Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1901-09-26
SMOKE Up, GENTLENl EN-.

John c. Lyndes, acting county at
torney, W. H. Lyndes. under sheriff,
Chas. Davis, sheriff. f. D. Gibson.
county attorney. stand up and be
sworn. Among you, gentlemen, rests
the responsibility of attempting to in
troduce q new and strange species of
legal procedure. short circuit system
whereby the cumbersome details and
red tapism of the present metaod Of
adjudication is to be cast to the winds
and Justice will be doled out to the ig-
norant and vicious direct by deputy
sheriffs and acting county attorneys
without the intervention Of middlemen.
such as justices of the peace, or the use
less and expensive process of serving
papers. taking testimony ct cetera
This is the situation as the public I'M
derstands it and although you have
had three weeks in which to brand the
charge as 4 lie and give your side of
the story. there has not been one word
Of REPUTATION offered Perhaps the pub
lie has been misinformed. If this is
the case you are entitled to be heard.
So the public to whom you. gentlemen.
are the sworn servants asks YOU to
make clean breast of this Geddes af-
fair and let the blame if there is any,
attach to the right parties.
You will admit. will you not. that
you, Under Sheriff Lyndes. did on or
about Aug. l. 1901 go to the. house OF
one Mrs. Regina Geddes and demand
$50 in the name of the state OF Montana
and in return therefore teuder a re-
ceipt signed by yourself as under
sheriff itemi7ed as "fine for Yourself
and two girls" By whose orders did
you do this? Did you serve a warrant
for her arrest or collect the twenty on
the verbal order of some other Official?
Is it customary for you as a sheritf's
officer to observe verbal orders of this
nature or does your official position
demand that you act only on orders of
the court and according to legal forms?
Did you offer the money to the acting
county attorney, the sheriff, Justice OF
the peace or anyone else and if SO why
didn't they take it? How does it hap
pen Mr.. Under Sheriff that YOU allow
ed thlrty-four days to elapse between
the time you collected the fine and
turned it over to the county treasurer?
Is it usual thing for officials to wall;
round for five weeks with twenty dol
lars OF the county's money iingling in
their vest pockets? Has Mrs. Geddes
paid her September fine-if not why
not? Are you really to blame for this
transaction or is Your superio,?
By whose authority Mr.. Acting
County Attorney Lyndes, did you send
the under sheriff to collect $50 from
Mrs. Geddes- that is. if the order eme.
mated from you? Why did YOU not
await the return of your superior. Mr..
Gibson, before sprine'ing a legal novel
ty like this? Did you cut the Justice
court out of the deal sin order not f.
parade these people before the publ;,2.,
Then why did you cause a fictitious
case to be spread upon Justice of the
Peace Gates docket over Il month later!
And why did you date it back to AUG
10! Had your solicitude for the pub.
lies sense of delicacy undergone =
change or was that twenty getting to,
hot to hold? By the way, what cour,
decided to collect fines MONTHLY" and
why hasn't the September fine bee,
paid? And if the court so decided how
comes it that the court itself didn' t take
cognizance of it? Why did Justice
Gates deny all knowledge of the case,
deny having received the money, refuse