montana

“DUFFY vs THE CATS” was the headline, describing the warring parties: Anaconda Prosecuting Attorney John H. Duffy versus a neighborhood covey of cats, a flock of felines, owned by Johnny Horn.

Consider this response from a Bitterroot Valley editor to the 1894 presidential election: “I look upon the result of the election as a forerunner of Republican success in the future. I regard it as an endorsement by the people both of the declared policy of the Republican Party and in its ability to do some thing in the line of its policy when in power."

There is “a growing national concern about the need to regulate the use of money in political campaigns.” It could be a headline from today – but it isn’t. It’s from 1918!

“Big Arm needs a banking house, a general drugstore, a gents’ furnishing establishment, a shoe store, a jeweler’s store and a food store!” So proclaimed the editors of the Big Arm Graphic in their 1912 salutatory issue.

The wheels of justice can turn rather slowly these days. In some cases, months and months can go by between the time a complaint is filed and a case is finally adjudicated. What we need is a good football game to speed things up!

Do 6-year-old girls still think boys have cooties? Do 6-year-old boys still think girls have cooties? I’d ask, but where’s a 6-year-old when you need one?

In the 20 years between 1880 and 1900, the number of shop girls exploded. By the dawn of the 20th century, female sales clerks outnumbered male clerks. The Historical Society noted that “working as a shop girl was considered one of the best jobs. It was a respectable position in a clean, safe working environment.” There was a dark side, though. Shop girls tended to make less than female factory workers, they worked incredibly long hours and faced harassment from male managers and customers alike.

“We print anything the others won’t!” declared the Montana Kaimin. The Kaimin also declared itself, “Montana’s Unreliable Newspaper.” The January 16, 1923 spoof-edition included headlines like “BOMBASTIC GAS BARRAGE BEGINS LIFE IDEALS CONFERENCE MEETING” and “CAMPUS GREEKS WILL SHED BLOOD IN EARLY GYMNASIUM-MASSACRES.”

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.

Jim Harmon writes, "As locals know, there are only two seasons in Montana: Winter and Road Construction."