The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-09-08
WTLLFUL MURDER
JURY'S CHARGE
AGAINST SLAYER
OF YOUNG NAN
North Bridge, on n. P. Ave
nue., Scene of Fatal
Shooting Friday
INQUEST TODAY
Fixes BLAME
Confessed Murderer in Cass
County Jail-Not AL
lowed Bail

The killing of HjaImar Holm, Fl,
on the north bridge across the Red
river between the hours of $50 and
o'clock Friday evening was will
! full deliberate and premeditated"
! according to the verdict returned
this morning by the coroner's jury,
summoned by Coroner Samuel Nit
| chell Of Mapleton.
The jurors went into session short
/ ly after 1920 o'clock in the office Of
Fowler and Green. The members Of
! the jury were E. G. Anderson, Carl
Pitsch and Fred Bristol. The YER
dict further read that the said
Hjalmar Holm came to his death
from a bullet fired by one Frank
Hafy".
: Hafy's Story Denied.
Sigard Halseth, pal Of the murder
| ed man, gave testimony at the in
quest which contradicted the story
told by the prisoner at the police
station Friday night. Halseth testi-
| fed that he was with Holm all Fri
| day morning and most of the after
noon, that the two did not see Hafy,
and had not been drinking, as Hafy
had stated. About $3.50 o'clock, &C
cording to Halseth, he left Holm and
started to walk to Moorhead. At
sand elevator near the Fargo foun-
dry. Holm said he would return
within a half hour.
He had gone about IS feet over
the bridge, testified Halseth, when
I heard a report. thought it was
, an automobile tire bursting. Upon
turning around, l saw Holm falling
over and saw Hafy putting the gun
in his pocket.
Jalmer Erickson Of Moorhead, an
other witness, gave testimony
which corroborated the story he told
shortly after the shooting.
Will Plead Self defense.
Frank Hafy, self-confessed MUIR
derer of Hjalmer Holm. % years,
slain on the west approach to the
north bridge at $50 o'clock Friday
afternoon, will make his fight for
liberty on the ground of self-defense
when his case is called in the dis
trict court at the November term
Following the arraignment of the
prisoner before Police Magistrate
Roberts Friday night, at which
he claimed he had been attacked
and beaten by Holm and other men
in the jungle north Of the Fargo mill
early in the afternoon, Hafy waived
examination and was bound over to
the district court. No bail was fixed
as the charge lodged against the
defendant was murder in the first
degree, bail not being accepted for
sCch offense.
Shooting at Busiest Hour.
The murder Of Holm, who had
come to Fargo to appear before the
Cass county draft examination board
on Sept. IL, in response to a notice
received by him at Portland, n. D.,
was committed at one of the busiest
hours of the day when traffic over
the bridge was it's heaviest. EN-
plOyes were returning to their
homes from work and the wagon
and motor traffic was heavy at that
hour, when Hafy, standing about
four feet distant from Holm, pulled
a cheap revolver from his pocket
and sent a .3S cartridge into the left
side of the young man, it evidently
piercing the heart.
Making a dash for liberty, during
which time he emptied the gun. Hafy
was not captured until he had cut
across the scrap iron grounds south
of the north bridge and the Fargo
Iron foundry Upon reaching the
south bridge he walked across and
was met near the sec of the old
Moorhead mill by Jalmer Erickson,
former deputy sheriff of Clay county
and a member of the MooThead board
of education. and Patrolman Edward
Savageau, also of Moorhead. Hafy
surrendered, was taken to the Moor
head police station and later to the
Fargo police station. Commitment
was directed to the Cass county Jail.
Erickson An Eyewitness.
Erickson, an witness to the
shooting, was returning to Moorhead
from work. being employed in the
implement house Of Emerson &
Birmingham on Northern Pacific
avenue.
Upon reaching the north bridge,
Mr.. Erickson observed the two men
who were on the walk on the south
side of the bridge. According to the
story told by Mr.. Erickson last night
the young man was evidently trying
to pacify the elder one.
The old man seemed angry and
made the statement that if he were
twenty years younger he wouldn't
stand for it,, indicating that the
two must have had trouble during
the afternoon.
Mr.. Erickson walked a few steps
out Of his way to pass the men and
when he got about a rod from the
two, he heard shot, and saw Holm
fall
Pursues Murderer.
The Moorhead man then gave pur-
suit, going first into the Fargo
foundry in hone of getting a gin