Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1902-01-24
degenerate. apparently totally

A degenerate, apparently totally de
praved and utterly devoid of either ti|lal
feeling Or humane sentiment the incar-
nation of insensatc greed and avarice and
brutality-James llesman the Polish pro
prctor Of Red Lodge lunkshop, called
by courtesy a secondhand store, was
this week taught a Christian lesson that
he'll probably remember to the end OF
his miserable, miserly contemplate, in
famous career.
Possessed Of several thousand dollars
worth Of property and considerable
ready cash, the inhuman wretch not only
shut his diningroom door ia his
own mothers face and compelled her to
procure bread from the county and a.
lowed her to die in abjectpoverty, bnt a.
50 bundled his own sister off to a squalid
shack in fatally i'll condition and
absolutely refused to either care for her
when dying Or provide for her burial
when life's ftful fever was over.
| Az a result Of the inhumanity by him
tAllOlGCO III CIlC CuSC VI l119 ol'oNS1 AAC 0leS
arrested on complaint Of County Attor-
ney Caswell, charged with criminal neg
lect, and on his trial the jury found him
guilty ia short order and fixed the maxi
mum penalty as his punishment.
4 And while these legal steps were being
taken there was an indignant outburst
of public sentiment, which found fitting
expression from humane, Christian
women in mass meeting held in Labor
Union hall. at which the entire Lesman
brood was denounced in scathing terms
and resolutions passed favoring their eS
pulsion from this city and county.
The story of the conduct of the sur
viving members of the Lcsman family
reeks with human depravity and finds
no counterpart that can now be recalled.
in the history Of any civilized community.
Their mother, who died last fall, beftNe
her fatal illness, appealed to the county
for aid. At that time she was living
with her now deceased daughter, and
the daughter called on Chairman Tink-
com of the board of county commission
ers, who gave her an order for some ne
cessities. Later, the old lady called in
person on Chairman Tinkcom. who, on
inquiry, learned for the first time that
she was the mother Of the l4esmaL
brothers. Mr.. Tinkcom Immediately
proceeded to Lesman's store and TOLD
the fellow that he was not only under
moral bonds, but as we'll legally respon
sible for the care and support Of his
aged mother. Lesman didn't view it il
this light and his talk and actions thor
oughly aroused Mr.. Tinkcom's wrath.
You are pretty scoundrel, ain
your said he. What manner of mar
are you, to see your mother IN starving
condition, and you we'll able to take car'
of her?"
To this the brute replied: Il don
have to take care Of her. Let the coun
ty do that. She never did anything 70
me-.
Afterwards the mother finally pre-
EalleQ upon Hei sun " bIVc Hoi oACI11'
but it was only a few days until sh
called on County Attorney Caswell ant
between fits Of sobbing, said that sh
was hungry and that her son wouldn
give her anything to eat, saying that tn
family would go to their meals and shu
the door in her face when she started I
enter the diningroom. On her deatl
/. which occurred shortly thereafter, he
own sons, misers and reptiles that the
are. made considerable ado about the e.
pense Of her burial and bemoaned til
fate which had decreed that they pa
the cost of the interment. Their onl
regret at the death of the woman, who's
pains of motherhood brought them int
the world and at whose breast they s
cured nourishmcnt in their infanc
found it's only lamentation in the mo-
strous expression that it would ha'
been cheaper for them to have sent the
! mother back east than to have her d
on their hands.
Last week their sister, Mrs. Ann