The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-04-30


eral months, the much mooted ques-
tion as to the legality of the county
court house and Jail bonds is settled,
and in manner highly satisfactory
to the residents of the county and es-
pecially of Kalispell.
After having the matter under ad-
visement for more than two months,
the state supreme court last Monday
upheld the decision of Judge Smith
of the district court, in denying the
injunction asked for by l.. Tinkel and
others, thus making the legality of
the bonds an assured fact
For the past two years the question
of building a county court house and
jail has been before the people of the
county and until Monday no salts
factory settlement of the matter
could be reached. That the question
is settled at last is a matter of con-
graduation, and especially so IN view
of the highly satisfactory outcome.
The question of a suitable court
house and Jail was first taken up
several years ago, but it was January
13, 1900, before any definite action
was taken. On that date a special
election was held throughout the
county, and the question was left to
the qualified electors of the county
to decide whether or not the county
should issue bonds in the sum of $780,
600 for the erection of the building.
The result was a victory for the
proposition, and the county commits
sioners Immediately advertised for
bids from different financial concerns
to take up the bonds. N. w. Harris
& Co. of Chicago were the successful
bidders and the bonds were sold to
them.
Before completing the deal, the
company's attorney spent some time
in investigating the matter, and the
result was that the company refused
to take the bonds. 1t developed that
in their research the attorneys dis
covered that the county commission
ers had no right to call a special
election to vote on the question of
bonds and that as a result, the elec-
tion SO held was illegal, and the
bonds, if taken, would be worthless.
This view of the company was
proved to be a correct one and it was
decided to wait until the following
fall and again submit the question
to the electors at the general cleo
tion held November 6, 1901. This
was done and the words for and
against the court house and Jail was
incorporated upon the official ballot
used at that time.
When the ballots were counted, il
developed that 2,400 votes had been
cast at the election, and of this mum
ber 1000 had voted in favor of the
proposition and 462 against, leaving
93S electors who had failed to vote
upon the question. When the com
missioners, in regular session, can
vassed the returns of the election
with the above result, they decided
that the question had carried by 6
majority of 538 votes, and again ad
vertised for bids for the purchase Of
the bonds of $55,0OO necessary fol
construction of the building
Numerous bids were received, but
the one submitted by the Conrad
bank of this city was decided upor
as being most advantageous to the
county and was accepted.
After having their bid accepted an(
before closing the deal, the banks
attorney decided that the bonds wer,
not legal, quoting section 5, article
XIII, of the constitution, as the basi.
for their claim. The section in ques
tion reads as follows: mo county
shall incur any Indebtedness or liza
bilities for any single purpose to al
amount not exceeding $4,000 with
out the approval of majority of tn,
electors thereof voting at an election
to be provided by law.
The banks attorneys took tn,
stand that it was the sense of the sec
tion quoted that it was necessary TO
majority of all the electors votin,
at the election to be in favor of the
proposition In this instance, the!
claimed that there were 938 elector
who voted at the election that failet
to take cognizance of the court hous
proposition. and that the commits
sioners were in error when the,
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