Dakota Datebook: Ballots and Bribery

When Emmons County commissioner Henry Van Beck showed up at Inspector John Miller’s house, he was hoping to get the best of some political opponents before the county elections held November 8 in 1892. Little did he know, Miller and the Russian-German settlement would get the best of him.

Van Beck, along with republican candidates J.A. Cotton and Charles Lock, and democratic candidate S.E. Brindle...