William Lemke is the ONLY North Dakotan to run for the presidency, who ran on the National Union of Social Justice ticket in 1936 against Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Republican Party challenger Alf Landon.

Roosevelt received 27 million votes, Landon 16 million, and Lemke 882,000.  Lemke had served as the attorney general of North Dakota.  At the time of his prediential campaign, he held a Senate seat.  He lost his seat in 1940 but was re-elected in 1942 an dserved in this capacity untill his death in 1950.

States casting the most votes for Lemke were: Ohio 132,000 votes; Michigan 75,000; Minnesota 74,000; Pennsylvania 67,000; Wisconsin 66,000; and North Dakota 36,000 votes, which was probably the total population of North Dakota at that time.

Major Baseball player Mark Lemke of the Atlanta Braves is a second cousin twice removed of William Lemke.

While at Yale, Lemke's friendship with the son of a Mexican senator had aroused his interest in acquiring land in western Mexico for colonization by Americans. In 1906 he organized a company which raised $400,000 through a stock offering and purchased 550,000 acres in Sinaloa and Tepic. The Mexican revolution that broke out in 1911, however, dealt the venture a blow from which it never recovered. Desiring a strong Mexican government capable of protecting his interests, Lemke applauded the seizure of power by the dictator Victoriano Huerta in 1913 and vainly urged President Wilson to recognize the Huerta regime. Lemke expressed his bitterness toward Wilson in his book Crimes Against Mexico (1915).

As the depression deepened, Lemke became a supporter of the militant Farm Holiday Association led by Milo Reno. A foe of production controls, he consistently backed the association's radical proposal for a "cost of production" system in which the federal government would fix prices on various commodities. He also authored and - - along with Senator Frazier - - cosponsored bills to ease bankruptcy terms for farmers, create a Bank of the United States (the only state-owned bank in the country), and allow farmers to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. Despite the opposition of President Roosevelt, Lemke by a tireless personal campaign lined up sufficient support to secure passage of the Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act (1934) and, when it was declared unconstitutional, its successor, the Farm Mortgage Moratorium Act (1935), which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1937. Known as the Frazier bills, before Lemke's election to Congress, the latter's sole authorship has been acknowledged by Frazier; they were introduced into the Senate by Frazier and into the House by Lemke.

Embittered by Roosevelt's refusal to support his program, Lemke in 1936 accepted the presidential nomination of the vaguely agrarian-inflationary Union party, recently formed by three anti-New Deal demagogues: Father Charles E. Coughlin, the Michigan radio priest; the Rev. Gerald L. K. Smith, an ally of the recently assassinated Senator Huey P. Long; and Dr. Francis E. Townsend, campaigner for old-age pensions. Long and Coughlin had supported Lemke's bills; but his association with these fringe elements eroded his influence in liberal circles, and his presidential candidacy drew less than 900,000 votes. As World War II approached, Lemke's isolationist sentiments were rekindled, and he opposed increased armaments and spoke for the America First Committee against the Lend-Lease Bill in 1941. After the war, as a member of the House Public Lands Committee, he sponsored a number of conservation measures - Land reclamation, irrigation, land flood control - and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park, and a liberalization of the Alaskan homestead system. He enacted several bills for the betterment of American Indians and to repay them for land taken in the construction of Garrison Dam, which he had worked to finance.

Lemke was serious and reserved, with stern features and a manner that reflected his farm background. Although something of a deist, he accepted his wife's later Christian Science affiliation. He died in Fargo, North Dakota, of a sudden coronary attack at the age of seventy-one and was buried in that city's Riverside Cemetery. Lemke's career, unlike that of more traditional politicians, defies easy characterization. A dedicated public servant, he tenaciously pursued those policies, however radical or hopeless, which he believed to be in the interest of his constituents. Many considered him an extremist, and his zeal sometimes narrowed his vision and led him into questionable positions or dubious alliances. Yet as architect of the Nonpartisan League's program in North Dakota and as Congressman, he introduced and achieved enactment of much responsible, liberal legislation."

SPICER FAMILY MURDERS

By William Fischer
Editor, Emmons County Record
Linton, N.D.

While North Dakota was still a part of Dakota Territory, there existed in what is now Emmons County, a thriving town, Winona, just across the Missouri River from the Fort Yates Military Post. It is said that no fewer than nine saloons operated in the town, drawing their patronage largely from the military personnel stationed at Fort Yates.

When North Dakota became a state, its constitution outlawed the saloon, but many saloon operators continued their "underground" operation - - and their places of business were known as "blind pigs." Despite the law, Indians were sometimes able to procure liquor from the "piggers."

During the winter of 1896-97 - - said to be one of the worst on record - - there lived a short distance from Winona, the Thomas Spicer family. In the household were Mr. and Mrs. (transcribers note: Mary Ellen Waldron) Spicer, Mrs. (transcribers note: William) Waldron (transcribers note: Ellen Nicholson Waldron), the elderly mother of Mrs. Spicer, and Mrs. William Rowse (transcribers note: Lillie Spicer, also in many other records, spelled "Rouse"), a daughter of the Spicers who was staying at their home while her husband was west of the Missouri River (on the Cannon Ball) preparing a home for his family. Two others daughters of the Spicers also lived with their parents, but both were absent on the day when the main events of this narrative occurred.

On Sunday, Feb. 14, 1897, Frank Black Hawk (Indian-Negro) and Alec Coudotte (Indian-French) attempted to obtain liquor in one of the Winona blind pigs. The proprietor informed them that his stock had been hauled away and cached by one Mr. Pepper, the town drayman and water hauler. The two then went to the Pepper home that night and asked where the liquor was hidden. It is believed that Pepper told them it was stored in the cellar of the Spicer home. It is further believed that this place was pointed out to them as a joke, because Spicer was known to be a religious man, who, although he was not an ordained minister, sometimes preached.

On Feb. 17, 1897, Alec Coudette, Black Hawk, George Defender, Paul Holy Track and Phillip Ireland went to the Spicer farm. Spicer was cleaning his barn when they came. The callers went into the barn and watched while Spicer hauled out a few loads of manure with his wheel barrow. The visitors had with them a muzzle loading shotgun and with this shot Spicer in the back on one of his trips out of the barn. They then mutilated his face and body with an axe, spade and pitchfork. One of the men then went to the house and told Mrs. Spicer that her husband wished to see her in the barn. Just as she arrived at the stable door, she was struck in the face with a charge from the shotgun. Her body was also mutilated.

The killers then went to the house, picking up a club on the way. They entered the house and killed Mrs. Spicer's elderly mother with the club. Next they tried to enter the room where Mrs. Rowse had taken refuge with her twin sons (transcribers note: about 1 1/2 years old, Alvin and Albert).

She seized a shotgun and clubbed Coudette across the chest, driving him out of the room. Paul Holy Track then went into the room and Mrs. Rowse swung a broken-bladed hoe at him, striking him on the head, cutting a hole through his hat brim and inflicting a wound on his forehead. She tried to swing again but the hoe caught on a wire stretched across the room, after which she was overpowered and beaten to death with a table leg. The killers then murdered the two babies, raising the total of deaths to six.

News of the murder didn't reach Williamsport, Emmons County Seat, until the following Saturday (transcriber's note: Feb. 20th). (Williamsport was located a short distance northeast of the present site of Hazelton. It, like Winona, is no longer in existence). H. A. Armstrong - - state's attorney at $400 per year - - made the trip to the scene of the multiple murder by horseback.

Eventually, investigation led to the arrest of the suspects. Paul Holy Track and Phillip Ireland were questioned and confessed, thus leading to the most unusual trial ever held in the county and to its first and only lynching.

Alec Coudotte was tried first and found guilty of murder in the first degree, the jury fixing the punishment as death by hanging. Much of the testimony required the services of an interpreter who could speak the English language and Indian. Walter H. Winchester, presiding judge, denied a defense motion for a new trial.

George Defender's trial was next. The defense, in the meantime, asked that a new judge be summoned to take Winchester's place. This request was granted and Judge O. E. Sauter (transcribers note: Otto E. Sauter) took charge. After hearing the testimony, the jury deliberated 60 hours but could come to no decision. A new trial was necessary.

In the meantime, the state Supreme Court ruled that Coudotte should be granted a new trial. At this time, Coudotte, Paul Holy Trace and Phillip Ireland were in the county jail at Williamsport, having been shuffled back and forth several times between Williamsport and the Burleigh County jail at Bismarck.

Because of the Supreme Court's contention that the confessions of Ireland and Holy Track were not sufficient to warrant the conviction of Coudotte, it became apparent that all the defendants would be freed at the next trial since no additional evidence had been uncovered by the prosecution.

On Saturday evening, Nov. 13, 1897, a group of about 40 masked men appeared at the jail in Williamsport and demanded the cell keys from Thomas Kelly, the night watchman. When he failed to surrender them, he was overpowered and the prisoners were dragged from their cells with ropes around their necks.

The hanging was first attempted at a well curbing, then from a log house - - and finally ended from the beam of Mile Rush's beef windlass at the rear of the Williamsport hotel.

Although there was reason to believe that the identities of all the lynchers was known, no attempt at prosecution was ever made.

This transcription was taken from a very poorly made copy of the article provided by the Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU Libraries, Fargo, North Dakota.

                               GOVERNOR DENIED VOTE

Governor Gerge Shafer found himself unable to cast a ballot during the 1930 general election even thouh he was in Bismarck all day !

This is because he was hospitalized on the day of the vote and found himself too sick to go to the polls about a block away.  He was denied an absentee ballot because , at that time , the law required absentee voter to be out of town on the day of the election.

Even yough Shafer didn't vote for himself, he won anyway.

Richard James Hieb (born September 21, 1955 in Jamestown, North Dakota) is a NASA astronaut and a veteran of three space shuttle missions. He was a mission specialist on STS-39 and STS-49, and was a payload commander on STS-65.

Hieb's family originates from Russia and is of German descent. His mother was a long time elementary school teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Jamestown, North Dakota.^[1]

After graduating from the University of Colorado in 1979, Mr. Hieb came directly to NASA to work in crew procedures development and crew activity planning. He worked in the Mission Control Center on the ascent team for STS-1, and during rendezvous phases on numerous subsequent flights. He has an extensive background in on-orbit procedures development, particularly in rendezvous and proximity operations.

Selected by NASA in June 1985, Mr. Hieb became an astronaut in July 1986, qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. Since then he has held a variety of technical assignments including launch support activities at Kennedy Space Center, and has served in both the Mission Development Branch and in the Operations Development Branch of the Astronaut Office. He supported the STS-26 mission as a part of the close-out crew prior to launch and as a part of the change-out crew just after landing. A veteran of three space flights, Mr. Hieb flew on STS-39 in 1991, STS-49 in 1992, and STS-65 in 1994. He has logged over 750 hours in space, including over 17 hours of EVA (space walk).

Mr. Hieb first flew on the crew of STS-39, an unclassified Department of Defense mission which launched on April 28, 1991 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the mission, he was responsible for operating the Infrared Background Signature Satellite (IBSS) from within the payload bay, on the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and as a free-flying satellite. He also operated the RMS to release the IBSS, and then to retrieve the IBSS a day and a half later. After 134 orbits of the Earth which covered 3.5 million miles and lasted just over 199 hours, the crew landed at California, on May 6, 1991.

Mr. Hieb was also a mission specialist on the crew of STS-49, the maiden voyage of the new Space Shuttle Endeavour, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 7, 1992. During that mission, Hieb along with astronaut Pierre Thuot, performed three space walks which resulted in the capture and repair of the stranded Intelsat VI F3 communications satellite. The third space walk, which also included astronaut Tom Akers, was the first ever three-person space walk. This 8 hour and 29 minute space walk, the longest in history, broke a twenty year old record that was held by Apollo 17 astronauts. The mission concluded on May 16, 1992 with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base after orbiting the Earth 141 times in 213 hours and traveling 3.7 million miles.

Mr. Hieb was the payload commander on the second flight of the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) on Space Shuttle Mission STS-65. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 8, 1994, and returned there on July 23, 1994, setting a new flight duration record for the Space Shuttle program. During the 15-day flight the crew conducted more than 80 experiments focusing on materials and life sciences research in microgravity. The mission was accomplished in 236 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.1 million miles.

                 NORTH DAKOTA'S FIRST ASTRONAUT IN SPACE    

                                   James F Buchli (Colonel, USMC, Ret.)
         

Col Buchli even though he joined NASA in 1979, 12 years after England was the first North Dakotan in space. Before his service to NASA was over he will have logged over 490 hours in space on four missions.

He flew on the January 24 1985 mission on Discovery. Before the year was over he was in space again, aboard the Challenger that was part of the West German Spacelab mission.  This trip included 8 astronauts and scientists .  Three-and-a-half years later he was in space again aboard the Discovery spacecraft that shot 3000 photographs of earth during a 5-day mission. His last flight was a 5 day mission in 1991 on the Discovery logging the upper atmosphere's chemistry.

Born June 20, 1945  in New Rockford North Dakota, but also considers Fargo his hometown.

This is more complexing and not so much something interesting  I have thought of this little girl many times.  

 
She went missing on May 17th, 2006. There were clues for police, but Reachelle Smith still has not been heard from. Reachelle was 3 years old when she was last seen by her family in her bed. Tuesday afternoon, authorities released an age enhanced photo of Reachelle at age 7. The man suspected of taking her, 22 year old Leigh Cowen, a family friend, was found dead in the Upper Souris National Wildlife refuge. Cowen died of a suicide and was found just days after the Amber Alert was issued. Unfortunately, after an extensive search, there were no traces of Reachelle. As the family keeps hope alive that Reachelle will be found, authorities hope that the photo will jog someone`s memory, someone that may have seen Reachelle. If you have any information on Reachelle Smith`s whereabouts, contact the Minot Police Department. 

Computer enhanced image of what Reachell looks like today. 

                                    APOLLO 13's MAGYVER

Anthony England became North Dakota's First Astronaut, in 1967.  Born in Indianaplis, he moved with his family to North Dakota where he graduated from high scchool.  He considers West Fargo his hometown.

England served on the support crew for both the Apollo 13 and 16 flights. Although Anthony England failed to get a spot aboard any of the Apollo missions, his ivolvement in the problem plagued Apollo 13 flight helped save the lives of the 3 astronauts aboard.

Following an explosion, the Apollo astronauts scrapped their lunar landing to return home.  Getting them home, however, turned out to be the foremost problem NASA had ever faced.

Even if the Apollo 13 crew had had enough fuel to return to earth, the chances were slim they'd make it because their own carbon dioxide emissions were killing them.  That is because the scrubbers on their caron dioxide extractor were plugged.

Back at Houston Control Center, England headed a crew that rigged a carbon dioxide extractor from items like hoses and carboard readily found aboard the Odyssey.  Those of you who saw the movie Apollo 13 know what it looked like - a duct taped device that would have made MacGyver proud.  Plans were given to the crew who put a unit together in space that returned their air to normal oxygen levels.

Dr. England did make it into space in 1985  at the age of 43.  Aboard the Challenger, he orbited the earth 126 times, compiling 188 hours in space.  This trip was instrumental in conducting experiments in solar physics and astronomy.

     INLAND HURRICANE KILLS SEVEN CHILDREN IN FARGO.

                                               July 7, 1890.

An unbelevably strong-straight-line wind that meteorologists of that day referred to as an Inland Hurricane claimed the lives of 7 family members of the Fargo household on July 7th, 1890.  Weather watchers reported the N/W howled at 75 mph for over 15 minutes around 2:30 AM.

Before the storm was over Mrs. James McCarty and 7 of her children left their shaking house to take refuge in an underground coal bin. Although the dicision seemed sound, it proved deadly.

THe winds moved their house 4 feet into a shed which partially collapsed into the coal bin.  The pregnant mother suffered a broken leg when she was pinned beneath a beam and was unable to help her 7 children who were either crushed by falling timbers or sufficated from the coal dust.

The chidren were buried in 7 graves in a row in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Fargo.

Adding to the calamity was the death of the father, James McCarty, just 3 weeks earlier.  Two daughters, Laura and Katie, were out of town when the storm struck.

This wind toppled train cars. Pictures can be viewed at NDSU Library  in Fargo.

better send her to ND this time of year..i bet she would cover that thing right up!!! lol

When we did get the paper we would tip every few weeks. as long as its in reach or If we had a newspaper thingee or if its wrapped in plastic..i hate reading soggy papers! lol I agree though, they should at least shovel or put a light on or something.  Ours was taken care of because we lived in those yellow apartments on 8th n 21st (carmen court)

Hope you are feelin better though Theresa..gunna have to get you some cleats! lol Remind me sometime next week to bring you some corn! I am thinkin I will go up to Minot on Friday n visit some friends for a bit, get a facial or somethin n have lunch...I wont be available from 1145 til 115 though..:) I will call you on the way up.

                                           LAWRENCE WELK

                                  March 11, 1903 - May 17, 1992

We can't forget Lawrence born in Strasburg North Dakota , a musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario.  What can I say that most dont know, he was the 6th of 8 children born in Strasburg ND to Ludwig and Christiana Welk , german imigrated to ND in 1892 from Odesa Ukrain which was part of Russia at that time.  He never lost his accent.

I cannot say I cared much for his television program, but when I was at my Grandparents, that was what was on every Saterday night at 7 O'clock.  To this day the program runs at the same time on PBS, and when I want memories of my grand parents, I watch.  Some are so funny the way people were back then, and I only imagine my grand children will feel the same about our generation.  Lets see the King of Pop MJ stay on the air as Lawrence has, it wont happen.  I hope.

He was a good man and is a marker in my life when I want to think of my Grand Parents, I am sure they are all in heaven ,  listening to music and popping bubbles.  Champagne music,  my choice would be 1 small glass of wine and  Music by Buffalo Spring Field , so hope the polka is not too loud when IF or when  I get there.

I am so sorry I forgot, for you my Shoppe,,,

Hi everyone how are you today? I am fine, kind of and thanks for asking. I slipped on the fricking ice this morning doing the paper route with John this morning, so now I am on good drugs. I didn’t even know it was icy out; I would have worn my icy weather shoes.  So let me ponder a question to the forum. Now let me tell you all that don’t live in Minot that you won’t believe. People in Minot want their paper delivered every day right inside their front door. Do you believe that? In New York my father gives the paper delivery guy a tip of fifteen dollars a month to throw the paper close to the door, and sometimes that is not so close. I know in the winter his paper is thrown from the guys car to somewhere in the driveway, the driveway is about 25 feet long.  Here no tips from most here, but they want it inside their door. I am sorry but some people are lucky to get it within a foot of their door. They have no porch light on and this one porch is about ten foot and covered, dark, dark, dark. . I can’t see anything so I through it close to the door. They have several steps up and I can’t see a dam thing, and they never tip a dime, not in four years. So they complained and I complain on them back.  So what do you think, do I clime the steps in the dark or throw to the door.  Tomorrow our best customers are getting on this route are getting thank you card, I call them premium customers.  They tip, I think they deserve a great big kiss and a thank you, but a really great thank you card is what they get. 

Yesterday I wrote this huge response to Care II and my computer rebooted, today I save every two paragraphs.  My Friend from Ireland will be here tomorrow night; she is having thanksgiving dinner with my dad, and my mother’s family in New York. She leaves New York LaGuardia at 5 and arrives here hopefully at 1030. 

KO you have the greatest stories, you should write a book of silly stories from motherhood.  I met a man in Jamestown that publishes books and sells his books out of his shop. Just a thought, I have all my stories of harassment in military, that I would love to get published, but I have hit a few brick walls with it. I have proof of everything.  Enough about that one.

Care I am glad you feel better, ear infections are the worst.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Please remember when you give thanks, for all the Military serving, their Thanksgivings are not so great. Some are just having MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) out of a box in a hummer somewhere.

I love you all and have a great day, Theresa

                   NO ARMS , NO LEGS, NO SCHOOL.

Nature dealt Anne Carlson, a tough hand to play.  She was born with only stubs for arms and a deformed leg that later had to be amputated.  Educators dealt her an even tougher hand to play.  They denied her an education, even though she was very bright. Dispite the lessons they'd learned from Helen Keller, educators were still skeptical and narrow minded.  When Anne's parents took her to school to go to the first grade at the age of 7, they found the doors closed. They also found the doors closed at age 8.

Back at home, Anne's mother taught her the basic skills of reading, writing , and arithmetic.  Her mother , also , taught her perhaps the most important skill, the crippled youngster would ever learn, to have no self pity.  Finally the doors of education opened wide for the youngster after a state psychologist approved her as educable when she was 8.  Allowed in the class room Anne completed 8 grades of elementary studies in just 4 years.  She shined in high school.  But the college bound woman found the doors of education closed again when she tried to enter college.  No college in the 30s would accept such a serioulsy handicapped student.  That is, untill the University of Minnesota, enrolled her.  Four years later she proved their trust when she graduated with honors.

Dispite her education she was again finding doors closed seeking a job because of her physical condition.  She finally got a job at the Crippled Children's School in Fargo.  It paid 25 dollars a month and room and board, but it was a job she kept till the school closed years later.  However, the Crippled Childrens school reopened in Jamestown, she accepted another job with them.  Taking more courses she earned a masters and doctors degrees.  She taught school for many years and served as the school's principal and guidance counselor.  In 1950 she was hired as their administrator.  Her innovative programs gained the institution international fame.   She retired in 1981, the schools name was changed to the Anne Carlsen School.  Over the years, Anne recieved numerous awards.  She was named Handicapped American of the Year.  The state gave her the Roughrider Award.  The North Dakota Psychological Association named her psychologist of the year. 

Ironically in 1980 the girl who was discouraged in her dreams to become a teacher, was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Anne Carsen died a few years ago in Jamestown.  However , the words she told a Jamestown Sun reporter live on:  " All people deserve the same rights and privileges as other people.... All people deseve to have an education geard to their ability level... to reach their potential... to develp their abilities."  

                                         INVENTORS

 THE ATOM BOMB: Carl Baily of Grafton,  physicist Alfred Hanson of Gran Forks, and chemist George Mayour of Fargo secretly worked on the atom bomb in Los Alamos , New Mexico, from 1943 to 1945.  Of course we know that one of these bombs was dropped on Hiroshima, and the other on Nagaski, at the end of WWII.  Bailey was a graduate of Concordia College; Hanson graduated from the University of North Dakota, and Mayer graduated from North Dakota Agricultural College.     

HEADBOLT HEATER:  Andre Freeman , originall yfrom Upham came up with the idea a headbolt heater while trying to start his care during one cold Norh Dakota winter.  He patented his invintion in 1947.

TIRE SPREADER:  Charles Earl Branick, Dickinson, invented the first tire spreader in 1923.  The foundr of the Branick Vucanizing Company of Fargo, he patented more than 160 inventions during his life.

KODAK CAMERA: David Henderson Houston invented the kodak camera that incorported two rollers enabling the user to roll film from frame to frame.  His invention was marketed by George Eastman of Eastman Kodak .  After a lawsuit, Houston  who lived near Hunter after emigrating from Scotland collected thousands of dollars in ryalties.  It's been said that Houston, who loved his state , named the caera by scrmbling the letters of Dakota after adding an extra "K" hence the name Kodak.   

BALLOON SATELLITES:  Gimore Schjedahl, Esmond, invented the air sickness bag for moder aircraft and machines that produce bread wrappers and garment bags.  He developed ballon satellite Echo I, in 1950, Echo II in 1964, and Pageos in 1966.

CREAM of WHEAT:  George Bull, a Grand Forks farmer invented the cereal Cream of Wheat in 1893.  For many years he operated the Diamond Flour Mill in Grand Forks.

FARM EQUIPMENT: Edwar Melroe, a Gwinner farmer, invented a flexible pickup that attached to a combine so it coul pick up grain from windrows.

Thomas Campbell,k Grand Forks, invented a grain dryer and the windrow method of harvesting wheat.  H also procued petroleum jelly.

Sherman Quanbeck, Aneta, patented severa farm implements including a flex-point shank assembly for chisel plows.

Edwin Rietn, Petersburg, included among his many inventions, the aluminum truck box and allowy steel teeth for hay stackers.

                                                   ZIP TO ZAP

Zap is a small community of less than 300 people in 1969, who had never dreamed that on that spring day that they would be host of the state's only riot that brought out the national guard.

It was a turbulent time.  Every evening newscast reported the number of dead americans soldiers in Vietnam.  Whether a justified war or not, the conflict took  its toll and American youth were protesting.

Some say that's what the Zap in was all about , the widespread generation gap .  Most simply regard the incident as a drunken party that got out of hand during spring break.  Strapped for ready cash, a student came up with the idea of a spring break in Zap instead of Florida.  THis remote sleepy town was perfect and, besides, it had two bars.  Who could ask for anything more?

Never doubt the effectiveness of words in print because it wasn't long before student at UND, NDSU, Dickinson State, and Minot State as well as students at other schools were all thinking about zipping to Zap.

An estimated 2000 party goers were found eating Zapburgers at the town's only retaurant and downing plenty of beer at the 2 local bars.

Who knows what caused the riot. Some point fingers at bar owners.  It seems they were not stocked up with enough beer.  They raised prices on the beer and the party goers became upset.  With the setteling of darkness, came the cold.  Some students grabbed wood from an old building that was being demolishesd and made a bonfire right on the town's main drag.  Sometime in the night, things got even worse, the cafe was broken into and trashed.  So was one of the bars.  Mayhem ruled.

Come the light of day the National Gard made its presence known.  They surrounded the town before sending in a contingency of 200 soldiers who dispersed the students.  The protest or party gone wild, or whatever happened, was over in Zap.  But not the rest of the country.  The media picked up on the story.  Some reported it as nothing more than a party gone wrong.  Others reported it as a protest deep in America's hearland where protest of this kind are rare.  CBS news, to the chagrin of most North Dakotans reported the incident as its lead story.  Like it or not, that week North Dakota was put in the national limelight.

                                  LAST MAN EXECUTED.

                                      John Rooney.

"Good evening gentlemen.  I am sorry to entertain you at such a late hour."  John Rooney told those attenfing his execution in Bismarck, in 1905.  After he sang a song he wrote, the trap was sprung, and Rooney dangled at the end of a rope.

As history records it, Rooney was the last convict legally hanged in the state of North Dakota.  Convicted of killing a farm laborer west of Fargo in 1902.  He maintained his innocence till the end.

Because of a 1903 law he was hanged on the penitentiary grounds instead of on the lawn of the Cass County Courthouse.  Prior o this , those executed were hanged in the county where the crimes occurred.   As it turns out Rooney was the first and the last to be hanged at the penitentiary.

Ten years after the Rooney hanging the state legislature abolished executions except for prisoners committing first degree murder while already incarcerated under a life sentence for first degree murde,  and for those committing treason against the state.  No one has ever been prosecuted under this statute.  In 1973 the death penalty was completely abolished by legislators.  There were failed efforts ot reinstate capital punishment in 1977, 1979, and 1995.