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Post by ladonna on Apr 27, 2012 15:46:38 GMT -5
wow thank you for the pictures I can see what Philip look like
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winona
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Post by winona on Apr 27, 2012 16:55:23 GMT -5
Ladonna, Thank you for your info about the feeling at Standing Rock about the murders. It is interesting to get a full perspective. Good info on the correction on the names. It is interesting to think what would have happened if the lynching never occurred. When the Supreme Court overturned the conviction, there were no witnesses left, since Big Tracks (Holy Track) and Philip Ireland 's testimony was thrown out. Essentially, Defender could not be tried again, double jeopardy, and Black Hawk would have walked as well. If both Paul Big Tracks and Philip Ireland recanted their testimony or took the fifth amendment, again, there would be no case.
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winona
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Post by winona on Apr 27, 2012 17:19:27 GMT -5
emilylevine, thanks for posting the photos. They are clearer, than any I have seen. Sheriff Peter Shier, of Gayton, ND is on the left, and W.B. Livermore, U.S. Deputy Marshall for North Dakota is on the right. Thank you for the account (from your book?) Yes, Winona was a collection of saloons, and off-reservation town, but also had a large contingent of homesteaders and church-goers. Unfortunately, the saloons were usually run by ex-Army men, who knew just what bored, enlisted men wanted. The Texas cattle drives ended up around there, and many of the saloon devotees were also cowboys waiting out the winter in Winona. During this era, Major John Cramsie, Major James McLaughlin's successor at Standing Rock,tried to curb the liquor trade with the Department of Justice, but he was thwarted at every turn. The National Archives has many of the prosecution cases he was involved in. Part of the craziness at that time, was, that it was not illegal to sell liquor to either Frank Black Hawk or Alec Cadotte, because they were not full-blooded Indians. It was only illegal if they brought liquor back to the reservation.Of course, many of the saloons did sell liquor openly, or out the back door to Standing Rock people, or to traveling bands going through Winona, on visits, or back to Devil's Lake. Cadotte and Blackhawk hung out a lot at The White Horse Saloon, run by Frederick "Red" Caldwell, a former Army private. Cramsie tried to limit the ferry going back and forth from Ft Yates to Winona, but the Army fought him on that as well, and Emmons County believed he was stealing their tariff fees. In fact, Cramsie's unpopularity, was largely due to his efforts to get various Emmons County people arrested on liquor charges. After the murders and the lynching, it took until 1898 for Winona residents to sign a petition to ban liquor in their town. I don't know if it just went underground again to "blind pigs" ( a term to describe illicit liquor sales). Winona only had a few years left as a village, as it would be largely deserted when Ft. Yates folded. In your account, you say that Josephine Waggoner and Ella Spicer worked together. I have read that Ella was the Matron of the Congregational Mission Hospital run by the Reeds. Reverend Reed would marry Ella and Tom McCrory in June of 1897 in Winona.
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winona
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Post by winona on Apr 27, 2012 22:34:57 GMT -5
emilylevine, if you like the obsessional details a historian usually likes, about your character,the day of the Spicer murders, when the man came to the Congregational Mission to pick up Ella Spicer, it was Jack Flynn, ironically, a saloon owner, who was sent to inform Major Cramsie of the murders. He brought his sleigh across the frozen Missouri River with his team of matched blue roan horses, called "the blue mice." He took Ella back to the Jack McCrory ranch, where her sister Maggie, worked as the hired girl. Flynn, incidently, was one of the first group of Winona residents on the murder scene, and he helped locate the hidden body of Thomas Spicer, Ella and Maggie's father, which had been hidden in the cowshed at the homestead. (This is pieced together from Jerry Hart's account in the Emmons County History, and from the trial transcripts.)
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Post by emilylevine on Apr 27, 2012 23:19:53 GMT -5
Winona Thank you so much for all your research and, yes, all the obsessive details about the Spicer murders. Are you going to publish your work somewhere? The images are just low res off the Cowan Auction site---not affordable. They also have the image of the windlass lynching. Pretty horrific.
"everything is relevant to the obsessed."
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Post by ladonna on Apr 28, 2012 11:00:40 GMT -5
Winona since you have seen the transcripts of the trial i would love to see the statement if what my family say about our grandma giving testimony at the trial. Her name would have been Mary Ireland or Mary Big Moccasin or Napehotewin
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winona
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Post by winona on Apr 28, 2012 15:39:34 GMT -5
emily levine, I am glad you like the details. Yes, I have been working on the research for several years. I hope to have it all finished this year, and hope that it is of interest to others to read. Researching all the principals in the case has been a long process, because it's not only the Winona side, but all the Standing Rock people as well, as well as the lawyers and lawmen, etc. I am buying photos/permissions,etc. now. I am hoping for maybe a historical press, as it is written as a narrative non-fiction with footnotes, etc. My research has been all over the place, because so much of it is missing, it is literally pieced together. I think the story is fascinating because it is the end of the frontier, and the early turn of the century reservation life, an unusual time.
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winona
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Post by winona on Apr 28, 2012 16:10:00 GMT -5
Ladonna, I have looked through the transcripts of both trials, the June, 1897 murder trial of Alec Cadotte (Coudotte) and the July 1897 murder trial of George Defender. I don't see Mary Ireland, or Mary Big Moccasin (Napehotwin) callled as a witness. She might have testified at one of the preliminary examinations held at Standing Rock or at Judge Edict's in Williamsport. I can't find much record of those proceedings, except in broad referral. Philip Ireland and Paul Big Tracks (Holytrack) were never charged with murder, so no one had to testify as to their whereabouts. In April, 1897, Alec Cadotte attempted suicide in jail, and made (supposedly) a confession which was never taken down in writing. He had been jailed with Frank Blackhawk for cattle-stealing. Another Standing Rock man, Lulu Two Hearts, told the authorities that Paul Big Tracks had some gold jewelry, which matched some stolen at the Spicer homestead. Under questioning, Paul confessed and implicated Philip Ireland and George Defender, Paul's "near relative." Both Philip Ireland and Paul Big Tracks (Holytrack) gave three separate confessions. The first had Blackhawk as the mastermind of the robbery. He said that he and Philip were afraid of them, and had only showed up at the Spicer farm after Blackhawk and Cadotte had committed the murders. The second confession had all five men involved, each killing individual victims. The third confession had only Paul and Philip involved. In the trials, Alec Cadotte was found guilty of capital murder. In July, George Defender's jury was deadlocked. Blackhawk's trial would have been next, but they had exhausted the jury pool in Emmons County, and would have a change of venue to Burleigh County (Bismarck), so George Defender and Frank Blackhawk were in the city jail there, which is why they escaped lynching in Williamsport in November, 1897. They were moved to the ND penitentiary for safety, and soon released. George Defender died in December 1898 of tuberculosis. Frank Blackhawk, Ladonna, indicated, lived until 1926 at Standing Rock Agency. The Standing Rock women who were witnesses at the two trials that I could find were:Marcienna Cadotte, Alec's wife; Mrs. Martin (Thomas), Mary Packineau Defender, George Defender's wife, Mrs. Leo Smell-the-Bear, Mrs. Baptise Pierre (Frank Blackhawk's sister-in-law) Red Nation (Mrs. Paul Bear Shield).
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winona
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Post by winona on Apr 28, 2012 16:13:30 GMT -5
Photo of Ella Spicer, age 18. Attachments:
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Post by fghghf on Jun 21, 2012 20:23:09 GMT -5
emilylevine, i have done some research on that. I always wondered what happened to Frank Pierre Blackhawk afterwards. The story printed in one of the North Dakota newspapers in the 1920s, had him dying soon after 1897, and the claim was that a dance hall girl poisoned him,with an illegal bottle of alcohol, and they found him on the road back to Standing Rock. However, Winona, the village, was pretty well abandoned after Ft Yates closed in 1903. The man telling the story was pretty safe; most of the principals in the story were long gone. Ladonna has him living until 1926, and I found an arrest in 1905 for a horse-stealing ring, but could find nothing more after that. He disappears from the Standing Rock census rolls around 1903, and wife Feather (Rebecca) lives with her daughters. Ladonna has her with third marriage, and more children, so it likely she divorced Frank. ______________ Sac Longchamp Pas Cher
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winona
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Post by winona on Jun 21, 2012 20:56:27 GMT -5
fghghf, yes, it is amazing the stories of Frank Blackhawk (Pierre). Ladonna has him living until 1926, but he never is on the census rolls at Standing Rock. I saw one entry in the Agent's logs, that he was collecting rations at Pine Ridge, but I believe this was around 1891 or so. Possibly later, he went back there. The story you are referring to about Blackhawk's purported death was by Win Tracy, one of the freighters who ran rigs out of Winona to Pierre and Eureka with his brother Hal. He was part of the lynching crew, at Williamsport Jail, in November of 1897and writes about it, I believe in the 1930s or so. He reported the story of the dance hall girl and poisoning Blackhawk. And you're right, Blackhawk was indicted for a horse stealing ring in 1905, but he disappears from the news after that. I could never even find a follow-up to the story. I am guessing he went to prison again, but I don't know. Isn't it interesting what memories people have--they wanted Blackhawk to be punished, so the story went that he was...After reading all the trial transcripts, I thought that Cadotte, Defender and Blackhawk were not part of the actual murder. I think it was discussed, but I think they were not there that day.
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Post by ladonna on Jun 22, 2012 8:46:51 GMT -5
From the stories told to me Frank BlackHawk went to jail from stealing wine from the church in Fort Yates, it said he worked at the mission until he stole the wine
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winona
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Post by winona on Jun 22, 2012 14:38:39 GMT -5
Ladonna, Would that be St. Peter's Indian Mission at Standing Rock Agency? I am guessing it would be the Benedictine priests, Father Bernard Strassmeir and Father Frances Gerschwyler, if it was St. Peter's.
I wonder if Frank Blackhawk was tried by the Court of Indian Offenses then. If it was around 1897 it would be Grey Eagle, John Grass, Sr., Wolf Necklace, Miles Walker and John Fisher, each paid $10 a month for being judges.(Source: Department of Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, 13 August 1897; "A" 31966-97; auth: 53366.) It seems that if it involved liquor on the Agency it would become a federal crime? Or, would Frank have just done time in the guardhouse at Ft. Yates? When he robbed the Agency Physician's office years for alcohol, he was sent to the South Dakota Penitentiary for 18 months.
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Post by Dietmar on Jul 3, 2012 15:03:58 GMT -5
There is a group photo offered at Ebay regarding the Spicer incident: "1897 Sioux Indian Murder Dakota Spicer Murder Massacre Suspect Trial Photo
This is an exceptional original vintage photo showing a group of Native American Dakota Sioux that were accused of being responsible for the brutal massacre and murder of the Spicer family in the area of Winona Dakota.
This extremely scarce original 1897 cabinet photo shows the Sioux Indians from Winona in Emmons County North Dakota. Three are confirmed as members of the famous group accused for the awful massacre of Tom Spicer and his family at Winona North Dakota on February 15, 1897. The reverse of the card identifies the photo as Spicer Family Murderers and names two of the 5 that were accused of the crime: Paul Holytrack (Top row 2nd from right) and George Defender (Top row far right). Also in this photo is another of the accused which is Phillip Ireland (bottom row far right) although he is not identified on back. All three of these men were hung at nearby Williamstown North Dakota shortly after the murders along with another suspect. The three shown in this photo by have had their identities confirmed by comparing it with information and another photo showing all of the 5 men after they were captured by the Sheriff. The Spicer family murders are an interesting history of the Sioux and of North Dakota."
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Post by emilylevine on Jul 3, 2012 16:42:20 GMT -5
Wow! Great image! I'm surprised they posted it at such hi res on line. thanks Dietmar
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