On This Date in Minnesota History: July 27

*July 27, 1921 – Nellie Haynes, a 19-year-old girl from Brandt, SD., told Minneapolis police this evening a story about how she had been abducted by two men she met at a carnival in Brookings, SD, two weeks ago, and had been held prisoner in a Minneapolis hotel for a week under close guard.

The girl appealed to the Central YWCA and then went to the police. She said she escaped from the Agate Hotel on Washington Ave. S. around 9 p.m.

Two detectives went to the hotel room number she had given them, and half an hour later arrested two men. They gave the names of Kenneth McCoy and Jay Gossett, admitted knowing the girl, but declined to comment on her story.

The girl, although in a highly nervous state, told police a coherent story. On July 17, she said she was attending a carnival at Brookings with a group of fellow students from the school she was attending. Two friendly young men, well-dressed and well-spoken, made friends with the group.

The young men enticed her away from the group, she said, and then threatened her with death. They hurried her to a train and began the journey to Minneapolis and the Agate Hotel.

They have kept her closely confined to her room under constant guard.

This evening she said her first opportunity came to escape. The two men both wanted to go out and decided to lock her in her room and leave her.

The two men are being held without charges.


The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Girl Says She Was kidnapped, Held in Hotel. Police Arrest 2 Men After Hearing Tale of Alleged Carnival Abduction.”; July 28, 1921; p. 1.

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain July 27, 2016, as long as acknowledgement included.  

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