| Show death of F 0 mcdonald the following account of the tragic death of frank C mcdonald nillah occurred in butte on the 0 ot july u ly is taken from the anaconda standard of july while hundreds of people who were nere attending the chautauqua exercises and childrens day looked on frank C mcdonald candidate tor for the democratic nomination for sheriff last tall fall and a watchman ot of tile the butte street railway company was electrocuted on a 70 foot pole at columbia gardens last evening moro mor than an volts of electricity passed through his body causing instant death and caused the body to recoil away from the primary wire the contact with which caused mcdon aids death although the power was immediately shut og it was 25 minutes before the body was brought down and attempts made at afon ti on it was necessary to have three men with ropes climb the pole which was almost directly south of the pavilion and directly above where hundreds of children were playing the ropes were wrapped about mcdon aads body which was lowered A large crowd gathered while preparations were being made to remove the body notice of the accident was telephoned to tile the power plant of the montana power company which supplies power tor for tile the gardens and all current was shut off to insure safety for the men who volunteered to bring down the body A doctor arrived before the body was brought to the ground but he pronounced the watchman dead tile the body was removed to sherman reeds undertaking rooms wire had snapped at 2 a storm came up and t the h e hi high g h t tension en si 0 u wi wire r e w which ditc h e supplied u p pl i e d cu current rr e n t fo for r t the te c concessions 0 n ce s n s a at t t the h e gardens snapped making it impossible to run the ferris wheel merry go round and other concessions A request was made for an electrician from f butte B u but b u t after waiting two hours A mcdonald a 1 d who was also an electrician climbed the tall pole to splice the wires mcdonald threw his left leg over the ground wire and had bad been gathering up the wire will while e his helper henry reiger stood below As the wire was spliced I 1 Mc Donalds right hand came in contact with the volts on the primary 11 ary wire and there was a sharp flash as the current passed through his body the right hand apparently touched the primary wire tor for just an instant reiger ran to the switchboard and shut off the current and J R wharton telephoned io 0 o the substation of the montana power company to shut off the current me mc donalds body hung limply on the wire vire and being held to the pole by the bolt belt robert miles was the first man to climb the pole with a rope there was a burn on the leg which was thrown over the ground wire but the hands were not burned McDo mcdonald wore no gloves william mcdonald a brother was summoned and notified mrs mcdonald nho was at the family residence at the gardens A splendid citizen frank mcdonald was born in watertown ter town N Y 47 years ago and when a young man came 10 0 park city utah ariere lie he lived until 15 years ago when hen he came to butte he was in charge of the transportation of ores on the street car lines in the days when ore was hauled over the streets he was appointed to the police department by former me mayor mccarthy and also served under the davey administration on the department he made a record for efficient service and also for daring ile he then became associated with the street railway company as a special deputy sheriff and a id at times was as employed as motorman and conductor ills his courage was demonstrated on several occasions one time being when lie ile assisted in the capture of two street car highwaymen ills his ac resulted in a breaking up ot of tile the practice of attempting to hold up 10 i garden cars single handed lie he had V on several occasions stopped ill disi tur r b bances a which h h had d assumed large tu bat assailed ass aimed j proportions r 0 p 0 t late e years S lie he had i been assigned especially to watching out tor for the welfare of the children i who frequented the gardens and he ha WAS a a friend of 0 every child that went to the ga gardens rd e ns i tahe W when M mcdonald c D n ald mas first appoint appo ant i ed to the police department he chas ed two burglars who had held up a chinese store the b burglars were driven into a grocery a tore store on park t s street tr e e t a and U mcdonald c D 0 went in after i ind th them e n i w with h james a m e s leyden den who was captain of police one of the burg lars leveled a revolver on mcdonald lf who grappled with him A blow from a stick used by leyden ii felled the burglar who was sentenced to 15 years in tile the state prison while working as a special deputy y he devoted his spare time to studying electricity and became a member of the electricians union last lall fall he made a creditable race tor for the democratic nomination tor for sheriff being defeated by ex sheriff tim driscoll 1 the dance which was to have been held last evening at columbia gardens was cancelled on account of the accident surviving are the widow and two children a brother william and his hia mother arid and two sisters in watertown N Y mr mcdonald was a member of the elks J n R wharton paid a tribute to td the courage and tact of mr air mcdonald ile he said bald ills his death will be a blow to the thousands of children who knew him as a friend ife he was an unusually faithful officer and never hesitated to do his duty he combined courage a strong body |
