On this date in 1911, the Wahpeton–Breckenridge community was still reeling from the events of the previous week. Word-of-mouth versions of the story circulated until the weekly newspapers came out.
Richland County Sheriff, and popular veterinarian, George “Doc” Moody had gone with two young men to serve eviction papers on a stranger illegally occupying a farmhouse west of Wahpeton. When Moody stepped onto the porch, the man shot him with a rifle, fired at the others, and escaped with their buggy. Moody managed to fire one shot before dying. One of the young men rode Moody’s horse to town to raise the alarm.
The killer had made bizarre statements at the door and was thought to be a man recently escaped from the asylum. Wahpeton Mayor Emberley instructed a posse to bring him back dead or alive. They caught up with him near the South Dakota border and ended his life after he ran into a slough and fired at them.
Moody’s funeral drew people from all over the county. Businesses closed for the service.
No one mourned for Moody’s killer, except his family in Nebraska. To them, he was a good man, a son, and a brother. His name was Bert Hudson.
Hudson was not an escaped patient but a farmhand experiencing mental problems after the loss of a family member. His grieving mother and sister wrote a wrenching letter from Nebraska, pleading for Bert’s body so they could give him a proper funeral and bury him beside his father and sister. A Grand Forks man had communicated with the family and received the letter. They learned that Hudson’s body had been sent to the medical training department of the state university.
The sister wrote, “I cannot understand how the body of my brother is still there, but I have heard such things are done.”
Donaldson Studio in Wahpeton made and sold a postcard titled The Man Who Shot Sheriff Moody, using the postmortem photo. Gruesome postcards and newspaper photos of crimes and their victims and perpetrators, were commonplace at the time.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- Sheriff Geo. E. Moody Shot and Killed. Meets DEATH WHOLE MAKING AN ARREST. ASSASSIN IS KILLED WHILE ESCAPING. WHILE ESCAPING. Had Gone to Arrest Man Who Had Taken Possession of the Shea Farm. FUNERAL ON TUESDAY. People from all Over County Pay Last Tribute to Departed Official The whole county was thoroughly aroused last Saturday when it became known that George E. Moody, THE Sheriff of Richland County had been shot and killed by a supposedly crazy man that he had gone to arrest.
- The Wahpeton Times, Volume XXXV Number 40, Thursday, December 14, 1911, Page 1
- MURDERER’s NAME WAS BERT HUDSON. Man Who Shot Sheriff Moody Was Not Escaped Lunatic As First Reported. SLAYER WAS A FARM LABORER. A Number of Persons Identified the Body as that of Man Who Has Been in the Vicinity of Wahpeton for the Past Year – Must Have Been Demented Is the Opinion of Most People.
- The Globe Gazette, Wahpeton, North Dakota, Thursday, December 14, 1911, Page 1
- FAMILY PLEADS FOR DEAD BODY OF HUDSON. Slayer went insane because of sister’s death – “O, the terribleness of that awful manhunt,” says relatives, in a pathetic letter.
- The Globe Gazette, Wahpeton, North Dakota, Thursday, May 9, 1912, Page 1
- Richland Museum Addition Recalls – “The Day Sheriff Moody Was Shot”
- Richland County Globe, Monday, February 3rd, 1964
- DONALDSON STUDIO EXHIBIT. The Wahpeton Globe, May 26, 1925, Page 1.
