2/5/2010:
A Fargo woman's visit to Moorhead on this date in 1910 nearly ended in tragedy as the woman attempted to burn down the Fargo city jail, along with herself and four male prisoners. The woman, Jane Hannibohl, had a lengthy police record, and was known for taking advantage of Moorhead's lax liquor laws, despite living under Fargo's prohibitive sumptuary laws.
Many Fargo residents at the time did not let the city's lack of drinking establishments prohibit their merrymaking; they simply caught one of the area's free carriages, or "jag wagons," to cross the river to Moorhead. There, they would be free to drink under Moorhead laws. The problem, however, occurred when drinkers would attempt to take some of the ‘firewater' back home to Fargo. Officer Korsmo encountered Mrs. Hannibohl along Front Street, attempting to carry home a large bottle of whiskey. He took Hannibohl to the police station and placed her into the woman's ward. Although men were regularly searched upon booking, this process was usually bypassed for women.
Mrs. Hannibohl was left alone in the ward to sleep off the whiskey's ill effects. An hour and a half later, Officer Johnson, the attending officer on duty, smelled a foul odor. Johnson walked through the main corridor and realized it was smoke was coming from the woman's ward. Opening the door, he was hit by a dense cloud of black smoke. The bed was a mass of burning flames, Mrs. Hannibohl sitting in a chair, "...calmly watching the mattress and bedding go up in smoke." Officer Johnson snatched the burning mass from the bed and threw it outside onto the street. When the sun rose a few hours later, the great pile of ashes outside of the station's entrance provided testimony to the sensational story.
It turned out that Mrs. Hannibohl had used matches to ignite the mattress. It was difficult to ascertain exactly why she did so, since she was in poor condition, but the fact that tragedy had been averted was well acknowledged. In addition to the four male prisoners in the jail, the building was connected to City Hall. Had the fire gone unnoticed, the loss of life and property would have been immense.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. Monday (Evening ed.), February 7, 1910: p.10.