Obituary Sunday - Peter Peroe "Champ Knitter Passes"

Peter Peroe was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1860 and learned the trade of baker.  In 1884 he and two friends came west. Mr. Peroe left his friends in St. Paul, MN and he went on to Billings, MT to work for the Yegen Brothers Bakery.  He later established his own bakery on Montana Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets.  After a fire destroyed the block, Mr. Peroe opened a confectionery at 2603 Montana Avenue.

He was acquainted with such characters as Calamity Jane, Crow Davis, Livercating Johnson, and J. I. Allen, a well known trader in the Columbus region at the time, who purchased his tobacco from Mr. Peroe.

In 1893, he married Emilie Elizabeth Steingruber at Hebron, ND. (Emilie's sister Anna Sybilla is my great grandmother). The couple had a son, Robert George (1894) and a daughter, Jennie (1902).

He retired from business in 1914 and leaned to knit was acclaimed the champion knitter in the area during the first world war.

Mr. Peroe was President of the Billings Opera House prior to its incorporation  with the Babcock Opera House and  also a member of the old Maverick Hose Company. He also served as a juror on many juries.

 He died at home on May 17, 1944 of a kidney ailment. He had been ill for three years.

Thriller Thursday: Knocked To The Floor By Sharp Thunder Clap

8 June 1909
Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, MT)
Tue., Page 1

KNOCKED TO THE FLOOR BY SHARP THUNDER CLAP

   Billings, June 7. -- While engaged in setting the table for the noon meal, Miss June Gardner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles I. Gardner of 410 North Twenty-fifth street, was knocked to the floor by the shock of a sharp clap of thunder and remained in an unconscious condition for about 20 minutes.

   Several other persons in that part of the city are said to have been more or less affected by the shock.

Thriller Thursday: Attempt Made To Kill A Citizen Of Billings

The Anaconda Standard (Anaconda, MT)
5 December 1906, Wed., Page 1

ATTEMPT MADE TO KILL A CITIZEN OF BILLINGS

Special Dispatch to the Standard

  Billings, Dec. 4. -- An attempt was made to take the life of Charles I. Gardner. a well-known citizen of this city, last night.  Mr. Gardner had just entered his home in East Billings when the report of a revolver rang out on the stillness of night and a bullet whistled close to Gardner's head.  As near as could be told the person who fired was in the cellar under the house, the door of which cellar opens on the porch on which Gardner was standing.  Investigation was made by officers who were telephoned for, but no one could be found.  The person had escaped from the cellar, presumably by means of a passage leading out on the opposite side of the house.