Rocketgirl's Full Review: Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Montana History
This book is an anthology written by several Montana historians. Dave Walter is the editor and gives an introduction to each story. Walter explains how, under the dictionary definition of "jerk" each of these Montanans come to be classified as such. As you read each chapter you will see that these people are truly "jerky."
1. The Unsaintly Sir St. George Gore - in the late 19th big game hunting became very popular. The American plains still had buffalo, deer, moose, etc. and was a popular playground for the well-to-do. Gore was a British nobleman on vacation in the States. It was bad enough he indiscriminately slaughtered animals for the trophies. He was extremely wasteful and for the most part left the carcasses where they lie.
2. No Paper Trail - near the Little Bighorn is the Crow Indian Reservation. Indian agents were usually established for such areas as a liaison between the government and the reservation. It seems that most of the agents at the Crow Reservation were crooked. They switched good products for stale or rotten products. They kept goods for themselves and did not give the Indians all they were entitled to. They overcharged for what goods they did let the Indians have.
3. Fell Deeds - this is probably one of the more confusing chapters--anything dealing with property rights seems to be. But the bottom line is the railroads continued to chop down vast stands of timber under the mistaken impression that it was an infinite resource. It is not.
4. Calamity Jane - I'm not quite sure just why she is included here. All the others in the book hurt other people or the public in general. Jane was only hurting herself. Sure people thought her uncouth and ill-mannered but she wasn't hurting anybody. She had a sailor's language and wore men's clothes and drank. Her story doesn't seem to belong in this collection, though it is interesting.
5. Montana's 1889 Constitutional Convention - the founding fathers couldn't seem to make up their minds quite what would go in their constitution. It was quite clear though that they felt foreign-born residents should not be entitled to the same rights as American born citizens. They definitely wanted all Chinese banned from residency. And they were adamant that women should not be allowed to vote.
6. Too Many Cooks - George Carlin decided to take a party big-game hunting in the Bitterroot Wilderness southwest of Missoula. Unfortunately he failed to take into account the rough terrain, the lateness of the season, and how in the world he would bring back his trophies. Worst of all he left behind Colgate, their cook, who was too weak to walk.
7. Missoula's Murderous Madam - this is the story of Mary Gleim. Mary was always assaulting her customers, law officers, and anyone else who got in her way. She did time in jail and always seemed to be in court for one thing or another.
8. Ike Gravelle - he and a fellow inmate at Deer Lodge prison cooked up a scheme to extort money from the Northern Pacific railroad. After his threatening notes failed to give forth his extortion money he began blowing up tracks and bridges.
9. To the Last Gasp - the smelters of the mining companies particularly the Anaconda Mining Company belched toxic particles and gases, particularly arsenic. It was killing the livestock and the vegetation they lived on. People downwind were getting diseases others did not. The company denied its stacks had anything to do with the problem.
10. You Better be Careful or I'll Send you to See Ed Morrisey - Ed Morrisey was one of those bad cops. He was always pushing and shoving people around. He beat up prisoners and was also accused of killing his wife.
11. The Reverend Leonard Christler - one of those charismatic self-proclaimed prophets who somehow draws flocks to him. Unfortunately this time he stood in the middle of a love triangle. A man's wife ran away with Christler and later killed herself because she couldn't be with him.
12. White Hoods Under the Big Sky - amazingly the KKK reached all the way to Montana. The usual targets of the KKK were blacks, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. However, the Catholics became the largest target for the Montana KKK because there were very few of the other groups in the state. Fortunately the movement lasted only about 8 years.
13. Key Stone Cops in Big Sky Country - this story was a bit confusing. It seems two robbers planned to rob a bank--but they let the bank president in on it because the scheme was really to rob the bank and then collect the reward money when they came forward with the money. Except that the plan got was revealed to the authorities. The cops lie in what for the robbery, but were so uncoordinated no one knew what anyone else was doing.
14. Jacob Thorkelson - he was a senator and an embarrassment to Montana once he got elected. He was prejudiced against Jews and lost no opportunity to say so. He thought everyone around him was a communist threat. This story was a bit repetitive and this small amount is about all I got out of it.
For the most part the stories were interesting and were not written to show off the writers' vocabulary. Many of the stories were very conversational as if the writer was talking directly to the reader. Each story was accompanied by at least one picture of the "jerk."
Another feature I liked is that there is plenty of bibliographical data if you are interested in more information on any of the jerks. Some sources are books and newspapers. Others are historical societies and contact names are identified.
Though it was a bit dry in spots and a bit confusing in others, I recommend it as very interesting information on some relatively unknown people. Montana is also probably not the most studied state, so this is a good introduction to show the varied history of the state. It does sound like it has a bit of an environmental history bent. This is okay with me since that interests me, but may be a bit much for others who are tired of being bombarded by it. Overall, a very informative book.
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