Sioux County

Few county officials in North Dakota have been removed from office, but one of the most dramatic cases reached the state Supreme Court. Sioux County State’s Attorney George H. Purchase was serving his second term when on this date in 1927 five voters filed charges against him for misconduct in office, malfeasance and habitual drunkenness. The accusations prompted Gov. Arthur Sorlie to suspend Purchase.

The 1918 flu pandemic devastated the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. When the flu struck that fall, Sioux County’s Board of Health closed all public…