History lives in the pages of the Obituary, and now, we’re bringing it back to life with Today in History. Each day, we will revisit notable news items from our archives, offering a glimpse into the events, people, and moments that shaped our community, the region, and the state of North Dakota and Minnesota.
From major milestones to forgotten curiosities, this feature will highlight the stories that once made headlines — just as they appeared in the Herald on this day in years past.
Join us on this journey through time, and discover how yesterday’s news connects to today’s world.
Nubs of News column from the April 7, 1907 edition
Column by – Editor De la Bere, of Sheldon, is the father of a young daughter, and the young lady is heartily welcomed to the state.
L. C. Jenkinson, a clerk, was drugged and robbed of $25 and his watch at Jamestown. Later the watch was recovered. A man giving the name of Ed. Smith was jailed and William Howard held pending an investigation.
Alf. Eastgate, of Lakota, on Monday received his appointment as special deputy U. S. marshal, and is highly pleased at the appointment. This action was taken that the game around Stump lake might be more effectually guarded. Mr. Eastgate at once enters upon his official duties.
The Ypsilanti Farmers’ Elevator company has been organized at Ypsilanti and it is intended to have an elevator in readiness for this season’s crop. The capital is placed at $12,000. The officers and directors are: S. J. Crowin, of this city, E. N. Campbell, Fred Nicholas, and other prominent farmers of Ypsilanti and vicinity.
E. J. Baird, of Lakota, who has just returned from Illinois, reports there will be a large influx of settlers into North Dakota, people seeking the big stories of hard winters and impossible cold weather which they have offered in orders that hard winters exist in the minds of the easterner as a general thing.
The St. Thomas Times says: “At present the Grand Forks Times is practicing the tactics it so bitterly denounced last summer and fall. It is playing the part of disruptor and a muck raker in its futile endeavors to rob Congressman Marshall of his well earned popularity with the people of North Dakota.” Editor Hager should understand that the Grand Forks Times objects to all sorts of muckraking and disrupting that is not aimed at its special antipathies.
Langdon Republican: Monday morning an old landmark about the court house stepped out after a continuous service of 19 years. The person is none other than John Mander, who has served as deputy auditor since 1888 without a break. One official after another would step out but Johnny still remained at the old stand and was as much a part of the building as the ground at the old place. He is one of the best men the county has ever had. The paper in the office bears the work that we doubt if there was a piece of old paper in the office to be handled just where it was. It is claimed that his future plans are already made. He expects to go to the northwest where he has land interests.
Mandan Pioneer: Capt. W. H. Gould arrived from Chicago last week to take charge of the U. S. Steamer Mandan for the improvement of the upper Missouri river. The boat has the task of freeing the channel from snags. The boat is now at Rockhaven and is being fitted out, and will be ready for service as soon as the river is clear of ice. Capt. Gould is one of the early navigators on the Missouri, coming up the river in 1868. He tells many interesting stories about the experiences of the early navigators, such as having to stop the boat in order to let a herd of buffalo swim the river. When crossing from one side to the other, his boats were often attacked by hostile Indians, who would shoot at them from the banks as they passed. However, the captain has the record of having the good luck never to lose any of his men. The annual return of Mr. Gould is hailed by oldtimers as an unerring sign of the approach of spring.
The Park River Gazette gives the following account of the Pisek suicide there:
On Thursday of last week the body of a man named Pecka, a stone mason who had been making his home around Pisek the past two years, was discovered suspending by a rope from a rafter in the attic of a house at Pisek. The suicide had selected an unoccupied house where nothing was left by the owner, and entering the second floor made the ghastly discovery. The coroner’s office was notified at once and the body was later removed. The deceased was about 60 years of age and not known to have had any relatives in this vicinity.
The Valley City Times Record says: “While in Grand Forks Secretary Moultrie, of the Commercial club, saw W. H. Kelsey relative to his proposed railroad from Grand Forks to Valley City.” Mr. Kelsey is yet at work on the project, although Grand Forks has thrown cold water on it repeatedly. He has the solution to the entrance to the city and yard and depot site solved. If he can get a $50,000 bonus he will put the matter through. He was asked by Mr. Moultrie to come to Valley City and see the businessmen and the farmers along the line of the proposed road to the Soo. It is understood that there are many of the men who would gladly give a liberal bonus. The Valley City people are able that Mr. Kelsey will come to Valley City and take the matter up. If he can get started here, Grand Forks would probably fall in line. The road will not be electric but a present, wide gauge road and would connect with the Soo and the road now being built to the southwest to the Pacific coast.
The Valley City paper is wrong about the cold water. Grand Forks is ready to co-operate with anyone who has a feasible plan for additional road facilities.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.