The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1914-12-04
BOOTH MADE ESCAPE
Was Urged by Friend to Beat
1t. So Says Anaconda
Paper

! from the garDled press reports
from neighboring papers that the
European war and the Mexican
embroglio had nothing on the
Ekalaka-Baker county seat fight.
Armed men surrounding the
court house and county officers
smuggling records etc, all
makes good dope for the pen
pushers, but the following from
Eddie Booths old friend The
Anaconda Standard is a little the
best yet:
Eddy Booth, assistant county
attorney of Silver Bow county
under Mel Ryan and city attor-
ney OF Butte under Mayor Corby,
was threatened by a mob during
I the bitter county seat fight in
Fallon county, according to word
received in Butte yesterday. The
former Butte attorney was COM
PEELED to flee from the courthouse
at EkaIaka, one of the contest
ants for the county seat. Booth
IS a resident of Baker, the other
city which sought the county
seat, and Booth was charged
with having entered the court
house at Ekalaka to get certain
records. A mob of citizens, some
armed with shotguns and rifles,
stood outside the building and
threatened to shoot the former
Silver Bow county attorney, ac-
cordlng to the story from Eka-
laka, IN the mistaken belief that
ht was tampering with the BAL
lot boxes.
The fight between Baker and
Ekalaka for the county seat hon
ors dates. back some time ago
when Ra&er and lsmay hoped to
win out. Ekalaka stepped into
the game and was selected as
the temporary county metropolis.
At the recent election the peo-
pie of tallon voted on the per-
manent county seat and Baker
apparently won out. A number
of the county officials moved their
records to Baker, while others re-
fused on the ground that fraud
would be unearthed and that the
seat Ot government would remain
at Eka|aka. A contest was finally
filed by Senator Oliver and the
matter will be thrashed out III
the courts in the near future.
But. while the bitterness of
the Ekalaka people over the ap-
parent selection of Baker as the
county seat was at its height,
Eddy Booth, now a resident of
Baker. had occasion to 90 to
t'kalaka to look up some records.
This happened last Sunday. and
he was admitted to the cour,
house by one of the county otfic-
ials.
1t SO happened that the ballots
cast to determine where the colln
ty seat would be located were
stored IN the building. The fact
leaked out that Mr.. Booth was
! inside, and the mistaken theory
went abroad that he had gone
there to tamper with the ballot
! boxes.
/ Learning this fact, the citizens
of Eka|aka and the southern part
of the county armed themselves
with shotguns and rifles and sur
rounded the building. In the
fear that bodily harm might come
to Mr., Booth, one of his friends
gained entrance to the building,
Informed him of the situation
and urged him to beat it, while
the heating was good. -
Mr., Booth acted upon the sug-
gestlon with considerable alacrltv
and succeeded in making good
his escape. Tho records are still
/ IN the courthouse at Ekalaka and
are being Jealously guarded by
residents of that city.
! BY a strange coincidence, Mr..
Booth drafted the bill providing
the present method by which
counties are created. He was
the prime mover in he formation
OF tallon county and was practi-
cally RESPONSIBLE for the location
of the county seat at Baker.
Mr.. Arthur, who has been a
member of commissions to adjust
the Indebtedness of several coun-
ties, and who knows the inside
, history of a number of county,