The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-21
WASN'TA HOLD-UP At ALL
Lineman Paul Gives the Police a
Wild Goose Chase.
CAUSEDSOME EXCITEMENT
Rumor Circulated That Man Had Been
Held Up, Robbed and Beaten in
the Railroad Yards-The True
Story of the Affair.

Great Falls, Feb. 20.-There was
great excitement on the streets for a
few minutes this afternoon. 1t was re-
ported that an employe of the Great
Northern had been held up in broad
daylight somewhere in the railway yards
on the south side and relieved of $3.50 in
cash and had had his head pretty well
pounded up in the bargain. The chief
| dispatcher telephoned the substance of
this story to the police headquarters and
Tony Grillenberger, who is acting dur
ing Chief Guerin's temporary absence,
| answered the call and rushed over to
| the station.
| Every ones mind was filled with the
| record made in Butte during the past
| few months and each one shuddered as
| he thought that Great Falls, hitherto
| exempt, thanks to the efficient police
| force, was about to be the victim of a
| long line of hold-ups, combined with
more or less of violence and bloodshed.
| Great Falls people do not like to give
up their hard-earned money any more
than other people, perhaps not as well,
and the outlook was forbidding. Officer
| Grillenberger went about his work in
| matter of-fact manner and before many
| minutes he found that one Paul, Great
| Northern lineman and the victim of the
| alleged hold-up, had been on a drunk of
| several days duration. He also found
| that he had numerous bills outstanding
| through the town and at his last payday
could settle but small proportion Of
| them. More than that he mad visited
| the saloons on Third street south, close
to the vicinity of the alleged hold-up,
| and there he had spit in the face of the
| bartender and demanded a match. The
bartender replied that if he wished one
| he should come up like man and ask
| for it. Paul said nothing, but a by
| stander noticed him drawing a huge
| clasp knife from his pocket and opening
| it. The bystander asked what he was
going to do with the knife. Paul de-
MED that he had one, slipping the knife
! up his sleeve as he spoke. The barten-
der came around to the front and
| tackled him, and, with the aid Of the
bystander took the knife from Paul,
doing it as gently as man can under
such circumstances and releasing Paul
at the end of the skirmish. Then the
| latter grabbed a chair and made for
the bartender with murder in his eye.
| The rest was just free-for-all between
| the two, out of which Paul emerged
| with a black eye and a much milder
| demeanor. 4@
That was the story which Officer Grill
lenberger learned on his travels and
(which he told in emphatic language to
Paul later on. The latter did not deny
it. but merely said he could not remem-
Der the little episode. The officer be-
lieves that Paul, after having been
drunk and having received sundry
bruises on his face in the manner afore-
said believed it necessary, in order to
hold his job, to manufacture a little
ghost story for his chief and, unfor-
tunately for himself. made it trifle too
strong. The officer was thoroughly dis
gusted with Paul and expressed himself
as having a mind to throw him into
! jail on a charge of malicious mischief.