Macleod Spectator

              the macleod spectator vol 1 no 37 ihacleod alberta tu esday > januahy 14 1913 price five cents j s macdonald sentenced to five years in penitentiary judge crawford found monoline operator guilty on two charges of stealing from post-office — was found not guilty of stealing post letter bag on night of november 8 but guilty of stealing the stamps which had been in the bag — found guilty oh charge of stealing post letter bag on nov ist containing about 800 james s macdonald convicted cn two charges ol stealing from the macleod postoffice was on saturday last sentenced by his honor judge crawford to bcri/e five years in t^e edmonton penitentiary macdonald took his sentence with out flinching but seemed to realize the gravity of his position before sentence was passed w m campbell crown prosecutor stated that lie wished to direct the atten tion • of the court to the fact that the prisoner had agafnst him a con viction for a similar offence commit ted in another province ■ _, colin macleod for the defence strongly objected stating that if this were true it should have been charg ed in the indictment this not hav ing been done it w.as not open to the crown to refer to it now his honor agreed with mr mac leod that the matter could not prop erly be called to the attention of the court at that time colin macleod the prisoner's coun sel made a vigorous fight for hi s client with the result that he was foind not guilty of having stolen a post letter bag from the macleod of fice on november bth his honor stated however that it was ' incom prehensible to him how a man in the position of the accused could-honest ly come into possession of such a large quantity of postage stamps and as it had been shown that stamps almost identical in quantity and de nomination had been stolen from the post office he would find the prison er guilty of having stolen postage stamps thc second charge was for having stolen a post letter bag from the post officc at macleod on november ist although nothing had been found on the prisoner to directly connect him with the theft of this bag the crown prosecutor built up a very damaging chain of evidence and his honor stated that he was satisfied that thc prisoner was guilty thc five year sentence covers both charges on delivering sentence his honor spoke as follows up to a certain point in the crown's evidence the case really a mounted to nothing and that point was the evidence of sergt piper the evidence up to that point did not disclose anything that would fasten upon the accused any connection with this crime other than what would at tach to almost any stranger who might he in macleod and intimate with tho assistant postmaster and of such degree of intimacy that the as sistant postmaster allowed him to go into the post office and sit in the private part while he carried on his work however when sergt piper took the stand he offered testimony which put a different complexion upon the whole case he testified that on the 30th twenty-two days after the offence was alleged to have been com mitted under the authority of a search warrant ho searched the room in which the accused lived in a board ing house here in town and that the accused gave him permission to sear ch and that he found in a trunk con taining clothing belonging to the ac cused a parcel of postage stamps which are produced now the post age stamps which mr stirrup says were transmitted by his department at calgary through this office here to burdett . comprised twenty-five sheets of one-ceht stamps twenty.five sheets of two-cent stamps two sheets of five-cent stamps one sheet of sev en-cent stamps and one shipt of ten c&t stamps and in addition one hun difef two-cent stamp books and five nqiibred one-cent post cards the tttrips found by sergt piper consistr ett of twenty-four sheets of ones twenty-four sheets of twos—just one sheet of twos and ones less than were sent as alleged by mr stirrup and two sheets of fives—the same as sent by mr stirrup—one sheet of sevens the same as sent by mr stirrup and one sheet of tens—the same as sent by mr stirrup through this office to burdett it passes my comprehendon how the accused could have in his pos session stamps of this particular de nomination and in such quantities having regard to his occupation as a newspaper typesetter i am satisfied upon that evidence that those stamps which sergt piper found in his room the day he made tho search and shortly after he had been arrested on the two occasions—were'the identi cal stamps sent by mr stirrup from calgary destined to burdett now the most important point in connection with'this-case arises bere the accused is charged with having stolen a post letter bag which is a very serious offence under the code and is punishable by imprisonment tar life and the question is what the recent possession by the accused of certain postage stamps which were in in that bag—not when it was stolen because it has not been shown that these stamps were in that bag when it was stolen to my satisfaction but were in the bag when it was sent from calgary evidence such as casts upon this accused the burden of show ing that he came honestly by those stamps the crown have not offered any law upon that point or any cas es i do not feel disposed to look up the cases on the point it does not seem to me that a man having in his possession postage stamps which were at one time in that bag that it of necessity fastens.upon him tho crime of having stolen the letter bair i n the absence of any other evidence and taking that view i fecl perhaps the charge fails in that respect howev er section 9.51 of the criminal code enacts as follows every count s-halj he deemed divisible and if the commission of the offence charged as described in the enactment creat ing the offence or as charged in tho count includes the commission of any other oltence the person accus ed may be convicted of any offence so included which is proved al though the whole offence charged is not proved or he may be convicted of an attempt to comit any offence so included i think that under that clause i am justified in finding the accused guilty of thc minor of fence of having stolen the postage stamps because he has not satisfact orily explained where he got them especially whon he admitted to one of the witnesses that he knew where the stamps came from i thoreforc find the accused guilty of the charge of theft of the postage stamps wliich were found in his pos session namely 24 sheets of ones 24 sheets of twos 2 sheets of fives 1 sheet of sevens and i sheet af tens miss maud stedman daughter oe mayor stedman passed away at los angeles sunday night the people ot macleod and district will be shocked to learn of the death of miss maud stedman only daught er of mayor nnd mrs stedman which occurred about midnight sunday at tho clara barton hospital los ang eles a telegram announcing tlio sad ev ent was received at noon yesterday by mr tuttle manager of the queens hotel miss stedman accompanied by her motl>er lelt mncleod several weeks ago for los angeles intending later to go to cuba she wns taken ill while at th 6 hollywood hotel los angeles nnd later was removed to tho clara bar ton hospital where ln spite of every thing that medical sclonce and care ful nursing could do for her s3io gra dually sank until thc end came miss stedman was a charming and accomplished girl and a social favor ite her death will be a terrible t blow to her parents who havo tho sincero sympathy of the townspeople at large in their great affliction miss stedman had been in dclicato health for years hut made a hravo fight for life the remains will be brought to macleod for interment but it is not certain just yet when tho sad party will reach here acting mayor macdonnell acting on behalf of tho council and citizens yesterday telegraphed a message of condolence and sympathy to the stricken parents ■ tho council was to have met last evening but out ofrospoct to mayor stedman it was decided not to have any meeting miss stedman is survived hy hor parents mayor and mrs stedman and one brother i w stedman o f calgary young men's club active social sing-.sonp every wed nesday night — hocky club chess club and boxing class organized at a well attended meeting of the young men's club held on thursday last it was decided to have a social sing-song every wednesday evening to which everyone interested in the welfare of thc club would be wel come it was also decided to organize a chess club anyone interested in this branch of entertainment is requested to communicate with mr.s utton principal of the public school percy tomkin of w m campbell's office has taken charge of the hockey team which will be organized and would like to get in touch with any hockey players who are members of the club now or expect to join mr branch of the town office staff has charge of the department of boxing and would be glad to hear from anyone interested in the manly art the club is making good progress and bids fair to become a useful in stitution the duchess of comhaught who is seriously ill at the royal victoria hospital montreal she was reported to be slightly improved this morning 24 below zero friday night the chinook which made its ap pearance last evening was very wel { come as the people havo been surfeit ed with with cold weather during thc cold snap water pipes were frozen up and considerable in convenience experienced by many peo ple twenty-four below zero which was recorded at the r n w m p bar racks last friday night was the lowest that the thermometer went will bore for oil in spring syndicate of british and ame ricancapitalists will operate about 16 miles south west of macleod the people of macleod will be in terested to know that another a ta tempt will be made to find oil ia this district a syndicate of british and ameri can capitalists will drill near the site of the former operations at a point about sixteen miles southwest of the city they have part of their machinery ordered and have made minute inquir ies at to the best way to get it trans ported and the proper roads to take they will be at work just as soon as tho weather permits mr.bodgener won in a walk w bodgner romped home an easy winner yesterday in the contest for the representation of division no 3 of the new rural district the vote stood as follows vv bodgner 44 w turner 14 t p stenson 14 great interest was taken in this contcst w turner was extremely confident of election but there was evidently a miscalculation somewhere in no 2 john maloney was elect ed over thos chester the vote stood maloney 34 chester 27 in no 5 harry bright was elected by acclamation robert mcnabb was returned with out opposition for no 4 in no 6 molhy stewart was also elected qy acclamation three others were nominated but withdrew shafts spectator shafts having a creamery in contempla 1 tion the lcthbrldgo people think thoy are thc whole cheese it will he the stockholders who will h e milked up to tho time of going to press lothbrldgc had not decided whether to bo cremated or interred in tho old fashioned way the rumor that w j reid of llnz chnere is prostrated with grief over the defeat of his friend w turner happily turns out to ho exaggerated with incredible ohtuscness the elec tors of no 3 rejected tlio opportun ity to bo represented hy ono of thc leading statesman of tho empire whon thoy left mr turner at home evon his pull with mackenzie was un availing not macdonald's first offence monoline operator convicted of stealing from post office served time in maritime provinces james sidney mcdonald who on saturday last was sentenced to five years in edmonton penitentiary or having stolen post letter bags from the post office here was convicted of a similar offence in nova scotia the north sidney herald tells the story of his former exploit as fol lows james macdonald who at one time was employed in the defunct en terprise office and who got away with some 3,000 from the post of r fice about four years ago for whicii he was convicted and sentenced to a term of five years in the dorchester penitentiary eighteen months of which he served when he was allowed his liberty was arrested last week in alberta on a similar charge after regaining his liberty mcdonald return ed to this town and later west to sydney securing employment on the record staff and then went to glaee bay securing a job on a defunct pap er.after the latter had ceased to be mcdonald went west where he again got himself into trouble at the time that james mcdonald committed the theft in the post office here he was not an employee of uie office and never was however he had the habit of loitering about the office and it was while thus engaged one day he saw one of the clerks place a package of notes sent by the union bank to be forwarded to thfe head of fices in halifax in one of the mail bags when the clerks were engaged ' nrt'theifc work mcdd'naitt~se^ured the bag and left the building under cover of darkness he proceeded up queen street and taking the money out of the bag he cut up the latter , and threw it into the waters of the harbor the next day the loss was discovered but no suspicion was plac ed on mcdonald until a couple of days later he left here to attend tlie exhibition at charlottetown on the way mcdonald showed rolls of bills to several of his friends from this town and while in the island city he cut a great dash joyying rings and jewelry for several yotng ladies of thc city whose acquaintence he had but formed later he went to his old home a little way outside summcrside where his step mother resided it was while asleep in the home of his childhood that the officers found him and und er his pillow was found the major part of the stolen money besides a revolver he nad purchased upon his return here mcdonald confessed all and was given four years sentence after returning to ex-postmaster musgrave a couple of diamond rings and other stufl he had purchased with the stolen money lethbridge won both games defeated macleod in district competition last wednesday and also for tuckett tro phy lethbridge defeated macleod curlers in the district medal competition wliich was played here last wednes : day s j shepherd of lethbridge de feated young of maclcoh by a score of 2t to 12 while arid of lcthfcridge was defeated by it g mathews ot macleod by a score of io to 9 as the total number of points decided the competition tlio lethbridge curlers carried 1 off the silverware by eight points the winners of this competition arc entitled to compete at tho big bon spiel to bo held at edmonton in the tuckett competition only one game was played this was a very close game and the result was in doubt right up to the last end how ever aid aird the lethbridge skip managed to pull out ahead b y a score of 13 to 12 the rinks were as follows lethbridge macleod nimmons d 0 mackenzie boyd 0 b mcclollan scott w llenwick aird h g mathews skip 9 skip 10 ackson 1 w mcdonald nourso v baird wanlcss t murray shepherd a young skip 21 skip 10 lethbridge macleod scott d bain nourso a mncleod shepherd a young aird t fowler jury awards miss callard 20,000 damages in her case wounded affections of nanton school teacher appraised at very high figure by calgary jury — trial lasted five days and was sensational throughout — macleod people follow ed case with interest one witness resides here now — defendant will appeal case miss louise callard was on satur day awarded 20,000 damages and costs in the breach of promise suit which she brought against martin armstrong of nanton and which was before the calgary court for 5 days oreat interest was taken in the case by macleod people as the part ies were personally known to ai good many people here miss evans who is employed in doberer's dry goods store but who came here from nanton was a wit ness in the case the case went to the jury at 12 o clock saturday the morning was taken up by the address of the counsel for the de fence to the jury and the delivering : of the charge to the jury by his lord ship mr justice simmons the op ! posing counsel took one hour each in addressing the jury t m tweedie counsel for the defence confined him 1 del sijnpl v to summer 7 ■ tr the i dence and in calling to tne jury on i the merits of the evidence which story they were going to believe in a summing up and an appeal that at times reached the height 0 f dramat c intensity pj nolan counsel for the plaintiff called ■ upon the jury to see justice done to his client he asked them if in view of her conduct in the box and the strai ghtforward nature of her evidence even under cross-examination wheth er they could believe her whole story was a fabrication if it is then she is the cleverest woman england ever produced said mr nolan calgary jan b after having been subjected to a grilling cross examin ation lasting eight hours miss loui so callard plaintiff in the 25,000 breach of promise suit against mar tin james armstrong a wealthy nan ton rancher stepped from the wit ness stand late yesterday afternoon , having told every detail of the story i at the alleged wrong she suffered at the hands of her former fiance she stood up under fire bravely throughout her trying ordeal when t m tweedie armstrong's attor ney volleyed question after question for hours gt a time the plaintiff bore up well and answered clearly and au dibly only once did she break down ' and that was after the lawyer had referred to her condition through his cross-examination she then covered her face with both hands and sobbed while silence reigned in the court room she soon recovered her com posure and continued her fight miss collard's evidence was most ly in answer to cross-examination by the defendant's counsel she stated that she was in calgary buying her wedding trousseau when she was in formed that armstring had marr ed a lethbridge girl the defendant had en her 100.00 to buy her trousseau therefore she did not believe the story she said she did not believe the man could be so vise that was about august ist she telephoned to the armstrong ranch and asked for armstrong she was told that '' he was not at home she then asked for george aemstrong the defendant's brother she asked george if it was true that george was married and he replied yes continuing she said she told geo armstrong how his brother had pro mised to marry her and under such a promise he had taken certain ad vantages and that she was about to become a mother george replied why did you not tell me before i would have made thc dirty skunk go through with you she replied that she thought he intended to keep his promise i georgo replied " he has no brains he wbuid'nbtb have ; made ybu c happy he will not stay with one girl the girl told how the defendant's brother george made overtures to her stating that under her condition it would be no harm she refused stating that if his brother had wrong ed her no one else should georlie replied i was only test ing you out you are a brave girl the evidence for the prosecution concluded yesterday morning when mrs cooper of nanton with whom miss callard lived from january to june in 1912 told what she knew she said that martin armstrong had visited miss callard at ter residence and called up on the telephone while miss callard was ill in opening the case for the defence t m tweedie stated that his inten tion was to prove an alibi and that he would show that armstrong never made any offer of marriage arm . strong he said would himself go in i to the box and deny the charges both of promise of marriage and the se duction charges he would also pro duco evidence to show that on the last sunday in december 1911 arm strong spent the evening with friends and this was one of the nights wh ch the plaintiff claimed that armstrong made his marriage proposal before armstrong went into the box attorney george ross read some of the statements made during the examination for discovery which went to show that armstrong had been in the nanton district for near twelve years and was well to do and worth considerable money martin armstrong then went into the box and gave evidence on his own behalf he was examined by mr mc gillivray the witness then denied in toto all continued on page six interesting questions coming up at annual meetin6 0e board of trade this evening the keen interest with which the board of trade has been discussed foreshadows a large attendance at the annual meeting which will be held this evening in the town hall several important questions of pol icy will have to be discussed and all tho officers are to be chosen for the coming year the spectator understands that tho name of mr allen who has occupied the position of president the past year will again bo altered in nomina tion for that position while disclaiming any desire t o monopolizo tlio position it is under stood that mr allen before leaving for the east staled that if it was the desire of the board lie would servo another year today tho name of major primrose first vico president tho past year has been freely mentioned in connection i with tho vacnncy e doberer g b mcclellan and r t mcnichol aro also possibility's there is a strong feoliiiß that tho present executive is far too unwieldy a body and thc proposal will probab ly be made to reduce it to five in stead of fifteen at tho present time the executive does practically all the business and interest is lessened in the general meetings another question that will no doubt causo a lively discussion is whether tho board shall employ a publicity commissioner who shall devote all his time to the work or whether a local man to devote part of his time shall be engaged tho question of ways and moans will also come in for consideration tho local business men aro becom ing weary of the continual raids upon them and the impression appears to be general that it will he difficult to collect funds from private individuals for board of trade work since tho whole town benefits b y what is accomplished by the board it is felt that the council should make a grant to tho board of what ever money is required for thoir caiw paign altogether the meeting should ho ai very interesting one ( continued on page eight