Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-03-24
Amended Complaint Isl
Filed by Rankin; Asks
Dixon to Aid Him.
Service Of Great Falls
Lawyer to Cost Moth
ing; Privately Paid.

Helena, March 20. Former
Warden Frank ConIey, of the
Montana penitentiary, owes the
state more thzo $500, 900, accord
ing to an amended complaint filed
Thursday In the suit for account
Ing by Attorney General Welling-
alleged, Is the result Of mIsap-
preparations OF state property
and Indebtedness due the state as
the result of personal business
deals engaged In by the former
prison official.
In the original complaint filed
several weeks ago, the state
sought to recover from C0nley
only 100000. In the amended
complaint a claim Is made for
$780, 1862 actually, together with
other property valued indefinitely,
but which. it Is said, will total
several thousand dollars more.
The entire figure, It was stated,
would reach more than 100000.
Coincident with the filing OF the
amended complaint, the attorney
General announced that j. W.
Freeman, Of Great Falls, former
United States district attorney,
had been added to the forces OF
the state for the ConIey trial,
which is set for April i2. In
this light the attorney general
Issued the following statement:
eat the request Of the governor, Mr.
J. W. Freeman, of Great Falls, ha!
been entered by me as counsel for th,
state. There will be no additiona
cost to the state by reason of hi!
I am more than pleased
to have his assistance. =
Asks Governor To Assist
II have asked Governor Dixon tt
Join me in this action and hope ht
win see his way clear to comply witt
my request His experience as
lawyer, and particularly his intimat.
of the facts surrounding
the investigation and the case, will bt
to the state in the trial Ol
the lawsuit.
"As attorney general, l will use
every resource at my command to re
cover whatever may be due the state
and in so doing l expect the fullest
Of every department OF
the state government.
Private Citizens Pay Freeman
Governor Dixon declined to make 6
statement regarding the attorney gen
erals invitation to join in the suit
against Conley. He also refused te
comment on the question of the pay.
ment of Attorney Freeman's fee. Mr.
Rankin said he did not care to specu'
late as to who was paying Mr.. Free
man. but was emphatic in declaring
no state appropriation was available
in the matter.
At the state house it was said 6
number of private citizens had agreed
to nav Mr.. Freeman to assist the
state in the trial of the Conley case
IS Causes Of Action in New Complaint
There are is causes of action in the
complaint. Most of them are
BASED on the original complaint, which
was formulated from the prison report
,f T. Fl. Macdonald, with the excep
Jon that the valuation totals are
raised. Among the changes in the com.
,laint are the allegations that defend
int at all times was running a dairy
lerd of SO cows; that the state fur.
lished all the labor for producing feed
,aring for cows, milking and trans.
forming the milk into cream, and fur.
1ished the pasture" etc, and that the
states share of such products would
,quitably have been more than the total
mount of the herds products sold to
he state. It is claimed the state
Continued ON Page Nine.)