On This Date in Minnesota History: November 22

November 22, 1904 – Nine-year-old Freddie King was killed and Edward J. Mingo probably fatally shot by masked men who held up the saloon at Columbia Heights, just outside the limits of Minneapolis and in Anoka County, this evening.

The incident occurred about 9 p.m. and at midnight the body of the little boy lay on a table in the saloon awaiting the arrival of the Anoka County coroner.

The murder was a most cold-blooded one. Three men and one woman were involved, and the prospects of their arrest are believed to be excellent.

This evening there was a turkey raffle at Edward Mingo’s saloon, in Anoka County, just across the line from Hennepin County.

The Village of Columbia Heights was formed on March 14, 1898 when it separated from Fridley Township. With 1696 acres, 100 citizens, and 20 houses, paths became roads, traffic patterns emerged, and a city began. The city name was selected by contest.1

The raffle was managed by M. E. Hickman and Henry Phol, a former Minneapolis policeman and at one time the proprietor of the saloon.

Shortly before 9 p.m. three masked men entered the place and began shooting. The first shot was directed at Edward J. Mingo, the bartender, who was behind the counter, and he received a shot in the left side of the face. The bullet passed through his mouth and lodged in the vicinity of the base of his brain.

Then the robbers opened fire on Hickman, who was behind several crates of turkeys and who was in charge of the raffle.

Little Freddie King stood in front of the crate, watching the manipulations of the man with the wheels and the paddles. When he heard the shots Freddie turned around. As he did so, the robbers shot at Hickman, but aimed low and the bullet entered the body of the little child. With a wild cry, he started for the side door and fell to the walk as soon as he passed through.

Inside the Mingo Saloon²

The robbers continued shooting and one shot passed near proprietor Edward Mingo, and as Frank Mingo, a relative of the manager, descended the stairs, he, too, was the target of the thugs. They fired at him but missed. Then the men in the saloon were lined up and searched by the outlaws, securing about $15 from the till; Charles Monroe added $2.50 and several others gave up smaller amounts.

The murderers then departed and entered two wagons, which had been held for them by a woman, who stood nearby.

As soon as the men in the saloon recovered from their fright, they made a search for the murderers, and in a short while, William Spain, one of the trustees of the village, returned with with a brown sweater and a red handkerchief, like those that one of the robbers wore, which was discovered near the scene of the shooting.

A little later a duck coat, similar to the one worn by one of the men, a blue handkerchief, a sweater, muffler and a cap covered with gray horse hairs were found near the Soo tracks just below the scene of the shooting.

From all reports the shooters had two wagons in waiting and started for the city, but changed their minds and made their way to the east for the purpose of taking the Soo freight train for the east.

Their tracks were followed for some distance, but they doubled on their trail. A number of Minneapolis policemen boarded the Soo train that passed Central Ave. about midnight for the purpose of making a thorough search of the train.

A crowd came and gaped at the bloody body of the child, and finally one of the newspaper men suggested to one of the employees of the house, that it might be a proper thing to cover the body with a sheet. This was done.

J. H. King, a painter and decorator, is the boy’s father. He did not want to attend the raffle tonight, but some of his friends insisted that he should and to accommodate them he went. Freddie, the oldest of four, insisted that he should accompany him, and against his will he consented to permit the little one to go. At the time of the shooting, Mr. King was standing at the side of the hall and the boy stood directly in the range of fire.

Freddie King with his siblings³

The Saint Paul Globe; “Masked Robbers Shoot Up Saloon. Kill Boy and Seriously Wound Bartender. Three Men Armed With Guns Interrupt Turkey Raffle at Columbia Heights—Woman Outside Holds horses While Bandits Kill Little Freddie King and Hold Up Men in Place—Murderers Make Their Escape Before Village Is Aroused.”; Nov. 23, 1904; pp. 1 & 8.

¹https://www.columbiaheightsmn.gov/community/history_of_columbia_heights/index.php

²The Minneapolis Tribune; Nov. 24, 1904; p. 2.

³The Minneapolis Tribune; Nov. 24, 1904; p. 1.

Three young men were arrested this morning on suspicion of being implicated in the murder of little Freddie King, the nine-year-old boy shot and killed at a turkey raffle in Mingo’s Saloon, Columbia Heights; see Nov. 26, 2017 blog

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