When you write non fiction books, the research is the best part of the job. Finding a missing piece of information is like finding a picture of your first love in a box of old family photos. You don’t mind digging for it, because you never know what else you might find. Every now and then a piece of information is so illusive that you think you will never find it. I find myself in that position right now. I am working on my new book Montana History Sampler and there is an incident that I would like to include but I cannot verify that it happened or get any specific information about it.
In the book, Montana Almanac, that was co-authored by Andrea Merrill and Judy Jacobson, published in 1997, I found a brief mention of the heroic action of a teacher named Bertha Rheinhart, who saved her students and the schoolhouse where she taught by building a backfire to stop the advance of a raging prairie fire. When some of the students became frightened they ran into the flames and Ms. Rheinhart risked her life to save the youngsters. According to this source she died from the burns she suffered. The incident took place in the Poplar area in 1914.
I have searched every resource I could think of, the newspapers from that area as well as the major state newspapers, as well as historical books from Roosevelt and Sheridan Counties. I even tried contacting the authors of Montana Almanac with no success. What I am hoping now is that someone who reads this might have some information or a suggestion about other leads.
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