Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-26
Relating to the Use of Safety
Cages in Shafts
THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
Makes a Funny Allusi0n to legis.
la!ors and the Judge Smiles
Broadly

L against the Anaconda MlnluS CoIilpahS'
a suit growing out of the alleged failure
of the defendant to comply with that
portion of the statutes relating to the
maintenance of safety doors on the ages
Of mines, was commenced in Judge
Clancy's court this morning. The county
attorney and his chief deputy represented
| the prosecution and J.. X. Mcdonald the
| defendant. John Gillie. the we'll known
mining engineer, fanked Mr.. Mcdonald
on the right, and James Keegan and
James Higgins. company mine superin-
tendents, sat back of both.
Some trouble was experienced in secur-
ing a jury, as many of the panel seemed
to have an opinion as solid as Muldoon.
Others stood in the relation of debtor or
!! creditor to the company. John Morgan,
! who is working a company mine under
lease, was challenged for cause. 1t was
resisted, but the judge considered the
| challenge good and sustained it.
Twelve men were finally accepted and
the court excused the others until Mon
day morning, but after they had left the
room James Morris, one of the twelve
in the box, stepped up to the judge and
told him ne had business dealings with
the company. This announcement raised
the question of the right of Morris to a
seat in the box, but after some hesitancy
the state waived it's right in the matter
and accepted Morris OF the ground that
while the qualification questions were be-
ing propounded he had said he was not
~prejudiced n way or the other in the
case.
The jury comprised r.. N. Rand, Pat
r:21, TT-~- T0~,or NTor.iC T ntic NJ
Chauvin, George Cameron. John Robin
son., Joseph Roberts, w. H. Sanders, j.
Kincaid and w. P. Griffith.
The complaint accused the defendant
of having on certain dates last year OPP
Grated a cage in shaft No. 2 of the Noun
tain Consolidated mine to a greater depth
thai 900 feet without the necessary
safety appliances as provided by law.
When the time for submitting testi-
arrived the attorney for the COM
pany asked that the case be dismissed,
basing his right to recognition on the
allegation that the law was ~unconstitu-
tional in that the title Of the ~amendatory
law expressly included all mines, while
the body of the act was confined to mines
the shafts of which had been unk deeper
than 300 feet. This, he considered, was
sufficiently misleading to render the act
u and void. He produced authorities
to maintain his position.
Mr.. Connolly's reply was to the effect
that the case was a test one and no mat
ter how the district body decided it the
supreme court would eventually pass
upon it's constitutionality. He had, he
said, understood that other mine oper-
ators were anxious to have the constitu-
tionality of the act determined as speed
lily as possible. He quoted the law, as
sayed its contents and dwelt upon the
.capability of those who had made it.
During the course of his remarks he said
1t was to be taken for granted that the
member of the legislature was a
Of ordinary intelligence. although
this was a violent presumption on his
part.
Up to this time Judge Clancy's face had
remained as austere as it pHssibly could
been, but Mr.. Connolly's reference
to the mental calibre of the members of
the greatest deliberative body in the state
caused a true fissure vein of mirth to
itself on his countenance and he
with pity upon the gold brick boys
pres ent
When the attorneys engaged in the ar
had fired and fallen back the
judge SAT- in very few words that he be-
the law was good enough and over
ruled the motion to dismiss.
State Mine Inspector John Byrne and
his assistant, Frank Hunter, were then
W - @NAAAC VIA OSlNC CIl
the 18th Of November and the l+t
cember Of last year he had visited the
Mountain Consolidated shaft No 2 and
seen the cage in operation. Fe produced
a photograph of the cage at the Nettie
and said the only materia! difference
between it and the one used at the Noun
Con No. 2 was that the former was
a single deck and the lated a double-deck. |
There were some other differences, but
they were minor ones. They We're pro-
Vided with bonnets, but not doors, and
were used for the raising and lowering of
men and the hosting Of ore.
Mr.. Hunter CAV testimony similar to
Of Mr.. Ryrne, and court then adj
until 2 O'Clock.
The trial Of young Frank Murray,
in Judge Clancy's court yes
terday morning and ended last evening,
resulted in the conviction of the defend
ant AS was stated last evening, the
charge against him was grand larceny-I
the filching of $50 from the pockets Of
Robert Boyd while Boyd was in a state
bordering on total insensibility. The jury
out only a short time. Sentence will
be pronounced Monday morning. The de-
made by the young man was lame !
and old-it was to the effect that while
Boyd was drunk his generous nature had |
over powered him to such an extent that
he had handed the defendant his purse to
hold for ! I'm. At the preliminary hearing
Murray said the transfer had been made
in the All Nations saloon at the north
west corner of Wyoming and Galena
but during the trial yesterday h |
took a reef in that allegation by claiming |
[nI:t it had been effected at the foot of the
stairway le~ad.::es-from the street to the
basement in front Of Paddy's place in I
. oin cfcoot Ho o1Sn nnntro diotaI h3~o- /
self In other respects and thus sealed his J
fate long before the case was ended.
The punishment for an Offense Of the
magnitude of which Murray has been |