May 10: 1916: Gemmell Man is Killed at Mandan. A 12 day investigation reached a conclusion when Coroner T.G.C. Kennelly identified Oscar C. Briggs, of Gemmell, Minn., as the man who was killed in the Mandan railroad yards.

It was through the interchange of notes and telegrams between Kennelly and Mrs. Maude Briggs, of Gemmell, that Oscar’s body was finally identified.

May 11: 1918: $50,000 in Bonds. More than $50,000 with of German bonds were said to be owned by individuals in Morton county, and the sum could have been much greater.

The bonds were sold through Hans Grunow, a German consul at St. Paul, before the United States entered into World War I. Grunow has been in the United States since 1904, having traveled throughout the west selling bonds.



May 12: 1890: Protest Against Fort Lincoln Abandonment. A largely attended meeting of citizens organized in order to protest the proposed abandonment of Fort Abraham Lincoln, and Indian scares spread throughout the area.

Led by farmers who had settled in the area because of the government protection, they said they would be compelled to abandon their farms if the fort was closed.

Reports had circulated around the country about potential attacks by “hostile Indians,” while those in the Bismarck-Mandan area were fearful of what they deemed were thousands of Indians within a days journey.

May 13: 1919: N.D. Ready to Start State Bank. Agreement was finally reached on several important policies for the new state bank.

The bank had a $2,000,000 bond issue for capital, which was authorized by the Non-Partisan League majority during the previous legislature.

May 14: 1920: Convicted of 9 Murders. One of the most grisly murders in the state reached a conclusion, when Henry Layer was convicted of murdering his neighbor, Jacob Wolf, and Wolf’s wife, six children and a hired man. Layer would serve a life sentence for the crime.

Layer had confessed to authorities that he had murdered the Wolf family because of a quarrel started after his cow was bitten by Wolf’s dog. Layer said that when he protested, Wolf threatened to kill him. Layer would claim that he wrestled a gun from Wolf, and then killed the whole family.

May 15: 1917: Hebron Man held Under Pigging Act. North Dakota had their first hearing under a new law which made an agent of a liquor company equally liable with a “pigger” or bootlegger.

Phillip Bender, of Hebron, was on trial for accepting orders for intoxicating liquors. He was arrested in connection with a seizure of 42 barrels of wine at Hebron. There were three charges against him.

May 16: 1952: Radio Announcer Turns Laundress. Radio announcer Jack Harris, made a promise that may have been too big for him to keep. Harris told his listeners that he would do the laundry of anyone who could identify the author of the statement, “so much to do with so little time.”

Mrs. Henry Hoppe was the first to respond correctly, saying that the quotation was that of Cecil John Rohdes, a South Africa pioneer, the man who provided for Rhodes scholarships.

To Harris’s dismay, Hoppe was the laundress for the Mandan state training school, and its 300 inmates and employees.