Passionate feelings have caused violence in this state. This picture of a lynching not far south of Bismarck occurred in 1897 when a mob took the law into their own hands to avenge the murder of a family. The murder of six members of the Spicer family in Winona, a settlement just east across the Missouri River from Fort Yates, led to this scene. Traffic flowed across the river either by ferry or on the ice, and residents of the Fort Yates agency came to Winona to trade, mostly to buy liquor which was not available on the reservation. For some reason, a proprietor of one of the establishments would not sell alcohol to them. Instead he told them he had hauled his supply over to another party. Going there, they received another story, that Spicers' were storing it for them. It so happened Spicer was a strong church going man who would have nothing to do with alcohol. The murderers did not take it any further, but killed all those present. The court system's proceedings did not satisfy community members and the lynching occurred.
We talked about this a bit during my presentation last week and Glenn McCrory of Linton mentioned he had worked up a book gleaned from old newspapers that told this story. The book was put together by the newspaper in Linton, ND, the Emmons County Record (ecrecord.com) and I called to find if it was still available. Yes, so I charge-carded my order yesterday afternoon and here it arrived in the mail today. The material is very readable, all re-typed, not photocopies of clippings.
The volume, Tragedy on the Prairie: The Spicer Family Murders 1897, will answer questions for me about the incident. A very interesting discussion about it on the internet can be found at this link: http://amertribes.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=teton&action=print&thread=1459
Times were different. Supposedly 40 men participated in the lynching. I wonder if feelings of guilt haunted them. I'm sure they did, right up to their own deaths. Other topics pull at me now, but I plan to return.
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I can't believe this: our state legislature is debating whether or not to allow guns in schools. I am reminded of ESCALATION. When will it end? Will it work? Gun lovers clap their hands in glee. Dealers, manufacturers, nuts, all think this is great stuff! When in grade school we had a box full of boxing gloves and could put them on and wail away at each other. That doesn't fly now, might get hurt. But what does a few clips of bullets do?
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I can't believe this: our state legislature is debating whether or not to allow guns in schools. I am reminded of ESCALATION. When will it end? Will it work? Gun lovers clap their hands in glee. Dealers, manufacturers, nuts, all think this is great stuff! When in grade school we had a box full of boxing gloves and could put them on and wail away at each other. That doesn't fly now, might get hurt. But what does a few clips of bullets do?
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| A police officer saw a man dressed as a cowboy in the street, complete with huge stetson hat, spurs, and six shooters."Excuse me, sir," said the police officer, "who are you?""My names Tex, officer," said the cowboy." eh?" said the police officer, "Are you from Texas?" "Nope, Louisiana." "Louisiana? So why are you called Tex?" "Dont want to be called Louise, do I . | |
