Outside Looking In
Mysteries of past
With a love for history, one of the things I enjoy about working at a newspaper office is the chance to look into back issues to see what life was like in years gone by.
I also have a love for mysteries, especially unsolved ones, so I keep tabs on any of these types of stories that I come across.
One interesting article I came across recently caught my eye. It involved a 29-year-old Granite Falls dentist who traveled to Minneota twice a week to work on patients here beginning in 1898. His office was located in the former Commerical Hotel.
Dr. Sigmunde Winter was playing cards with several other men, as he often did, in May of 1901. Around 2:30 a.m. after many hours of playing cards, Dr. Winter had lost thousands of dollars and accused an out-of-town man named William Lenard of cheating. He then pulled out a gun and fired two shots at Lenard, who died the following morning. Dr. Winter, the son of a New York rabbi, was charged with murder, but was acquitted of the charge to the surprise of many.
Dr. Winter left Minneota and Granite Falls without cleaning out his offices. He died in 1949 and is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Milwaukee, WI.
Another unsolved mystery involved a former Minneota student, Walter Dalmann, who dropped out of school after his sophomore year and found work on the Milwaukee Railroad in Aberdeen, SD for two years. Dalmann, whose father, G.A. Dalmann, was a grocer in Minneota, then ended up in the Seattle area.
In 1921, Dalmann, 27, was working as a logger with the Cherry Valley Timber Co. In May of 1921, his body was found washed ashore in the Sound at Edmonds, WA. There were deep cuts on his neck and had roped tied to his feet indicating he had been weighted down by a rock. Even though all evidence pointed to murder, the county coroner ruled Dalmann had died by suicide. His death certificate lists suicide as cause of death, but also has a question mark next to it.
Dalmann is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Everett, WA.
Lighting contest
As I drove around Marshall, Ghent and Minneota on Saturday to pick up prizes donated by local businesses for the Masco's third annual "Battle of the Bulbs" Lighting Contest, it made me feel good about Christmas.
The generosity of these local businesses is overwhelming. Even several Marshall businesses donated for the contest even though their community isn't involved.
The prizes this year include several gift cards, candy, turkeys, hams, gift sets, home and holiday decor, Shop Vac, food choppers, storage containers, door mat, candles, pet items, children's wagon and more. Christmas is the season for giving and area businesses proved that.
We have over 20 homeowners registered for this year's contest. The winner will receive over $500 worth of prizes, second place gets over $250 worth of prizes, and third place gets over $100 worth of prizes. The remaining entrants' names will then go into a hat and be drawn for the remaining prizes worth around $20-$25 each.
Judging will be done Friday and Saturday, Dec. 16 and 17. Those entered are asked to have their displays lit by 5 p.m. each of those days. We have 12 judges this year.
Thank you to all the businesses who have donated. They will each be acknowledged when the the winners will be announced in next week's paper.
Thanks goes out to all those who registered for the contest this year.
Oh, the things you see
While in Minneota on Friday, I had some time to kill before attending the Santa Parade hosted by the Minneota Fire Department. So, I drove around town to look at the Christmas lights.
Many people were putting up Christmas lights, while others were shoveling or sweeping off their driveways.
As I turned the corner and headed down North Grant Street, I saw a dog pulling a girl on a sled and stopped to take a look.
Joel Walerius had his daughters out for an adventure with his dog, Koda, a 2-year-old Siberian Husky/German Shepherd mix. He had purchased a harness for the dog that allowed him to pull a plastic toboggan-type sled.
The dog seemed to really enjoy pulling the girls, Bentley and Olivia, all around in the sled. As he ran, you could hear the two girls laughing and screaming.
Photos appear in this issue.