Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-03-01

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ended, an adjournment being taken
by an agreement of counsel until Tues
day morning.
AS stenographer Hal Gibson was en-.
gagged in court Tuesday morning, the
hearing was not resumed until 1880
p. m. yesterday, but the witnesses
were not subjected to such lengthy
examinations, and good progress was
| made.
! Thomas G.. Cooper, the first witness
| called, testified that he had a lone
time ago appropriated 100 inches OF
the water of Rock creek, and after.
wards appropriated about 500 or 600
| inches more. The purpose of this ties.
timony was to show that the stream
did not furnish sufficient unappropri.
ated water to irrigate the bench lands
Mr.. Won TObel, on cross-examination
asked the witness about the water
supply in the creek, the capacity OF
witness ditch, ETC., which was object.
ed to. The register sustained the OBJ.
Ject1on and as Mr.. Won Tobel insisted
upon his right to pursue that line OF
inquiry, the register required the en-.
tryman to put up $25 to secure the
costs of taking the testimony. Suisse.
quently the ruling was made that all
testimony might go in, and the land
Office would later assess the cost on
irrelevent. immaterial and incompe.
tent testimony against the party re.
sponsible for getting it in the record
The Star Witness.
charles E. Peregrine was then call.
ed. and he proved the star witness for
the contestant and his appearance
on the stand created .nore interest
than that of anyone who testified in
the case. There was a craning of
necks in the crowded court room when
he took the stand, and many note
books were brought out for the pur.
pose OF taking down his words. There
were several demonstrations during
lAs testimony, and the court room was
swept two or three times by applause
not. however, as a mark of apprOy.
al of the witness.
Mr.. Peregrine said he lived two
miles south west of Moore, and was
familiar with the Moore desert entry.
The soil on it. he said was about the
same as on the central part of the
bench. On StapletOn's place, adjoining
the Moore ranch. the soil was IS inches
deep. He had examined the bitches on
the Moore entry, and found that from
one ditch there were four laterals.
each of single furrow. from 3 to 4
inches deep, one being nine rods long.
another twelve rods, and the other
two about ten rods. He helped Mr.
Saylor to harvest on the Moore place,
and at that time saw one ditch or
furrow that ran across the wheat field.
There was water in the ditch, but he
ala not know if it had been used on
the land, and, in any event, did not
call that irrigating. At present he was
engaged in improving his homestead,
and was also handling real estate.
Mr.. Moore once talked with him
about selling his desert entry, and
said he valued it at $4,000.
The witness testified that there had
been much i'll feeling against him on
the bench and there had been what he
took to be threats.
A Hagman's Moose.
AT this point Mr.. Worden handed
the witness small pasteboard box,
and Mr.. Peregrine identified it as one
he had received in the latter part of
December.
What did it contain?" was asked.
ut contained coil of rope and a
hangmans noose," replied the witness.
There was also a slip Of paper in 1t
with the word Beware written on it,"
when and where did you receive
this?"
Il got it off the Christmas tree at
Moore on Christmas eve last"
AS the witness opened the little box
and displayed the contents, this and
his answers were met with an outburst
OF handclapping and laughter.
Have you received anything else
of threatening nature?' was asked.
Yes replied the witness, Il receiv-
ed this valentine. l cared nothing for
the valentine itself, but it has writ
ing on it,
A "Comic" Valentine.
Mr.. Peregrine then produced "com-
ic' valentine representing a shabby in
dlvidual with the legend "all kinds of
dirty work done to order" This in
scription was printed, and Mr.. Pere-
CRIME said that it was not to this that
he had reference but to the writing in
the corner, which was as follows:
Beware. or you may be confronted
with 3-7-7-7.'
This has been interpreted to me
as an order from vigilantes, warning
me to get out"
When the comic" was exhibited,
there was another gale of laughter
and handclapping.
On cross-examination, the witness
said that when the hangman's moose
was given him, he was not particu.
larly alarmed, although 1t struck terror
to his family. He denied having been
instrumental in bringing on the con-
tests. He admitted that he was a
witness for Mr.. Saylor when the lat
ter proved up on his claim, and sold
Sayiors land for him to an Iowa man
a few days later, receiving therefor a
commission. He denied having told
~-~'" in the spring of 1903 that he
was fool to pay $3.50 for a desert
right, and that he (the witness) would
get the best desert claim on the bench
without paying anything for it.
A certified copy of the water rights
on the irrigating ditch from which
water for the bench lands was taken,
was offered in evidence, and the claim
ant rested his case.
For the contestant, Mr.. Won TObel
at once made a motion for a non-suit,
which was briefly stated and over
ruled.
The Claimant Begins.
The claimant then began the intro