The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-25
AFFAIRS OF PARK COUNTY
Alarm Over the Possibility Of
Early Frosts.
WOULD DO MUCH DAMAGE
William Brown Held for the Dis
trict Court on Charge of Blackmail.
Park County's Assessment.
Severe Rain Storms.

| Livingston, Aug. 24.-The cold weather
of the past few days has caused the
farmers to fear an early frost and, re-
alizing as they do that such an affiic-
ton would mean the loss of thousands
of bushels of grain in the Shields River
and Yellowstone valleys, the probabili-
ties in that direction are viewed with
no small degree of alarm. Thousands of
acres of grain is still waving green in
| Park county, and the present cold
weather gives little promise of reaping
| it soon enough to put the crop out of
| the way of the frost. The quality of
| the grain would be very much injured
| by a frost at this time, even if the
| blight was not severe enough to cause
total loss of the crop, and with a flour
| mill here running night and day, Park
| county people feel that the reputation
| of its flour is endangered by the threat
| ening cold, and all concerned hope for
| warmer weather.
Saturday William Brown had a hear
| ing before Judge Wilson, charged with
blackmail, and was bound over to the
| district court. his bonds being fixed at
| $1,000. Attorney John T. Smith ap-
| peared for the defense and County At
| lUIuey mllltT pTOSeCulSu L ne tNluellCt
went to show that on Wednesday of
last week one Thomas Williams wrote
and sent a telegram to his former en-
ployer, George Welcome, at Jardine,
reading as follows: Aug. 16, 1899,
George w. Welcome, Jardine, Mont,
via Horn: VIII swear out warrant you
did shooting night of July 4th unless
you help me with money. Considera-
ton $500. Answer. Tom Williams"
ba
country and has not been seen since
and Brown. who accompanied Williams
to the telegraph office, was arrested
on a complaint charging him with an
attempt to extort money from Well
come. The evidence for the defense
was in support of the contention that
Brown took no part in the affair be-
yond showing Williams where and how
to send the message, but the court con-
sidered that Browns part in the trans
action rendered him liable to a penalty
under the law, and he was accordingly
bound over. Failing to secure bonds,
Brown is in Jail pending the trial of
the case at the october term of the dis
trict court.
Charles Angus, clerk and recorder,
received a notice the latter part of last
week from the state board of equaliza-
ton, stating that the assessment of
Park county property would be dis
turbed in some particulars and the
state board would be heard from on
the subject in due time. 1t has been
the custom in the clerk and recorders
office to begin work on the tax books
as soon as they were received from the
assessor and get the work of figuring
the taxes on each assessment out of
the way in good time for the books to
go to the collector. The notice from
the state board, however, warns Mr..
Angus that should the taxes be ex
tended on the books the work will have
to be all done over again when the
change is made by the state board. Al
ter long term of service at such work,
as he is now engaged in the present,
the county clerk has learned that
state boards of equalization frequently
make considerable extra work for Off
GERS about this time of the year, and
he is going to make sure that the state
board of equalization has finished its
work of raising or lowering before he
begins the task of reckoning the taxes
of those whose property is listed on
the assessors books.
H. A. Fasler, a resident of Flathead
creek in the Shields river valley, died
at the home of Henry Keyser Thursday
of last week. He was Sc years of age
and leaves an aged wife, who will be
cared for by relatives in the East. The
y,
the remains being inferred in Noun
tain View cemetery. The old couple
have lived for some time with Henry
keyser, at his home on Flathead creek,
to whom they were foster parents. The
young man is said to have provided
for the aged people in a way which
has Won him the enduring esteem of
the residents of that community.
Thursday afternoon severe rain
ed
display visited the vicinity of Livings-
ton. Considerable damage was done to
the telephone exchange and electric
light system by severe shock of the
electric current, which leaped from the
clouds near the plant SCATTERING four
large line poles and entering the upper
floor of the plant where it tore the
switchboard wires into shreds and
melted the fuse and ground wires on
its way into the earth. A portion of
the current followed the telephone
wires into the residence of County
Commissioner r. b. Kelley, near the
plant, demolishing the telephone instru-
ment and sending fragments of the
glass and wood of which the phone was
constructed, about the room. Forum
ately none of the occupants of the
house were injured although the vio-
lenCe and destructive force of the
bolt was sufficient to have caused in
slant death had the electric current or
fragments which flew from the tele-
phone come into contact with the oc-
cupants of the room. The work of
wiring up the switchboard at the plant
was completed in time to turn on the
inCandescent lamps in the evening, and
a days work in the telephone exchange
repaired the injuries to the line.
Monday morning a woman was taken
to Jail from a room in the Albemarle
hotel on the charge of having left her
husband and taken up her abode in the
apartments of one ]. NJ. Dawns, who
occupied room II in the hotel. The wo-
man came in on the park train Sunday
evening from the Upper Yellowstone re
gion near the park, where she had
quarreled with her husband and parted
from him some days previously. Her
husband preceded her to this city and
met her at the train, where his irate
spouse refused to forget the past and
accept his protestations of penitence or
have any further dealings with him
whatever. Dawns, who is without legs
and travels by means of a wooden leg
and crutChes, had formed the acquaint-
ance of the woman on the train and
was assigned a room near hers al the