Molly B, the heifer who wouldn't quit, to be subject of new children's book in 2024

There are some stories which endure because of the unique characters who inhabit them. In Great Falls, one of those characters is a brockle-faced heifer named Molly B.

Though Molly B’s story reads like a comic farce, her mad dash to escape the slaughterhouse is completely true. On a cold January morning nearly 18 years ago - and just hours before she was scheduled to meet her demise – Molly B jumped a gate at Mickey’s Packing Plant southwest of Great Falls, ran up a loading chute ramp, leapt to the ground and headed toward town.

For six hours Molly B gave her pursuers the slip, dodging in and out of traffic, narrowly avoiding being hit by a train and swimming across the cold Missouri River before finally being cornered against a fence next to Interstate 15. Even then it took three tranquilizer darts to finally settle her down enough to be corralled and loaded onto a stock trailer.

Because of her intrepid fight for freedom, Molly B was granted amnesty and lived out the rest of her days on animal sanctuaries across Montana. Her story inspired thousands, with hundreds of letters, postcards, telephone messages and even Valentine’s Day cards sent from across the U.S. and Europe urging her reprieve.

Molly B’s story may have drifted into obscurity in recent years, but now an acclaimed children’s author has written a book titled “The Mollys B,” a picture book for young children which tells the story of a singular day in the lives of two unsinkable Mollys: Margaret Tobin Brown, a Titanic survivor, and the renowned heifer of Great Falls, Montana, who were both placed into situations that forced them to fight for their lives.

“Indomitable. Determined. Fearless. These are the qualities of the Mollys B. who, despite living a century apart, share an experience that unites them in more than a name,” said Joann Howeth of the motivation for her work. “I have placed Molly the cow side-by-side with the original Unsinkable Molly, Margaret Tobin Brown, whom she was named after by Del Morris, the manager of the slaughter yard at the time.”

Howeth, who is a three-time award winner of the Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, is a Helena-based author and current Regional Advisor for the Montana Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Her book, “The Mollys B” is scheduled for publication next summer.

Although living a century apart, freezing water and the danger of drowning unite Margaret Tobin Brown and a brockle-faced heifer,” Howeth said. “Margaret’s life is threatened while sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on the famous RMS Titanic. Number 469’s (Molly B’s pen number) life is perilously close to being over as she awaits slaughter in a Montana abattoir. Filled with fear and anxiety, they each fight to escape their harrowing circumstances. Despite increasing uncertainty and calamitous encounters, these remarkable females face their individual situations with resourcefulness and courage and in the end, are graced with rescue and the endearing nickname “Molly.”

Molly B’s story in Great Falls began just 11 days past Christmas 2006, when she broke out of her pen near Gibson Flats Road. The chase began before dawn but didn’t evolve into a city-wide pursuit after Molly B trekked to the middle of the intersection of 7th Street and 10th Ave. South creating more than a few confused motorists.

Around 9:30 a.m. Great Falls police began receiving numerous calls about a cow in the middle of the heavily traveled intersection causing traffic problems.

“We thought, ‘Yeah right - a cow in the middle of town,’” said Cory Reeves, today Great Falls’ newly elected mayor, but then an officer for the Great Falls Police Department. “It was just hanging out in the middle of the road.”

Early in the pursuit officers were able wedge Molly B between a stock trailer and a fence, but the 1,200-pd heifer crashed through the fence and took off westbound down River Drive. At one point she narrowly missed being hit by a Chevy Suburban traveling through one of Great Falls central city neighborhoods. It was not to be the last of Molly B’s narrow brushes with death that day.

With police in pursuit, Molly B sped west toward the railroad tracks.

“Then they saw the train,” the Tribune reported the following day. “The panicked cow darted across the path of the oncoming locomotive, narrowly missing it, and giving police another brief slip. She then sped across River Drive near MacKenzie River Pizza, where she was nearly run down by a semi.”

“By that time, it was a madhouse,” Reeves told the Tribune. “People were coming out of the woodwork to see.”

After her trio of near-death experiences, the frantic heifer ran into Oddfellows Park. Hemmed in by more than a dozen police, animal control officers and slaughterhouse workers, Molly B dove into Broadwater Bay and swam toward the Missouri’s west bank, gradually getting swept downstream. Exhausted, she appeared to struggle and come close to drowning, but eventually found her footing on a sandbar near the river’s west bank and walked to shore.

By that time Molly B had won over the admiration of all who pursued her for her undaunted determination to win her freedom.

“I had policemen come up and tell me they couldn’t stand to watch anymore because she was going down,” said Del Morris, then manager of Mickey’s Packing Plant. “They were overjoyed when she got to the sandbar. I’ve never seen that degree of determination.”

Reaching the shore, the heifer ran across Bay Drive to the railroad tracks and followed them north for a while until eventually being cornered next to a chain link fence near Central Ave. and Interstate 15. Even here the pursuit wasn’t over. Molly juked an approaching animal control officer, turned up the speed and ran through a perimeter of officials attempting to block her in.

The chase finally came to an end when Molly reached several strong fences at the end of 2nd Ave. Southeast, including one separating the street from Interstate 15.

There, Dr. Jennifer Evans of Big Sky Medical Center arrived on the scene with a tranquilizer gun. It took three tranquilizer darts to finally slow Molly down. Workers built a makeshift pen with metal panels leading to a stock trailer.

After more than six hours, eight miles, more than a dozen pursuers, three tranquilizer darts and numerous near misses, the heifer was corralled and walked into the stock trailer at 11:45 a.m.

“It covered some ground,” Reeves said at the time. “She did make one heck of a journey.”

Molly B’s tale of flight drew interest from across the county and into Europe. Letters and calls from concerned citizens – mostly living out of state – kept rolling in. And once or twice a week people would stop by her pen at Mickey’s to see Molly B and take pictures of her.

“What she went through to survive is fabulous,” wrote one concerned animal lover from New Jersey. “She is a special cow and should be treated with respect.”

It was a decision Del Morris and the staff at Mickey’s Packing Plant had already made. Morris and the other employees christened the spirited cow Molly B and voted 10-1 to spare her from slaughter. Morris told the Tribune that seeing Molly B swim the Missouri was what convinced him she needed to be spared - long before the dozens of calls and emails from across the country begging for her to be spared.

“Molly is a special cow,” he told the Tribune in 2006. “She did so many unbelievable things to survive. She’s just an excellent animal. Very strong-willed.”

Molly B went on to spend the remainder of her years at various animal sanctuaries across Montana. She ended her days at the Salida Del Sol Animal Sanctuary in the Helena Valley.

No matter the passage of years, Molly B’s story still resonates with people who recall the courageous bovine. He story will continue on for children and adults to remember and retell for decades to come.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Story of Molly B to be focus of new children’s book