Lise Erdrich

On this date in 1896, the Jamestown paper reported Mrs. Swain had been taken home to New Rockford for burial. She and her lover were found dead in a Valley City hotel room. A note left at the scene said, "You will find sufficient funds in my pocketbook to bury us. Our last request is to bury us together without any fuss, and do not try to find out who we are. Parted in life but joined in death."

The Commercial Hotel, built before 1878, was among the first few buildings in Wahpeton, and its only hotel before the boomtown years. It was advertised as "first-class in every way," popular with those seeking business opportunities, land claims or a quick Dakota Territory divorce.

November 19 marks the annual Lydia Pinkham Open Studios event in Lynn, Massachusetts, showcasing artists at the historic factory where Lydia’s famous Vegetable Compound for Women was manufactured.

On this date in 1932, a two-day demonstration of Boy Scout activities was held at the Wahpeton Indian School for troops from Richland and Wilkin counties. Physician and author Charles Alexander Eastman, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, served as an advisor in developing the national Boy Scout movement and its Native American Lore component.

In 2008, Woodrow Wilson Keeble was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush for his actions in the Korean War.

On this date in 1969, a shocking and grisly crime unfolded in the wee hours of Halloween morning. Various rumors began circulating in Wahpeton, spawning different local legends of the Halloween Horror.

Over six decades, Miss Briggs was likely the most frequently mentioned name in the Wahpeton papers. Her advertisements and activities were regular fodder.

On this date in 1904, John F. Briggs of Wahpeton was known around the country as “Uncle Sam.” He was a popular enactor in Grand Army of the Republic parades and 4th of July celebrations. A veteran of the Civil War, he attended every national G.A.R. convention but two.

On this date in 1910, newspapers reported that the battleship USS North Dakota had suffered an oil tank explosion and fire at sea. Six crewmen received the Congressional Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism in the line of their profession.”

Following the Dakota Conflict of 1862 in Minnesota, the U.S. military launched a punitive campaign known as the Sibley and Sully Expeditions. By mid-1863, troops had entered present-day North Dakota in a two-pronged effort to crush the Sioux between the two generals’ forces.