The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-01-26
Little Stories of Old-T;me Butte
Rv p F COONEY

Butte may be better or worse
than it was in the old days." sale
Jimmie Brennan, once an Alaskan
musher. 1T depends on the viewers
viewpoint. Whether it is better OF
worse, one thing is sure, it will never
be the picturesque camp it once was.
Unfortunately some of the more hui
morous incidents are so interviewer
with w%rongdoing, official or personal,
that only a few good yards can be
printed and go through the mails.
'Take the justice courts of 20 or
25 years ago; they were a scream.
Some of the funniest stories of old
Butte come out of the old-time lower
courts.
Il recall one day l was in Medin's
saloon and two fellows got to fight
ing, and one pulled a knife. Tommie
C%osgrove was then constable in Phil
Harrington's court in South Butte,
and he arrested them both. Tom
never bothered about a little thing
like a warrant, considering his Come
along wild me- as sufficient. Bob
Leonard and l were standing by and
Tom took US along for witnesses.
"On the way down Tom arrested
two Cinnamon, who had left their
team stand without being hitched.
The Chinks were very badly fright
ened; they tied their team in the al
ley behind the courtroom and sat in
a real bench. After haggling "
the knife-pulling racket for about
an hour it was settled in some way
satisfactory to court and constable
and the court took a recess for 10
minutes.
1.-THE adjournment was made to
Charles saloon and the judge, who
loved his little joke, said, Mr.. Bren-
nan, l deputize you a constable to
watch those two slant-eyed h~eathens,
the court takes a slight intermission.
:" If the court please 1 objected, L
not much of a drinking man, but
it hurts me to see you all adjourn
to Charles saloon and lap up a lot
of liquor and declare me out. Who
wants to sit around half an hour with
two pigtails while the prosecution,
plaintiff, defendant, court and con-
stable are making merry at the Cab
met bar
lone word more said Phil, and
I'll fine you for contempt of court
Squeeze Leonard thought this
was a great joke on me, and as he left
he suggested that if l treated the
.hinks good l might get a ~stand-off
for my laundry or mooch a bowl of
chop suey. They all left laughing at
me.
"They were no sooner gone than
1ne Chinaman came over and said,
Me in hell of a hully. How muchee?'
Give dollars, please l said
promptly.
1T was promptly paid. Then the
1ther Chink dashed up. I
"'How muchee?'
he other, so l told him his fine was
$3.50. He dug it up in a minute,
and I told them to get into their
wagon and beat it while the beating
vas good.
Directly 1 heard the court re- I
urning, Cosgrove in the lead. I beat
t to the rear room and begun chop I
ing some wood, as the day was ra- &
her chilly. S
where's them Chinks?' demand t
d Cosgrove. !
AREN'T they there?' I inquired in '
.ocently. They were there a min
tie ago. c
1.-THE constable was furious. AS |
emember it he tried to terrorize me +
nth the following line of talk: l
"'Ye're headed straight for Deer V
lodge and the disgrace will be on yer S
amiIy for all time. Yell be lookin' 3
trough the bars and a sintry will be k
the ramparts with a rifle on b
is shoulder to see you don't git V
way. According to chapter IL, sec '
on 80, of the revised codes, rein e
breed by the constitution, yer Of a
,nse calls for life Imprisonment and n
n years more if We misbehave. Sor- a
! the day that We committed this S;
agrant offense aginst the power an il
ignity of the law tl