Novel out based on Havre's outlaw 'Long George' Francis

Bozeman author James C. Simmons has written a novel based on the early 20th century Hill County cowboy outlaw Long George Francis.

"Just to Keep Even" is a novel based on the controversial life of Long George, who was said to be colorful, likable and in great demand at fairs and rodeos.

"The timeline is correct, the main characters were all real people. I have added things from my own imagination - a lot of the minor characters I made up and some events, but a lot it is factual. But the main events throughout the book were factual," Simmons said.

Simmons, who was in Havre last week to promote "Just to Keep Even" is a retired physician. Originally from Utah, Simmons said he moved to Montana in the '60s after falling in love with Big Sky country during his time in the military at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls.

He said he wrote "Just to Keep Even" because he needed something to do, and because he is fascinated with Long George.

The phrase "just to keep even," Simmons said, refers to the reasons cowboys started branding their cattle.

"Well, it had to do if it didn't have a brand on it, it didn't belong to anybody, and if you didn't get your brand on it, somebody else would. And you'd go out of the mountains in the fall with fewer cattle than you went in with - so you did it just to keep even," Simmons said.

Part of the controversy about Long George was his supposed philosophy on branding, he added.

"The way he was raised, if it didn't have a brand on it, nobody owned it," Simmons said. "But that got him in trouble as things changed."

"Grit, Guts and Gusto," a book on Hill County history, says Long George was viewed as a cattle rustler by many Havre citizens during his time, but many others didn't believe that about him.

Long George, who lived in a four-room house on the banks of the Milk River a few miles west of Havre, was never wanted for rustling, the book says, but a bench warrant on the charge of grand larceny involving the theft of a bay mare was issued for his arrest Jan. 31, 1918.

For more than two years - from 1918 to 1920 - Long George's whereabouts was a mystery.

Long George was found dead on Christmas Day of 1920 by a rancher looking for lost stock. The account in "Grit, Guts and Gusto" says the day before, Long George told law officers he was going to give himself up after he visited his girlfriend, but he was hurt on the way to see her. He made a splint using wood from an apple box and tried to crawl for help.

"It was snowing and cold," the book says. "Exhaustion, pain and weather broke his will and he cut his throat with a knife."

Havre's Gary Wilson, who died in 2015, also wrote a book about Francis, a historical account titled "Long George Francis: Gentleman Outlaw of Montana."