Carole Butcher

April Fools' Day has been around for centuries, with pranks and practical jokes ending in the cry of “April Fool!” Many historians trace its origins to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

There was a hint of panic when three cases of polio were reported in Fargo in 1921. The Ward County newspaper warned, “It is certain that the disease will spread over the state at an early date.” Polio was the most feared disease in the United States, and for good reason.

On this date in 1863, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton awarded the first Medals of Honor to the six surviving members of Anderson’s Raiders.

As the summer of 1902 ended, three brothers left their home in Minnesota and headed west. The oldest brother had worked for several years on a farm near Courtenay during harvest season. In 1902, he was joined by his two younger brothers. Raymon, Harold, and W.C. Sweet left Fargo one August evening and walked to the Milwaukee Crossing, where they planned to camp while waiting for a train to Valley City.

Beryl McClane was born on May 12, 1896. He married his sweetheart in 1918 after returning from World War I. He began his law enforcement career with the Aberdeen, South Dakota, police department. In 1936, his family moved to Ellendale, North Dakota, where he became the Chief of Police. McClane joined the North Dakota Highway Patrol in 1941, serving for seven years out of the Jamestown office before transferring to Napoleon.

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry were based at Fort Abraham Lincoln, and Custer was a familiar figure in the area. The Bismarck Tribune sent a special correspondent with the 7th Cavalry on their expedition, which would lead to the disaster at Little Big Horn. The correspondent predicted that by the time his last message reached Bismarck, Custer would have fought the Sioux. That correspondent was among the dead.

In the early days, when the West was still wild, stealing a horse was a hanging offense. Justice was often swift and without formalities. As the country moved into the Twentieth Century, motorized horsepower began replacing the flesh-and-blood variety. By 1913, drivers were speeding down roads at 40 miles per hour in automobiles, while farmers started swapping their horses for tractors. But that didn’t mean anyone would overlook a stolen horse.

On the surface, SB 294 seemed straightforward. Its intent was to loosen the state’s blue laws that restricted activities on Sundays. North Dakota had these laws in place since statehood. SB 294 aimed to allow bathing beaches, Chautauqua assemblies, pleasure resorts, boating, swimming, canoeing, and more on Sundays. The bill passed the Senate, but the House narrowly defeated it. Some believed it was worth another try, but before being reintroduced, supporters of Sunday activities quietly added a new provision.

Slavery was a divisive issue from the very beginning of the United States. The Constitutional Congress worked to create a Constitution that would be acceptable to both free and slave states. The population count was important because the number of Congressmen assigned to each state depended on the size of its population. Free states wanted to exclude counting slaves, as they were not citizens and couldn’t vote. The slave states, on the other hand, wanted to include slaves to increase their representation.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt stepped into the White House on March 4, 1933, the country was gripped by the Great Depression. Bank failures and record unemployment were ravaging the nation. Roosevelt knew Americans wanted a confident president who could lead them through the storm, and he was determined to hit the ground running.