P a g e 6 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r According to Matilda Dalton, her father William Dalton was also a Freemason. In fact, William’s funeral in Virginia City in January of 1864, was the second Masonic funeral in the Montana Territory. It is not known whether William became a Freemason at Bannack or Virginia City, or he was a Freemason prior to joining the First Fisk Expedition, but he was indeed a Freemason prior to his death. The first Masonic funeral in the Territory of Montana was that of William H. Bell, who died in the fall of 1862 in Bannack Montana of “mountain fever”. -Be sure to catch our next newsletter for the continuation of the Dalton story! A big Thank You to David and Shannon Biegel at www.enjoyyourparks.com for sharing their amazing family history with us! Charity Dillon Priscilla Jane Allen is not the name she left behind when she died. She is known to posterity as Charity Jane Dillon, and her grave, high above Canyon Ferry Lake, is perhaps the most visited site in Broadwater County. There are several accounts of her life and death, but the common threads recount how this young woman came west, alone and on horseback looking for her errant lover. She came to Diamond City, twenty miles northeast of present-day Townsend, in the mid-1860s and eventually found him happily married to another woman and the father of several children. She kept her true identity and heartbreak to herself, and never revealed the man’s name. Under the assumed name of Jane Dillon, she settled near a spring on the stagecoach road between Hog ‘Em and Radersburg where she built a log cabin inn. The inn was not an overnight hostelry but rather a place where travelers could stop and have a drink or a meal. The hospitality of this half-way house was well known. Some old timers claim that she was called Charity because of her kindly acts, but others believe that her name came from the inn’s geographic location near Charity Gulch. In 1872, passersby found Charity Dillon dead in her bed, a bottle whiskey hidden underneath. While some conclude that she died an alcoholic, she may have simply stored the whiskey—which she kept for customers—there for safekeeping. Others believe she died of ptomaine poisoning from contaminated canned goods, a fairly common occurrence. Still others insist that Charity Dillon died of a broken heart. Whatever the cause, it is this poignant mystery that brings visitors to her grave. –Ellen Baumler Ellen Baumler was an award-winning author and Montana historian. A Photo Courtesy of Montana Moments Blog Photo Courtesy of Montana Moments Blog master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. The legacy she left behind will be felt for generations to come and we are in debt to her for sharing her extensive knowledge of Montana history in such an entertaining manner. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html
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