most of them petty. There were also eight marriages at two of which Sheriff Lowe happened to be best man.

        The oldest settler of Chanarambie township is Mrs. S. Barrows who now makes her home at Chandler. The Barrows family came to Murray County in 1880. The late Mr. Barrows took an active part in community affairs and for over twenty years served as county commissioner. Mrs. Barrows was the most active in church work of any of the old settlers. They lost a son, Ezra, in World War I. His remains were brought back from France and interred in Hillside cemetery south of Lake Wilson.

        One of the famous baseball teams of western Murray County was "The Beavers." This team was composed largely of young lads from farms in Chanarambie and Cameron townships. Here is a list of the names of the members of the team and extra players given us by a former player. Art Baack, pitcher; Ed. Nissen, catcher; Herman Nissen, 1st; Elmer Deden, 2nd; Arnold Lang, 3rd; Wm. Aderhold, S. S.; Lars Bondhus, C. F. Fred Von der Heit, R.; and John Harmsen, L.; Substitutes, Carl Nissen and Fred Bose. This team was a heavy hitting outfit and won 12 out of 13 games in 1912. A. J. Ottilie was manager of the team.

        Revivals in the winter were another escape valve. Holmes and Graves, revivalists, had them standing in the corners and the entrance. A powerful talker was Holmes and a sweet singer was Graves. He afterwards killed off his hogs and was taken to St. Peter. At these gatherings all were urged to get up and relate their experiences. Some were humorous and some were sincere. Over in Leeds, these meetings led to a division of the township for a number of years. The settlers who lived south of the track had a regular McCoy-Hatfield feud with their neighbors on the north.

First Murder Committed in Chanarambie Twp.

        The first and only murder on the records of Murray County was committed in Chanarambie township. The author of this volume was the justice of the peace for Chanarambie township. On Sunday evening, August 14, 1898, Ed Henniger came to town with his horse in a lather shouting, "A man has been

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murdered just south of my place." We notified Sheriff Jim Lowe, got Constable R. D. Sprague and drove out to the farm about three miles west of town. The house was a shambles, blood on the walls, blood on the furniture, blood on the floor and in the doorstep lay the body of a man naked to the waist and covered with blood. Matt Nagler, the renter on the farm, had gone to a neighboring town on Saturday with his hired man, L. Volkel, who was evidently a tramp. They drank freely and brought home a keg of beer with them. Nagler hid the keg in a straw pile. The next day the hired man wanted some of the stale beer as he had "chipped in" his share.

        Nagler refused to tell him where the keg was and a fight started. Volkel, so Nagler stated, was getting the best of him so he grabbed a butcher knife and plunged it into Volkel just below the heart and then left the house. Volkel started after him with an axe in his hand (so Nagler said), he followed him for several hundred feet but evidently was weakened by the loss of blood and started back to the house. He got as far as the door when he went down. He tore off his shirt and was trying to staunch the flow of blood when death came. Nagler ran across the fields to the Henniger place screaming, "I killed a man" and Henniger immediately came to town. Sheriff Lowe came out from Slayton, the coroner was notified and we spent the rest of the night at the farm. Nagler had his hearing Monday and Sheriff Lowe took him to Slayton. Dr. Morrel of Slayton and Dr. MacGillvary of Pipestone had the post mortem in the lumber office which stood just in front of the machine shop now occupied by L. M. Adams.

        The case came up for trial at the December term of court in 1898 and naturally Nagler pleaded "not guilty." Bob Grass was the attorney for the prisoner and B. H. Whitney, the county attorney, was the prosecutor. The case was tried before Judge P. E. Brown. The jury brought in a verdict of self defense; there were no witnesses that saw or even heard the fight. Curt Norton was the foreman of the jury.

        Public opinion was pretty well against Nagler. He was of a quarrelsome, moody disposition, and the statements he made after the killing created the opinion that it was plain murder.

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