Hans Thorpe

Minot/Ward County Legal Hanging – Hans Thorpe will go down in history as the only person to be legally hanged in Minot. Thorpe drifted into Minot in 1898 and was reported to be quite a handsome guy and quite a lady’s man. Shortly after arriving in town he met and married a Minot girl…. Then his trouble began.  Thorpe and his wife got into a terrible argument one evening at the dinner table. In her room, the house keeper heard shots and when she ran into the dining room found Mrs. Thorpe dead of gunshot wounds. She also found Thorpe lying in his own blood as he had then turned the gun on himself. He did not do a very good job of shooting himself as he recovered and had to face his trial for murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged which happened on September 14, 1900. The gallows was just east of Minot on Valley Street, (about at the intersection of Valker Road, or at the bottom of the truck stop hill). Thorpe was reported to have wondered why everyone was in such a big hurry to get to the hanging, as “Nothing will happen until I get there”. Reports state that Thorpe was taken to Rosehill Cemetary and placed in an unmarked grave…..