Unfortunate Words

2018 WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARD FINALIST Words spoken in anger can only fester... In 1917, Montana was not necessarily a hospitable place for Germans. World War I was raging and America had just declared its intent to side with the British and the French. Not everyone was convinced this was a good idea, but God helps you if spoke your mind, especially if you were German… Otto Lutz fell into this category. He and his family were like most ranchers in central Montana in 1917. They were struggling to make a living from land that was, more often than not, unpredictable in what it would yield. Still, life had been mostly good for them but that was before the war and their feud with Jim Thompson. Given the man he was, the circumstances were not good for Otto and his kin.