DAKOTA DATEBOOK BY MERRY HELM
The Gummer Affair
December 28, 2020 — At about 6:30 on the morning of June 7, 1921, William Gummer, a 22-year- old clerk at Fargo’s Prescott Hotel, told his boss, “Something’s wrong in room 30.” Marie Wick, a pretty 18-year- old brunette from northern MN was brutally assaulted and killed in that room sometime during the night. Grey hairs were found clutched in her hand.
Fargo was an overnight stop for Marie as she traveled to see an aunt in Pettibone. During the train ride from Crookston, a middleaged man with a small mustache bought peanuts for her and another young woman, and the three spent the rest of the trip playing cards together.
Marie checked into the Prescott at 10 p.m., went out for ice cream with Arnold Rasmussen, a hometown friend, and returned an hour later. She asked to be awakened at 6 a.m. and went to her room. When she didn’t respond to repeated calls the next morning, William Gummer went up and knocked on her door. When there was no response, he opened the door and found Marie’s wrists lashed to the bed frame and her head wrapped in pillowcases showing blood.
Authorities believed Marie was attacked while she slept and was choked into unconsciousness. She was gagged, tied up, and sexually assaulted sometime between 12:30 and 2 a.m. Two women in the hotel heard noises – one during this time frame, and the other at about 4 a.m.
Based on forensic evidence, it was speculated that the killer came back a second time, found Marie alive, retrieved the brass nozzle from a fire hose down the hall and bludgeoned her with it. She died on the floor between the wall and her bed, having gotten one of her hands free. The killer then laid her out on the bed, straightened her nightgown, neatly pulled up the covers and wrapped her head with the pillowcases. He retied her loose hand, cleaned the hose nozzle and put it back where it belonged. Left behind were cigar ashes and a bloody towel.
The next morning, all the hotel guests were identified and fingerprinted except one, James Farrell, who was never found. Under pressure to solve the case, a finger soon pointed at Gummer, the six-foot clerk from Mayville. Authorities claimed James Farrell was fictitious and that Gummer or a friend forged the name into the registry to cover their tracks. Also, several women said Gummer made advances toward them when they stayed at the Prescott, which he admitted.
The case was tried in Valley City, where the prosecution created a convincing case. The evidence was all circumstantial, and the defense put on an equally compelling case. But Gummer had a personality flaw – often mentioned as “that smile” – that worked against him. On February 25, 1922, he was found guilty of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in the Bismarck penitentiary.
Gummer steadfastly maintained his innocence. He repeatedly petitioned for a pardon but was continuously refused. Then, in 1934, three people from Denver submitted affidavits stating one Arthur James told them that he and a man named Blackie Carter had killed Marie Wick. But, an investigator rejected the theory, convinced that James wasn’t in Fargo that night.
Ten years later, State’s Attorney Ralph Croal found the mysterious Blackie Carter (alias Paul Welch) operating a filling station in St. Paul. After interviewing Carter, Croal became convinced it was this man, not Gummer, who actually killed Marie Wick. Nearly 23 years after his conviction, William Gummer finally won his pardon. On this date in 1944, he walked out of prison a free man. He was 44.
“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the “Dakota Datebook” podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org.