses taken before
Commissioner Duffy in the suit of
Whiteside against W. A. Clark, the
Miner Publishing company and others.
A broad smile has oervaded Kalisoell,
and In fact the whole Flathead valley,
since the charge of perjury was
brought against Whiteside. Whiteside
has enemies here. but they are not
many, and even those have not The
hardihood to express belief in Whie-
sides guilt. The local papers have
poked all manner of fun at Ben Folke
and the Butte Miner, especially the
latters attempt to picture Whiteside
as dodglng in back alleys to avoid ar
rest. These local papers are not politi-
cally friendly to Whiteside, but they
had the manhood to say that whatever
any one might say Of Whiteside, he
was no coward, and the attempt to pic
ture him as playing that role was over
drawn. Ben Folke, who is well known
here as anywhere, came in for a share
of ridicule all over town and in the
local papers.
The hotels have been crowded with
~
Butte and Walter S. Hartman Of the
firm OF Hartman & Hartman of Boze
man arrived in town after a delay &C
two days on the Great Northern, the
road being tied up by the heavy snow
storm between Shelby Junction and
Blackfoot. Walter M. Bickford of
Butte, who swore to the complaint
against Whiteside on 'information and
belief" was also in town, and was
present at the proceedings, frequently
consulting with the attorneys for the
state, Messrs. Logan & Long, County
Attorney Gray taking no part in the
proceedings. A determined attempt
was made by Logan and Long to in
troduce the testimony against White
side after Whiteside's attorneys had
waived the preliminary hearing. The
case was postponed from Thursday Of
last week until Monday, awaiting the
arrival Of Messrs. Hartman and Con-
molly.
The raciest development of the
week, around which centered the most
interest. however, was the testimony
Of Aunt Jane" Wickham, taken before
Commissioner Duffy on Tuesday There
was quite an audience in the commits
s1oner's room during the taking of the
testimony. and the examination of
Aunt Jane" who testified that she
was an aunt of Representative Cars
wife, ELECTED some humorous features.
In reply to questions put to her by Mr..
ConnAlly, she, said that she kept a
store in Columbia Falls. One of the
other witnesses had testified to the
fact that he was present when Mrs.
Coyle of Columbia Falls sold to Rep
resentative Carr. shortly after his re-
turn from his Illuminated legislative
career in Helena, a certain ranch for
for $500 cash, the money being paid
over in Garr's house in the presence of
Garr's wife. The witness remembered
distinctly $1,000 bill, she thought
three $500 bills and the rest of the
Sc, 500 in s1oo and $50 bills. When the time
came for the delivery of the cash
Carr stepped into another room and
brought forth the bills. The deed was
made out in the name of "Aunt Jane"
Wickham.
Aunt Jane" testified that Carr was
her agent in the purchase of the prop
erty. She did not own any other prop
erty in Columbia Falls, stating that
she rented the store where she did
business. She had been contemplating
purchasing the ranch for year. but
had never mentioned the matter to Mrs.
Coyle, the owner. She simply had her
EYE on it," She refused to tell where
she got the $1,000 bill or the $500 bills,
frequently reiterating that it was iler
business, but acknowledged she had
given the bills to Carr to pay for the
property. Upon being closely question
ed. she finally said she had had the
bills, she thought, for six years, ever
since her residence in Columbia Falls.
but refused to tell whether she kept
them in the mattress, the flour sack or
in the potato bin. She said. however,
that she did not keep the bills in the
bank, but had them in her possession
all these long years
Aunt Jane was touchy and inclined
to be impatient at the attempt to pry
into her private affairs. Asked why
Carr had attended to the payment of
the money and represented her in the
transaction, she said he always at
tended to her business. On the day the
trade was made and the money paid,
she was too busy" to attend to it
herself, and had handed the money to
Carr to pay for the property. Carr had
the deed placed on record for her. She
denied that there was any understand
ing whereby Carr or his wife, or any
member of his family, had any inter-
est in the property, contingent or other
wise. The property was hers, as the
deed on the records would show, and
it was nobody's business. 1t was no.
body's business where she got the
money or the thousand-dollar bill; she
guessed she could tell if she wanted to,
but she just wasn't going to do it
there now" Neither was it anybody's s
business how much money she took in
in her business or what she was worth.
She did condescend to admit that her
business was not so extensive as to re-
quire the attention of any one but her.
self, except when she was away, and
then Mrs. Carr looked after the store.
She lived with Carr and his family ever
since her residence in Columbia Falls.
Mr.. Carr was now engaged in looking
after the ranch she had bought from
Mrs. Coyle, in making improvements
on the property and in collecting the
rent for it. It was the largest trans
action she had had since coming to
Montana, and she had been thinking
of buying for a long while, but put 1t
off until Mr. Carr got back from Hell
ena. Aunt Jane" kept getting warmer
all the time she was questioned. When
Mr.. Connolly announced he was
through with the witness, Mr.. Bickford
waived cross -examina ton, and Aunt
Jane" fiounced out of the room in
state of high dudgeon to the undis-
gused amusement of the crowd.
Dave Hoover, deputy sheriff of Flat
head, testified he looked over certain