July 5 – On this day in Montana history in 1884 Lewistown law officials were trying to sort out a variety of crimes including the death of two “desperate characters” that attempted to “hold up the town.” The incidents were confusing and news accounts offered different versions. But the headline in the Mineral Argus put it best: “A lively Fourth will go into history as the first in Lewistown, and the most thrilling in the United Sates in 1884.”