Before

the Thin

Man

The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man

This novel’s story and characters are fictitious and any similarities to real persons, living or deceased, are purely coincidental. Although certain long standing institutions, businesses, agencies, and public offices may be mentioned, the characters involved and story are wholly imaginary.

© 2018 Cris A. Cannon. All Rights Reserved

For Linda

CHAPTER 1

I was sitting at my regular table at a speakeasy on Fifty-Second Street waiting to meet up with Clyde Wynant. He called me earlier in the week telling me something about a business deal gone sour, and his new business partner running aground. He wanted to see me to consult about his options and learn what he should already know about his new colleague. I don’t usually get involved in these sort of matters but I’ve known Clyde for some time and he’s a good customer. I tried to tell him on the phone he would probably be wasting his time and money and just bail out of this thing while he could. His lawyer, Herbert Macauley, was going to meet with us too. He’s an old army buddy of mine from the war and has brought me plenty of business with several of his other clients. My bourbon arrived by the time Clyde had walked in and took off his coat and hat. He walked over when I waved and as he pulled his chair out, I sampled my drink.

“Nick, how’ve ya’ been?

       “I can’t complain Clyde. Especially now that my drink order came out. What are you having?”

       “Did Macauley fill you in?”

       “More or less.”

       “Good. I’ll try to fill in the details without taking up the rest of your day.”

       “Slow down Clyde, we’re not in that much of a hurry. What are you drinking?”

       “What are you having?”

       “Bourbon.”

       “Sounds good to me.” he said.

       “Neat, with water, soda, any particular pedigree?”

       “Just the same as you, thanks.”

I waved over to the bartender and raised my glass letting them know to send over another. 

       “So, how did this start?” I asked.

       “Well, you know about some of my projects. Mostly in metallurgy and precious metals smelting and alloying processes.”

       “Well, sort of.”

“Anyway, I was working on a project using silver in a photographic process-” he said. After a short pause he restarted. “Never mind all that. To make a long story short, I was working on a new thing for the dental field using radiation to image patients’ mouths. It basically miniaturizes the photographic plate so it will fit in the mouth. The main thing I was working on is the silver based emulsion used in the slide.”

       “Okay,” I said, not really clear about what he was going on about.

       “A Chicago dentist by the name of Dwight Rosewood called me not too long ago. He told me he read about my experiments in the science and trade journals and wanted to contact me about trial runs and possibly partnering with me as a consultant, and with financing too. I thought it sounded like a good idea at the time.”

       “I take it, it wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

       “You take it right.”

       “Clyde, did you do any checking on this guy before you got in too deep?”

       “Well, you see—”

       “That’s what I thought. You know you can’t just jump into things like this.”

As Clyde began to explain further I noticed Macauley at the door. He was checking his coat and hat. Then I saw Mimi walk in and start yipping at him like an angry Chihuahua. It was apparent this confrontation had started outside and she followed him in refusing to be ignored. All I could think of was ‘Poor Man’. I said to Wynant, “Never mind right now.”

       “What?”

       “Look Clyde, you’ve got to go. And I mean now.”

       “What!?”

       “Mimi just walked in and she’s got Macauley cornered. She must have stalked him and followed him in. They didn’t walk in together.” I leaned in close. “She must be hunting you.”

       “I’m not running from her.”

       “Yes you are. We don’t have time for your house keeping troubles and quite frankly, I’m not sticking around to watch you two dance around the May Pole. I don’t care how many girlfriends you have or boyfriends she has, or vice versa, and I sure don’t want to sit here and listen to you two go over it. If you want to talk to me and Mac go duck in the men’s room now. When we get rid of her we’ll get you. Then we’ll finish our real business here.”

       “Alright” he said as he glanced back in her direction and eased his chair back from the table. He seemed to strain to walk slowly and blend with the other patrons as he egressed toward the end of the bar.

As Clyde slinked off one way Macauley approached from the other. Mimi still nipping at Mac’s heels. She was so wound up and snapping at Mac she never noticed Clyde making his retreat. As they approached I stood and extended a hand. “Herbert… Herbert Macauley, it’s good to see you again. How’ve you been?”

       “Well, hello Nick. Small world bumping into you here.”

       “Yes, isn’t it?” I said. “Won’t you pull up a chair?”

Mimi stood quiet now but was shooting daggers at me with her eyes. “Well if it isn’t Nick Charles. Aren’t you going to say anything to me?”

       “Why?”

       “Oh! I never!” she huffed.

       “Oh yes Mimi, you have too,” I replied.

       “I will not stand here and be insulted like that,” she said, crossing her arms.

       “Well then Mimi, bye.”

She stomped one foot on the floor, spun on her heels, and stormed back out the front door. As she made her way off, Herbert and I settled back into our chairs.

       “Thanks for rescuing me Nick.”

       “Think nothing of it. I’m glad she’s gone too. What did Clyde ever see in that woman?”

       “Where is he?”

       “I gave him an early warning and he ducked out. I told him we would get him out of the men’s room when the coast was clear. What are you drinking?”

       “What are you having?”

       “Bourbon.”

       “Sounds good to me,” he said.

I waved over to the bar and raised my glass letting them know to send over yet another, only this time I raised two fingers. I needed a refill. “We’ll let Clyde sweat it out for a minute. Serves him right for getting us in the middle of his headache.”

       “You must mean nightmare. Besides that, there’s another client I wanted to talk with you about anyway. I think I need your help on this one too.”

       “Okay, fire away.”

       “We really don’t have the time to go into here like I need to,” he said. “For now I guess we really should get Wynant out of the men’s room. Call my office and have Miss Jacobs set up a meeting. That way we won’t be bothered by other things and I can go over it with you without distractions.”

       “I guess you’re right.”

“When do you think you can you drop by?”

“You name it Mac. I can always work you in.”

“Will do. Do you think we should get Clyde back out here?”

I raised my glass, half hearing him, and was somewhat dreading getting Clyde. Knowing how he is I wasn’t sure what tales he had in store for us. “I’ll go get him. You enjoy the drink for a peaceful minute. Then we’ll listen to the old bird beat his gums again.”

Sticking my head in the men’s room I called out, “Clyde!”

“Is she gone?” he asked as he emerged from a stall.

“Come on Clyde. Let’s go back out to the table. Mac’s waiting on us.”

“Okay.”

When we finally got settled in I asked Clyde to fill us in on his situation again. “Okay, now tell us about this Rosewood fella. You said he was a doctor?”

“He’s a dentist.”

“Right.”

“He phoned my office several weeks ago from Chicago. He left a message with Julia-”

“Julia? Julia Wolf? Is she still around?”

Macauley interjected, “She’s Clyde’s secretary now.”

“Oh, I see. That’s what we’re calling it these days?”

“I thought you didn’t care about—”

“I don’t Clyde. Go ahead with your story.”

“Anyway, he left a message with her saying he was interested in my project. When I finally found the time to call him back he verified knowing about my work from reading the journals. Looking back on it, I can’t remember anyone talking with me about it for such an article. But I can’t keep up with all that sort of stuff.”

“They probably didn’t. This is starting to sound just a little fishy to me already.”

Clyde went on for a little while longer running the story down to us until he got to the part where Rosewood said he was going to bomb his house and kill his family.

“Did you report this to the police, Clyde?” I asked.

“Well, no. I didn’t think they would believe me. Or it would do any good.”

“That may be, but you still should have let them know something. It, at least, needs to be on record. I know blowing up houses is no big deal but letting somebody know might help a little.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“If something did happen they’d at least have somewhere to start looking.”

“I see your point.”

“Look Clyde, you go down to the Precinct near your shop and get someone to write this up. Me and Mac will figure out what we need to do on our end, alright?”

As he stood, he said, “Thanks Charles, I’ll go ahead and get that done,” as he shook hands with Mac and me.

“We’ll be talking soon. Take care Clyde.”

Wynant made his way back out the door and Macauley and I sat back down.

“So Mac, what’s your take?”

“There could be something to this. The world is full of confidence men, you know.”

“Yeah. There is definitely no shortage of grifters. Hey, do you know anything about that so-called accountant Clyde’s got working for him? That, ah, ah-”

“Tanner. His name is Tanner.”

“That’s right. Tanner. What’s his story?” I asked.

“I’m not sure where he originally comes from, but he does have a bit of a record. And that secretary he’s taken on is no prize either.”

“The Wolf girl? He’s been seeing her on the side for a while.”

“Yeah. Julia Wolf. I’m not sure that’s even her real name.”

“I’m not either. What does Mimi think of all this monkey business? I mean, are they still under the same roof?”

“I think she’s already kicked him out. Not sure.”

“Oh, really. Wow. I didn’t think that would ever happen. They love to fight.”

“They’re still married but I don’t know for how much longer.”

“I guess Julia’s talents extend beyond typing and making coffee to rate getting hired. Clyde doesn’t need a secretary. He’s got Tanner working in the office.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised to find out if Tanner or Julia knows this Rosewood guy and they’re setting Clyde up. Or Tanner and Julia are both in it with Rosewood.”

“Clyde might eventually link Tanner to Rosewood, if they are working together, and it’s not too late. But, he’s not too bright when it comes to a smiling pretty face. I’m guessing Mimi knows this all too well too.”

“It would seem. She tries to use the same tricks, but with much less effect. And she’s just about the most incessant and garrulous women I’ve ever known.”

“You really don’t like her, do you?”

“What gave it away?”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The original The Thin Man detective novel by Dashiell Hammett was originally published (in a condensed form) in Redbook, an American women’s magazine published monthly by the Hearst Corporation. It was first published in December 1933. It was believed in the beginning to be a feature to be published in serial form over an extended period of time but was published as an independent book the following month. 

Before the Thin Man: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s “The Thin Man” was written and published independently in early 2018 and has received a modest support from readers primarily in the Kindle ebook format.

It seems there is still a substantial interest in classic movies and these type stories. Take for example Joe Gores, also a former private eye, had his book Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s THE MALTESE FALCON published in 2009. Gores’ story is set in 1921—seven years before Sam Spade will solve the famous case of the Maltese Falcon. The Thin Man prequel is set in 1928 – five years prior to Nick Charles solving The Thin Man Case.

At about the same time Gores’ book came out there was buzzing about a big screen remake of Hammett’s The Thin Man. This project was to have Johnny Depp in the lead role of Nick Charles. By 2010 and 2011, for completely unknown problems and issues, the project was eventually shelved. There is a UK produced movie titled The Thin Man due out in 2019 but shares nothing with the original except the title. There also seems to be a few small local theater groups performing some form of Hammett’s work live on stage around the country. One in particular, The Limelight Theater Company in Illinois, has recently performed a play titled Before The Thin Man and is billed on their website as: See how it all began for Nick and Nora in this prequel, an original Limelight radio production based on characters created by Dashiell Hammett, a mystery set against the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. According to their website it was scheduled to be performed on November 24, 2018.

I began writing the novel, ‘Before the Thin Man: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s “The Thin Man”, based on the characters created by Dashiell Hammett, in October 2017 and completed and published it in the Spring of 2018. It was registered with the Writers Guild of America East on April 16, 2018 and US Copyright registration was effective April 23, 2018. I recently completed a screenplay adaptation of the book and registered it with the Writers Guild of America West. The book is available in print or ebook on Amazon. The intent of this project was simply to bring the originals to the attention of a new generation.  The stories, dialogue, and movies are terrific and I’ve seen many young people today rule out watching any ‘old and black & white movies because they’re boring.’ I believe, given a fair shake, the CGI super hero whizz-bang crowd would come to appreciate these classics as much as we do. All they need is a proper catalyst. I believe the prequel novel, and hopefully a well-made movie, will fill that role.

I have decided, in order to get this project in the hands of interested parties, to publish the text, again, here in this blog format in serial form over time. This one will be reverse of the original. Book first, then in serial form. If you wait long enough you can read the book here at no cost. It is, of course, available as a paperback or an ebook at Amazon.

http://amazon.com/author/thinmanpi 

“Let me share with you the early days of Mr. Nick Charles and Miss Liticia Lenora Finhaden. Nick is known throughout New York City as a great private detective. Now owning his own agency, Nick is making a name for himself. His attention to detail, and sometimes with a bit of luck, has allowed the police force to close many high-profile cases. And now he has just been invited to work a case which promises to forever change his life.

Miss Lettie is a head-strong, independent, and highly capable young woman. Having majored in art, she is mere months away from becoming a Vassar graduate. While awaiting her father’s arrival at Grand Central Terminal, Lettie gets her first peek of the legendary Nick Charles.

I enjoyed watching Nick as he cleverly pieced together the puzzling mystery. I loved listening to the interaction between Nora and him. She maintained a playful banter. He recognized he would never meet anyone like Nora. She was a special kind of someone he knew he could take care of.

I loved taking this quick journey into the past. A romance as unique as this could only be told of Nick and Nora.”

Sandy Vattimo, Book Reviewer The RAC Magazine, Connecting Readers and Authors, September/October 2018, New Beginnings Issue #1 review.

Thanks for dropping by and please visit my Facebook Author Page at
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https://www.caallenpi.com/

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From deep in the archives comes a cold case that is virtually unknown but, more or less, solved itself in 1935. It seems there was a small group of gentlemen involved in certain business dealings that went wrong and ended with two shot and one dead. The police never apprehended the killer.

Not much is known of any of the parties involved but this much is known. The scene is 1920s New York City and most of the activity these folks were involved in wasn’t in the best part of town. There is a fair possibility some of their ‘business operations’ may have been illegal ventures such as the trade in alcoholic beverages. It was after all during the Prohibition era in the Lower East Side. The scene was much different than today. Much different.

A few years earlier a gentleman going by the name of Jack Robinson immigrated to the United States from Russia and settled at 250 Rutledge Street in Brooklyn. Robinson had a number of brushes with the law and he shows to have used a number of aliases. Being from Russia it’s a safe bet his ‘original’ name is a fake as well. His true given Russian name is lost to history.

Among Robinson’s new acquaintances were an Isadore Walker and a Charles Herbert. At the end of another long work week Robinson followed Herbert and Walker into a restaurant located at 20 Avenue C, not far from the East River and Williamsburg Bridge. Today this address belongs to apartments and condos. It was speculated Robinson was going to confront them over a business deal gone wrong. The evening of November 16, 1928 Robinson approached the two at their table and eventually produced a gun and shot them both. Walker was killed and Herbert was hospitalized with serious injuries. What they actually talked about and the motive for shooting them will never be known.

Robinson fled the scene and was never seen again. He was never taken into custody for the murder. Now the oddest facet of looking back at this chain of events is how a guy who lives and works and moves in circles in the general area of Brooklyn, The Lower East Side, and The East Village, with the Williamsburg Bridge being the hub of this world, never be located and picked up by the cops. Robinson even had other family living here. How could you not find an identified Russian murder suspect living in this environment? Well, as it turns out that is exactly the case. Robinson never left the area but was never arrested as well.

Fast forward seven years. The January 24^th, 1935 New York Times reported a 54 year old man by the name of Joseph Lang  residing at 334 East 65^th Street entered the Mount Sinai hospital Saturday the 19^th of January with an illness. Sunday morning Mr. Lang was dead. The following simple steps cleared a murder off the books of the NYPD.

Within hours of Lang’s death a young lady by the name of Sadie Schwartz of 305 Avenue N in Brooklyn arrived at the hospital to claim the body. She identified the deceased Lang as her father, the earlier wanted Jack Robinson. With that information New York’s finest fingerprinted the body and did in fact identify the deceased as Robinson.

I will not speculate any further as to how this situation could have played out as it did but I do have my suspicions. It’s apparent he remained in the area for seven more years after the murder. It’s apparent he was known by police since he had a criminal history and fingerprints on file. Yet he could not be located and arrested for committing the murder of Isadore Walker? I’ll let you decide to your own satisfaction what happened here.

Since the original ‘The Thin Man’ movie of 1934 was actually set at Christmas Time with tree decorating and parties it seemed a good time to give a ‘tip o’ the hat’ to Dashiell Hammett and the original stories.

The series of ‘Thin Man’ movies, produced between 1934 and 1947, is one of Hollywood’s strongest and most entertaining series of films ever made. It’s surprising how few people have also read Dashiell Hammett’s original book. Published in 1934, a mere five months before the first Thin Man film was released, his novel is much more risqué than the movie. The screen writers cleaned it up a bit for the movie going audiences.

The following is from the original The Thin Man novel by Dashiell Hammett:

NORA: Tell me something, Nick. Tell me the truth: when you were wrestling with Mimi, didn’t you have an erection?
NICK: Oh, a little.
NORA: (laughing) If you aren’t a disgusting old lecher.

Even for the liberal-minded reading public of 1934 that exchange was a bit too much although Nora’s obscene question helped the book become a bestseller. To capitalize on the publicity publisher Alfred Knopf placed this ad in the January 30^th, 1934 New York Times and signed it:

I highly recommend Hammett’s novel and the series of movies that followed. There are a number of differences between the book and original movie but that makes it a little more fun when you discover what they are. In fact, that little detail is one of the factors helping me decide to start the prequel project.

The intent of the new project, Before the Thin Man: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s ‘The Thin Man’, was simply to bring the originals to the attention of a new generation.  The stories, dialogue, and movies are terrific and I’ve seen many young people today rule out watching any ‘old and black & white movies because they’re boring.’ I believe, given a fair shake, the CGI super hero whizz-bang crowd would come to appreciate these classics as much as we do. All they need is a proper catalyst. I believe the prequel novel, and hopefully a well-made movie, will fill that role.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone whatever holiday you recognize and celebrate this time of year. May 2019 prove to be an even better year for us.

Well here we are only a few days away from Christmas and the New Year. A time we ordinarily see as festive and when everyone seems to treat one another just a little nicer than normal. But is it?

Only a few days ago I was starkly reminded of our violent gun culture here in the United States once again. And the saddest part of it all is the fact it happens with such regularity that a string of shootings over just a few days isolated to just one town doesn’t even rate media coverage anymore. Case in point; Tyler, Texas.

As many of you know, my background is in law enforcement and much of that career centered around firearms and firearms training. I am also a student of Constitutional Law and an adherent to the Constitution of the United States. I am grateful the founding fathers gave us that document and for the freedoms it guarantees to all. Oh, did I say to all? Yes. Especially the contentious Bill of Rights. All ten.

With that said I also firmly believe there should be common sense limitations applied as well. I will not waste any more time here arguing the pros and cons of gun control. It wouldn’t change anything or how people think and that’s not what this is about. I would only toss my opinion out for thought and consideration.

This week I traveled to East Texas and made my way to the county seat of Smith County. The Texas city named for our tenth President, John Tyler. Yes, the “Rose Capital of America”, Tyler, Texas. While I was there I learned of a string of shootings around the city that apparently started on Friday, December 7^th and continued with regularity through Sunday, December 16^th; ending two days before my arrival.

On December 11 at 7:13 PM KLTV in Tyler reported Tyler police had released a statement on several recent homicides, saying officials believe they are drug-related. Sadly when this was reported there would be two more shot during the upcoming weekend. One on Saturday, December 15^th and again on Sunday, December 16^th. The victim of Saturday’s shooting would be the fourth homicide in this string of shootings. The Sunday shooting sent the fifth victim to the hospital with critical injuries and the arrest of the shooter.

As of this writing this investigation is current and ongoing. No one has, as of now, been charged with the murders but it’s a safe bet that’s coming soon. East Texas Matters.com reported according to an arrest warrant on Sunday the suspect walked up to the victim and shot him in the head outside the Taco Bell in the Westwood shopping center near Loop 323 and Chandler Highway.  A witness to the shooting obtained the description of the suspect, his vehicle, and tag number. Local law enforcement arrested the shooter a short time later.

The curious point in this particular case seems to be that authorities believe the same gun was used in all five shootings but the scenario changed up with the last victim. The first was killed at his front door. The next victims were found in front of their places of residence. But the last one was shot out in public in a business area. I’m sure investigators are sorting through this as well. Was there another suspect?

The bigger question in the conversation of the Second Amendment would be why are criminal gang members still free to get firearms and freely ride around town and shoot and kill at will? Why have we, as a nation, become so numb to this that the only media coverage this string of killings gets is from the local media in the area. A serial shooter rides around town and kills someone every couple of days and we never hear about it? I guess mass shootings and serial shootings is the new normal. Merry Christmas.

Sources cited:

https://www.kltv.com/2018/12/18/tyler-police-smith-county-sheriffs-office-confirms-same-gun-linked-all-shootings/

https://www.kltv.com/2018/12/11/webextra-police-presence-tyler-connected-murder-investigation/

https://www.easttexasmatters.com/news/top-stories/tyler-police-and-smith-co-sheriff-s-office-link-gun-to-recent-shootings/1664935992

This week I found myself traveling through the Great Commonwealth of Virginia and as I looked out across a most peaceful and scenic view of the snow covered countryside I was reminded of little 8-year old Virginia O’Hanlon’s letter to The Sun. The September 21, 1897, edition of the New York Sun carried the following editorial in answer to Virginia’s inquiry. It has been noted to be the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language. Enjoy and Have a most Happy Christmas. There is a Santa Claus.

Well it’s about time to slow things down and start our Christmas Season celebrations with family and friends. I wish you all the very  best this time of year has to offer.

The funny thing about Christmas is it seems most people actually don’t know the true roots of what it is we do and celebrate. You often hear Christians say that “Jesus is the Reason” for the Season. That is not entirely true. You see, early Christianity actually forbade the celebration of Christmas due to the overwhelmingly heavy influence of pagan celebrations. Christmas  Day only became a public holiday in the United States in 1870. Scotland held out until 1958. It was altogether banned in Boston from 1659 to 1681. That’s right. The original war on Christmas was waged by Puritan and Protestant Christians first during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Prior to the Great Protestant Reformation in Europe, Christmas in Europe and the UK was known as the Yule Tide. We still hear in greetings and songs reference to the Yuletide and Yule Log. Those are pagan and have nothing to do with the celebration of the birth of Jesus. In fact, when religion, specifically Episcopalianism, rose up in Scotland, the Yule Vacance was abolished, or better known as Christmas Vacation in the 1600’s. The Church of Scotland – a Presbyterian church – never placed much emphasis on the Christmas festival as it was mostly viewed as the celebration of pagan rituals. This was not isolated to Scotland but most of Christendom at that time.

The Yule Log was lit and basically a big party centered around it until it burned out. This is the basis for the 12 days of Christmas we hear about in that other song. The 12-day celebration actually centered around the Winter Solstice where the shortest day of the year, regarding sunlight, began to reverse and see the return of longer days of sunlight. This generally starts around the 21^st of December and continues into January. There are lots of Pagan customs in Christianity because early Christians adapted  Pagan customs to fit their new Christian beliefs, hiding their original meanings and giving them new ones.

It would seem the real people we should thank for our modern day Christmas celebrations is the northern European pagans. What we celebrate is actually what they started. Take the Christmas Tree for example. This was started long before Christianity.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

Take, for example, the character of Krampus. Little known in the West, Krampus goes back to the pre-Christian Alpine traditions. Basically Krampus is the scary bad guy who will get you if you’ve been bad during the year. Eventually Santa Claus, or St. Nick, paired up with Krampus. Together they would go about rewarding the good children and punishing the bad. It was even thought, like leaving Santa milk and cookies, you should set out schnapps for Krampus. If you get him drunk he’ll be nicer.

The history of the Christmas celebration we observe today could fill volumes but it is safe to say most of what we do this time of year has very little to do with the Christian faith but rather is a celebration of pagan rituals. This holiday goes almost hand in hand with Halloween. Be sure to stock up on the spirits and make sure Krampus is having a good time. God bless the pagans and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours.

For some more really interesting history on the Victorian Age of Christmas celebrations visit my friend and fellow author, C.A. Asbrey’s, blog page at http://caasbrey.com/obscure-and-mysterious-victoriana/the-tradition-of-christmas-ghost-stories/

Far removed in space and time from the fast paced hustle and bustle of the metropolis of New York City and San Francisco back across the span of a century we can look at the virtually unknown small town of Niagara, North Dakota for a most interesting cold case investigation of multiple murders. This location is so remote and small the population in 2017 was only 53.

The town of Niagara, some forty miles from Grand Forks, was established in 1883 as not much more than a campsite. It was just about this same time a gentleman by the name of Eugene Butler came to the area and homesteaded a large tract of land and built a house. As more people arrived and settled the area neighbors developed and people began to notice Butler was not exactly even keeled. He often displayed erratic behavior which eventually caused him to be hospitalized at the North Dakota State Hospital at Jamestown, North Dakota in 1906. In its early days it was known as the North Dakota Hospital for the Insane. This institution still operates today albeit in a much different way than in those days.

It seems Butler was a cooperative and non-violent patient during his stay. He was described by doctors as harmless. Butler’s condition required he remain for several years up to when he died there about 1913. It was only after his death when things began to take a turn that would bring to light a string of horrific murders.

In 1915 Butler’s estate was liquidated and the new owner of the Butler house decided to do a little remodeling and refurbishing. In late June of that year workers were doing some grading and excavating of the foundation when they stumbled on what would be identified as human remains at just about three feet down. Work on the house was halted and the site became a crime scene.

Further investigation and excavation eventually revealed over six thousand dollars of hidden cash, a hidden trap door in the floor, and among other things the remains of six people. Forensic science of a hundred years ago was just in its infancy and most methods were not well developed or even discovered yet. Authorities of the time believed the murders were committed between the time of building the house in the 1890’s and his hospitalization in 1906. Five of the victim’s may have been members of the same family and killed about the same time as all were buried together in a common grave. The sixth victim is believed to have been killed later as the degree of decomposition was less advanced and was buried alone some 10 feet away. It was also believed they were all buried nude as there were no remnants of clothing found. This was probably done in an additional attempt to keep from identifying the victims. All six met the same fate. The cause of death was a sharp object used to puncture the left side of the skull. It also seemed the aforementioned trap door in the floorboards was used to dump the bodies from inside the house directly to the ground below.

This cold case will probably remain a mystery. It seems subsequent efforts to identify the victims by first checking for missing person reports turned up nothing. Later efforts were no more successful. To this day investigators are unable to piece together what happened there. There are no reports, files, evidence, or bodies to continue investigating. With the passage of time and primitive methods of investigation and storage of evidence none of these can be located or simply no longer exist. Officially, this is still an open case with the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department and the investigation actively continues at any given opportunity or when a lead is developed. But the truth is the series of events, the murderer’s identity, victims’ identities, method, and motives will probably remain a mystery. This appears to be a case that not even the savviest of our fictional detectives would be able to crack.

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Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton