Charles B. Streb was 25 and serving as a special deputy sheriff in Melrose, Montana, when he was shot dead while trying to arrest a man who had been waving a handgun and threatening people at a local dance hall on the night of July 24, 1911. Streb collapsed amid the music and dust as terrified dancers fled; townspeople formed a posse, pursued the suspect into the dark, and brought him back under guard.

Nelton, later recorded in prison records as Arthur Nelton. He claimed the shooting was accidental, but a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and the judge imposed a 100-year sentence; that sentence was later reduced by Governor Joseph M. Dixon and Nelton was released in 1924. Streb’s death is recorded in memorial rolls and law-enforcement remembrances that place him at the dance hall confronting an armed threat.

If anyone knew Charles Streb or remembers family stories about that night in Melrose, please share what is known.