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On Saturday, March 11 1939, three experienced slot-machine hijackers from Butte, Montana drove to Helena in a Dodge coupe, looking for places to rob. William Foster (1910-1939), Elwood Burton Crawford (1910-1966), and Edward "Babe" Netterberg (1906-1973) cruised the area for hours, until about 10:00 pm, when they stopped at the Broadwater store.

Foster went inside, bought a pack of cigarettes from owner Fred "Scotty" Palmer (1876-1969) and loitered for a few minutes, casing the place. Foster decided that the Broadwater Grocery and filling station looked like an easy target.

The trio decided to wait until the following morning to hit the store, intending to surprise Palmer when he opened up. To kill time, the boys spent the night driving to East Helena, then to Townsend and back, looking for future holdup opportunities.

They returned to Broadwater around 6:00 am on Sunday morning, and parked on "an upper road and about a quarter mile east of the gas station" (presumably Hauser Blvd., which at that time went through to the highway) and waited for the owner Fred "Scotty" Palmer to open up. When they saw the store lights come on, they drove down...

Netterberg remained in the car as the getaway driver, while Foster led the way into the store with Crawford close behind him. Foster thrust his hand into the pocket of his dark blue overcoat, in which was a loaded .38 revolver, and told Palmer, ""This is a stickup! These slot machines have to go, Dad." To which Palmer replied, "O. K.".

While Foster kept his revolver trained on Palmer, Crawford took the nickel machine and loaded it into the Dodge. He came back, picked up the dime machine, and took it outside.

Foster then turned away from Palmer momentarily to grab the cash drawer. Palmer backed away from Foster, toward a bedroom at the rear of the store (the part of the structure existing today). Palmer reached around a door sill and grabbed a 12-gauge Remington automatic shotgun which was leaning against the wall. When Foster turned around holding the cash drawer, Palmer fired. He was less than 12 feet away from Foster when he pulled the trigger. The blast of shot ripped away part of Foster's left sleeve, blew a four-inch-wide hole in the front of his overcoat, and entered his body just under the heart.

"Oh!" Foster cried, dropping the cash drawer to the floor, scattering the $10 in change that it held. He fell to the floor, got up, staggered out the door, and fell again. Crawford, outside with the dime slot machine, dropped it and ran north toward Ten Mile Creek. Netterberg exited the car and hid, crouching next to the building.

Palmer went outside with his shotgun and confronted Netterberg, who pleaded with Palmer not to shoot him. Palmer marched Netterberg across the highway to the Pepperbox (now the Corner Bar), where bartender Leonard Floydell called the Sheriff and ambulance, and held Netterberg until the Sheriff arrived.

Foster was taken by ambulance to St. John's Hospital, where he died less than four hours later of shock and hemorrhage.

Crawford hid in an outhouse near Ten Mile Creek, but was found a short time later by Sheriff Brian O'Connell.

In the Dodge were found several homemade blackjacks, and wiring which authorities said was similar to that used in blowing open safes.

A coroner's jury found that Palmer's shooting of Foster was justifiable. Crawford and Netterberg were each sentenced to three years in the state penitentiary. Foster was buried in Butte's Holy Cross Cemetery.

"I'm sorry this thing had to happen," Palmer said in The Helena Independent. "But when this fellow pointed a gun at me and was trying to steal my money there was only one thing I could do—and that was protect my property. I knew he meant business. The way he told me it was a stuck-up was without any sign of nervousness. And when he took my cash drawer, with money I worked hard to earn, I Just bad to do something about protecting myself."