Police Search For Slayer of Girl In Fargo

Fargo, June 8.— Authorities were silent today on developments toward the capture of the man who early yesterday morning assaulted and beat to death Marie Wick, of Grygla, Minn, in a room at a local hotel.

H.J. Hagen, former president of the Scandinavian-American Bank of Fargo, occupied a room next that of the murdered girl, Monday night, just having returned from a journey. He asked authorities today, they said, to examine his finger prints and compare them with those on the blood-spattered wall of the room where the killing occurred. He also asked them to examine his body to establish that it bore no marks of struggle.

County authorities were looking for a man who was reported to have played cards with Miss Wick on the train between Crookston, Minn and Fargo Monday night.

A search of the room and surrounding premises revealed that the murder had been committed by hitting the girl over the head with the brass nozzle of the fire hose which hangs in the hall. The discovery was made when it was found that the nozzle had blood and hair on it.

Fargo, June 8.—There is no evidence to connect H.J. Hagen, former president of the Scandinavian American Bank of Fargo, with the murder here early Tuesday of Marie Wick, William C Green states attorney of Cass county, said in a statement today. "Mr. Hagen's finger-prints are not the same as those on the walls of the room where the crime was committed and his body bears no marks of struggle," the statement says.

Bismarck Tribune, 6-9-1921

Missing Guest Being Hunted In Murder Case

Fargo Police Believe James Farewell May Be Clue To Slaying

Fargo, June 9—Cass county authorities today were looking for James Farrell as a material witness in connection with the murder of Miss Marie Wick, Grygla, Minn, in a hotel here early Tuesday morning, they said.

Farrell, who had registered from Wilmar, Minn., was the only guest registered who is unaccounted for an the Wilmar police advised that they know of no one by that name there, they added. They are trying to find if his description tallies with that of Dennis Kotaris, of Jamestown, N.D., who might have been in Fargo, it is thought.

Farrel, according to the night clerk, wore a rather shabby gray suit and his shoes were tanned and weatherbeaten. The night clerk thought he wore a cap.

The Bismarck Tribune, 6-10-1921

Fargo, N.D., June 15—William Gummer, night clerk at the local hotel in which 18-year-old Marie Wick, of Grygla, Minn., was murdered last week, was arrested on a charge of murder today in connection with the case. He is held without bail.

Bismarck Tribune, 6-16-1921

Gummer Walks Out Of N.D. Prison Thursday

William Gummer walked out of the state penitentiary here Thursday—a free man after serving nearly 23 years of first degree murder.

Gummer's life sentence was commuted by the state pardon board, in session Dec. 9, to end Thursday Dec 28.

Now 44, Gummer was convicted in Barnes county district court of the murder of 18-year-old Marie Wick in a Fargo hoten room the ngiht of June 6, 1921. Throughout the intervening years, he had steadfastly maintained he was innocent of the crime.

The Bismarck Tribune, 12-28-1944

Further evidence indicates that it is highly unlikely that Gummer had anything to do with the murder.