Where a Montana man likely was wrongly executed

A hangman's noose is prominently displayed inside the Bozeman, Mt., Pioneer Museum, a grim reminder of an execution that took place here when the building served as the county prison. (Scott Beveridge photo)


By Scott Beveridge


BOZEMAN, Mt. ? A hangman's noose is the feature attraction inside a Montana museum devoted to America's Western expansion.


And this gallows executed just one man before the Gallatin County Jail was vacated and converted into the Pioneer Museum in Bozeman by the county's historical society, said Ann Butterfield, its assistant director.


"A hanging did take place here," Butterfield said, while leading a September 2010 tour of the redbrick, Bastille-like structure built in 1911.


While the prison was designed to be the best jail in the West, it took only 10 days after it opened for six prisoners to escape through an underground tunnel once used to transport prisoners to the courthouse, according to the book, "Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley: A History," by Phyllis Smith. The escapees reportedly fled town on a train, and four were captured and returned to their cells.


But the death of the banjo-playing murder convict Seth Orrin Danner is probably the most famous story haunting this museum at 317 W. Main St.

Danner met his death here at 8 a.m. July 18, 1924, after his wife, Iva, led investigators to the victims' shallow grave. She told authorities her husband had killed John Sprouse while the two fished, and, when he returned to camp, he strangled the man's wife, Florence, after crushing her skull with an axe, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported in February.


The newspaper, which publishes some of the funniest police reports, went on to report that Iva Danner, while on her deathbed seven decades later, confessed to shooting and killing the pregnant Florence Sprouse after the woman caught her husband and Iva having an affair. The scorned woman had gone after Iva Danner after killing her husband.


So it's quite possible an innocent man was hanged in the prison, which mostly served as a drunk tank until a new one was built in 1982, Butterfield said.


The historical society saved a handful of the jail cells for visitors to see and experience their cramped conditions when the prison housed 40 men and eight women.


One prisoner who passed through the place scrawled "I love you" on a floor, while others drew images of marijuana leaves on the walls. Another wrote, "I've been framed," inside a cell.


The exhibits here include an assortment of ladies' hats, a 16-pound ball and chain, rifles and even the Model A Ford driven by a local funeral director, Howard Nelson, who bought the car new and never parked it until just before his death in 1988, Butterfield said.


This is a destination not to be missed by travelers who pull into this part of Big Sky Country.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/11/where-montana-man-likely-was-wrongly.html

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Inspiration Pic

The Everything Bag, originally uploaded by bianca.cristina.

I love everything about this bag, the colours, the embroidery, the design choice.
Hooray!

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/08/inspiration-pic.html

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Remember Hobbytex?

Today's transfers are a recent op-shop (aka thrift store) find. A pack of Hobbytex iron-on transfers, simply marked "No. 302 children designs". They were wrapped up in a plastic bag when I bought them, so I couldn't check what was in there until I got it home, and lo and behold:

More Vogart - a sheet of "Jolly Farmyard Scenes" (aka Vogart 705) and a mixture of kitty and doggy patterns from Vogart 102 and the days of the week kitties. Does anyone know how Vogart patterns ended up being licensed to Hobbytex and Made in Australia*? I know Vogart used to make fabric paint at one stage too... I might have to go a-Google-ing Hobbytex.

I think there's a sheet missing from the pack as the other sheets are marked B, C and D. The third sheet I have I'm guessing is a Hobbytex original, as I've never seen it before, and the designs defintely seem to be geared towards fabric painting rather than embroidery. I like the designs though, they're good and "boyish": sailboats, racing cars, a rodeo rider and an assortment of old aeroplanes.

So if the wee boys in your life don't want a kitteh or a doggie, then I think this Spitfire-like fighter plane is the way to go!

*(..as the patterns proclaim. I like seeing "Made in Australia" on things.)

PS. Yes, I realise that the flags and the winning cup are still upside down on the first car pic, but I know my stitchy friends have the technology to overcome this.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/07/remember-hobbytex.html

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Stitch along with Mike's!

I'm a bad britches, stitchy friends, I know I am. But good stitchy fun is currently happening on the Meet me at Mike's blog. They've got a nice list of links to free Christmassy patterns, and they're having their own Christmas stocking stitch along, with two of their own designs. Pip's also put up some embroidery basics tutorials and they're all rather splendid. So if you haven't already, check it out! That should keep you out of mischief for a while!

Here's one that's been stitched, by a lovely gal at Brown Owls last Monday:

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/12/stitch-along-with-mikes.html

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VIDEO: Play, Laugh, Grow

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HowToMakeArt/~3/zYQxh2T5a14/video-play-laugh-grow.html

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Contemplating Winter

English, Scottish and Icelandic

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/04/contemplating-winter.html

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Outhouse humor

The outhouse behind my house. (Scott Beveridge photo)


By Scott Beveridge


WEBSTER, Pa. ? People often scrunch their noses and offer strange glances when they find out there is an outhouse on a back corner of the lot that also holds my house.


The reactions typically are followed up by their asking the same question: "You do have an indoor bathroom, too?"


I roll my eyes, usually cite the calendar year and reassure them my century-old house is equipped with the luxury of indoor plumbing.


It's impossible to know for sure why the former owner, Reggie Bakewell, decided the keep the outbuilding, even though it had fallen into disrepair and onto is side when I bought the property Webster, Pa., in 1987.


My best guess is that Bakewell, a steelworker, held onto his outhouse because he didn't trust his indoor loo to always function. His potty had been connected to an old brick-lined cistern without an outflow drain in the front yard. When the retrofitted septic tank filled, it backed up with each toilet flush into the bathtub until Bakewell could find a honey dipper to remove its contents. (Thankfully that problem since has been corrected)


The outhouse didn't become a priority for me, thought, until the adjoining property owner stormed over one day in the early 1990s and demanded I removed it from her property.


A preservationist at heart, I asked a good friend to help me right that ship and we put it back together the best we could. I then padlocked its front door because we didn't replace the floor and there is a long drop to the bottom of that concrete-lined pit. However, I did hold onto the double seater with yet-to-be-fulfilled plans to restore the interior.

Over the years the small building has become the butt of many jokes, a conversation piece, especially at Christmastime, when I string it with colored lights and hang a wreath on its front door.


And friends rarely miss an opportunity to give me all-things-related-to-outhouses as gag gifts.


My other "outhouse" collection has increased to include calendars, Christmas ornaments, a night light and even a liquid soap dispenser shaped like a privy.


A good friend surprised me one birthday with a creative outhouse birdhouse he built from weathered wood.


However, the pi�ce de r�sistance arrived this Christmas Eve in the form of a present from a great friend whom I've know since elementary school.


She gave me the novelty Santa's outhouse toy, shown below, that, with the press of a button, it's tiny holiday lights shine to the sounds of St. Nick passing gas and making silly comments about pooping.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/12/outhouse-humor.html

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