On This Date in Minnesota History: March 16

March 16, 1903 – Ole G. Olson, the Aitkin County farmer who murdered his daughter last October will be hanged in the Aitkin County jail March 20. Dr. A. F. Kilbourne, superintendent of the Rochester insane hospital, returned from his examination of Olson and reported that the man is and has been entirely sane.

Dr. Kilbourne spent several hours with the prisoner today and examined him thoroughly. After investigating his past history and examining witnesses, Dr. Kilbourne formed this conclusion stated as follows:

“I am of the opinion that the said Ole G. Olson was at the time of the commission  of the crime and now is of sound mind, understanding fully the nature and consequences of the act for which he is under sentence of death.”

In Oct. 1902, Olson stabbed his daughter because she was about to marry and leave him. Rev. Frederick Peterson, a Swedish Lutheran minister, said that Olson had been drinking the day of the murder and had nothing to eat all day, when he went home and found his daughter had prepared nothing. He believed Olson must have been unbalanced.

At 1:50 a. m. the morning of March 20, 1903, Olson was hanged in the Aitkin County jail for the murder of his daughter last Oct. He met his fate unflinchingly and died expressing his faith in God’s forgiveness for his terrible crime.

One of the state's 24 legally-sanctioned hangings took place in the Aitkin County Courthouse and jail¹ in 1903 when Ole G. Olson was executed for killing his daughter. 

The Minneapolis Journal; “Hospital Says Condemned Man Is Sane.”; March 17, 1903; p. 6.

The Minneapolis Journal; Jan. 21, 1903; p. 2.

Little Falls Herald; March 27, 1903; p. 6.

¹http://www.mncourts.gov/Find-Courts/Aitkin/CourthouseHistory.aspx

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