AUTOISTS TAKE NOTICE!
East bound and west bound traffic always has the right of way on Bismarck streets. Automobilists traveling north or south must observe this rule in order to avoid accident.
Signed: CHRIS MARTENSON, Chief of Police.
Bismarck Tribune, 7/13/1917
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SENTINEL BUTTE MAN INJURED BY LIGHTNING
Sentinel Butte, N.D., July 10.—A bolt of lightning following an electric light cord which Bob Brownlee was holding in his hand while repairing an automobile in a local garage knocked the mechanic unconscious and inflicted injuries requiring immediate surgical attention. The same evening lightning struck the Sentinel Butte Saddlery Co.'s store, E. R. Kennedy's drug store and C. J. Englund's hardware.
Grand Forks Herald, 7/10/1917
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FIREMAN'S STORY OF THE WILLISTON WRECK
Baggage Car Leaves the Track and is Followed by the Long String of Coaches— Gasoline Tanks Explode and Cars Burn— Fifteen More or Less Injured— Luckily There Were Five Doctors on the Train
No. 3, the fast west bound Flyer on the G. N. was wrecked at Springbrook, a station 11 miles east of Williston at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon July 5. The long train consisted of engine, baggage and mail car, seven coaches and a special coach at the rear. Every coach excepting the last one was burned.
Engineer Connely and fireman Conrad Larson were pulling the big train down the 23 mile grade into Williston at a forty-five mile clip, when the baggage car which was not loaded heavily enough jumped the track at the Springbrook switch. This pulled the other coaches from the track, but they did not go over into the big ditch. The gasoline tank in the front coach exploded and soon that coach was in flames. The other coaches caught fire in the same manner. The train was worth $75,000.
The story of the wreck was told to an Indepdendent man by Conrad Larson, the fireman. It is as follows:—
"We left Wheelock seven minutes late and were trying to make up time, when we came into Springbrook, the baggage car which jumped the track. We were going along very fast, fifty miles an hour when it happened and the coaches followed the baggage car off the track. They jumped around something awful and I thought every minute that every person in the train would be killed. The engine tore loose from the rest of the train and jumped the track at the switch. We did not feel the jar to amount to anything however. The baggage car went into the ditch. It was empty and did not hurt any body. I counted seven coaches that burned up the fire lasting till midnight. The gasoline tanks in the coaches exploded and the noise was terrible, worse than those firecrackers in Minot on the Fourth, the last coach was a special sleeper containing a party from Kansas City bound for the coast. It happened that in that coach there were five doctors and the injured were taken right in their coach and their injuries were attended to. One fellow got on the coal car at Wheelock and he was hurt badly, I heard that he was thrown fifty feet. He was not killed, but will remember his experience a long time. He was not a hobo, but had a claim near Wheelock. I guess he will not steal any more rides. Some of the passengers got out of the windows and others walked cooly out of the doors. I was particularly amused at a man who had three little children, the fellow carried all three in his arms and was laughing. The jar on the cars was said to be something awful. People were scattered all over the coaches. Mrs. Hines, the wife of an engineer from Devils Lake was on the train, going with her husband to Portland. She was badly burned and otherwise uninjured. When her clothes caught fire, she ran and jumped in a ditch of water near the track and was saved from burning very badly. Harry Thomas, the breakman {sp}, was burned about the face badly. He is in Minot now. Wm. Young, the baggagemau {sp}, was hurt about his back but not very seriously. I think there were fifteen or twenty who were injured more or less, in fact there was not a person on the train who did not get a good jolting. I cannot help but think of the gasoline tanks as they exploded. The fire and smoke went up fifty feet or more. It was a pretty sight. I was kept pretty busy killing the engine after the wreck occurred, for the water supply was cut off. Of course I was a little frightened, but that didn't do any good."
Judge Murray and the wrecking crew went out from Minot immediately and began clearing away the wreck. A track had to be put around the wreck and by six o'clock the next morning, the trains were passing. A good picture of the burning wreck was secured.
Ward County Independent, 7/12/1905
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CHARGE CRIMES TO FATHER AND SON AT STEELE
Daughter Accuses Father of Murder of Insurance Man and Infant
BODIES ARE DISCLOSED
Steele, N.D., July 21.—James C. Clayton, a 60-year-old farmer, is accused by his daughter, Mrs. Frances Sheldon of Baldwin, N.D., of killing Ed., Leitzke, a hail insurance agent, and a baby born to her before she was married, In an alleged confession in the hands of State's Attorney George Muson, of Kidder county.
On Thursday Clayton will be placed on trial in the Kidder district court charged with rape. His daughter Laura, aged 14, is the state's principal witness.
Extensive digging operations in the Clayton farm, conducted within a few days, failed to disclose the bodies of Clayton's supposed victims.
Musson said that the investigation had extended not only to the case of Leitzke and the baby, but also to other cases of supposed disappearance of persons in the district adjacent to the Clayton farm. All inquiries, Musson said, had failed.
Roy Clayton, a 26-year-old son of James Clayton, is also under arrest and charged with rape, and will be tried following the disposition of his father's case.
Whole Section Excited.
The whole section of Kidder county about 20 miles southeast of Steele, where the supposed murders occurred, is in a state of excitement as a result of the case.
Officials who organized searching parties spaded up great areas in the hope of uncovering the skeletons of the supposed murder victims, operations being conducted in accordance with directions given by Mrs. Sheldon.
Mrs. Sheldon's story is in the hands of the state's attorney, and was given following the arrest of her father and brother on the rape charge. Laura Clayton's story, related by her to her married sister, Mrs. Sheldon, brought about the arrest of Clayton and his son.
Denies Additional Murders
Mr. Musson denied today that the Sheldon confession or statement covered supposed additional murders, though admitting that he and other officials had investigated beyond the Leitzke and baby case.
Mrs. Sheldon's story of the Leitzke murder is to the effect that there was a liquor party near the Clayton farm on the night that the insurance agent disappeared. Her father, Mrs. Sheldon asserts, had Leitzke's watch following his disappearance.
Officians have not confronted Clayton with the charges made by his daughter, Musson said today.
Bismarck Tribune, 7/21/1920
ROY CLAYTON IS FOUND INNOCENT; SEARCH GOES ON
Father, Accused of Murders, is Released on $1,000 Bail Last Night
CASE NEEDS SKELETONS
Girl's Story Failed to Convict Son; Father Faces Her Story Only, So Far
Steele, N.D., July 24.—"Not Guilty" was the verdict brought in by the jury in the case of Roy Clayton, charged with criminal assault of his sister in the Kidder district court.
The jury went out at noon yesterday and brought in their verdict of not guilty at 4 p.m. Roy Clayton was dismissed and left for home with his father, James C. Clayton. The father is accused with the mirder of Ed. Leitzke and a child of his daughter and criminal assault of his daughter. He was released yesterday on $1,000 bail.
The trial of the father is set for the next term of court.
Search Keeps On
Meanwhile the search is still being made for the bodies of Leitzke and the baby, Mrs. Sheldon, Goy and Ted Sheldon, and J. C. Loerch, relatives of Leitzke, are leading in the digging operations.
So far no trace of the skeletons have been found. Unless they are discovered it seems extremely doubtful whether the case against the father can be made to hold water.
In the trial of Roy Clayton, just ended, the story told by Frances Sheldon was the main evidence presented by the state. Her "Confession" regarding the alleged murder of 26 people is at present the only evidence which state's attorney George Nusson will admit he has against the afther. {sp}
Frances Sheldon took the witness stand in the recent trial and made definite accusations against her brother. The state put her sister on the stand to try to strengthen and verify the evidence.
Jury Not Convinced.
But the jury was not satisfied that her brother was guilty, as she charged. Their verdict shows that they either did not believe the girl's story or else discounted it to a large degree.
The case against the father, James C. Clayton, at present rests on the accusations made by his daughter, the same Mrs. Sheldon.
She failed to convince the one jury that her brother was guilty. Whether she can make the jury believe her accusations against her father or not remains to be seen.
For these reasons the state is especially anxious to discover the skeletons of some of the people whom are claimed to have been murdered. With added evidence they believe they could go to court with some expectation of securing a conviction. Without it, only the bare story of Mrs. Frances Sheldon remains.
Residents of Steele seem to believe that the utterances of Frances Clayton (Mrs. Sheldon) should be taken with a good deal of "salt." Her story may have basis, but local people want to be shown additional evidence before they believe it.
Meanwhile the search is being kept up in the hopes of locating some of the bodies, if there are any, buried. The Sheldon family is leading in the search at the Clayon farm 7 miles southwest of here. An abandoned well is the center of operations now.
Bismarck Tribune, 7/24/1920
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A REAL SNAKE STORY
AUGUST PIPER SEES STRANGE, LARGE SNAKE ON HIS FARM IN BENSON COUNTY.
We are in receipt of a communication from August Piper, of Penn, relative to a large snake seen on his place recently. It seems that this reptile is considerably out of the ordinary in this locality. The letter follows:
Editor, Inter-Ocean, Dear Sir:—
On July 19, as I was haying on my new farm, I seen a snake such as I never saw before in my life. It was white with yellow spots along its back. I could not tell the length of it because I could not see the whole snake, as it got into the high grass. I seen about four feet of the tail part but I could not see the head. It measured about six inches through the body and the end of the tail was about two inches thick at the end and as square as if it had been cut off.
I don't think the snake seen me or it might have killed me, as I did not have a thing in my hands. The next day I took the gun and went looking for it but could not find it. I also seen a young black snake this spring on the same farm.
Truly yours,
August Piper, Penn, N.D.
Devils Lake Inter-Ocean, 7/30/1909
Editor: Sounds like it could be an albino bull snake or albino rattlesnake, which are native to western North Dakota and can both get to be five to eight feet long; the square ends sounds more rattlesnakey.
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