Rosthern, Saskatchewan On the evening of January 3, 1907 Gerhard Fast* was out walking when he came upon a man. His initial impression was that the young man was drunk and had been in a fight. He was in a kneeling position, with an arm thrown over the fence, in front of the residence ofContinue reading “The Man on the Fence: The Murder of Michael Kaminsky”
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A Love Affair Gone Wrong: The Murder of Antena Kropa
Humboldt, Saskatchewan It was Christmas night, 1929, and Antena and Stanley Kropa had been visiting at the home of their friend, J. Philip Mokolyk. Around 5:30PM, Antena took their three-year-old son home to put him to bed and Stanley followed not long after. They were a young couple, Antena was only twenty-five, and they’d comeContinue reading “A Love Affair Gone Wrong: The Murder of Antena Kropa”
The Murder of Lena Faust
It was close to four thirty in the afternoon on Monday, September 30, 1929, when the phone rang in the office of Wadena lawyer and crown attorney Ross Pratt. It was Lena Faust, a widow and dairy farmer in the district. She needed advice, and to be frank, protection. Her recently fired hired man, EmileContinue reading “The Murder of Lena Faust”
The Mamchur Family Massacre
Let me begin this post by saying that sources on this case were deeply conflicted. Names, spellings, and genders varied wildly. I did my best to verify as much information as I could, and I apologize for any inaccuracies. I’ve tried to note differences where I found them. On the evening of Wednesday, April 5,Continue reading “The Mamchur Family Massacre”
The Body in the Haystack
It was about 5:00AM on Thursday, January 14, 1915 that Michael Penno heard a team come into the yard and went outside to see what was going on. He assumed he’d find his brother-in-law, Henry Jeskie (also spelled Henry Gesky in some articles) and his friend, Andreas Neumann. They’d left the previous morning on theContinue reading “The Body in the Haystack”
A Bargain is A Bargain: The Shooting of Barrett Henderson
On August 15, 1906, Richard Koch, a farmer from Sedley, was driving to Regina with one of his neighbours, Benjamin Dick. As they came upon the farm of Josiah Gilbert, some twelve miles south-east of Regina, they saw a man running towards their buggy, waving his hands and shouting for them to hold on. BehindContinue reading “A Bargain is A Bargain: The Shooting of Barrett Henderson”
The Shooting of Frederick L. Stewart
On the morning of Monday, June 20, 1904, Frederick L. Stewart was in the fields, doing some ploughing on the homestead of his daughter, Edna Goodpasture, near Eagle Creek, west of Saskatoon. He was not a welcome visitor there. A few months previous, on April 4th, his wife, Manda Stewart, had separated from him. SheContinue reading “The Shooting of Frederick L. Stewart”
Tragedy at the Brady Farm
On the morning of Tuesday, February 28, 1933, Norman Ballantyne noticed something odd. His neighbour’s farm was mysteriously quiet. Not a soul stirred about the place, and as it was getting on 9:30, he took it upon himself to go investigate. The farm belonged to William Brady. He’d lived in the Moose Mountain district nearContinue reading “Tragedy at the Brady Farm”
The Trial of Mary Charlotte Smith
Duck Lake, Saskatchewan On the morning of Monday, May 20, 1935, Mrs. Caroline Fisher went to the home of Frank and Charlotte Smith. She did some work for the Smiths and arrived at their small cottage on the south end of Duck Lake at her usual time of 7:00AM. She knocked on the door, thenContinue reading “The Trial of Mary Charlotte Smith”
The Life and Death of Ephraim Jantzen
At seventeen years old, Ephraim Jantzen had been a ward of the government since the age of eight, when his father died and his mother, unable to support her seven children, turned them over to the Bureau of Dependent and Neglected Children. He had lived in several homes, but at fifteen he was placed withContinue reading “The Life and Death of Ephraim Jantzen”
Melanie Cole 