Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-09

} offered as an exhibit a certified copy
Of a mortgage given upon 1928 acres
OF land. including the Walton. ranch.
| This bearing date Of February Is,
1918, given BY the Deer Lodge Irriga-
ton & Agricultural company to the
Wells Dickey company In the sum of
$50, OOO.
MI. Rankin explained that the pur-
pose was to show that there il mort
gage upon the land upon which the
Walton buildings were erected by the
state and that this land is under
escrow fox transfer TO Mr.: Conley.
ed in putting in this mortgage and
Colonel Nolan likewise opposed it on
the grounds that in the second cause
of action, to which it applies, there
are no charges of fraud and only a
claim for labor and materials.
The court agreed that the state was
stretching q point in introducing the
mortgage, but that it would be admit
ted and allowed to stand for what
/! weight it possessed. He informed MI.
Rankin that he was putting in a lot of
evidence which was merely cucumber
ing the records and can but confuse
the court and he thought. this class
OF evidence might more rightfully come
in as rebuttal, but, knowing it would
come anyway, he was admitting it at
this time.
The state then called Frank Conley,
the defendant to testify regarding the
mortgage, and when asked how much
money it would require to clear the
Walton ranch from this mortgage he
said they told me they would give
clear title upon payment OF the second
ment has not been made, but I have
an agreement to that effect"
Walton Ranch Production
James Meaney, who was a guard at
Deer Lodge for II years and who is
now employed by Coniey as foreman
OF the Walton ranch, was called and
questioned by the state as to the pro-
duction of the Walton ranch in 1919.
He said it consisted of about 40 ton
of alfalfa hay, between 30 and 80 ton
Of grain hay and some potatoes and
garden stuff.
Asked if he was friendly to Conley,
he replied:
II have a right to be. I have been
with him for IA years"
Are you unfriendly to Potter?'
mo sir, I never met him but once"
Questioned as to the utilization of
| Conley's teams in connection with
prison work be said he had known as
high as Is to 20 teams being used in
a er on the prison work, ranches,
road work, brick yard, at Galen and
Warm Springs, and that there were
never less than IA teams employed in
any summer.
On cross examination, questioned as
to the delivery Of flour at the Walton
ranch as charged by the state, witness
said he was in charge of the Walton
ranch in April, 1921, at the time of the
| change Of the wardens and that no
flour was brought there or secreted
about the place at that time. He said
that never was there more than two
sacks of flour brought there at one
time, as flour was used only for pas
tries and hot cakes, the bread being
procured from the prison bake shop.
He further testified that no more than
the usual weekly rations of beef,
sugar or flour were delivered at the
Walton ranch at any n time.
Questioned as to the bringing to the
at the time of the sale of the Conley G.
McTague ranches to the Deer Lodge
company, witness replied that consist
ed of about II work mules. 46 or 4S
work and driving horses. harness for
all, and a large amount of machinery.
Exhibits FIJI Trunks
John c. Lyndes. assistant to the
state examiner, was called to produce
records from the prison for which a
demand bad been made last week, and,
with assistance, lugged into the court
room a heavy trunk filled with en-
velopes OF store slips. in addition to
which several brought in arm loads of
similar records. He was questioned
by Colonel Nolan and said about IS
books had been brought over from the
prison vaults, but that he did not find
the book testified to by the witness,
Charles Meyer, in which it was under
stood entries had been made from
such slips. Lyndes said he had not
looked in the basement beneath the
vaults for this book and that he had
not been at the prison since last ap-
pearing on the stand. He admitted
that from his examination of the prison
books no charges had ever been made
to Conley for goods supplied the war
den's house, but that all of these goods
were finally charged off to prison
maintenance.
Guy Stanich, who had been on the
stand during the forenoon, was re-
called by the state and questioned as
to the distribution of coal. He said
he had acted as weighmaster at the
prison. but finally admitted that the
title was a sort of misnomer as he
had never weighed any coal, but had
merely guessed at the quantities or
estimated the amount carried on a
load by dividing the total amount in a
car, as shown by the railway weights,
by the number of truck loads produced
in the unloading of the car. He said
that when any coal was delivered to
Conley's down town office it was al
ways repaid from coal shipped in to
Conley personally and that sometimes,
when the state supply was exhausted,
the prison borrowed coal from Conley.
He said that Conley always repaid for
any coal taken for his personal use.