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The Most Remarkable Trial

On this date in 1912, the Bismarck Tribune reported that Myron R. Kent quietly passed away in the state penitentiary. The news did not cause much of a stir. But at one time, Kent was at the center of what had been dubbed “the most remarkable trial in the annals of the west.”

Myron Kent was a well-respected attorney in Mandan. He and his wife, Julia Laird Kent, had moved to North Dakota from Mora, Minnesota in 1892. There was nothing particularly remarkable about Kent, his wife, or their son. But Kent was not all he seemed to be.

On March 13, 1894, Julia was shot and killed. The Kent’s handyman, a man named Swidensky, said he heard a prowler and got up to investigate. He mistook Mrs. Kent for the burglar. He shot and killed her. The coroner’s jury ruled that the shooting was tragic but accidental.

No one in Mandan was suspicious until Kent, who was out of town at the time, did not attend his wife’s funeral and failed to take custody of his son. Julia’s family never believed the death was an accident, and they hired a Minneapolis detective. What the detective uncovered was shocking. Kent was actually William Wiley Pancoast. When he was a bank cashier, he absconded with $30,000. He fled to Toronto, changed his name, and moved to England. He returned to Minnesota, married Julia, and worked for her father. $12,000 was found missing shortly after. Julia begged for forgiveness for her husband. Her father gave them $2,500 and told Kent he had to leave. That’s when the Kents moved to North Dakota, where he established his law and land office, but his land deals went sour.

After these revelations, Kent was tracked down and arrested in Colorado where he was going by the name of J.C. Pope. He was returned to North Dakota where he was charged with murder. Handyman  Swidensky testified at the trial, saying Kent hired him to do the deed because Julia had become tired of his dishonest ways. Swidensky said Kent left town in order to be gone when the killing took place. It also came that Kent had a $30,000 life insurance policy on Julia.

Kent was found guilty and sentenced to hang, but his lawyer won a new trial. He was again found guilty and again sentenced to hang, but Governor Allin commuted his sentence to life in prison. That sentence ended when he died in 1912.

Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher

Sources:

Bismarck Tribune. “Myron Kent Dies in Pen.” Bismarck ND. 6 June 1912. Page 1.

Jamestown Weekly Alert. “Kent Will Not Hang.” Jamestown ND. 19 November 1896. Page 1.

InForum. “Newspaper called North Dakota trial remarkable.” https://www.inforum.com/entertainment/2912289-newspaper-called-north-dakota-murder-trial-remarkable  Accessed 4 May 2019.

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