Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1900-09-05
AL AGRICULTURAL STOCK AND WOOL INTERESTS OF THE GREA
LET'S HAVE TIE BILL.
A Trophy OF the Philippine War, Designed
for lewistown, Now in Litigation.

1cStCTuOS an ucNlou III feplc"lD
was commenced in the district court
of this county To recover possession
Of n bell alleged to be the property Of
Company |. The name ol Archie T.
Harvey appears in the complaint MS
the nominal plaintiff, but the real
parties In interest are the wholccom-
pany, or those members OF ii residing
in Lewistown, for and on whose be-
half the action Il prosecuted
The facts Of the case are tt topOint
IA moral or adorn nice tale of peev-
ishncss and ungencrOus conduct, and
In order to appreciate them at their
true worth il is necessary to go back
to the time when the company wns
in the Philippines. Milling orders
for home. IL was then that the boys
began to think Of some way ofshnw-
ing their gratitude to the people at
home, who, through all uithe viclssl-
tudes of their recent campaign, had
done so much for their welfare and
shown so much anxiety for their
safety. Upon more than one occa-
sion, both while in the field and on
garrison duty in the city, the COM
pany had received donations Of
mCney and other comforts from Lew
istQwn, all OF which helped not n lit
tie to relieve the mopotony and hard.
ship of their position. TO requite
this kindness In some wny, even In a
small measure, was the thought up
permost in the minds OF majority
Of the grateful swaddics
In the tower of one uf the old
churches Of San Rogue, near which
place the company WIS then sta
toned, swung huge bell, which. to
Judge from its appearance, had been
used to summon the inhabitants of
the town tn worship for couple OF
centuries. One of the boys proposed
to take this bell back with them and
present it to the good people OF Lew
lstown as fire bell or merely as an
interesting historical relic. This sug-
gestion found favor with the other
soldiers, and when the plan wasc com
municated to Captain Preston, who
was in command of the company, he
also set the seal ofhis approval upon
it. Accordingly, squad Of the men
went to work and got the bell down
from the tower, packed 1t up ready
for shipment, and when the company
went aboard of the vessel destined TO
convey them homewHrd care was
trken that the bell went aboard ulso.
For some reason, however, the bell
never reached Its destination, but
was diverted TO the ranch OF Captain
Preston's father in-law, at stanford,
Montana. Why it was never brought
TO Lewistown, as originally contem-
plated, Is now sufficiently apparent.
As IL quite generally known, when
Company | returned to Lewistown
last fall, the doughty captain did not
exactly meet with the kind of re-
ception usually accorded To coaquer-
ing heroes, but was met with that
kind oi n chilliness which haunted his
lower extremitics during the cam
pnign. Instead oi remaining in Lew
istown, as lie had fOndly hoped to do,
he found 1t convenient to seek loca-
tion where military fame is better
appreciated, and finally wound up In
a drug store In Big Timber. where he
has since been following one OF the
arts Of peace with much keener rel.
ish than he felt for his profession as n
soldier. He makes no secret of his
dislike for the people Of Lewistown,
nor does he intend that they shall
ever have the pleasure of calling that
bell their own II his wishes are to be
consulted. 4 couple of weeks ago,
by request OF the company, Mr.. Har-
yey wrote to the eX-captain and re-
quested him To restore the bell 10 its
lawful owners. To this letter asOmc-
what curt reply has been received,
denying the cOmpany's claim ofown-
ership TO the property Ia question.
But the boys were in deadly ear
nest about the matter aud went to
Attorney T.. X. Cheadle for advice.
Mr.. Cheadle kindly offered to donate
his services to the company and sug-
gested that the proper course was to
send a man out to demand the return
Of the bell, aud in case uf refusal to
commence an action of claim and de-
livery and have the sheriff seize il
under process. Acting upon this sug-
gcstiun, ThOs. Nelson and Archie
Harvey went out to Stanford last
Saturday, but returned to Lewis
town Oh Sunday without having ne
complished anything. Two days
later the action war filed and will be
vigorously prosecuted until the com.
pany's claim to the bell established.
The boys say there Is no question
concerning their ownership, and, II
necessary, they will carry the case to
the supreme court ofthe state to have
the matter settled in their favor.
The Entertainment at Utica.