The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1917-05-10
WARRANT ISSUED
FOR ATTORNEY
GENERAL LANCER
+. c. Upton and Brother, A. Upton.
Placed Under Arrest Charged With
Delaying Telephone Messages.

Delaying Telephone Messages.
Warrants were issued for the arrest
of William LANCER, Attorney General
of North Dakota, and F. c. Upton and
A. Upton, prominent automobile deal
ers of the city, who were prominent in
Monday nights raids in this city.
The warrants were issued out of
the office Of County Judge William
Murray this morning and were served
on the Upton brothers, who gave bail
for $1,000 each for their appearance.
Attorney General LANCER, who left the
city Tuesday, has not yet been served
with warrant, but he was notified
by telegram that there was warrant
for his arrest. He will arrive in Minot
in day or two, it is said, when the
warrant will be served.
When the Upton brothers learned
that warrants had been issued for
their arrest, they appeared before
Judge Murray and furnished bail.
The complaint, which was made by
Atty. l.. ]. Palda, alleges that evil
liam LANCER, F. G. Upton and A. Up
ton did commit the crime of prevent
ing, obstructing and delaying, with
out lawful authority or right, the
sending, conveyance, transmission and
delivery in this state, and between this
state and other states, of various and
by telephone"
The North Dakota statute defines
this as felony.
X. E. Leighton, Judge Of the Eighth
Judicial district, made an order ap-
pointing E. r. Sinkler and D. G.
Greenleaf special prosecutors in the
case. T.. j. Palda, the complainant, is
attorney for the Northern States
Power Co.
The arrest came as result of Mon
day nights raids when Attorney Cen
eral LANCER and the Upton brothers,
who had been sworn in by Sheriff Ned
reloe as special deputies, took charge
Of the telephone switchboard and for
SO minutes remained in possession OF
the same in order that the Attorney
Generals program might be carried
out without interruption. LANCER
feared that when the raids started,
the fact would be tipped off to the
laWless element and in that manner
many would escape the clutches Of the
law.
j. f. Mcclure, manager Of the Nor
thern States Power Co., related to q
representative of the Independent the
following concerning the affair which
took place at the telephone exchange:
sI had been out working on base
ball committee and about 1O:3O tried
to use one of the city phones. 1t would
not work, so I walked to another
phone. Still / could get no response.
/ then walked up to the exchange,
where seven girls are employed on the
various day and night shifts, but
found the place locked. A mans voice
from the inside asked who was there
and I told him my name and he let me
in. / saw the two Upton brothers
standing in the room and the girls
had been driven away from the switch
boards. One of them displayed a re-
volver | asked him what authority
they had for taking possession OF the
place and they refused to give me any
information, except to show me sheet
of a scratch tablet, showing where
Sheriff Nedreloe had deputized them.
They allowed me to leave the room and
/ telephoned to T.. j. Palda's residence
and got him out Of bed. went to the
firehall and told the fremen to be on
their guard because in case Of tire
it would be impossible for them to be
notified by phone. Several Of the fire.
men accompanied me back to the ex-
change and when we got there we found
Palda in tn room with the Upton
brothers. One Of the Upton brothers
flourished a gun and Palda also had
: one and it looked for a time as tho
there might be something doing. The
little electric lights on the switch
boards were nearly all lighted up,
showing that many had put in calls
which they were unable to get for OBJ
vious reasons. / explained to the dep
uties that we handled the work for
the Bell Telephone Co. and that this
Office acted as relay for messages from
the east thru to Montana and from
points in Canada south, also that the
4 government had one Of the wires for
the transmission of important mes
sages. Notwithstanding these facts,
4 the entire service had been tied up for
53 minutes. Finally, one Of the Upton
brothers laid down the revolver and
B understand that it has been retained for
evidence. They then left and the OPP
4 orators went back to the board. We
] keep the place locked, but the depu-
ties must have got into the building
just as some Of the girls went on duty.
u did not know that any raid was tax
ing place and it was some time before
I'learned why the deputies had taken
\ possession Of the place. s..
Mr.. LANCER was seen by an Indepen-
dent representative shortly after the
raids took place. He stated that while
It was unusual to take possession Of q
telephone exchange in order to carry
out his program, he considered il nee
essary in this case and believed that
he had been within the law. He be-
lieved that the results justified the
means.
The Upton brothers are among the
most prominent citizens Of Minot. +.
\ G. Upton was twice 9 candidate FOL