Ballots and Bribery

By TESSA SANDSTROM

Nov. 8 — When Emmons County commissioner Henry Van Beck showed up at Inspector John Miller’s house, he was hoping to get the best of some political opponents before the county elections held today in 1892. Little did he know, Miller and the Russian-German settlement would get the best of him.

Van Beck, along with Republican candidates J.A. Cotton and Charles Lock, and Democratic candidate S.E. Brindle went to Miller with a proposition. If Miller arranged for 75 votes from the Selz precinct for candidate H.A. Armstrong, Van Beck would give $50 to the Catholic church near Selz. Cotton proposed the same deal if 75 votes were secured for both Lock and Brindle. The terms as reported by the Emmons County Reporter were as follows: “One hundred and fifty dollars were to be ‘given’ to the church — $50 for Armstrong, $50 for Brindle and $50 for Lock. If all three received 75 Russian votes and were elected, the church was to keep the whole amount. If Armstrong was defeated, $50 was to be returned. If Brindle was defeated, $50 was to be paid back; and, if all three were defeated, the entire amount ‘contributed’ to the church was to be returned.”

The money was to be paid upfront and Van Beck was preparing to write the check, when Miller stopped him, stating a check was “nicht goot.” Van Beck was forced to give $150 in bills to Miller. A receipt was written in both English and German, and Miller turned the money over to the church. The money was deposited in an envelope with a written account of the proceedings.

Miller then discussed the deal with the Russian settlement, but the settlers were leery of the deal and decided they would not be bribed so easily. They decided money with strings attached would not be returned, even if Van Beck and Cotton asked for it, and they did not want to use bribery money for the church. They had other uses in mind.

When the Reporter recounted the events of what they called “one of the rankest and most barefaced attempts at wholesale bribery that it has ever been the duty of a newspaper to chronicle,” Van Beck’s choices were far behind. Both Lock and Armstrong had only secured three votes from Selz Township, while their opponent each had 68 votes. Brindle fared little better with 25 of the Selz votes, while his opponent led with 47 votes.

Van Beck and Cotton were obviously not getting their money’s worth in the election, especially since few Russian voters could make it to the polls in the first place. With their conspiracy revealed by the Reporter, it would be difficult to get the money back legally. According to the Reporter, “The law is plain and the penalties severe where money is paid for any purpose in exchange for votes.” But, if the penalties were not severe enough, Van Beck and Cotton would have to watch as their bribe money was used for something other than the church; the Russian settlers had decided before the election that the bribe money was to be used for a grand New Year’s celebration. It was not reported if Van Beck and Cotton, who inadvertently financed the celebration, would be invited.

Jim Jam Jems

By TESSA SANDSTROM

Nov. 9 — Sometimes the truth hurts, and even offends, but that didn’t stop Sam Clark and C.H. Crockard, publishers of Jim Jam Jems from writing the truth in a blatant manner.

The magazine’s forward warned of the material enclosed in Jim Jam Jems’s colorful cover: “Here in the confines of this little booklet, we can say that which appeals to us, without fear of the result….Here we will let our imagination run riot;…we intend to write just whatever we damn please and say just as much….Kind reader have a care; if you are one of those ‘holier-than-thou’ individuals who dislike plain unvarnished truth, then delve no farther into this volume, for what is written here may shock your immortal soul, may shatter your faith in humanity and forever damn you – damn you.”

The publication was widely read, but at least one “holier-than-thou” individual delved too deep. This week in 1912, Clark and Crockard were indicted by the federal grand jury in Fargo for sending “obscene and immoral” reading matter in interstate mail. Meanwhile, news dealers throughout the state and in Minneapolis and St. Paul were also being arrested for selling the publication. Jim Jam Jems, however, continued “selling like hot-cakes,” and Clark and Crockard continued publishing the booklet throughout the trials.

Clark and Crockard contended the guilty conviction. The publishers insisted that the publication was in no way obscene and even helped bring several people to justice through exposure in the magazine. Their mission, they said, “was the cleaning up of some of the filthiness existing in the country.” For them, the magazine was just political and social commentary. Their commentary, however, often turned to those in charge, whether it was the church or political officials. To the state, however, the publication was obscene, and the District Attorney’s intention was to protect the home by putting the publishers out of business.

For the next five years, Clark and Crockard contended the conviction, and the trials often flopped back and forth between guilty and not guilty. The legal battle finally ended December 1917 when they were found guilty.

Jim Jam Jems continued to circulate, however, and Clark and Crockard retained the colorful voice in later issues. Clark later moved to Minneapolis, and began taking on other endeavors. He spent less time on the publication, and the August 1929 issue was the last of Jim Jam Jems.

Jumping Plains

By TESSA SANDSTROM

Nov. 10 — They were men who could fly a hundred feet across the plains of North Dakota, and all they needed to do so was a steep slope, a proper landing place, and their two wooden skis. Through the 1920s and ’30s, these ski jumpers were North Dakota heroes, and many of them helped North Dakota, a state with no mountains and few hills, turn into a ski jumping center. Determined to continue participating in the sport they loved, many of these men built ski jumping slides throughout the state, and on this day in 1932, one of the most prominent jumpers of North Dakota was in the process of building one in Minot.

Casper Oimoen came to the United States from Norway at the age of 17 believing the United States would be the right environment to pursue his career in ski jumping. What he saw as he entered North Dakota, however, horrified him. The broad, flat, treeless plains of the Red River Valley surrounded him, and Casper only rested when his traveling partner reassured him that his future home, Minot, had more to offer. It did, and for 14 years, Oimoen traveled between Minot, Minneapolis and Chicago competing in local, national, and international ski jumping tournaments, until his wife, Ruth, became pregnant in 1931. Then, the couple settled in Minot permanently.

Now that he was permanently in Minot, the repeating national champion and future two-time Olympian set about establishing ski jumping as a major sport in Minot. Oimoen helped found the Minot Winter Sports Club with the goal to “create, develop, encourage, and maintain interest in all winter sports.” With their club founded, Oimoen and the five other men who formed the first team of Minot Ski Riders set about building a ski jumping slide. With the financial help of Minot Chamber of Commerce, the Minot Winter Sports Club began building the 225-foot-long slide on the highest bluff in Minot, now commonly known as North Hill. The slide was completed and dedicated on Jan. 1, 1933.

The dedication was no small affair. Prior to its completion, Oimoen had brought fellow Olympians and ski jumping champions from across the country to Minot as a possible site for tournaments sanctioned by the Central Ski Association, a division of the National Ski Association. Many of those visitors returned to compete at the dedication tournament held on Feb. 5.

When the tournament began, it appeared to be an instant success. A crowd of 4,000 gathered on the terraced spectators’ hill to watch the jumpers perform their leaps. Among the athletes were Oimoen and his Olympian teammates Guttorm Paulsen of Chicago and Pedar Falstad of Devils Lake. The much-anticipated event was cut short, however, when a north wind brought in an unexpected blizzard. The tournament was postponed until March 5, but the Minot Winter Sports Club promised even more noted athletes, including the entire 1932 Olympic team.

When the tournament was finally held, it was a great success. Thirty-five contestants showed to participate, and Oimoen, the hometown hero, won the first Minot tournament. Paulsen finished second, and the Devils Lake favorite, Falstad finished third. All three would compete again the next week when Devils Lake held its own Central Ski Association tournament.

The Minot slide remained in operation through the next few years. The “riders of the wooden wings” could build their imitation hills for jumping the plains of North Dakota, but they could not divert the harsh North Dakota weather. According to Oimoen’s daughter, Sonja Oimoen Stalions, “Winter blizzards became co-conspirators with wind to thwart the optimism which once characterized Minot’s early-day ski sport spirit.” The slide eventually blew down and the lumber was reused for other recreation programs, and no more did spectators gather to watch the “riders of the wooden wings” jump the broad North Dakota plains.

Auto Taxes and Construction Season

By TESSA SANDSTROM

Nov. 11 — With winter fast approaching, we bid farewell to yet another summer -or road construction season, as native North Dakotans might call it jokingly. But what few may know, is that there is some truth in that joke. On March 17, 1911, the state legislature passed a law requiring the registration of motor vehicles for a fee of three dollars, and the first registered automobile belonged to Charles Ellingson of Sharon in Steele County.

From June through October 1911, motorists registered their vehicles with the secretary of state. The fees collected in registration would be distributed among the counties depending upon the number of vehicles registered in each county. Today in 1911, the secretary of state was in the process of distributing the money owed to each county for the first time, and Renville County was given $237.60 for its 100 automobiles and 1 motorcycle ($65.40 was deducted for expenses). The law required that the money be used for highway maintenance and repairs. Law stated that the money had to be expended from April first to December first each year – or in other words, during our approximate “construction season.”

Related Receiver

By JAYME L. JOB

Nov. 12 — A young North Dakota telegraph operator received his “own tragic message” on this day in 1913. Seventeen-year-old George Wood was working as the telegraph operator in Page when the strange coincidence occurred.

On the evening of Nov. 12, Wood received a message telling of a dreadful shooting in St. Paul, in which a husband shot himself, his wife, and his baby grandson. The message asked for the return of the couple’s son to the city, as all three victims were being hospitalized. Wood was so caught up in the content of the message that he failed to recognize the victims’ names as those of his own parents! Not until Wood reached the end of the telegraph did he recognize the name of the sender as that of his older brother, Henry. Fortunately, all three relatives survived the tragic events.

“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council.