The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-03-31
CHILDREN AND
FATHER KILLED
Shot From Ambush While En-.
gagged in Fishing-Man
Under Arrest

-. VSk olouseu community
ieft the mul> eAAlexander Lindahl
and his two etaildren still a
mystery although sx ian. Charles
has beenS d. Nord-
mark visited the unde.> ing rooms
in Scandia where the bodies Of the
father and his two children, Elvira,
10 years DID,. and Earl, years old,
had been taken. He gazed with stolid
Indifference at them. Not shadow
of sorrow or fear crept into his
wrinkled face. AS he left, his only
comment was: "Well, the old man
got about what was coming to him
but it's kind Of hard on the poor little
kids"
Over and over again he repeated
that he knew nothing whatever Of the
crime. Hereis the story Of the finding
Of the bodies in the little motor boat,
stuck on a sand bar in. the Republic
can, as it was told by Joe Weber,
one of the men who discovered the
crime.
Joe Weber Tells the Story
1T was about o'clock yesterday
afternoon, with Percy Shrivers. an
other fisherman and trapper, I was
rowing up the Republican. We had
been down stream on a fishing trip
for several days. AS We neared Scan
dia noticed q motor boat sticking
in the sand and said to Shrivers: That
looks like AL Lndahl's boat, let's 60
over and see what's the matter with
It, We rowed over to the boat.
can hardly bear to think Of it." Joe
Weber is hardy fisherman and hunt
er, used to rough scenes. There
lay those two little kids in the bottom
Of the boat, the boy ON the bottom,
the Mrl on top Of him. They had died
IN eachs sutheEs arms. !. = Tue bottom Ut
the boat was full Of blood. The kids
looked 30 peaceful like, lying there" !"
After finding the bodies in the boat.
Shrivers and Weber rowed hMrriedly
to scandia and gave the alarm. Then
began the search. for the father. At
first 1t was thought that there might
have been a suicide and that the faith
er might have killed his children and
then ended his own life in the river.
But the hours Of searching were re-
warded, the body found. The wounds
on 1t were of such nature as to pre-
clude any possibility of q suicide.
Lindahl had been shot through the
breast from the side. The wound had
been inflicted by q shotgun and had
passed through his body. The man
had veen evidently standing in his
boat when the shot was fired from the
underbrush and had pitched forward
into the water.
In Wild and Lonely Place.
It is a wild spot on the Republican
where the triple murder was com
mitted. About seventy-five feet above
the spot in the river where Lndahl's
body was found lay twigs newly sew
cred from the underbrush as IL from
a charge of buckshot. The murderer
had evidently concealed himself here
and waited the coming of the motor
boat and its happy party.
Tracks were found near the spot,
but eager spectators soon trampled
these in the mire and any hope Of
tricing the crime by the footprints was
lost. The motor boat was found near
ly a half mile down stream. The boy
had been shot through the heart. The
6A1k u0Q UCCA 6l1OL I1lVO6A JAO UIV60L
and again through the head.
Even as much mystery as the
murder of the Lindahl family has been
the life Of Charles Nordmark, who
has been arrested. The bitter ami
mositv that Nordmark had held
against Lindahl and the repeated
threats that he had made against
Lndahl's life caused him to fall un-
der suspicion at once.
Admits He Hated Lindahl
"Old Charlie the miser," Charlie
the hermit" are some Of the names by
which the LONELY man has been known
in the community. He lives alone in
a squalid little hut across the river
from the Lindahls and a short distance
down stream. He owns small farm.
He has lived alone for years until his
solitude has become one of the atradi-
tions Of the neighborhood. He Is 81
years old, bent and feeble. His hair
hangs in long. snowy, unkempt locks.
The old man admits that he hated Lin
dahl and had made threats againts
him. he. denies any connection with
the crime.
"Lihdahl has been pest in my life.
he has robbed me blind and he didn't
need my stuff. don't know why he
took It. He has made threats against
my life. But OF this murder you are
talking about, I know nothing. abso-
lutely nothing"
In the Nordmark hut, were found
three shotguns. One gave the ap-
pearance of having been fired recent
ly. The shot in the shells was the ex-
act size of those found imbedded in
the side of the boat. Nordmark ad-
mits working near the river bank yes
terday afternoon, clearing a tract Of
land of brush.