Stay updated with breaking news from Charles scrutchin. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Charles Scrutchin, Minnesota’s first Black lawyer to practice outside of the Twin Cities and frequently described in early Bemidji Pioneer stories as “Bemidji’s colored lawyer,” arrived in Bemidji just two years after the village had incorporated and soon became one of its most significant citizens. Scrutchin often represented lumberjacks and other laborers, many of whom had recently immigrated to the country. In the 32 years he lived here, he handled over 500 cases in Beltrami County, many of them attention-getting criminal cases involving theft, graft and murder. But some of Scrutchin’s greatest accomplishments had wider ranging effects for Minnesota and the civil rights of the state’s citizens. ....
Double murder darkened Minnesota North Woods in 1904 By Curt Brown Special to the Star Tribune December 12, 2020 4:14pm Text size Copy shortlink: Mail addressed to Nicholai Dahl and his daughter, Aagot, started stacking up at the post office in tiny Quiring, Minn., in the early spring of 1904. That was the first hint that something was amiss in the North Woods crossroads, about 15 miles northwest of Blackduck in Beltrami County. White-haired widower Dahl, 56, was a Norwegian immigrant who had been a merchant in Crookston before staking his claim in logging country. He coaxed 24-year-old Aagot, a teacher and legal stenographer, to join him on an adjacent parcel. ....