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Joe Scott hailed from somewhere around the Black Hills region of South Dakota where he had already gained a considerably bad reputation.
Mollie Forrest was about twenty-years-old when she married Joe Scott. It is uncertain as to what Mollie's source of income was prior to marrying Scott. Her means of support after she married Scott is known however, and it did not come from her wedded mate. Actually, it was the other way around. Mollie supported Joe Scott, and with little thanks for it--in the end. Joe Scott hailed from somewhere around the Black Hills region of South Dakota where he had already gained a considerably bad reputation. The Scotts left the Black Hills area and moved on to Helena, Montana . Upon their 1880 arrival in Helena, Scott discovered that his bad name had arrived in that mining town ahead of him. And it didn't take long for him to prove that what folks in Helena were saying about him was true. Upon the Scotts attempting to check into a hotel in Helena, the night clerk suggested that the couple were not actually married. Whether it was an act of chivalry on Scott's part with the intent to defend his lady's honor or, most likely, the usual instant flare of his temper, Joe Scott assaulted the imaginative night clerk. Newspaper accounts leave a question as to whether Mollie took part in the scuffle but the law arrested them both. Only after Mollie and Joe produced evidence that they were legally married did the authorities release them from jail. Evidently the Scotts must have figured they'd used up their welcome in Helena in the short time they were there because they soon made tracks for Butte, Montana. The Scotts arrived in Butte on a Friday evening and Mollie immediately went off to work. Her place of employment was a dance hall. Her occupation was that of a prostitute. Things went well, or so it seems, until the following Tuesday. Murder in Montana continued.
The copyright of the article Murder in Montana 1 in American History is owned by Mary Trotter Kion. Permission to republish Murder in Montana 1 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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