6/16/2010:
A. T. Patterson, State's Attorney for Mercer County, North Dakota, returned to Bismarck on this date in 1904 with news of a terrible murder near Stanton. Details of the sensational murder shocked Bismarck residents, especially since it involved a female culprit.
Good Roads Woman, or Chankoowashtay as she was called in Siouan, was charged with the murder of her husband, Milton Fowler. Chankoowashtay, a member of the Sioux tribe, married Fowler, of both Siouan and Arikara descent, some time before. Fowler was Chankoowashtay's fourth husband, and there were some who considered the woman with great suspicion in the death of at least one of her previous husbands. The unusual circumstances of that earlier death led many to regard the woman as "...a dusky daughter of Eve." Despite this, it seems that Chankoowashtay had no trouble in securing yet another husband. However, prone to arguments, the couple's unhappy marriage was known to most in the area. Despite the quarrels, Chankoowashtay and Fowler became homesteaders, and each took out a claim to that effect. As remote farmers, the couple had few visitors and only distant neighbors.
So, when a couple of neighbors paid a visit in May, it came as a surprise that Chankoowashtay did not seem happy for the company. She told the men that her husband was not home, but had gone to the nearby Russian settlement to get potatoes. When the men noticed that Fowler's team remained in the yard, they became suspicious. They notified Constable Charles Heinemeyer and apprised him of the situation. The Constable and an Indian police officer launched an investigation and searched the homestead. They quickly uncovered Fowler's remains buried near the house. From a preliminary report, it appeared that Chankoowashtay had struck her husband over his left eye with a hatchet while the man slept. She was taken into custody and transferred to Sheriff Welch at Stanton. While awaiting trial, the Mercer County murderess's involvement in her previous husbands' deaths became more and more certain in the public's imagination.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. Thursday (Evening ed.), June 16, 1904: p. 1.