Back in the Day

PT-109 is rammed

Aug. 2, 1943 — U.S. Navy boat PT-109, commanded by Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy, sank after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands.

Labor organizer hanged

Aug. 2, 1917 — Labor organizer Frank Little was found hanging from a trestle under a bridge in Butte, a 3-7-77 vigilante warning attached to his body. The thousands of workers who turned out for his funeral had not doubt that the Anaconda Co. was behind the unsolved murder.

Fatal shooting

Aug. 2, 1920 — Frank H. Connolly, an 11-year veteran of the police department, was fatally shot by two men he thought were planning to hold up the Arlington Hotel on Great Falls’ West Side.

Sources: Associated Press, Montana Historical Society