The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
Visit to N.D.
In 1939, the Crown Prince to the Norwegian throne, Olav, and his wife Martha, toured America – including a few memorable days as they crossed North Dakota. As they visited various locations, the Crown Prince and Princess made an impact on the royalty-struck North Dakotans, partly because they were so down to earth. While in Grand Forks, one man, Si Poppler, was able to visit one-on-one with Olav – and he didn't even realize he was speaking to royalty! He later wrote to the Grand Forks Herald and expressed his surprise and delight:
"We talked – he and I, about a hundred-and-one things...He proffered – and I accepted, a Pall Mall cigarette and we smoked and talked just like you and I would. He was a swell fellow – this man I had met-a human being-folk like you are – like I am. There was nothing about him that would have set him apart – made him aloof – above me – we met on common ground – two fellows just chinning together."
Poppler went on: "...To Prince Olav and that fine democratic wife of his-"Skall" Long may you both live... Prince Olav – you are greater than your title – for you are a MAN!"
Olav's visit was very memorable for 251 graduates of UND on June 7, as he spoke at their commencement ceremony. He emphasized the ties between Norway and America, and encouraged the students, saying, "The time of actual pioneering is practically over. But the spirit of pioneering has and always will have its place in all human affairs, and it was never more needed than it is today...The world has an urgent need of pioneers of many kinds on the various frontiers of human intellectual and spiritual endeavor."
Governor John Moses, who was born in Norway and graduated from UND, also took part in the ceremony.
Then UND honored Crown Prince Olav himself as the 252nd graduate, awarding him an honorary doctor of laws degree, the highest degree they could offer. President West conferred the honor, then greeted Olav as an alumnus of the university.
The royal couple had more to tour afterward, and as the newspapers reported, "the athletic, 'man's man' prince chatted about crops and farm machinery with Ole Stenmo, near Northwood, joked with youngsters, addressed thousands in towns between here and Hillsboro, and generally continued winning the esteem of North Dakotans."
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker.
Insanity plea
A prisoner of the Jamestown State Hospital made a surprising statement on June 4 in 1936.
Charles Marratto, the convicted murderer of Fargo grocer Peter Stewart, confessed to feigning insanity in hopes of a transfer from the penitentiary at Bismarck to the institution in Jamestown. The convict believed that an escape from the hospital would be easier than from the prison, but was upset to discover that the hospital personnel watched him even more closely than the prison guards.
Marratto made his confession to Dr. J. Carr, the superintendent at Jamestown, in hopes of a return transfer to Bismarck. The 29-year-old inmate had become a model prisoner in the few weeks that he had spent in the hospital, but added in his statement that he missed the 25¢ that he was paid for his work each day in the penitentiary.
"Dakota Datebook" is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from Humanities North Dakota. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the "Dakota Datebook" podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org.
