Feb. 15 – On this day in Montana history in 1927 William Gemmell died in Butte when he threw a mattress from a fifth floor room when a fire broke out and attempted to jump on to it to escape the flames. He was chairman of the Silver Bow County Commission, but was better known throughout the Montana and the West for his successful string of race horses. He was instrumental in construction of the Butte racetrack and head of the Butte Racing Association.

Feb. 14 – On this day in Montana history in 1941 the Billings Gazette had a story on the opening of the new Safeway store at 18 South Twenty-Seventh Street. Big news was “two checking stands have been installed,” and it had a “new style of indirect lighting.” Of course Safeway had a big ad as well. Prices were a little different back then: “Edwards Coffee 81 cents for 4 pounds, Crisco 3 lbs for 47 cents, pork roast 12 cents a pound, and choice cut steaks 21 cents a pound.

Feb. 13 – On this day in Montana history in 1904 the Great Falls Tribune had a major headline: “Outlaw Jones Shot to Death – A criminal who had terrorized (Montana) for years is killed by two special deputy sheriffs – Head of a bad gang is taken by surprise. Jones was killed in a cabin near Fort Peck by the officers who came from Culbertson. The famous Montana outlaw “Dutch Henry” was believed to be part of the gang.

Feb. 12 – On this day in Montana history in 1915 two armed men robbed the Farmers State Bank in Medicine Lake in Sheridan County during broad daylight. In a daring horseback chase one of the robbers was wounded and captured, but the other escaped into North Dakota “with the posse hot on his trail.” He was later captured after a gunfight. In its first report of the broad daylight robbery the Medicine Lake Wave said it all in its headline: “Robbers Make a Daring Get-a-way with Boodle of Nearly $3,000.” 

Feb. 11 – On this day in Montana history in 1961 one of Montana’s ugliest and most public fights between a legislator and a lobbyist ended with a legislative resolution that said Sen. William Cashmore, R-Lewis and Clark County, “reasonably believed” he had been threatened and intimidated by James Umber, president of the Montana AFL-CIO. The bitter dispute – that virtually tied up any legislative action for about a week – arouse over a bill proposed by Cashmore that would have required a secret ballot on union strike votes in labor disputes not covered by federal laws. Umber said it would kill small unions in Montana.

Feb. 1 – On this day in Montana history in 1911 31-year-old Jeannette Rankin returned to Montana from a successful suffrage campaign in Washington State and addressed the Montana Legislature. The Helena Independent newspaper reported that her appeal for the right of women to vote lasted 20 minutes. “She neither begged for support, threatened, cajoled, or appealed to the chivalry of men. Rather, she simple advanced her argument and asked for a sincere and earnest consideration of it.” The House leadership order spittoons removed from the House floor out of “deference for the ladies present.” The 1913 Legislature placed the women’s vote issue on the ballot and in 1914 male voters approved the Constitutional Amendment for the right of women to vote.