8/30/2005:
J. E. Shannon was being held in the Cass County jail at this time in 1916. He was arrested March 28th, of that year, during an attempted robbery and gunfight in the Fout & Porterfield Drugstore in Davenport, south of Fargo. Five months later, on August 24th, Sheriff John Ross discovered something unusual.
The Fargo Forum reported, “Every Sunday there is a thorough search made of the jail, during which every article is gone over thoroughly. In the last search...a most artistic set of two keys were found, that would work to perfection. The keys were found in the jacket owned by Halsten Wing, hanging in one of the cells, but it is not believed that Wing made the keys alone, and may not have had anything to do with their manufacture...
“The keys show the work of a master hand, having been made from tablespoons with the aid of a safety razor blade and a couple of pieces of spring steel, such as are concealed in the soles of shoes by criminals when they are expecting to get ‘pinched.’ The discovery of the keys led to a further and closer search, which revealed the tools they were made with, all being hidden in the same locality, and in such a way that the officers are led to believe that the manufacturer anticipated being caught with the ‘goods,’ and tried to place them where they would not likely be charged to him.
“In making the keys,” the story continued, “tablespoons were flattened out and part of the bowl used for the key part, while the handle served as the shaft. In providing heat with which to soften the metal, grease, taken from meats served prisoners, had been collected in a small can, and used as a torch.
“In some way, probably from one of the trustees, a cardboard pattern of the keys desired were secured by the artist. From these patterns the keys were made, the necessary notches being cut by the safety razor blade...and bits of spring metal...”
The story went on to explain there was no evidence linking the keys to J. E. Shannon, but that he was the only prisoner they suspected. He had tried to escape just a few weeks earlier, and Sheriff Ross believed he was the only one with enough experience and talent to pull it off.
In the days following the discovery, Fargo’s Chief of Police Troyer discovered Shannon had a 10-year criminal background that spanned the country.
It began in June 1906, when he was arrested in Kansas City, MO, under his real name – James Samon (or Salmon) for vagrancy. Five months later, he was arrested for burglary under the same name in Denver. During the next seven years, he was picked up for shoplifting, pickpocketing and being a “suspicious person” in San Francisco, St. Louis, and four more times in Kansas City.
In 1913, Samon realized he should change his tactics and started using aliases. But it didn’t keep him from getting caught. In St. Paul he was picked up as John Howard, a con artist. A few months later, he was arrested for grand larceny in Louisville as Jim Evans. He skipped town while out on bail and was next arrested in Chicago for two cases of pickpocketing.
As Tim Stillman, Samon was charged with disorderly conduct in Detroit. As J. E. Shannon, he was arrested for shoplifting in Pittsburgh, skipped town, and was picked up on the same charge in Kansas City, where he broke out of jail. In February 1916, he was arrested for drugs as James Evans in Minneapolis. When he was jailed in Fargo the following month, Troyer learned there was also an outstanding warrant for Samon in Kansas City for arson.
Source: Fargo Forum. 24 Aug 1916 and 26 Aug 1916.
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm