On this date in 1917 the Fargo Forum announced that Cleon Nash would finally be put on trial. The sensational and tragic story of a murder, a frozen fugitive, and amputated feet had gripped North Dakota since December.
Cleon Nash and Clarence Hicks were farmers north of Robinson. The two were not on the best of terms after Cleon stabbed Clarence during a drunken fight in October 1916. Cleon pleaded guilty to the stabbing, paid a fine, and agreed to stop drinking. But on December 15th, Cleon arrived at Clarence’s house with a gun. Albert Brandt, a seventeen-year-old farmhand, quickly left after Cleon told him to leave or get shot. As young Albert ran away, he heard Clarence begging for his life followed by gunfire.
Cleon returned home after shooting Clarence in the heart. He confessed to his wife Ethel, then ran off into a blizzard. Ethel and her children from a previous marriage went to Clarence’s house and found the body.
Soon there was a manhunt, but Cleon’s tracks were lost in the snow. Temperatures reached below zero, and days later it was assumed that Cleon was either dead or on his way to Canada.
Eleven days after the murder, Cleon, starving and nearly frozen to death, turned himself in to the Kidder County Sheriff. He had gotten lost in the blizzard and had wondered for miles, sleeping in haystacks and scrounging for food. He was taken to a hospital in Bismarck where his frozen feet were amputated. He also lost most of his nose and had to stay in the hospital for three months.
Cleon Nash’s murder case was the first one tried in Kidder County since North Dakota became a state. He had to crawl up the aisle multiple times during the trial to take the stand. Despite this pitiful sight, and his claim of killing Hicks in self-defense, Cleon was found guilty after two-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
Cleon was sentenced to life in prison. In 1918 he regained the ability to walk after he designed and made a special set of shoes for prosthetics. By 1930 he was moved to the State Hospital for the Insane in Jamestown, where he died in 1952 at age 64.
Dakota Datebook by Trista Raezer-Stursa
Sources:
- Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.
- Author Unknown. “Alleged Slayer Loses Both Feet,” The Bismarck Tribune, December 26, 1916, pg. 2.
- Author Unknown. “Feet and Part of Face Frozen Off, Crawls Up Aisle to Stand Trial for Murder at Steele,” The Bismarck Tribune, July 12, 1917, pg. 8.
- Author Unknown. “First Capital Case since ‘80s in Old Kidder,” The Bismarck Tribune, June 22, 1917, pg. 1.
- Author Unknown. “First Degree Murder Verdict in Nash Case,” The Bismarck Tribune, July 14, 1917, pg. 5.
- Author Unknown. “First Trial of Murder Case in Kidder Counter,” The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, June 23, 1917, pg. 3.
- Author Unknown. “Mrs. Nash May Surprise Court,” Grand Forks Herald, July 13, 1917, pg. 2.
- Author Unknown. “Nash Builds New Feet; is Walking,” The Bismarck Tribune, February 15, 1918, pg. 8.
- Author Unknown. “Self-Defense Plea of Nash,” Grand Forks Herald, July 14, 1917, pg. 3.
- Author Unknown. “The Latest Kidder County Murder,” Jamestown Weekly Alert, December 21, 1916, pg. 8.
- “Cleon Nash,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144113223/cleon-nash, accessed May 24, 2023.
