Details

Collection Summary
Collection: FND002 - SHSND Foundation - North Dakota Peace Officer Memorial Program
Series: Tribute
Folder: DIG
Item: 04391
Title: Aslak O. Thorsen
Date:
Creator:
Inscription/Marks: 7/19/1887
Summary: A.O. "Oscar" Thorsen Bottineau - July 1st, 1936 A.O. Thorsen, Deputy Sheriff of Bottineau County and a well-known local gunsmith, died early this morning in the Bottineau hospital from a gunshot wound received at about 4:00 A.M. today at Souris. Sheriff Clifford Johnson was called to the home of Guy Hileman in Souris during the night, when residents became concerned over his condition after he piled his bed clothing in the street and set fire to it. When the sheriff arrived, Hileman had locked himself in his room and attempted to shoot through the wall with a.25 caliber automatic pistol. Johnson then returned to Bottineau to secure assistance. The sheriff returned to Souris with Thorsen and Deputy H. N. Hanson. Upon their arrival, they found Hileman still in a belligerent mood behind his locked door. Thorsen urged an immediate effort to reconnoiter the situation. Officers first battered in the top panel of the door and discharged tear gas into the room without effect. Then they broke down the door. Hileman, who had covered his face with a wet cloth during the gas concentration, promptly fired at Thorsen. The bullet struck the deputy below the heart. The wounded man was rushed to the local hospital while Hileman was taken into custody by Johnson and Hanson. For many years Thorsen had operated a sporting goods shop, engaged particularly in the sale of firearms, ammunition, and fishing tackle. He was widely known as a rifle marksman and had a reputation as one of the outstanding gunsmiths of the state. He leaves a wife and two brothers, Ted of Bottineau and Ole who lives in the Turtle Mountains. Hileman was transported to the hospital in Jamestown on July 4th. He then wrote the final chapter in this saga, when he died of sunstroke at the Jamestown Hospital for the Insane.
Red ID: FND_I_77343 Image ID: 509164 Image Notes: 10950 00002 04391

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.