An Accident Prone Man: Dan Crowley

                           Dan Crowley with a horse that pulled 7,200 pounds on a stone boat.

Dan Crowley (a freighter) was hit on the head and had his throat slit by a group of Italians, while on his way to C.J. Morgan’s camp near Stoney. The event was described in detail in the June 4, 1909 Mail. The men believed responsible for the attack went to the Wyman Ranch and told the rancher that the freighter had attempted suicide by slashing his throat. Mr. Wyman immediately went to the scene and found Dan still breathing. He obtained help from Richard Stingle at Quartz Gulch and Forest Ranger H.N. (Harry) Morgan. After bandaging the victims wounds they brought him by wagon to the physician’s house in Philipsburg. Sheriff J.D. Kennedy was notified and immediately rode out and arrested the four men: Louis Bobba and his son Antonio Bobba, G. Massoglio and Francise Bergamaschi. They were all arraigned with Bergamaschi and Massoglio released under the care of C.J. Morgan and the father and son were held in jail. The son was believed to be the one who wielded the knife. 

A three column account appeared in the Mail, on June 18, 1909 headlined “Crowley tells his story.” Newspaper text during that era was very descriptive so I will refrain from quoting the article. The men were tried by a twelve man jury convened in September. The father and son were found guilty and sentenced to five years in Deer Lodge. The charges were dropped on the other two men. 

Dan, continued to live an accident prone life and died from injuries he sustained when a big gray team owned by G.A. (George) Stephens’ turned a wagon over onto him on August 27, 1913. “Mr. Crowley was caught under the wagon, or was run over, no one knows which, it all happened so quickly …and he sustained fatal internal injuries….He died about 10 hours later.” After a funeral at his residence in the Church Hill addition, Dan was buried in the Philipsburg cemetery. 

Dan, was born on December 25, 1854, in Ireland, arriving in the United States in 1882. He was a resident of Philipsburg for thirty years. He married Miss Elizabeth “Lizzie” Herman, in 1890. Lizzie was a niece of Mrs. Mary Schuh, who lived in the upper valley. Lizzie and Dan had three sons: Herman “Daniel” (1890) Arthur J. (1895), and Louis “Tex” (1906). 

Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Herman Crowley, born June 21, 1868, worked for the Woodcraft organization. I found frequent reference where she stated the amount of insurance the deceased family would receive. She died September 5, 1953 and was interred next to Daniel, in the Philipsburg cemetery. 

The Crowley family were early settlers in the Philipsburg and Granite area. Tom J. Crowley (Daniel’s brother) married Mary Delia Miller Sage, on June 2, 1895. They ran a boarding house on upper Broadway, in Philipsburg and took over the contract to care for the county poor and infirmed, in 1901. 

Mary, born on June 2, 1869, in Milhurd County Utah, came to Philipsburg with her parents, when quiet young (about 1882). The family lived in one of the cabins near Kroger’s Brewery, and then moved to the Bitter Root. On October 14, 1883, Mary married J. Riley Sage and the newly weds returned to Philipsburg. To the marriage, was born a son Clarence. In 1891, Mr. Sage died, leaving Mary a widow with a small son. Four years later, she married T.J. Mary died in a Butte Hospital, after surgery, on January 28, 1902. Survivors were: her husband, sons: Clarence Sage and Arthur Crowley, sister Orinda Riddle, living near Riverside and a brother living in Gebo, Montana. The funeral was at the family home with Rev. H.G. Wakefield, performing the service. Internment was in the Philipsburg cemetery. 

Tom came to Philipsburg in 1885 and some time after Mary’s death, went to California, where he died on November 17, 1931 and was buried in California. 

In the Crowley cemetery plot block nineteen, lot thirty seven, graves one-eight there are headstones for Charles G. who died September 19, 1891, at the age of three years one month and one day and Edna M. and Edgar J., twins, that lived twenty two and twenty three days; dying on October 10 and 11, 1892, all children of D.P. and M.E. Crowley and there are file cards for a Baby Herman and twins Clarina and Carra but no dates or ages listed. There is also a Baby Mary Crowley, but no date or age, but I believe a child of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Crowley. Their son, Arthur, was born, weighing fourteen pounds, on May 13, 1896, in Philipsburg, according to the Philipsburg Mail.