W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M
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It isn't every day that the madam of a house of prosti-
tution blabs intimate details about her business.
I was a statehouse reporter in Helena for the Great
Falls Tribune in 1968 when editor Scotty James
assigned me to interview the madam who had oper-
ated two brothels in Butte. Beverly Snodgrass said
she contacted other newspapers, including
e Montana Standard in her hometown. Only the
Tribune would touch the story. e Tribune had
a reputation for crusading journalism, dating to
when e Anaconda Company dominated Mon-
tana's economy, politics and even its newspapers.
I interviewed Snodgrass in the office of the
Rev. Joseph Finnegan at Immaculate Concep-
tion Catholic Church, where she felt safe. A few
minutes into the interview, it was clear that she was
a madam who knew too much for her own good.
Without prompting from the young priest, she
candidly recalled her torrid love affair with the Butte
official she called "Dimple Knees."
~ BERTON BRALEY VIA PAT WILLIAMS
© 2018 by JOHN KUGLIN
B
UTTE WAS STILL A RAW, WIDE-
OPEN MINING CAMP WHEN I
FIRST SAW IT IN THE LATE 1960S,
with illegal gambling, about five thriving
whorehouses and bars whose owners regarded
the state law mandating a 2:00 a.m. time as
something that only applied to the rest of
Montana.
Beverly Snodgrass owned two of Butte's
leading houses of prostitution. In 1968, the
talkative madam, her affections scorned by an
official she called "Dimple Knees," who stole
her heart and then her money, decided to tell
her story to a newspaper reporter. What hap-
pened is the subject of this book...
