Bicentennial Story #49-Medora Killings

Bicentennial Story #49-Medora Killings

Account of fake murders at a Medora saloon meant to scare travelers on the train.

7/8/1975

Father Louis Pfaller
Jack Hjort

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mp3

audio reel, analog, 1/4 inch polyester tape

English

BS-049

Medora, ND

Copyright Stark County Historical Society and Dickinson Museum Center

In early Medora, for the edification of dudes on the train, the cowhands would loose a barage of gunfire inside a saloon across from the depot. Then, while horrified Easterners stared from the train windows, a half dozen or so limp bodies would be carried out and stacked beside the saloon door. "Gee, mister," asked a popeyed eastern youth after witnessing one of these bloody engagements, "how often do they kill people out here, anyway?" A somber native spat a huge arc of tobacco juice and muttered darkly: "Only once, sonny." The corpses, of course, always came to life after the train pulled out.

This is Bicentennial Story No. 49, prepared by Father Louis Pfaller, for the Stark County Historical Society, Jack Hjorte at the piano

Bruce Nelson, Land of the Dakota's , 197-198

Sound recordings

1:07

128kbps

1970 1979

Bicentennial tape #2, Bicentennial stories 46-66