Clay County Minnesota
Crime News Articles
Kills Wife and Child
Fargo, North Dakota, February 14
Stephen Hanson, reputed the wealthiest man in Tansen, Clay County, Minnesota, and Tuesday night shot and killed his wife and five year old child. Hanson is said to have been under the influence of liquor. The neighbors who heard shots started an investigation yesterday morning, finding the woman and child dead in bed and the murderer asleep in the barn. He is under arrest.
Some time ago Hanson was an inmate of an insane asylum. [Aberdeen Daily News - February 14, 1907]
Contributed by Frances Cooley
Clay County Jail Is Empty
Sheriff Looking for Deputy Who Can Milk the Cow Now
Herald Special Service
Moorhead, Minnesota -- Aug. 29
Sheriff McDonald, Clay County, is seeking a deputy sheriff who can milk the county's cow.
Because, for the first time in 21 years, the Clay County jail is absent of prisoners-Sheriff McDonald finds official duties imposed on him-the old time cow milking trusty being a thing of the past since liquor was abolished from the county-over a year ago.
For three days, the Clay County jail has been idle, and today, a pioneer who can remember the last previous period that the jail was empty came to the front. He is Nels Holbeck, who was jailor back in 1895. "Yes," he declares, "back in 1895, the jail was empty for five weeks-and I guess that's about the only time within the memory of the present generation that the jail hasn't been used."
Without liquor sales in the city of Moorhead, or elsewhere in the county, the crime record of Clay County has decreased remarkably and the empty county jail, following in line with the practically idle city jail, is concrete evidence of changes wrought here. [Grand Forks Herald - August 30, 1916]
Contributed by Frances Cooley
