Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-21
CLAIM
TURNED DOWN
Will Not be Allowed $4,000 for
His Services.
HAD INTEREST AS HEIR
Performed the Services for Himself
and Other He rs of
A. ]. Davis.
HAD INTEREST AS HEIR

Judge Knowles handed down a decision
today in the suit of the Globe National
bank ct al VS.. the Butte & Boston Mining
Co.. This was the suit in which H. A.
Root presented a claim in the sum of $5,-
600 for services claimed to have been rem
dered the defendant company in seeking
to Obtain funds to liquidate certain drafts
in the sum of 500, 900 made and drawn by
the general manager of said company on
the treasurer thereof and cashed by the
First National bank of Butte. The re-
ceiver of the company declined to APP
prove the claim and it was referred to ].
O.. Bender as special master to take tes-
timony, the findings of whom, exceptions
; were AIKEN.
The opinion sustains the report of the
master as to the finding that j. A. COram
had no authority to employ Root to rem
der the services claimed to have been
performed for said company. The opinion
continues:
1T is disclosed by the evidence that the
said Butte & Boston Co, at that time was
considerably involved in lei and if o
actually insolvent was very much III
barrassed financially. That it's capital
was divided into 200. 900 shares of which
sc, 1000 We're owned by the estate Of A. ].
Davis deceased Of Butte, in which estate
said Henry A. o had an interest as an
heir-at-laW n that he also represented
other heirs of the estate.
A before stated the was in
financial difficulties and there was good
reason to believe that attachments would
be levied upon it's property at the in
stance of it's local creditors in Butte. as
r-oI1 r. - l., i~f- = r - ~
had claims against it in a sun ~aggregat-
ing $500. 900 or thereabouts, which suits
and attachments would be likely to drive
the company into insolvency md make
it's stock practically worthless. One
Bigelow was at that time the secretary
and treasurer of the company n the
said J. A. Coram was a stakeholder and
director therein.
"The evidence of Coram is to the effect
that said Bigelow gave him special au-
thOrity to employ Root and proceed with
him to Butte and make some financial
arrangements to relieve the
from the embarrassments under which it
rested on account of said drafts. said
company being unable to meet the same.
Mr.. Bigelow positively denies in his evil
dence that he ever gave Coram any such
authority: the master was confronted by
the evidence of these two witnesses who
We're in direct conflict with each other.
Bigelow t~estifes in effect that he asked
Coram to present the matter to said
Root and ask him as an heir of the Davis
estate and as a representative of certain
other heirs thereof, for and on account of
himself and said heirs and not for and on
account of said company to see II SOC, 600
could not be obtained as a loan
from the moneys belonging to the
Davis estate, in order to tide 1T
over it's financial difficulties and to pre-
co,,x,, - f,,Or inoO1Xnnay A G hofnrn stat
ed it appears from the evidence that the
Davis estate was the owner of 800 of the
share capital of the company and Bige-
low asserts that the work Root was call
ed upon to perform was for the purpose
of protecting these shares. In support
of the version of his employment We
have the evidence of both Coram and
Root that on their way from chicago
to Montana, they met John b. Clayberg,
an attorney of certain heirs OF the Davis
estate at ST. Paul; and there presented
the feasibility of obtaining the money
from the estate and the same was then
and there promptly negotiated. l also
find from the evidence that the same pro-
position was presented to Andrew J. Da-
Wis, who himself was an heir to the es-
tate and he also declined to have any
thing to do with any such transaction
1T seems that after this there was a
proposition submitted to BigeloW n one
LeWisohn, a stakeholder in said company,
no become SIOllSIUIG u liz liz wa.
tional bank of Butte for 500. 900 to be re-
paid by ten drafts of $40, 900 each payable
monthly and that said ROO in onnec
ton with said Coram was to give a guar
anty to the said Bigelow and Lewisohn
against any loss to them on account Of
their guaranty to the nj This to my
mind shows that o was acting for
himself rather than for said company
and support the evidence of BigeloW that
he was expected to act on that capacity.
ut is urged on behalf of Root that the
company having accepted his services in
the premises it is legally bound to pay
him therefore. am OF the opinion that
the evidence does not support this con-
tention; it appears from the evidence
that Immediately upon receiving infOr-
nation of the impossibility of obtaining
a loan of the Davis estate, said Bigelow
at once telegraplied to COram to do moth
ing further until the arrival of G. NJ.
Hyams, the confidential agent Of the
Copper company, to whom he had aslo
t~elegraphed to proceed to Montana and
look after the matter. The evidence to
my mind shows that the company neither
contracted for, accepted, nor was it bene-
fitted by any of the services claimed to
been performed by said Root in the
premises Observation-Disclosures from the
benefits of the Davis estate and it would
appear that said Root rests his claim for
compensation primarily upon the special
authority it is claimed Bigelow gave to
Coram.
I'm consideration Of the above evidence
and the views above expressed, I cannot
say that the master was at fault on his
part and shall OVerrule the exceptions to
the report. Let the masters report stand
confirmed and the receiver have his costs
herein expended"
After a days busy toll. nothing brings
better cheer than a bottle of NuntZer's