Chance Harris Continues As "The Dead Reporter" in 1896
Chance Harris's role as Deputy Coroner continued under Coroner Richards of Silver Bow Co., Montana in 1896. On 3 January, Chance investigated whether M. J. Savage (aka James Thompson) sent any telegraph messages before he shot himself through the head with a 38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. There were no records at either telegraph office of such communication, and the inquest was held the following day. Chance apparently was a member of the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association during, and probably before, 1896. He was selected as the official Notary Public of the Board at a meeting on 8 January 1896. It may be that Chance had retained his Notary Public appointment since it was originally issued during his residence in Woodville, Jefferson Co., Montana in 1885.
Peter Jensen (aka "Ole Bull") dropped dead in the Metropolitan Saloon at Main and Galena streets on the evening of 9 January. His body was brought to the Butte Undertaking rooms where Chance "passed final judgment on his condition," with the inquest occurring the following day. On 13 January, Coroner Richards and Chance investigated the circumstances surrounding the death of Miss Mamie Enright from a self-induced abortion and decided that no Coroner's Inquest was neccessary. Three days later, Chance was among the group of men who investigated the scene of H. A. McCloud's death by a falling timber in the Mountain Consolidated Mine.
Chance Harris won a fine painting by Miss Fanny Grothjean of Europe, who was visiting Butte, on or before 17 January 1896. The artwork, valued at $200, depicted a nude just out of the bath and had been on display in the window of Schatzlein's on Broadway in Butte for some time. Chance exhibited his penchant for humor when he said "it is worth more than that to him as he could not get as fine and good looking a figure, and maintain it, for double the money of estimated value," according to an a newspaper account in the Butte Miner.
Chance traveled to Lewiston, Nez Perce Co., Idaho on 21 January 1896 to attend to mining-related business there and returned to Butte on 1 February 1896. On 10 February, Chance was again the apparent Jury Foreman at the inquest on the accidental death of Andrew Nelson who died from inhalation of flue dust at the Heinze Smelter. The jury held the Smelter blameless, indicative of the lack of safety standards in the mining and smelting industry of the day. Ten days later, Chance and Coroner Richards investigated the death of Noah Forrest of the Alice Mining Company at Walkerville, Silver Bow Co., Montana, who was crushed while unloading timbers from a flat car. The inquest followed that evening. On 25 February, Chance and Coroner Richards traveled to Homestake Pass to bring back the body of Anton Hansen Nordsand who had been run over by a passenger train and several freight trains near the entrance of the Homestake tunnel. Chance conducted an examination of the engine and coaches thought to have struck Nordsand and found blood on the gearing of the latter. The inquest occurred the next day.
Butte held a "Baby Show" on 26 February 1896 in conjunction with the Japanese Fair as a benefit for the Children's Home Fund. Chance Harris, Prof. McKay, and Prof. G. H. Scott were to judge the babies of Butte and select the prettiest two babies of the more than 100 entered. Once engaged in the judging process, the judges realized that the mothers of Butte all thought their babies to be the prettiest and began to apprehend that the collective wrath of the mothers whose babies were not chosen was not to be taken lightly. The Butte Miner reported that Chance uttered the following: "'I have faced trying situations in my life, but here is where I must back out of my contract,' in an undertone to Prof. McKay." The judges then devised a scheme where two babies among the top 20 would be selected by spinning a "wheel of fortune" and thus absolve the judges of any blame by mothers of the losers. It was another narrow escape by Chance Harris!
On 3 March 1896, Chance and Coroner Richards investigated the death of David T. Davis in a fire that burned his shack on Ohio Street near Porphyry Street. The inquest was held 2 days later. Chance apparently was Foreman of a Coroner's Jury at the inquest on the death of an engineer, Cyrus Hawley, on 6 March, finding death by unknown causes and recommending that John Butler should be exonerated of any responsibility. Three days later, Chance and Coroner Richards investigated the apparent suicide death of Al Leans by gunshot in Room 14 of the Fitschen Block and removed the body to the Butte Undertaking rooms for a Coroner's Inquest the following day. On 19-20 March 1896, Chance was Foreman of a Coroner's Jury, which found that Roderick P. Judge died by accidental discharge of his pistol while eluding police and that Edward Campbell should be detained upon the charge of 1st-degree murder for the shooting of Policeman Fred A. Parlin.
Chance Harris had been an active Democrat, at least since his days in Woodville. Now, on 23 March 1896, Chance attended a meeting of 6th Ward Butte Republicans at the Butte Undertaking Company (owned by Republican Coroner Richards) where he was designated Secretary of the meeting. On the same day, Chance attended a special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners and, with Public School Superintendent Kern, agreed to solicit funds to lift the debt of the Women and Children's Home to enable the County to take over the charitable facility. Chance's political flux continued on 26 March when he attended the Populist Party City Convention where, after he seated himself in front, a delegate in the rear requested that all nonmembers move to the side, and Chance moved to the rear. Chance again attended a special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners on 30 March and reported that businesses supported the County taking over the Women and Children's Home with its debts, whereupon he agreed to circulate a petition to that effect.
The Democratic Party credentials of Chance Harris came into question on 1 April 1896 when M. P. Gilchrist, Chairman of the Democratic Central Committee addressed the Butte City Council meeting stating that Chance Harris was not a true Democrat, with the result that Chance's name was replaced by Ike Genzberger as Sixth Ward Democratic Election Board Clerk. The same day, Chance reported to the Board of County Commissioners that his petition effort for making the Women and Children's Home a county institution had the signatures of persons representing three-fourths the wealth of the county. Chance, as a former Civil War Union soldier although not a Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) member, attended the Annual Encampment of the Montana G.A.R. at Bozeman, Gallatin Co., Montana along with about 15 members of Butte's Lincoln Post and 10 members of the Butte Woman's Relief Corps. The train for Bozeman departed Butte on the evening of 8 April. The Encampment presumably extended through the weekend until 12 April.
On 13 April 1896, Chance was Foreman of a Coroner's Jury at the inquest on the death of six miners by explosion of a powder magazine on the 1,100-foot level of the St. Lawrence Mine. The jury adjourned until 25 April for further testimony because rubble from the blast blocked further investigation into the circumstances leading to the explosion. When the jury did reconvene on the 25th, it found simply that deaths were the result of an explosion of powder stored for immediate use. Deputy State Mine Inspector Miles was not happy with this verdict because it failed to fault the powder storage in what Miles considered to be an unsafe location. Three days later, Chance and Coroner Richards investigated the scene around the abandoned shaft of the Czaromah Mine where the body of a week-old infant had been found on a cross-piece about 20-feet down. Chance apparently was the Jury Foreman at the inquest on the death of this baby on 1 May 1896. The jury recommended further investigation and prosecution, if the responsible party could be found.
Chance joined a party of newspapermen on 12 May for an excursion train to Anaconda, Deer Lodge Co., Montana at the invitation of Superintendent O. L. Chapman to be entertained and to tour the copper smelter there. Several "brief but elegant and pointed" speeches were delivered on the return run to Butte, including one by Chance Harris, according to the Butte Daily Post. On 18 May, Chance and Coroner Richards investigated the apparent suicide death of Samuel Petersen at the Windsor Hotel in Butte and removed the body to the morgue. An inquest occurred the following day. Chance may have been irritated to find that George B. Dygert, noted habeas corpus lawyer, instituted proceedings on 20 May on behalf of John Peters, the man who stole Chance's gold-headed cane the preceding October, because Peters didn't get a jury trial in that case. For the time being, however, Peters remained in jail.
Chance investigated, in his role as Deputy Coroner, the cabin of John Green at Powder Gulch, 7-miles southwest of Silver Bow Junction, on 2 June 1896. Green had died after falling down the stairs at the Southern Hotel in Butte, but Chance found no evidence of next of kin at the cabin. Chance does not appear in the Butte newspapers again until July when he and Coroner Richards traveled to Gregson Hot Springs in Silver Bow Co. on 8 July to retrieve the body of a man who had drowned in the plunge pool while bathing, returning to Butte on 9 July. Chance may have recalled his narrow escape from the same fate nearly 2-years earlier at Broadwater Hot Springs.
News of the nomination of William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic Presidential Candidate caused a great stir in the silver-mining town of Butte on 10 July 1896. Citizens of all parties favored Bryan's position on silver. An article in the Butte Miner contained a quote from Chance Harris: "'Bryan will be our next president,' said Chance L. Harris. 'My vote and my influence goes for the friend and champion of silver. His election should be worked and prayed for by all who wish to see silver back in the place it properly belongs. There are only two parties in this country now and I am for the free and unlimited coinage of silver and will support the man who is a friend of the white metal.'. . ."
Five days later, Chance and Coroner Richards went out beyond the Bell Smelter with the "dead wagon" and a spare coffin to retrieve the reported body of a dead man who turned out to have been sleeping off a drunk beside the road while walking home from Butte. The "dead man" was found nearby at a roadside saloon and to prove that he was very much alive wanted to fight Coroner Richards. Cooler heads prevailed, and the "dead wagon" returned to Butte with no new cargo. Chance went to the horse races at Anaconda the following day where he was reported to have named a few winners.
Miss Mary F. Harris of Rochester, Monroe Co., New York, niece of Chance Harris, was noted on 17 August 1896 to be in Butte visiting Chance. Miss Harris seems to have remained in Butte and taught school there for the following year. There is no record of Chance ever returning to the East to see his two brothers in Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan or Rochester, Monroe Co., New York after he came to the West ca. 1869 so the presence of his niece in Butte must have been a welcome reconnection with his family. Just as Chance was enjoying his niece's presence, John Peters (aka "John Jouert," aka "Lazurus"), tried and sentenced the previous year for the theft of Chance Harris's gold-headed cane, was rearraigned on the old charges, pled "guilty" again, and was given 30 more days of jail in addition to time served. This was a substantial reduction because Peters had served only about half of his original sentence and would soon be turned loose to pursue his less than honest practices.
On 27 August 1896, Chance apparently was Foreman of a Coroner's Jury at the inquest on the death of little Joe Ross from the fire that gutted his mother's home. The jury found the death accidental, but Coroner Richards thought the findings should have been more severe because the boy's grandmother, who had been watching him while his mother worked, was negligently in a nearby liquor store when the fire occurred. Five days later, Chance's name was put forward as the choice of the American Protective Association (A.P.A.) wing of the Republican Party for Coroner of Silver Bow County. The next day, 1 September 1896, Chance denied that he was a candidate for the office of Coroner and stated that he would file for it himself should he desire to run. The A.P.A. had an anti-Catholic platform; however, it is not known to what extent Chance these views himself.
Grosvenor Richards, brother of Coroner Joseph Richards, roomed in an apartment above the Butte Undertaking rooms at 140 West Park Street. Chance Harris and ex-Coroner Tom Porter shared this apartment with Grosvenor Richards. Grosvenor Richards failed to awake on the morning of 17 September 1896 and was found to be deceased. Chance was a witness, among others, at the inquest held before Justice S. H. Almon. The jury found that Grosvenor Richards died of an unknown heart ailment perhaps resulting from his exposure to near asphyxiation from smoke some months before. A few days later, Chance Harris was Nominee for Public Administrator at the Convention of the "Auditorium" Republicans (this was the A.P.A. group) but lost to W. J. Jameson, the loss being blamed on Democrats who had worked inside the convention to create Republican disaffection in the Democratic interest.
On 27-28 November 1896, Chance was a witness for the prosecution in the Bonesteele murder trial. Chance attempted to present his plat of the murder scene until the defense objected that an object in the drawing had been moved prior to the drawing being made. Judge Speer sustained the objection and dismissed Chance and his artwork. A few days later on 2 December, Chance traveled from Butte to Warm Springs, Deer Lodge Co., Montana in the company of Undersheriff Young and Mrs. Ada Post of Helena. They were transporting Mrs. I. W. Stoner, who was suffering from delusions, to Warm Springs Hospital, a psychiatric facility near Anaconda.
Chance traveled to Parrot Flats from Butte on 12 December 1896 to retrieve the bones of a purported murdered man. The murdered man turned out to be an Indian female buried in an Indian graveyard and wrapped in blankets. Coroner Richards bemoaned the fact that no expenses would be forthcoming from Silver Bow County for a bundle of bare bones. December seems to have been relatively quiet for Chance. He did, however, receive a letter from the former head of the Keeley Institute in Butte, a Dr. George W. Archer, who had been reappointed as Surgeon-in-Chief for the Nicaragua Canal. It seems notable that Dr. Archer and his presumed former patient at the Keeley Institute maintained correspondence over the nearly 4 years since Chance took the alcoholism "gold cure."
Chance joined a party of newspapermen on 12 May for an excursion train to Anaconda, Deer Lodge Co., Montana at the invitation of Superintendent O. L. Chapman to be entertained and to tour the copper smelter there. Several "brief but elegant and pointed" speeches were delivered on the return run to Butte, including one by Chance Harris, according to the Butte Daily Post. On 18 May, Chance and Coroner Richards investigated the apparent suicide death of Samuel Petersen at the Windsor Hotel in Butte and removed the body to the morgue. An inquest occurred the following day. Chance may have been irritated to find that George B. Dygert, noted habeas corpus lawyer, instituted proceedings on 20 May on behalf of John Peters, the man who stole Chance's gold-headed cane the preceding October, because Peters didn't get a jury trial in that case. For the time being, however, Peters remained in jail.
Chance investigated, in his role as Deputy Coroner, the cabin of John Green at Powder Gulch, 7-miles southwest of Silver Bow Junction, on 2 June 1896. Green had died after falling down the stairs at the Southern Hotel in Butte, but Chance found no evidence of next of kin at the cabin. Chance does not appear in the Butte newspapers again until July when he and Coroner Richards traveled to Gregson Hot Springs in Silver Bow Co. on 8 July to retrieve the body of a man who had drowned in the plunge pool while bathing, returning to Butte on 9 July. Chance may have recalled his narrow escape from the same fate nearly 2-years earlier at Broadwater Hot Springs.
News of the nomination of William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic Presidential Candidate caused a great stir in the silver-mining town of Butte on 10 July 1896. Citizens of all parties favored Bryan's position on silver. An article in the Butte Miner contained a quote from Chance Harris: "'Bryan will be our next president,' said Chance L. Harris. 'My vote and my influence goes for the friend and champion of silver. His election should be worked and prayed for by all who wish to see silver back in the place it properly belongs. There are only two parties in this country now and I am for the free and unlimited coinage of silver and will support the man who is a friend of the white metal.'. . ."
Five days later, Chance and Coroner Richards went out beyond the Bell Smelter with the "dead wagon" and a spare coffin to retrieve the reported body of a dead man who turned out to have been sleeping off a drunk beside the road while walking home from Butte. The "dead man" was found nearby at a roadside saloon and to prove that he was very much alive wanted to fight Coroner Richards. Cooler heads prevailed, and the "dead wagon" returned to Butte with no new cargo. Chance went to the horse races at Anaconda the following day where he was reported to have named a few winners.
Miss Mary F. Harris of Rochester, Monroe Co., New York, niece of Chance Harris, was noted on 17 August 1896 to be in Butte visiting Chance. Miss Harris seems to have remained in Butte and taught school there for the following year. There is no record of Chance ever returning to the East to see his two brothers in Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan or Rochester, Monroe Co., New York after he came to the West ca. 1869 so the presence of his niece in Butte must have been a welcome reconnection with his family. Just as Chance was enjoying his niece's presence, John Peters (aka "John Jouert," aka "Lazurus"), tried and sentenced the previous year for the theft of Chance Harris's gold-headed cane, was rearraigned on the old charges, pled "guilty" again, and was given 30 more days of jail in addition to time served. This was a substantial reduction because Peters had served only about half of his original sentence and would soon be turned loose to pursue his less than honest practices.
On 27 August 1896, Chance apparently was Foreman of a Coroner's Jury at the inquest on the death of little Joe Ross from the fire that gutted his mother's home. The jury found the death accidental, but Coroner Richards thought the findings should have been more severe because the boy's grandmother, who had been watching him while his mother worked, was negligently in a nearby liquor store when the fire occurred. Five days later, Chance's name was put forward as the choice of the American Protective Association (A.P.A.) wing of the Republican Party for Coroner of Silver Bow County. The next day, 1 September 1896, Chance denied that he was a candidate for the office of Coroner and stated that he would file for it himself should he desire to run. The A.P.A. had an anti-Catholic platform; however, it is not known to what extent Chance these views himself.
Grosvenor Richards, brother of Coroner Joseph Richards, roomed in an apartment above the Butte Undertaking rooms at 140 West Park Street. Chance Harris and ex-Coroner Tom Porter shared this apartment with Grosvenor Richards. Grosvenor Richards failed to awake on the morning of 17 September 1896 and was found to be deceased. Chance was a witness, among others, at the inquest held before Justice S. H. Almon. The jury found that Grosvenor Richards died of an unknown heart ailment perhaps resulting from his exposure to near asphyxiation from smoke some months before. A few days later, Chance Harris was Nominee for Public Administrator at the Convention of the "Auditorium" Republicans (this was the A.P.A. group) but lost to W. J. Jameson, the loss being blamed on Democrats who had worked inside the convention to create Republican disaffection in the Democratic interest.
On 27-28 November 1896, Chance was a witness for the prosecution in the Bonesteele murder trial. Chance attempted to present his plat of the murder scene until the defense objected that an object in the drawing had been moved prior to the drawing being made. Judge Speer sustained the objection and dismissed Chance and his artwork. A few days later on 2 December, Chance traveled from Butte to Warm Springs, Deer Lodge Co., Montana in the company of Undersheriff Young and Mrs. Ada Post of Helena. They were transporting Mrs. I. W. Stoner, who was suffering from delusions, to Warm Springs Hospital, a psychiatric facility near Anaconda.
Chance traveled to Parrot Flats from Butte on 12 December 1896 to retrieve the bones of a purported murdered man. The murdered man turned out to be an Indian female buried in an Indian graveyard and wrapped in blankets. Coroner Richards bemoaned the fact that no expenses would be forthcoming from Silver Bow County for a bundle of bare bones. December seems to have been relatively quiet for Chance. He did, however, receive a letter from the former head of the Keeley Institute in Butte, a Dr. George W. Archer, who had been reappointed as Surgeon-in-Chief for the Nicaragua Canal. It seems notable that Dr. Archer and his presumed former patient at the Keeley Institute maintained correspondence over the nearly 4 years since Chance took the alcoholism "gold cure."
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