Distinctly Montana Magazine

84 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 5 tained the patients at the Veteran's Facility...by recounting some of his early experiences as an Indian scout. He also sang several songs." At many of his Canadian engagements he was accompanied by someone billed as Fresno Rose, his wife who he is described as having married when she was 14 years old. Fresno Rose is sup- posed to be from Texas, yet curiously she never appeared in any of Montana Frank's American shows during the 1930s. Cattle Annie, sometimes named as Jessie Charron (or Sharon) in one newspaper, is several times billed as their daughter. Whoever Cattle Annie was, she may have been the daughter of "Fresno Rose" — or not, given that she is elsewhere identified as one Jessie Charron, or Sharon — but she was almost certain- ly not the daughter of Frank and his actual second wife, Grace. They married in September of 1936, when she was 47 and he was nearly 72. But then, vexingly, there is one mention of a public appear- ance, as late as 1947, of Montana Frank with Fresno Rose in De- troit, when he would have been 83 years old. This is very nearly the latest mention of Montana Frank I could find, ten years after his interviews in Spokane and Idaho newspapers. He would have been old, but perhaps not too old to tell a story or two, or maybe even do a shooting trick, with help from his assistant. Of course, by that time maybe the greatest trick he could pull off was to stand there, look the part, and be a creditable representation of an actual Old West figure well past his prime. TRUTH, LIES, AND LARIATS His final bid for fame, before his obituary got him a little ink for the last time, was a letter written to the Madisonian in Virginia City when he was 90 years old. He reiterates again the greatest hits of his career — he was a Pony Express rider, a rider and roper with Buffalo Bill who accompanied him to the World's Fair, and to Europe. He had acted as a courier from Sheridan, Wyoming, all the way to Missoula, Montana. He left out mention of toma- hawk wounds, notches in gun barrels, and songs written for er- rant royals. He claimed, finally, to have never learned how to read and write, despite having told the Minneapolis Star Tribune years earlier that he had learned both at the feet of his parents, not to mention his apparently having written the letter in question. The problem of the nature of truth regarding Montana Frank is compounded by the certainty that, whoever he was, he was Professional & Experienced Property Management VOTE FOR US! R T E P R O P E R T Y G R O U P Association Multi-Family Commercial Professional & Experienced Property Management VOTE FOR US! R T E P R O P E R T Y G R O U P Association Multi-Family Commercial Professional & Experienced Property Management VOTE FOR US! R T E P R O P E R T Y G R O U P Association Multi-Family Commercial Best Apartment Complex Best Property Management Finalist rtepropertygroup.com 406-206-9696 R T E P R O P E R T Y G R O U P P r o f es si ona l & E x peri e nced P r op e rt y M an a g e m en t 2023-24 of B E S T M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F Y E A R S WO N W I N N E R ! IT BECAME CLEAR THAT HE WAS LESS A WILD WEST SHOW PROPRIETOR THAN A VAUDEVILLE PERFORMER WHO BORROWED THE IMAGERY OF THE WILD WEST SHOW FOR WHAT HE DUBBED HIS 'MINIATURE RODEO.' 2025 o f BEST M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F Open Tuesday-Sunday 7 am - 3 pm 406.579.3454 600 North Wallace Avenue Bozeman, Montana www.wildcrumb.com

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