1921-1922. Uriah W Hammaker. Four words could describe his time in office. Prohibition did him under. Uriah was born into a farming family in White Cloud, Iowa, in 1875. In the
1910 Federal Census, he, his wife Olive, and son Kenneth lived in Chouteau County. In June 1918, he sold 160 acres in Sections 30 and 19, Township 22, Range 4 East, for one dollar. He moved his family to Great Falls for a few years, but after the surprise death of his popular predecessor, Merritt Flanagan, Uriah was appointed his successor. When the county commissioners were making their choice, they passed over all candidates who had been “mixed up in county politics” in any manner. No information was found to help further solve the mystery behind the previously mentioned quote. But, as the paper stated, that left out anyone ever working as a deputy. As soon as he was installed in the office, he started making arrests for possession of alcohol. In June 1922, he confiscated 26 cases of Canadian whiskey from a Cadillac. When interviewed by the Fort Benton Press, Hammaker said, “If laws are right, enforce them; if wrong, repeal them, under no conditions disregard them.” On October 25, 1922, he attended a meeting in Missoula. The Dry Forces identified “Sheriff Hammaker as one of the two best in the state from the standpoint of Law Enforcement.” The Sheriff decided to run for reelection on the Republican ticket; the party said he was “instrumental in catching a large number of Prohibition Law violators.” George Brunage defeated Uriah with the final count of 1470 for the Sheriff and 1844 for Brundage. In November, the paper wrote, “Sheriff Hammaker last week received a telegram from one of the victims his anti-whiskey running operations congratulating him on his defeat and fervently wishing him five more years of drought on his drylands farm.” It was challenging to find any further information on Uriah and his family until they showed up in Sacramento in 1930, where the former Sheriff was a laborer in the Almond Industry. In the 1940 Federal Census, he was employed as a chore man and his wife as a cook on a ranch in Monterey County, California. At the age of 78, Uriah died in Placer County, California, with his wife following him in 1963.
1922-1926. George Brundage was born in Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1890. Mr. Brundage married Helen Garvin on January 17, 1911, in Garland, Wyoming, and one year later, George moved to Fort Benton with his wife, Helen, and young son Howard. George came to manage Jos Sullivan’s Implement on Main Street, Fort Benton, where he was employed until 1916 when he resigned to work on a farm he had just purchased. In April 1915, a new 5-room Bungalow was built for the growing Brundage family. When George filled out his Draft registration in 1917, he listed his employment as a Deputy Sheriff and Farmer in Fort Benton. George had experience when he was elected Sheriff in 1922. He had spent 2 years under Sheriff Crawford, 3 years under Sheriff Flanagan, and 10 months under Sheriff Hammaker. He resigned to make his bid for Sheriff against his former boss, Hammaker. George placed an ad in the local papers stating, “…it would be my purpose to enforce the laws generally and not especially, believing that the duty of the Sheriff is to protect first life; second property: third, the enforcement of such other laws as are enacted by the Legislature, irrespective of personal opinions.:” During the 6 years as Deputy and the 6 years he served as Sheriff, he continued to host large numbers of Sheriff Sales. Still on the records was prohibition. The County continues to have several men out to make more. The sentences varied from $100 to $200 and 30 to 60 days in the county jail. The low end, being a still, was set up but not making moonshine to the high end for a man who had made and sold his alcohol. One Moonshine arrest was when George was a visitor in Big Sandy, and he went to “capture a moonshine still south of Verona . It was a still, still.” (Big Sandy Mountaineer December 1923). One of the most significant crimes during his sheriff years was the arrest of Charles Tordick for the murder of James Trepino in the Iliad section. Trepino was shot in the head after an argument but survived long enough to tell the Sheriff who had shot him. Both men were Bohemians, knew each other, were married, and each had 6 children; Charles Tordick was sentenced to 12-24 years in Deer Lodge for Murder.
Another case placed Jos Stacklowski in the county jail on the charge of Neglecting and Deserting his family, the “so-called Lazy Husband Act”. On March 1, 1924, Montana State required all automobiles to be licensed. Brundage and his deputies spent 1924 handing out warnings. Sheriff Brundage announced on January 15, 1925, “It is time to get licenses and that the 1924 license doesn’t look good in 1925”. After serving his last year as Sheriff, he and his family moved back to Wyoming to work a ranch. In 1929, they moved to Lewistown and then to Billings. George died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 59. His obituary reported that he was a dealer in oil and gas leases.
