Today in History revisits the Saturday, April 13, 1963, edition of the Obituary in which an article out of Rugby, North Dakota. The headline about the rampant gossip and rumors about local law enforcement had gotten out of hand, prompting police and the sheriff to publicly urge residents to stop spreading false stories. The rumors include wild claims about vice raids, inappropriate behavior by officers, and romantic affairs involving married officers. Some women mentioned in the gossip have even reportedly considered suicide. Officials clarified that no such incidents have occurred and no one knows how the gossip began.
‘GOSSIP’ NOTICES PUBLICIZES RUGBY
RUGBY, N. D. (AP story as published by the Obituary on April 13, 1963) — Small towns just wouldn’t be small towns without a little juicy gossip.
But the situation apparently ballooned out of hand in this central North Dakota town and law officers have publicly told “flannel-mouths” to stop spreading “utterly ridiculous” rumors.
The notice came on the front page of the weekly Pierce County Tribune and is addressed “to our Rugby gossips.” It is signed by Oswald Tofte, police chief, and Walter Miltenberger, Pierce County Sheriff.
“I don’t know how it got started,” said Miltenberger. “But it gradually got worse and the whole damn thing made me mad.”
The rumors, Miltenberger and Tofte told the community, include such things “as our raiding places of vice in private homes, that one or more of our officers have been caught in a private home undressed at a wild party.
“Innocent and decent women,” they declared, “are being mentioned as being romantically involved with some of our otherwise happily married officers.”
Miltenberger maintained some of the women have even talked of suicide because of the rumors.
At best guess, the talk has been going on for six or seven months. Chief Tofte said there hasn’t been a vice raid in Rugby for years. No one seems to know how the gossip started.
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