Dec. 9, 1913Fallon County was created at Ekalaka, carved out of eastern Custer County and named after Maj. Benjamin O'Fallon.
It took a number of political maneuvers to do it, as a local newspaper colorfully documented: "Fallon County has as many lives as a cat, for dead and buried once, it revived again only to get its head chopped off by Wibaux, its tail pulled by Ekalaka, its ribs caved in by Ismay and its whiskers singed by Terry and Fallon."
O'Fallon, an Indian agent, never set foot in Montana, but his uncle, Capt. William Clark, named a creek in eastern Montana after his nephew on his way back to St. Louis in 1806.
In 1911, Montana had 29 counties. In the succeeding 14 years, the number nearly doubled to the present 56 in a frenzy of county splitting.
Dec. 11, 1921
John Philip Sousa and his band were a hit in the Liberty Theater in Missoula.
"We do not believe that Missoula has enjoyed a musical event so thoroughly as yesterday's coming of Sousa's band since - well, since the last time Sousa's band was here," opined the local newspaper.
The man for whom the sousaphone was named, Sousa was nicknamed "The March King" and penned what PBS recently called the most famous, and perhaps most frequently played piece of American music ever written" - "Stars and Stripes Forever."
The 67-year-old Sousa's band of nearly 100 musicians gave two performances at the Liberty on East Main Street on a cold December night. There was no word whether they played "In the Good Old Summertime," a No. 1 hit for Sousa in 1903.
"Time was when a black-bearded Sousa turned around to smile before he swung his organization into (a march)," the unnamed Missoulian reporter said. "It is not that sort of a Sousa, but a graver, grayer, less-erect Sousa - but it is the same Sousa that swings the baton."
Also lauded were soloists on the harp, cornet, violin, and vocals.
"George Carey is, we think, the finest xylophone player Missoula has heard," the story concluded. "He makes real music of what many of us have considered more of a vaudeville novelty than a musical instrument."
Dec. 13, 1984
Dusk was falling in the Madison Mountains west of Bozeman when Sheriff Johnny France spotted Don Nichols and his son, Dan, in a wooded draw.
"You fellas seen any coyotes?" France called, thus ending a five-month manhunt.
Don Nichols, 53, and his 19-year-old son surrendered peaceably. They had been on the run since kidnapping Kari Swenson, a Montana State University student and champion biathlete, near Big Sky in July. The next morning Swenson was wounded; would-be rescuer, Alan Goldstein, was shot and killed, and the kidnappers fled into the mountains.
The manhunt stirred nationwide attention and much local controversy. France, the sheriff of Madison County, was profiled in Esquire magazine and NBC produced a made-for-TV movie, "The Abduction of Kari Swenson." Swenson recovered from her wounds. Dan Nichols was convicted of kidnapping and assault. He was paroled in 1991. Don Nichols was refused parole in April, 2007, 21 years into an 85-year sentence for murder, kidnapping and assault.
Kim Briggeman can be reached at 523-5266 or at kbriggeman@missoulian.com.
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