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This Issue 12 Pages Vol. 20 No. 13 WM. GUMMER, (\RGO HOTEL CLERK, 1 FOR MURDER OF MARIE WICK Wm. Gummer, 22-year-old clerk of the Prescott hotel in Fargo, was held to the district court without bail, charged with murder in the first de gree, at the conclusion of his hearing held at Fargo Friday. The state produced a chain of circumstantial evidence that makes it appear very dark for Gummer. He did not take the stand himself. By his own admission to officers at a previous investigation, Gummer told a number of lies concerning his actions at the hotel the night that Marie Wick, 18-year-old Grygla, Minn, girl was assaulted and mur dered in Room 30 of the Prescott hotel. He admitted that he had call ed the girl up shortly before mid night in an attempt to make a "date" with her, but she being a good girl had repulsed him. The state by Gummer's own testimony proved that he had bad thots in his mind that night. The following is a portion of the transcript relating to Gummer's ac tion: Q.—'Bill, tell us again some of the —tell us again about when you went into the room at 6:30 Tuesday morn ing. A.—When I went up there you mean —how I happened to go in. Q.—All about it. Goes Into Room at 8:30 rA Uf fi vwt hear an phone at 6 ©clock I didn hear an answer. I called her again in prob- 1A miviii+aa 1 AVI nhnna door. She didn't answer. I unlocked the door. I opened it and I looked in to see her, and there she lay just as she was found that morning. Q.—How far did you go into the room? A.—I didn't take more than three steps. I don't.thipk I had my right hand off the. doorknob. Q.—Then what? You locked the door and then what did you do A.—Then I /locked the door and then I went and—let's see—did I go down stairs before I called Fritz, or not? Then. I went and told—this is how it was: Then I went down stairs and I called Fritz on the telephone and I told him this party was asleep and -1 says get up and I am coming up to talk to you. I went up to Fritz, woke him, told him there was a par ty asleep in room No. 30. I told him they didn't answer, I had called them twice—that is I had rapped on the door, and when I told Fritz he first kind of thought it was a joke. When 1 told him, he says, well, he says, I am tired. Gall me in about 20 min utes, he says, and I says no you got to get up, there is something to it, I says. I says she has either got sleeping sickness or dead or some thing.. That is what I said to Fritz. And Fritz said that is nothing. There has been times it has taken two hours to get them up, he says. Q.—You were interested in getting Fritz up because you knew there was something wrong in there and didn't want to tell him there was something wrong in there. That is just the way it was. Q.—Fritz 'got up and went to the door with you. Admits Lying to Lawrence "A.—Then Fritz says—he talked a little more there, but he sifl& some thing Aout—he says get a glass of water and throw that over her, he says. Q.—How could he say get a. glass of water and throw it over her when he didn't know you would be in the room. A.—He says, throw it over the transom, that will wake it up good, and look over the^transom and see if anybody is there, he says. I went down and pulled that table over and "looked over the transom. aewhenanddidhad .—What you want to pull the up look over the transom for you the keys to the room in your pocket? A.—I was afraid to teH I had found her dead. Q.—But you had the keys in your pocket when Fritz told you to look over the .transom? A.—No. Q.—You got rid of the keys when you got down stairs and hung the .'"safety pins up? A.—I hung them keys up when I went down stairs. Q.—The first time you went up you knocked and rapped at the door? A.—Yes and there was no answer. Q.—And then you didn't look over the transom at all? A.—No. -VVS, The following portion of the states attorney's transcript relates to the statements made by Gummer in which he admitted lying about the telephone call in the death chamber during the evening. Q.—Going back to the early part «0f the nignt, about what time did you call Her up, or how long after she came in? 'C -, A.—That night? A.—It*was around 11580 in there— close to 11:80—miglit have been a little before or a little after. Q.—And She was up—it only took i«jp her a moment to answer the phone? A.—Yes. Q.—"What was the first words you said when you called her? A.—I asked her if she had gone to bed. Q.—What did she say? Admits Calling Her Up A.—She said something about she was going to bed right away, or just about ready to go to bed. I says, 'so early?' She says yes. Right away she Drought up about "call me at six o'clock." 1 says what time do you want your call? She says six o'clock. Q.—What was your idea when you called her up? A.—Well I called her up, because if she had started to carry on the con versation and started kidding along— if she had let on that she was a sporty girl and I thot that there was anything doing, naturally I would have went up there. Q.—Didn't you ask her if she needed any help? A.—I might have asked her if she needed any help to go to bed, or something like that, but anything I asked her she says— Q.—'She said No? A.—She chopped off—didn't want to talk about it, but says you cdll me at 6:00 o'clock. She brought that in different times about being sure to call her at 6:00 o'clock. Q.—You told us this afternoon you Went OVer to meet that dk} did A than ably 10 minutes on the phone then I called her again. I think I called her three times on the phone. I went up there and rapped at the door. Then when I came down a little while later I rapped at the door again. I took those keys along, those two on the safety pin,-and I rapped on. the tra,n- 'i jiA 1 You U,an. .. Q.—What train was that—N. P. No. Four? A Ypk Q.—Why not? A.—Brown had either gone or just left. I kind of think we was talk ing, and I didn't have.—usually at night I have a letter of Fritz's to take over down there to the further box. That night O'Brien had been in and got a stamp from me and he asked me where this letter was going, what box—and I told him, and ne says he would take it ovor and mail it and he did. Q.—The next morning Mrs. Law rence asked you if you had made that train A.—Yes. \yhat did you reply? -I told her yes. She didn't spring it that way. She said—how did she have it—she asked me how long I was out last night and was I over to the depot. Q.—What did you tell her A.—That I beat it over and right back, that I didn't go till I heard the train. Q.—(Kraemer)—You told me you met Brown over there and he canif and talked a little while. A.—Met him at the depot? Q.—Oh, you didn't tell me his name then but you said your friend. A.—I beg your pardon. Q.—Think a minute. A.—Yes. Q.—I was asking about hoto long your friend was over there visiting you. A.—He was over there about an hour. Q.—You told me you met your friend at the train. Q.—Yes you did, Bill. A.—No, Brown came in the lobby and I was sitting there behind the desk. Q.—But you told me the other day— A.—That I met Brown at the de pot? Q.—Yes that he stopped at the de pot when you were going over and he was going home'or something. To day you change it. Q. (Milligan)—Throughout all this investigation and talk you have told us lots of lies. A.—Yes, but no lies I have told you amount to anything. Humphreys Struck Tough Roads in Montana A letter was received from Malta, Mont., from Guy Humphreys, stat ing he and his family had arrived there July 5, in their car. They jp countered some very muddy roads in Montana and from Culbertson on west they struck gumbo. "Didn't know there was so much gumbo in the world and it is the stickiest stuff I ever saw," Mr. Humphreys writes. "Stopped at Culbertson the first night, Wolf Point the second and Hinsdale, O. N. Elliott's old home, the thira. At Culbertson we got a room in the southwest corner of the hotel. Had just got to the room when we heard a loud explosion. The flortr milk blew up and caught fire and burned to the ground. We had a reserved seat in the hotel and watch ed her go up./ It seems to me that the sign on the building was G» S. Wedge & Sons. Tell ElliotF I wouldn't give a Canadian dime for all of his city of Hinsdale." Prison Twine Arrives—Retails at 15 Cents The' first car load of Minnesota prison twine to reach Minot arrived this morning, and i* being stored by the Minot ^Warehouse and Storage Co. A million pounds of twine from the Michigan state prison is also being shipped to Minot to be stored at the same place. The twine is be ing handled thru the Minot Distribut- ing Co., and will retail in Minot at IB cents a pound. t* iv •v*4' THE WARD COUNTY INDEPENDENT OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF WARD COUNTY AND THE CITY OF MINOT THE INDEPENDENT HAS THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY WEEKLY IN THE STATE "Thanking You for the Applause" Minot's Fourth of July celebration was attended by one of the largest crowds this city has seen at any similar function and on' every hand the" Independent heard words of praise over the event. The day broke cool and fair with Just enough breeze to be exhiliaTating. The roads were excellent and there were cars from every point within a hundred miles or more. The affair had been planned as a safe and sane celebration and this was carried out so well that there, wasn't an accident, reported. The young folks did enjoy some firecrackers and other explos ives, but they were kept good and busy in other ways and this was one Fourth without too much noise. The parade was excellent. It was headed by. Major Person, officer of the day and his aide, Lieut. Gettle man. The Community Band, which played thruout the day withoiit charge, followed. This band is di rected by Dr. Anderson during the absence of John E. Howard and com prises forty pieces. The band played in the parade and later the park, and at seven o'clock in the evening gave a most enjoyable concert on Main street. Following the band were the sol dier boys under command of Capt. Gross the Boy Scouts came next, sunburned from their recent encamp ment at Rice Lake. They were fol lowed by hundreds of little children, some dressed as Ragamuffins for the Play Day events to follow. Sweet little girls pushing their doll buggies took up one section of the parade. There were young clpwns also. The floats were very pretty. The Red Cross went to more than ordinary trouble. The Woman's Auxilliary to the American Legion, the W. R. C., Civil War veterans in autos, The Spanish-American War veterans, Y. W. C. A., W. C. T. U., were all rep resented with floats in addition to floats fitted up by a number of busi ness concerns. The city fire fighting apparatus appeared in the parade. One never grows weary of Fourth of July parades. We almost forgot to mention the floats arranged by the Elks, with the mounted elk, and the K. P.'s with the stuffed tigers. The parade ended at Riverside Park. The Boy Scouts, Community band and American Legion assembled on the parade ground at Riverside park wjhere the flag raising ceremonies were held. TriA to advertisement, Carl Daniel son, general chairman of the celebra tion, entered the bears' den at noon, accompanied by the keeper and fed the animals lumps of sugar while the immense crowd held their breath. The bears chased "Dan" all around the den but'they were not after him —they wanted his sugar. The beautiful park was filled with picnic parties, dinners being spread under the trees. A visit to the park furnished no small amount of pleas ure to the visitors. Following the luncheon, the band played a concert at the park and Major Person led the community singing. W. M. Smart, president of the city commission introduced Dr. Li H. Beeler, president of the Minot Normal, who delivered a rousing pa triotic address. During the afternoon Chet Jacob son and Roberts' gave a thrilling ex hibition with their planes at the Ja cobson field west of the city. Wil liams, the human fly, expected to transfer from one plane to the other, but owing to the wind, the two planes could not get close enough together. Fair sized crowds witnessed the two ball games betweeft Minot and Grand Forks. Many went to Wild wood on the boats. In the evening hundreds enjoyed the street dance on Main street. Hundreds of children from various parts of the county accompanied their parents to'Minot and partici- ^SWffiSiS Tills cavalry charger, posing so politely with his feet in the driver's seat of an army wagon, has Just made a clean leap Into the vehicle, bearing his regular rider. Sergeant Cooper, Troop C, eighth U. S. cavalry. The locale of this little scenario Is Fort Bliss, Tex. MINOT'S SAFE AND SANE CELE BRATION DRAWS BIG CROWD pated in the first play day events, held at the park under the direction of Geo. Caviness, playground instruc. tor fijom Minneapolis, who is spend ing six weeks in Minot under the auspices of the Y. W. C. A. Mr. Caviness handled his crowd in fine shape, both the young and those old er. The events were all good, but the watermelon eating contest fur nished perhaps the most amusement when nearly 80 boys line up, hands in pockets, to see who could eat his slice of melon first. The prize winners, together with the prizes they received and those who donated the prizes follow: Ragamuffin parade Nell Olson, first, camera, Leland Drug Co. John Warchow, second, flashlight, Leland Drug store. Doll buggy parade—Pauline Kraner first, doll, Fair Store Veronica Hage man, second, chair, Fair Store. Clown parade—Jack Faulds, first Allan Burris, second, Ray Hunter, third, Prizes not announced. Boys' races—'50 yard, midgets Roy Kidder, first Harold Ward, sec ond Dan Norris, third, and Kenneth Pepko, fourth. All awarded knives donated by Jacobson & Fugelso. Juniors—Albert Robbins, first Wilbur Dunnel, second William Wag ner, third. $4, $3 and $1 in trade at New York Store. Intermediate—Alvin Bowlley, first Theo Gilbert, second, William Renz, third $4, $3 and $1 in trade at J. C. Penney Co. Men's—Paul Nichols, first George Rasmussen, second R. Davies, third. First prize was fountain pen by Ben no Drug Co. Second and third prizes were silk socks and necktie. Fat men's race—Dr. A. D. McCan nel, first, $5 in gold, First Interna tional bank A. Sandstrom, second, one half ton lignite, Max Johnson Fuel Co. David Mair, third, cigars, Campbell-Tompkins Co. Girls' races Midgets: Elizabeth Craddack, Carrol Clark, Evelyn Hel sa, Francis Cox. Prizes not announc ed. Juniors—Pauline Jones, first, $3 Union National bank Leonora Olson, second, $2, Union National bank May Ewers, third, two tickets to Strand theater GeneVieve Carlson, four.th, two tickets to Strand theater. Intermediates Juanita Conklin, first, $5 Dorene box, Hart Swalstead Lucella Jones, second, box candy, Mit chell Confectionery Virginia Smart, third, three tickets to Strand theatre Grace Zebach, fourth, two tickets to Strand theater. Seniors—Juanita Conklin, first, $5 in gold, Second National bank Thel ma Berlichek, second, Waverly Con fectionery Beatrice Craddack, third, box candy, Waverly Confectionery. Mothers—Mrs. John Stewart, first, kettle, New York Hardware Store Mrs. V. Baker, second, double steam er, New York Hardware Store Mrs. E. Albright, third, 25 ounds Occi dent flour Mrs. J. Olson, fourth, hve cartons of lamps, Northern States Power Co. Boys' three-legged race—Carl Chu leck and Clifford Hunt, first, four tick ets to Orpheum Brunei Sweet and Russell flweet,. second, two tickets to Orpheum. Girls' three-legged race Edna Shoots and Edna Hackett, first, four tickets to Orpheum Norma Jenson and Jean Tennyson, second, two tick ets to Orpheum. Women's baseball throw Mrs. John son, first, Mrs. Munz, second, Mrs. Boyd, third, prizes by Minot Drug Co. High Jump—L. Lowe, first Stearns, second, H. Rasmussen third. Prizes not announced. —v. Melon eating contest Aloysius Hagenstein, first, three tickets to Ar cade Carl Chulek, secofid, two tickets to Arcade Glen Halvorson, third, cracker jade. *4 jfrffSawfti egaJB!fa^fwipp«»iM»iwMi»«iaaa Minot, Ward County, North Dakota, Thursday, July 7, 1921 Subscription $2.00 Per Annum MISS ROSE AIIEARN, STUDENT NURSE, DROWNED PLRIVER Tug-of-war, farmers versus city men Farmers won in 20 seconds, winning box of sigars donated by Grand hotel. Show race, girls—Edna Hackett, first, tickets to Arcade Myrtle Peter son, second, tickets to Arcade, Mar garet Seed, third, cracker jack. Pole climb—Allan Bolley, first, watch, Taylor Drug Co. Shot put—R. Wallace, first, $5 in trade, M. G. Olson Co. G. Rasmussen, second, 50 cigars, Ward Fruit Co. H. C. Anderson, third, necktie. Burlington Potato Growers Will Build Warehouse On Friday, July 1, the Burlington potato growers met at the Woodman Hall and voted to erect a potato ware house with full equipment of weigh ing machines, conveyors, sorters and loaders, suitable for handling the im mense yield of tubers which will be shipped from that community this fall. A committee consisting of J. H. Werner, Chas. Fuller, Harvey John son, H. A. Kluver and E. A. Madson, were selected to visit some of the leading poatto centres of Minnesota, and select a type of building and equipment that would best suit their need. The Burlington growers voted to in corporate and stock will be sold as soon as the articles of incorporation are received from the secretary of state. The association is strictly co operative, no matter how much stock any member owns' he can have but one vote. This will protect the smaller stockholder and give him the same say as regards the policies of the or ganization as has any other mem ber. He agrees that all ship ments and sales will be thru the or ganization exclusively. The penalty for disregard of this agreement is that said member shall pay the asso ciation what would have been their regular margin had the transaction been thru the regular channels. About 75 growers-'from the Burling ton district as well as a number of the Foxholm growers were present at the meeting. The following officers were elect ed for the ensuing year: E. A. Mad son, re-elected president J. H. Wer nes, vice president H. A. Kluver, sec retary Charles Fuller, treasurer, and these officers together with Harvey Johnson constitute the board of dir ectors. The success of the Burlington grow ers will be watched with considerable interest thruout northwestern North Dakota. Dempsey Knocked Carpentier Out in Fourth Round Jack Dempsey, heavyweight cham pion pugilist of the world, knocked out Georges Carpentier, idol of the Old World, in the fourth round in the Jersey City arena July 2. The bat tle »f the century was witnessed by more than 90,000 fans who had paid in the neighborhood of a million and a half dollars to see the fight. Demp sey was predicted a winner, but he had to use his skill in order to de feat the gallant French aviator. Just before the fight started airplanes flew over the arena to do honor to Car pentier. The fans were with Car pentier, this being the first time in American history when a large ma jority of our people would liked to have seen a foreigner win. This was no doubt due to Carpentier's splendid war record and to the charge that Dempsey was a slacker. Carpentier put up a great fight and staggered the champion a number of times with his right hand blows, any one of which would have knocked him out had he not been a man of iron. Carpentier is a much more skillful boxer than Dempsey. Dempsey wore Carpen tier down with his jabs to the body and knocked the Frenchman out with a short right to the chin. Carpentier broke his thumb during the fight. Dempsey received $300,000.00 for his 15 minutes work while Carpentier will take back $200,000.00 in good Amer ican money. Licensed to Wed Nels Nelson and Minnie Knudson, of Kenmare. John LeRoy Kauffman and Vestol Lambert, of Surrey. Oscar J. Rushley and Bessie Cover, of Minot. Edwin A. Pixley and Rose M. Kava naugh of Carpio. Earl Campbell and Tillie Henson of Minot. Adolph Scheichting and Bessie N. Carlson, of Minot. Amund Basman and Agnes Ottesen, Ward Co., Rose Glen. Alfred Mostad and Anna G.* Sundre of Minot. Miss Rose Phillipenko and P. T. Mixmenko, Makoti, N. D. Minot District in Good Shape It is fortunate that with the ex ception of a comparatively small dis trict in the immediate vicinity of Mi not a very good crop will be har vested in Minot's trade territory. Mi not is the center of a very large dis trict which'for the most part will harvest fine crops. The banks in the outlying districts that are bor rowers from the Minot banks will be able to liquidate much of their indebt edness and this will place our local banks in a position where they will be able to finance that part of the district that may need assistance. it $ A to, fc» I FE-W^WKTW* -WYTFAYT«G-R—P This Issue 12 Pages Miss Rose Ahearn, aged. 19 years, a nurse in training at St. Joseph's hospital, was drowned in Mouse river Friday morning, where she had gone to bathe with tws other nurses, Orpha Frank and Marie Volk. Miss Frank had a narrow escape from death while trying to save Miss Ahearn. The young women, who had worked at the hospital all Thursday night, went to the river on Fourth Avenue N. W. to bathe before going to bed for the day. The night had been ter rifically hot and while none of them was able to swim, they concluded that a plunge Tn the river would bo enjoyable. The river at that point is extremely dangerous for one who cannot swim, as there are several deep holes, dropping off abruptly. Miss Frank's sister, Mrs. F. R. Purdy resides at 408 Fourth Ave. N. W. and the young people went there to put on their bathing suits. Mrs. Purdy warned them of the danger of the stream. The river has been coming up rapidly for several days due to the heavy rains and is higher at this time oi the year than has. been known in many years. When Miss Ahearn dropped into the waterhole, Miss Frank attempted to rescue her and was herself nearly drowned. Miss Volk tried to reach the two young women and went u% der the water once, but saved herself by grasping a spring board. Miss Volk gave the alarm and Clarence Johnson, who lives on Fourth Ave. N. W. swam across the river to the rescue, saving Miss Frank. Mrs. E. D. Root, who lives in that vicinity, notified the fire department and while the firemen were searching for the body of Miss Ahearn, Miss Frank was revived by artificial res piration. She was taken to the hos pital where she was in quite a seri ous condition for a time, but has now recovered. The body of Miss Ahearn was re covered in about 15 feet of water. As soon as the body was brot to the surface, the pulmotor was used and at one time it was believed that it would prove successful, but when it was seen that this would not work, the body was taken to the hospital, the pulmotor l^eing worked enroute. At the hospital an operation was per formed on the body, the heart being exposed and massaged in the hope that it might start functioning again, as has been effected in a number of similar instances, but all efforts to revive her failed. The body had not been in the wa ter more than 25 minutes before it was recovered, but by the time it had been taken to the hospital, the fin gers had turned purple. Miss Ahearn came from Berthold to Minot and would have completed her course in nursing in about nine months. She has a sister, Miss Bernice Ahearn, who is a nurse in training at St. Joseph's hospital. Her father is dead and her mother, Mrs. Johanna Ahearn, resides at Bert hold. Johnny Ahearn, a brother of the deceased, was killed at Berthold five years ago when a train struck a school bus which was carrying children home from school. The mother came to Minot Friday after noon. The funeral was held at Ken mare Sunday, a large number of nurses escorting the body to the train that afternoon. The body was buried beside the remains of her father and brother. Baseball The local fans were treated to aa awful exhibition of baseball over the last week end and the Fourth, when a team representing Grand Forks played four games against the local team. The games were all won by the locals as the visitors were the worst aggregation ever appearing here. How they got out of the "home city is hard to figure out as they were sup posed to bring a ball team and as sured the local manager they woulii give him regular games. It cannot be blamed on the local management that such a team should appear as he had to take their word. for bringing a good team and none of the known good teams, could b'c secured for the holiday as all played at home games. It was a money loss as very little more than expenses were made for small crowds were out which is nothing against the fans. The only thing that was enjoyed at all and smoothed things over con siderably was the clown actions of some of the players which was realty good. Fargo comes this week end for three games and here the fans will see the best teams in the state against each other as Fargo is the only team that has taken a series from Minot and will try to do it again. The lo cals have Pierce to catch for the re mainder of the year and he will be remembered as he was here some time last season and is a very much, improved player. An extra pitcher of the best will be here to help the locals 'get even,' at least, with the visitors. The month will be filled at home with real ball and the series just, finished will soon be forgotten. Games are already scheduled for up in August and the whole month will be played out with several teams not, yet played by the locals. Coal Southwest of Berthold Kieth Bros., drillers, struck coal 12 miles southwest of Berthold, in Sec. 3-155-88. They found a 15 foot vein. 4 VWSd-JSt •A "1