Watford City was roiled by embezzlement charges against its town treasurer a century ago in a case that reached the governor’s office. Treasurer O.L. Cassidy was accused in February 1922 of embezzling $7,600 of Watford City funds during a period of two years. Adjusted for inflation, that would be more than $136,000 today.
For 10 years, Cassidy had also been a cashier at the McKenzie County Bank, which the state bank examiner closed during the summer of 1921, months before Cassidy’s arrest. The bank went into receivership.
Governor Ragnvold Nestos ordered Cassidy’s removal from office. The state bonding department approved $6,000 for Watford City’s claim to cover its shorted funds, though this wasn’t enough to cover the full amount of Cassidy’s embezzlement.
The case went to trial the next year in Schafer, which was the county seat back then. On this date in 1923, The Bismarck Tribune reported that Cassidy had changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. McKenzie County residents petitioned for Cassidy to be paroled, but the county prosecutor overruled them.
During the court case, Cassidy and his attorneys raised gripes about the proceedings, including which judges could act on his case, and even they even questioned the location of the hall used for the trial – it being a few feet outside Schafer’s city limits. Ultimately, in the fall of 1923, Cassidy went to Minot to be sentenced by a Dickinson-area judge who was there on other business. He was given a year in the State Penitentiary at Bismarck.
Dakota Datebook by Jack Dura
Sources:
- Grand Forks Herald. 1922, February 6. Page 17: Town official to face trial
- The Weekly Times-Record. 1922, February 9. Page 8: City treasurer is under arrest
- The Bismarck Tribune. 1922, July 17. Page 7: Bonding claim is allowed
- The Bismarck Tribune. 1923, July 13. Page 1: Treasurer is held guilty
- The Bismarck Tribune. 1923, September 10. Page 4: Watford banker to serve sentence in penitentiary
