Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1915-06-04
Have Circus
of Their Own
Mayor and Aldermen Lock Horns
Aldermen Issue License Ov-
er Mayors Head Giving Cir
Gus Free Use of Water and Ii
cense For $5.-Mayor Collects
$25.

$25.
While the Yankee Robinson
circus was preparing to give their
big show in Beach last Monday,
the mayor and city council were
having a little circus of their own
at the city auditors office, in
which Chief McNiece acted as
ring master Of the performance.
The trouble arose over the issu
ing of the circus license.
Several days ago two of the al
dermen, it was claimed, entered
into contract with the circus peo-
pie. granting them the free use of
the city water and license to show
in Beach for the sum of $500.
The mayor heretofore had been
collecting $500 from all shows
of this kind and had collected
$500 from the same show on a
previous visit. However, the
contract made by the aldermen
was not made known to the mayor
and when the circus pulled into
town Sunday morning. the mayor
instructed Chief McNiece to go
to the grounds and collect $500
as provided for by the ordinances
of the city. The chief was not
successful as the manager of the
show produced the $500 con
tract. This the mayor refused to
recognize, and the chief was in
structed to collect $500 Monday
morning or to stop the sale of
tickets at the different attractions.
When this became known to
the aldermen Monday morning,
kastien, Jepson, Lowell, Wood
hull and Mathison called meet
ing. in spite of it's being a holi-
day, and passed a resolution in
stfucting the city auditor to issue
the license for $500. This was
done and the document was sign
ed by MIR. kastien as mayor pro
tenn. But the pro tenn" mayor
and the council had not complet-
ed the transaction when the real
mayor arrived on the scene, after
having been notified by the chief
of the meeting. Although the
meeting had been duly adjourn
ed, it was re-opened into one of
the liveliest semi-omcial council
meetings ever held in the city in
which the services of the chief of
police were necessary to preserve
order.
The real mayor informed the
mayor pro tenn that while he
was in the city he wanted it un-
:. derstocd that he was running the
mayors office. and that the serious
j. and heavy burden of issuing a
circus license could be performed
by himself, the chief of police,
the city attorney and the city aud
itor without the services cf the al
dermen in special session. The
intruding mayor also informed
the pro TEN" mayor that the city
had been put to the expense of
$50 for special policemen during
the two-day stay of the circus and
, that the additional and unneces-
sary expense of calling a special
council meeting brought the cir
Gus cost to the city up to $50, and
that the circus really should pay
that amount, inasmuch as they
paid 500 to show in Miles City
and like amount in Dickinson.
The real mayor also Informed the
holiday meeting" of the coun-
Gil that it was the duty of the
council to pass ordinances and the
duty of himself and his chief of
police to enforce them, and that
he was capable of transacting the
business of the mayors Office in
that respect without their inter-
ference-especially on holidays.
Guy Lowell, a brother of Alder
man Lowell, seemed interested in
the meeting and was on hand to
see that his officially active broth
er was we'll represented at the
meeting. He seemed anxious,
however. to turn the meeting from
a holiday gathering into a prize
fight, and having read of the prize
fighting propensities of the mayor
in the Beach Advance, challeng-
ed the official head of the city
to engage with him in hstic en-
counter. His larger brother in
sisted, however, that such a per-
formance would not be proper
on. legal holiday with circus
crowd in town, Notwithstanding
the fact that in his opinion the