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1876 Seth Bullock was a well-known figure at Deadwood, South Dakota, but began his lengthy career in Helena, Montana. Public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons. LANE MEMORY Born in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada in 1849, Bullock was in business in Helena as an auctioneer by 1870. A Republican, he represented Lewis and Clark County in the 1871-1872 legislative session, where he helped establish Yellowstone Park. Elected sheriff of Lewis and Clark County in 1873, during his short two-year term Bullock presided over the first legal hangings in Montana Territory. e HBO series and various biographies claim that as sheriff in Helena, Bullock hung a horse thief named Clel Watson. e hanging supposedly occurred on a scaffold in front of an angry mob. If this were true there would be ample documentation, but there is neither mention of this event nor of Clel Watson in any contemporary sources. However, Montana's first two legal hangings are much more interesting than this fictionalized episode. e 1875 murder of Franz Warl, a prosperous charcoal manufacturer, shocked the Helena community. Warl was a longtime Helena businessman whose customers included blacksmiths and others who needed coal to fire steam engines and furnaces. Neighbors discovered Warl's mutilated corpse near his charcoal pit between Colorado Gulch and Ten Mile Creek. He had been gagged with a barber's apron, his hands bound, his skull crushed, and his neck dislocated. Warl's ferocious dog stood watch over the body but in the process chewed away half his master's face and an eye, adding to the horrific murder scene. SIGNATURE MONTANA | 45

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