Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-01-20
MYTHICAL SWITCHMAN'S WHITE OF
ANACONDA FINALLY is EXPOSED

lie in bed swathed in red ink-stained
b~andages, unconscious. A white-faced
doctor held his pulse and a stop watch.
Sometimes the physician would shake
his head-as they do in the movies-and
| pull the sheet up over the actors face
with the ominous words, Its all over,
boys, he's gone"
Different Men Act Differently
Different men act differently under
stress. Some lied like horse thieves, pro-
testing their innocence of ever being Inn
plicated; others blamed their friend for
the killing. One Boston man said re-
signedly: ut serves me - right; / had
no business there. 1 decline to talk. Get
me a lawyer who will get me a bond
Others wept and some fought. But they
were all taken to what purported to be
| the office of some official. Bonds were
usually arranged and the miscreant al
lowed to go to his room with sympa-
thetic friends. Here an improvised re-
porter usually wanted his statement and
a couple Of paragraphs for the Associ-
ated Press. One honest bank clerk, pos
ing as a reporter, found himsel slipped q
bank roll of more than $500 as the price
Of silence. The lawyer OF course, would
take the case. Usually he was a real law
yer and got a fee in advance. The big
ger and more important the victim was,
the harder he fell. He knew he didn't
shoot anybody as he hadn't any gun, but
he always faced the sheriff's (?) stern
words, You'll have to tell thai to the
jury" Often the county attorney
maybe a smelter employe-was induced
over the phone to come up and see what
he could do, or at least talk the matter
over. In justice to the Anaconda joshers
1t must be said that not a dollar was
ever kept for various fees collected. In
one case after a paper bond had been
furnished the victim sat with his head
in his hands in his room; then he dashed
of o telegram to a friend in Chicago
Am in a jam. Wire me $1,000. Don't
tell my wife"
In the end various stunts were en-
ployed to relieve the poor dupe of his
bad half hour. Sometimes the supposed
ly dead man often recovered miraculous
ly and appeared with his arm in a sling
n his head ~bandaged and a settlement
was made out Of court. But the Ana
conda boys never let a stranger thus de-
ceived go to bed without disclosing the
joke.
Ended In Party
The reaction on finding that 1t was all
a joke-like awakening from a bad dream
usually prompted the happy man, espe-
| cially in pre-Volstead days, to entertain
his former prosecutors lavishly. In fact
the fiasco usually ended up in a whale OF
a party. with everybody laughing and
happy.
Previous to the last case which went
to court, the victim was a scholarly
| young nan from Maine, connected with
| the research department at the reduction
| works. He took the whole thing In good
spirit, though he was as green q tender
foot as ever strayed to the frontier. Often
in the past the victim was the most ar
dent to pull the joke on the next new
conner.
But the switchman's wife-that much
maligned lady, M longer holds midnight
revels in the Smelter city. She has dis
appeared. Maud prepares no more de-
licious lunches and opens no more home
brew for lonely New Workers. There is
no light in the house across the creek
Since damages OF $500 have been award
ed to an angry victim the boys about
town have abandoned the enterprise and
will not revive 1T. SO Maud of the raven
tresses and her belligerent husband van-
ish into thin air and live only in the
history and folklore of Anaconda.