Harmon’s Histories: Lunacy commissions once convened to judge mentally ill, addicted Montanans
The year was 1908. A “lunacy commission” (a carry-over from old British law) was formed, made up of the Yellowstone County commissioners and two Billings physicians. The panel was told that A.J. Thompson had been claiming that “he came to Billings from Forsyth to get a man who was wanted by the sheriff of Rosebud County, and in the next breath told them that he was the inventor of an air brake and would soon be worth $5,000,000.