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Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg
New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.
I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.
I wanna again welcome you to The 04:05 Coffee Break. Guys, get you cup of coffee, glass iced tea, maybe a bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat $5.46 a bushel, 550lb steer calf, hard to believe. $4.72 a pound. Take $4.72 times 550lbs. I hope to shout! A butcher hog in Iowa 61¢ a pound, and a 100lb lamb that's fat in Billings will fetch you $2.46 a pound. But guys, there's more, much more.
OK Solberg:Well well, yesterday, we talked about the Volkswagen Beetle, and I again refrain from telling you about the attempted bank robbery in Hinsdale, Montana where Ace and Grease had a Volkswagen Beetle as their getaway car. Yes, sir.
OK Solberg:Attempted bank robbery back in February 1977. So I didn't tell you about that robbery, but it did remind me of the great train robbery by Kid Curry and his gang and it happened back in 1901, just a few miles west of Malta. Gather around kitties and I will tell you that story after our bible verse. Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations, ask your father and he will show you, your elders and they will tell you. Yes.
OK Solberg:The days of old. Let's flashback to the year 1901. Why? It's the 125th anniversary of that monumental crime. I'm again looking in the booklet that Jimmy Murdoch gave me last week titled simply Looking Back and it was printed in the early 1980's.
OK Solberg:Now here's an account from an eyewitness that's printed in this booklet. And he was 6 years old and he was on the train when the hooligans robbed it. Now his name was Ira Merritt And Ira wrote his friend Royal a letter and in the letter he recounts the events of the last great train robbery. Now what I'm gonna do is pull out segments from this letter. It'll come to you in bits and pieces, but I'll try to make it flow.
OK Solberg:Now I have to do this because the letter is too long to include on this episode. So just know this, young Ira is 6 years old and he's on the train when it gets robbed and I will quote his exact words. But first, let me tell you this. There have been lots of exciting things but nothing like the thriller that I witnessed. Let us say from a ringside seat about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon of July 3rd, 1901.
OK Solberg:Of course, a lot of people got quite excited. I can still remember the Porter vanishing, and I learned later they didn't locate him until we got to Havre. The poor fella had hidden in the icebox and he was about done for when they found him. Almost immediately after the train was stopped, word was sent in for the people to stay inside and no one would get hurt. They backed this order up by keeping up an almost continuous rifle fire along either side of the train.
OK Solberg:A girl about 19 was sitting in front of me playing cards and she got curious and stuck her head out the window. A bullet evidently went whizzing by too close for comfort. She jerked her head back in mighty fast, but her shoulder was a little late. A bullet tore through her flesh, missing the bone which might be considered a lucky break for her. I still remember how the blood spurted out of that wound.
OK Solberg:Needless to say that that put an end to the card game. One of the things that I saw and that really stands out was a rider appearing out of nowhere and riding towards the train. He apparently was not a welcome onlooker. When he got as close as the bandits figured was good shooting range, they cut loose on him with their rifles and that cowpoke took out of there like a tin can dog spurned on by a little shot of turpentine in the rear. He later returned with the posse and we got a good look at him and his horse.
OK Solberg:It was easy to see then why he departed in such a hurry. One of the bullets had grazed the left hip of his horse. Naturally, the advent of the rider and his quick and safe departure made it necessary for kid and his cohorts to get through with their main job in a hurry. There I end the quote. How would that affect affect your six year old son if it happened today?
OK Solberg:Send your six year old boy on a train today and see how that would affect him. We all like to hear about the Wild West. We like to watch movies depicting the activities. But when you hear it firsthand from an eyewitness, we can all say, well, you know what? I'm glad it isn't that way anymore.
OK Solberg:My thanks again to Jimmy Murdoch. Birthday, 06/13/1957. I'm one day older than Jimmy and that's why he treats his elder so kindly. So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.