Mr. Hockey,

Fido Purpur

By MERRY HELM

Feb. 21 — Between 1934 and 1945, North Dakota hockey legend Clifford “Fido” Purpur played for the St. Louis Eagles, St. Louis Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and the St. Paul Saints. When Purpur was awarded the North Dakota Roughrider Award, it was said the state had become a hockey hot spot because of him.

The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame states: “When Fido Purpur stepped on the ice with the St. Louis Eagles in 1934, he had become North Dakota’s first native son to play in the National Hockey League. Purpur made the NHL when he was just 20 years old, and when the Eagles folded after the 1935 season, he signed with the American Hockey Association’s St. Louis Flyers. He stayed with the Flyers until 1942 when he returned to the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks… His best year of many good years in St. Louis was 1939, when he scored 35 goals and 43 assists in the regular season and three goals and three assists in the playoffs as St. Louis won the Harry F. Sinclair Trophy, which was emblematic of the league championship.”

St. Louis fans idolized “little” Fido Purpur because of his gutsy moves and terrific speed, not to mention his four 20-goal seasons with the Flyers. They also liked that Purpur took the time to talk with them and sign autographs for the kids. He, himself, starting skating as a young kid, using skates his brother bought for five cents.

In a 1999 story for the Forum, Jeff Kolpack wrote, “Purpur got his nickname (Fido) because he skated so close to the ice. He has about 200 stitches from the neck up, a tribute to his toughness.”

When the Chicago Blackhawks signed Fido, it was to team him on a line with Max and Doug Bentley, and also to shadow the legendary Montreal player, Maurice “Rocket” Richard. “I followed him everywhere,” Purpur said. Purpur played in every one of the Blackhawk’s fifty games in 1943, scoring 13 goals and 16 assists.

During the Stanley Cup semi-finals the following year, Purpur got good press for his strong series against Detroit, but Montreal shut out Chicago in the finals, four games to zero.

Around this time, Fido developed a puzzling ailment that elevated this body temperature. He was able to keep playing, but after a few years, it started to sap his strength.

He finished his professional career in 1947 and went back to his hometown, Grand Forks. But the Purpur legend wasn’t finished, it was expanding. In 1949, Fido became UND’s hockey coach, a post he held for seven years. During that time, he coached a standout center, who went on to play in the 1956 Olympics. That player was Fido’s brother, Ken. Then, there were Fido’s six sons, all of whom played the game. Purpur’s great-nephew, UND standout Jeff Panzer, signed with the St. Louis Blues in 2001.

UND’s first All-American and first Olympian was John Noah – he played for the 1952 Olympic Hockey team, which won the silver medal. UND had just started its hockey program in 1946, and Don Norman was coaching when Noah enrolled. Then, Purpur took over. “He was god up there in the early years of hockey in Grand Forks,” Noah told Kolpack. “He’s one of the most sincere people I’ve ever run into.”

Purpur died on this date in 2001 at the age of 88. The funeral took place in Grand Forks, and the procession to the cemetery was led by the Zamboni machine from the Fido Purpur Arena.

Interstate Highways

By MERRY HELM

Feb. 22 — On this day in 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a message to Congress regarding the inadequacy of the nation’s highways. At the end of his speech, he turned over two studies that demonstrated the urgency and outlined a plan for building a modern, safe Interstate Highway network over the next ten years.

Building an Interstate Highway system was not Eisenhower’s idea. A collective vision among planners and engineers had been developing since before World War II. Some existing highways were indicative of that vision — notably the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Route 66 (the “Mother Road”), and the German Autobahns.

What Eisenhower brought to the table was the knowhow of a five-star general who had been administering things for thirty years, including the Normandy invasion in World War II. He knew how to accomplish big things, and he was convinced this special network of super-highways was going to require the federal government to assume principal responsibility. He knew that 48 state highway departments building highways with federal aid was not going to get the job done…at least not in his lifetime.

In his message, the President first talked about the big picture — that a good communication system for moving information, and a good transportation system for moving goods and people, are uniting forces that help make the nation what it strives to be — a United States of America. He then outlined four reasons why the current highway network was “inadequate for the nation’s growing needs.”

The first issue he mentioned was safety. He noted that 36,000 people were killed, and more than a million were injured every year in highway accidents. Those were numbers a military leader could grasp, and would be very concerned about.

Secondly, he discussed the economic inefficiency of the current network. He said the physical condition of present roads increases the cost of vehicle operation by an estimated one cent per mile driven, which would translate into $5 billion dollars per year in efficiencies with the new system. Again, his experience moving troops and materials must have helped him understand the highway situation.

Thirdly, he felt the roads were inadequate (quote) “in case of atomic attack on our key cities.” Bigger and better roads were needed for quicker evacuation and for mobilization of defense forces. This was a classic Cold War argument.

And lastly, he cited projected growth in the gross national product and population. By 1955 the post-war baby boom was well underway, and Ike thought the traffic problems of the ’50s “only faintly foreshadow those of ten years hence.”

Eisenhower then reminded Congress they had authorized in 1944 “the selection of a special network, not to exceed 40,000 miles in length, which would connect…the principle metropolitan areas.” And he outlined his vision for funding the interstate system, as well as continued Federal assistance for other types of roads. He felt the new network “should stand on its own feet,” meaning an increase in fuel taxes and limited use of tolls would support it.

A little more than a year later, on June 29, 1956, Eisenhower would sign The Federal Aid Highway Act, which authorized the interstate highway system we now take for granted. Later, it was renamed the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways. It has been called “the greatest public works project in history.”

North Dakota has about 570 miles of the system in I-29 and I-94. That is 1.3% of the whole.

Dickinson’s Medical Riddle

By MERRY HELM

Feb. 23 — This week in 1926, five St. Joseph’s Hospital workers died one after the other, and no one knew the cause. The fifth victim, Sister Secundia, died on this day in 1926. The deaths were a puzzling and devastating loss for the Sisters of Mercy of the Holy Cross and the community of Dickinson…and a riddle for the medical community.

Just ten days earlier, the sisters had been going about their regular duties caring for patients. On Saturday, February 13th, Sister Ambrosina and Sister Anacletea complained of being sleepy. On Sunday morning, Sister Fidelias and Sister Theocara felt ill too, but they all got up to attend Mass. On the way, one of them collapsed, and they all went to bed immediately. The doctors who examined them thought they may have been affected by wood stain fumes in the new wing of the hospital.

Their conditions worsened, and the first two died on Monday. When the third succumbed, the local headline read, “3 Sisters Die From Poison Gas.” Samples of the wood stain were sent to UND for analysis. The doctors and the press may have been grasping for an explanation.

When the fourth victim died, a coroner’s jury opened an investigation, and Dr. H. M. Banks, acting dean of the medical school at UND took on the case. Shortly thereafter, Sister Secundia died suddenly.

In the meantime, no other hospital attendants, patients or construction workers got sick. While Dr. Abbott, head of the Chemistry department at UND tested the wood stain, an autopsy was carried out on one of the sisters, and tissue samples were sent to UND.

A week later, pathologists announced the five nuns had died of encephalitis, an inflammation involving the brain membrane and upper spinal cord. The disease was thought to have been caused by an infection, but the pathologists were unable to determine how the disease was acquired. They stressed the wood stain was not involved.

Weeks later, the Mayo Clinic confirmed UND’s findings with a diagnosis of meningo-encephalitis, which was sometimes called “sleeping sickness.”

Fugitive in Ambrose

By CAROL WILSON

Feb. 24 — On one moonlit night in February of 1911, a young man by the name of Will Miller broke into the local drug store in Ambrose. As Miller crept through the store in search of valuable items, a marshal on patrol caught sight of his shadowy figure in the store window and arrested the burglar before he could get away with any stolen goods.

The next evening, as Miller sat in a cell at the local jailhouse, he plotted his escape. When the marshal stepped out to eat his evening meal, the prisoner broke out of his jail cell, pried open the coal house door at the back of the jailhouse, and slipped out unseen through a small window. Upon returning to find his prisoner gone, the marshal immediately formed a search party. The hunt was on!

First, the marshal went to the house of Ambrose resident, Joe Vadnais, whom he knew to be a friend of the fugitive. When he arrived at the house, Mr. Vadnais was not around, but his wife answered the door. When the marshal asked Mrs. Vadnais about the fugitive, she claimed she had not seen him. However, when the marshal requested permission to search the house, Mrs. Vadnais refused to let him enter.

Suspicious, the marshal stationed a guard outside the house, while police scoured the rest of the town for Miller. Yet, no trace of the fugitive was found.

The next day, the marshal returned to the Vadnais home with a search warrant and a handful of police officers. They searched the house from top to bottom, but found no sign of Miller.

Before the marshal and his officers left, he asked Mr. Vadnais if there was a cellar beneath the house. Mr. Vadnais denied they had a cellar, but his wife let slip that there was a small hole in the ground beneath the floor that they used for storage in the summer.

The policemen carefully examined the floor and discovered a piece of oil cloth tacked to the wood. They removed the cloth and uncovered the hole Mrs. Vadnais had described. There they found the elusive fugitive hiding beneath a pile of clothes.

On this date in 1911, the White Earth Record reported that police had finally captured and arrested Will Miller and that Mr. Vadnais was also arrested for harboring a fugitive.

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