Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-06-05

sought work. Often times they became
insolent and threatening in their de-
meanor until women and children be-
came afraid of them. Often dreadful
crimes as well as lesser ofienses were
laid at their door.
How 1t Started
In the latter part of July, 1891, a
band of tramps had been hanging
about Billings. They were staying in
some abandoned houses on the out
question, some of them had been hang
ing about the depot, with other idlers,
watching the daily train come in.
After the train departed, two of them,
John Doe and a man named Murphy,
accompanied by a sheepherder named
William Quinn, went across the tracks
TO Clancy's saloon.
The three men sat down at a table
and when Clancy appeared, John Doe
ordered a quart OF beer and three
glasses. Some other patrons of the
place began to sing some bOisterous
songs and John Doe raised even more
noisy objections to the singing. Clancy
suggested that if he did not like the
singing, he could pay for the beer and
leave the place.
Angered by this, the tramp said that
he would not pay and getting to his
feet he swept with his arms the glasses
and measure to the floor. Clancy
stepped back and picked up a beer
mallet. Clancy. a man past middle
life and in declining health, did not
have the strength to WELD the heavy
weapon, as the tramp struck him a
smashing blow with his fist which
knocked his antagonist to the floor in
a heap.
Picking up the beer mallet, the
tramp struck the PROSTATE Clancy with
it in the back of the head, crushing
his skull, SO that he died within a few
minutes. Swinging the mallet, John
Doe invited any of the spectators who
wanted any of it" to come ahead.
Robs Money Drawer
No n in the place wanted to try
conclusions with the tramp, who had
apparently gone wild with the taste
of blood. AS the spectators fled, John
Doe went behind the counter and
helped himself to some drinks and
took the money from the till. His
two friends who had accompanied him
w tilC odlOOll dluSQ ~ ldlLodShllS IllG
place, it was said. Finally John Doe
ran out of the back door to escape
probably vengeance. Quinn, who had
either been cowed before by his COM
rade's actions or thought it best to
play a double hand to save himself,
picked up a carbine which he had left
behind the bar when he came in, ran
out of the building with the gun and
brought John Doe to a halt with it
just as George Berky and John Nc
Curdy appeared on the scene.
Berky, who had gotten a pistol at a
neighboring house when he heard there
was serious trouble at the saloon, ar
rived just in time to assist Quinn in
holding the tramp. Shortly afterwards
other citizens arrested Murphy, the
other tramp, and John Ramsey, the
sheriff, to whom the prisoners were
turned over, housed them in the Jail.
Later, Quinn was also arrested to be
held as a witness in the case against
John Doe.
Clancy had gone to Billings in the
first years of the town in charge of
the railways coal docks. Later, when
his health precluded active work, he
had entered the saloon business. His
wife had died two years before, leav-
ing two small children who were now,
as an account in the Billings Gazette
puts it, 'doubly orphaned" Clancy
had been one OF the first members Of
the Maverick Hose company, the volun-
teer fire department Of the town, and
had been awarded its veterans medal.