Bismarck experienced several strange events during this week in 1933, including a burning cross, ferocious winds, and drive-by gunshots at a cafe.
The burning cross was found in front of a beer parlor late on a Saturday night. The five-foot-high wooden cross had been covered in burlap and doused in gasoline. The building wasn’t damaged. It wasn’t immediately clear who set the fire, but the fire chief noted the connection of burning crosses with the Ku Klux Klan. Bismarck firefighters extinguished the fire.
The next day, Bismarck endured damaging winds that reached 64 miles per hour! Part of the roof tore off from the remodeled state Capitol, exposing the land department office. Nearby the gale blew a man through a wooden fence, leaving him with a broken cheekbone. The wind also killed a farm worker when the roof of a corn crib was torn loose near Minot. The wind toppled phone lines, power lines, trees, signs, and damaged buildings. It also contributed to a fire that burned down the hut of an elderly sheep herder near Wilton. He was severely burned, and a dog perished.
Barely two days later, on this date, four front windows of a Bismarck cafe were shattered from three shotgun blasts fired from a vehicle at about 2 o’clock in the morning. The building was owned by the Bismarck city commission president. It’s unknown who fired the shots. A night patrolman suspected “some crazed fools full of alcohol.” Police wondered about a motive, and doubted the shots were connected to the burning cross a few nights earlier. The cafe manager doubted theft as the motive, as the cafe was closed at that hour, no lights were on, and no one was inside.
Dakota Datebook by Jack Dura
Sources:
- The Bismarck Tribune. 1933, November 13. Page 1: Gale wreaks havoc here
- The Bismarck Tribune. 1933, November 13. Page 3: Burn cross at Weinstein beer parlor
- The Bismarck Tribune. 1933, November 14. Page 1: Gunmen attack local cafe
