Saturday, September 22, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 22

September 22, 1919 – Ralph LaCount and Oscar Lindgren, charged with the murder of Madeline LaCount, LaCount’s 16-year-old pregnant bride, waved examination in municipal court today, and were held to the grand jury. Charges were placed against them to thee grand jury. Charges were placed against them when attorneys for Lindgren obtained a writ of habeas corpus, requiring Sheriff Martinson and County Attorney Nash to show cause why Lindgren and his wife should not be released. The writ was dismissed after the arraignment of the two men. Mrs. Lindgren was released.




The husband: Ralph LaCount1


 “He’s innocent and I’ll fight for him,” said Mrs. Lindgren, who had been in custody since last Thursday, when told that her husband must face a charge of murder in the first degree with LaCount for the murder of LaCount’s wife.


“So they are going to let me go,” she said as she left the county jail. “Well I knew they would and they will release my husband, too, later on.”



The gardener: Oscar Lindgren2

The LaCount murder case was brought to a head at noon today after 10 days’ investigation when Donald Hughes, one of Lindgren’s attorneys, demanded the writ of habeas corpus. There was a hurried conference between Sheriff Martinson and County Attorney Nash, who had planned to wait until the grand jury meets a week from tomorrow before placing formal charges against the men. Then William Fust, chief deputy sheriff, obtained warrants, and Lindgren and LaCount were taken into municipal court before Judge Baldwin.

Sheriff Martinson said that 20 witnesses will testify before the grand jury. He said that all evidence collected by his office and the county attorney will be given to the jurors.

Mrs. Lindgren, according to the sheriff, was released with the understanding that she would be within call. She is spending the night with friends in Minneapolis.

Mrs. LaCount was found by her husband murdered in the cottage they occupied at Northome, Lake Minnetonka, a week ago. She had been killed with a baseball bat and a kitchen knife. La Count was arrested the next day and Lindgren a day later.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Two Held for Grand Jury in La Count Case. Husband and Lindgren Bound Over—Gardener’s Wife Released.”; Sept. 23, 1919; p. 1.

1The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “LaCount Held; Wife’s Murder Still Mystery. Husband Under Fire of Questions By County Officials. Another Man May Be Taken Into Custody Today. Knife Used Before Baseball Bat--$500 Reward for Slayer. Photograph of Man Believed Implicated Found Near Cottage.”; Sept. 14, 1919; p. 1.


2The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Oscar Lindgren Is held for Murder Investigation. Evidence Gathered in LaCount Case Goes to Grand Jury. Stained Shirt and Trousers Found—Many Clues Trailed.”; September 16, 1919; pp. 1 & 2.

Brutal murder in 1919 near Lake Minnetonka; see Sept. 12, 2018 blog.

Ralph LaCount, whose 16-yer-old bride was murdered yesterday, was taken into custody this afternoon and “held for investigation.”; see Sept. 13, 2018 blog.

Oscar Lindgren, C. J. Winton’s gardener, was taken into custody this afternoon for further questioning in the murder of Madeline LaCount; see Sept. 15, 2018 blog.


               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
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Friday, September 21, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 21

September 21, 1904 – One of the most serious wrecks in the history of Northern Minn. railroading occurred in the Crookston railroad yards this afternoon. A heavily loaded east bound wheat freight crashed into the ditch north of the city and piled twenty or more wheat cars and their contents into a solid mass of debris and wreckage. A defective switch was responsible for the accident, and the fact that no lives were lost is considered marvelous.

Hobos, who were riding beneath the cars upon the tracks, had narrow escapes and several were severely injured. The engine and fore part of the train got safely over the switch that was responsible for the accident, but the heavily laden wheat cars pried the switch open and the resultant shift of the tracks resulted in the tearing up the tracks and ditching nearly the entire train. The track was torn up for half a mile and all train service delayed while the wreckers are at work. Steel rails were literally chopped to pieces by the force of the impact. There are 3,000 bushels of grain on the tracks. A man is missing who may be in the wreckage.

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Bad Wreck. Freight Cars Piled up at Crookston—Steel Rails Chopped to Bits.”; Sept. 22, 1904; p. 4.


Crookston Railroad Depot

http://www.lakesnwoods.com/CrookstonGallery.htm
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
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Thursday, September 20, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 29

September 20, 1992 – Minnesota Twins’ Kirby Puckett moved into third on Twins' all-time stolen base list (117), [on this date] at California.”

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/min/history/puckett.jsp



Kirby Puckett

http://z.lee28.tripod.com/sbnsperspectives/id5.html
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                        


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

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Wednesday, September 19, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 19

Sept. 19, 1934 – Carpenter Bruno Richard Hauptmann was discovered with some of the ransom money from the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. He was arrested on this date for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son, Charles Lindbergh, Jr. in March 1932. Aviator Lindbergh grew up in Little Falls, Minn. 

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0822964.html



Bruno Richard Hauptmann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hauptmann

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

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Tuesday, September 18, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 18


September 18, 1918 – One hundred years ago today:  one of six aliens with first citizenship papers reported by Duluth draft boards as renouncing his citizenship rather than be inducted into the U.S. army, Olli Kinkkonen was taken from his lodgings this evening by men purportedly from the draft board. Instead of going to the draft board’s office, Kinkkonen was driven to Congdon Park, where he was tarred and feathered by members of a group called the Knights of Liberty. As of midnight, Kinkkonen had not returned to his home, whereupon his landlord called Duluth police headquarters to report his disappearance.

The Knights of Liberty also called upon the other five declarants who had renounced their citizenship for similar reasons, but none were found.

Duluth’s Vigilantes

This is the lesser known Duluth lynching, which took place in September 1918; the victim, a Finn named Olli Kinkkonen.

WWI was nearing its end, and patriotism was at an all-time high. After all, our boys in Europe were dying fighting for our freedom, and anyone not willing to fight was publically called a slacker, a term “
commonly used to describe someone who was not participating in the war effort, especially someone who avoided military service, an equivalent of the later term draft dodger.” 1

Duluth draft boards reported that Kinkkonen and five other aliens with first citizenship papers had renounced their citizenship rather than be inducted into the U.S. army.2  Kinkonnen, who had immigrated to the U.S. in 1907, had signed his first papers on Sept. 28, 1912, and canceled and surrendered his first papers on Sept. 11, 1918,* a week before his kidnapping.

His landlord was the first to raise the alarm.

On the evening of Sept. 18, 1918, Kinkkonen was
taken from his lodgings by men claiming to be from the draft board. Instead of going to the draft board’s office, Kinkkonen was driven to Duluth’s Congdon Park, where he was tarred and feathered by members of a group calling themselves the Knights of Liberty. As of midnight, Kinkkonen had not returned to his home, so his landlord called Duluth police headquarters to report his disappearance.2

The Knights of Liberty also called upon the other five declarants who had renounced their citizenship for similar reasons, but none of them could be found.2


The next day, the Knights of Loyalty (the group couldn’t seem to decide on its own name) mailed a circular to the Duluth News Tribune claiming the group had more than 2 million members across the country, including 2,000 members in Duluth. The notice said the group would continue its attacks against slackers, as they had proven themselves to be enemies of America.3

A Google and Bing search turned up a group in Tulsa, Okla., using the name Knights of Liberty in 1917 that tarred and feathered men during a labor dispute, which may be where the Duluth mob got their name and the tar and feather idea.4 Otherwise, I have been unable to find anything about this supposed large national group organized to attack slackers.

For several days, the Duluth newspapers ran short notices saying Olli Kinkkonen was still missing. After renouncing his citizenship, he had been planning on returning to Finland, and yet his luggage still sat in his room. His landlord had not heard from him.

Finally, around 5 p.m. on Sept. 30, Kinkkonen’s body was found hanging from a tree one-half mile north of Lester Park. Duluth Coroner McAulliffe determined the hanging to be a suicide, believing Kinkkonen had tried to remove the tar from his body with his handkerchief, but was unsuccessful (seriously?). According to McAuliffe’s theory, Kinkkonen had been so humiliated by the tar and feathering that he had killed himself, although none of his friends or fellow Finns believed that. Kinkkonen appeared to have been hanging there for some time. His death certificate lists his date of death as Sept. 18-22, 1918.5


Lester Park, Duluth, Minn.

 http://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/streams/images/historic/lester/58_lester_big.jpg


Who were these men who felt that killing a man in such a horrifying manner was justified? No one was ever charged with the kidnapping or the tar and feathering. Whenever a heinous event like this is found in a family tree, it should be viewed within historical context.

Many Finn men had immigrated to America to avoid being drafted into the Russian Army. It’s possible Kinkkonen was one of them, although at 38, it’s more likely he had already fought for the Russians and didn’t want to go to war again. As noted earlier, this was a very unpopular view at the time.





Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain August 15, 2013, 
as long as acknowledgement included.


“Kinkkonen was buried in an unmarked grave in [what was] a poor people's section of Park Hill Cemetery, just a few rows away from the graves of the three victims of the 1920 Duluth lynching. The Tyomies Society, a Finnish cultural group, placed a marker on Kinkkonen's grave in 1993. It reads, ‘Olli Kinkkonen, 1881 to 1918, Victim of Warmongers.’"6

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacker

2
The Duluth News Tribune; “Tar Coat Given Alien; Renounced U.S. Rights. Landlord complains to Police of Olli Kinkkonen’s Involuntary Trip with Knights of Liberty”; September 19, 1918; p. 1.

3
The Duluth News Tribune; “Tarred Alien Disappears; One Recants by Default. ‘Knights of Loyalty’ Issue Circular Addressed to Those Who Renounce Citizenship.’”; September 20, 1918; p. 8

4
http://libcudl.colorado.edu/wwi/pdf/i73704829.pdf

5
The Duluth News Tribune; “Victim of Tar Party in Duluth Suicide, Belief; Body of Olli Kinkonnen Found Dangling From Tree Near Lester Park, Covered with Paint; Federal Probe, Hint; Kidnapping Charge Suggested by County Attorney Richard Funck. President’s Order Violated.”; October 1, 1918; p. 1.

6
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching/olli.shtml
http://zenithcity.com/september-18-1918-olli-kinkkonen-abducted-tarred-and-feathered/

*Written on his WWI draft registration card and his intent papers

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
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Monday, September 17, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 17

September 17, 1961 – “In a stunning upset, the Vikings defeated the Chicago Bears, 37-13, at Metropolitan Stadium in the Vikings’ first NFL regular-season game on [this date]. Kicker Mike Mercer scored the first points in team history with a 12-yard field goal. Bob Schnelker scored the team’s first touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Fran Tarkenton. In his NFL debut Tarkenton came off the bench to complete 17-of-23 passes for 250 yards and 4 touchdowns.”  

http://www.vikings.com/team/history/timeline.html


Fran Tarkenton

http://www.nndb.com/people/145/000024073/

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

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Sunday, September 16, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: September 16


September 16, 1902 – Nellie Davis was committed by Judge Finehout today to the state training schools for girls at Red Wing. The application was made by her brother, William Davis, who on Monday told the judge that the girl, who is only 16, had been away from home for more than three months, and was fast becoming an incorrigible.

The hearing on the case was resumed this afternoon when Mrs. Catherine Schoendorf, who keeps a boarding house, testified that the young woman had come into her place about two weeks in company with one of the drivers at Bromley’s Livery Stable, who said she was his wife.

Alexander Davis, the girl’s father, told of the efforts he had made to keep his daughter out of mischief. She had been sent to a school in Illinois, and good places had been found for her to work in private families, but from all of these she had run away and taken to life on the streets. Davis said he believed nothing could be done for her but send her to a state reform school.

The Saint Paul Globe; “Davis Girl Is Sent To State Reform School. Brother and Father Both Ask That Wayward Maiden Be Sent Away.”; Sept. 17, 1902; p. 2.



Red Wing Training School for Boys and Girls

http://temposenzatempo.blogspot.com/2012/09/

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

                                                         


Discover your roots, and watch the branches of your family tree begin to grow.


Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com