Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND002 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Peace Officer Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 04221
Title: David L. Stewart
Date:
Creator:
Inscription/Marks: 9/30/1880
Summary: David L. Stewart Hope, ND - August 1933 A marauder or marauders ruthlessly murdered Hope Village Marshall Dave L. Stewart when he interrupted them as they sought to plunder the W. M. Bowen bulk service station in Hope about 3:30 a.m. on Monday, August 14, 1933. The killer escaped, leaving but meager clues. Stewart died in the arms of local townsmen several minutes after being shot without giving a clue as to the possible identity of his slayers. He was hit twice, once through the left shoulder and again through the right side. Stewart never had a chance. He rushed down the road secluded by the Great Northern Railway track and elevators to the station. As he approached, the gunman fired the first of four shots. It struck Stewart in the shoulder. Stewart attempted to return the fire but his gun jammed. Four empty.38 caliber cartridges were found in the bulk station. Two bullets were in Stewart's body. C. F. Carlson, state representative from Steele County, residing about a block from the station, was awakened by the shooting. He heard a car driving away south from the death scene. Carlson could not determine how many were in the car but he believed there was more than one. Two years after the murder, two Texas men B. L. Putnam, alias Jack C. Smeltzer, and Dick Lee, were apprehended in connection with the murder. The state charged Smeltzer with the actual killing and held Lee, who admitted that he was with Smeltzer the night of the shooting, as a material witness. Stewart was unmarried and had lived in the Hope area for 30 years. He had been marshal of Hope for only two years. Stewart was 52 years old at the time of his death.
Red ID: FND_I_77340 Image ID: 509161 Image Notes: 10950 00002 04221

Collection: FND002 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Peace Officer Memorial Program
Date:

Summary: The North Dakota Peace Officer Memorial Program honors fallen officers with highlights of their lives and careers.

Enter a subject or term in one or both of the “Search” boxes.

  • “Item Detail” searches the Title, Creator and Summary fields of all item-level records.
  • “Collection Number” searches the Collection Number field only and requires an exact match.

The “DETAILS” button provides additional information about an item, as well as the following options:

  • “Collection Summary” details the contents of the entire collection in which the selected item is located.
  • You can print the image and its corresponding details by selecting “Print".
  • “Digitized Images from the Collection” returns a list of all digitized items within that collection (available from the “Collection Summary” screen).

Click on image to expand/zoom the image view.

“Photobook home” takes you back to the main Photobook page where you can start a new search.

“Featured Collections” showcases new and/or popular collections and the digitized images within those collections.

Information on how to order copies is located here.

The collections preserved in the North Dakota State Archives include over a million images. Only a small percentage of these images have been digitized. This photo gallery provides a preview of the images that have been digitized.

For more information on the non-digitized images, please refer to the finding aids found on our website at history.nd.gov, or ask a member of our reference staff for assistance.