ND’s Outlaws: George “Red” Hudson
Cowboys on horseback, shiny revolvers with pearl handles, dusty boardwalk towns, liquor smuggling, train hold-ups—some of the western heritage the region recognizes and celebrates with the annual North Dakota Winter Show calls to memory the days where outlaws of all kinds were active in Dakota’s past. The west got wilder the further a person went towards the Pacific Coast, mainly because of the area’s natural resources like gold, but even North Dakota had its fair share of lawlessness and rough-n-tumble characters as it was settled and its population grew.
Many of the Wild West’s criminal characters went by some sort of nickname—like Billy the Kid, Black Jack, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, etc. For this reason, the North Dakota outlaw chosen to highlight in this article is George Hudson—known as “Red.”
George “Red” Hudson
Hudson was in Valley City news in November 1912, after he was arrested in Minot on a “hold-up charge.” Police believed him to be the leader of a group that had been responsible for several robberies along the Soo Railroad Line that fall. One of the holdups, at the Soo station in Carrington, had resulted in one of the gang members being accidentally shot and killed by another.
Deputy Sheriff James Kelly wanted to talk to “Red” to find out if he was connected with this holdup and related murder, as well as two crimes closer to home: a holdup at the Leal pool room on October 24, 1912, and an attempted robbery of the agent at the Soo Depot in North Valley City on November 2, 1912. The Weekly Times-Record printed an account of the incident at Leal in its October 31 edition:
“Two bold bad bandits held up and robbed twenty men and boys gathered in a pool room in Leal Thursday evening, relieving them of in the neighborhood of $150.00 [*quick editorial note, that’s about $4,000 today], as near as could be ascertained. It is said that several hundred brass chips were also confiscated.
“Pool and card games were in full blast when the robbers entered the room and commanded the occupants to ‘throw up their hands’ and line themselves up against the wall, while one of the bandits relieved them of their ‘kale.’ No masks were worn by the visitors, and good descriptions of them were obtained. One man was of medium height, dark complexion and wore a black overcoat. The other man was tall, light
complexion, and wore no overcoat.
“After keeping their victims against the wall for twenty minutes with their hands extended above their heads, the hold ups ran for two freight trains which were standing in the yards, and about to leave, and boarded them. No trace of them has been found since that time.”
In November 1912, the Fargo Forum and Valley City Times-Record covered the progress in the capture of George “Red” Hudson, the headline “Alleged Holdup Leader Caught.”
In the case of the Carrington Soo holdup, Hudson pled not guilty when arraigned before Judge Moe in November, but police continued their search, with the hunch that he was potentially involved in a number of crimes across the state. When Hudson appeared to plead not guilty, newspapers described him as a man about 35 years old and well-dressed, seemingly calm and collected during the hearing.
Articles also noted that “Red” Hudson wasn’t talking to officers or cooperating in any way. Because they couldn’t get information from their suspect, officials from Barnes County and Foster County went to the state penitentiary in December 1912 to interview a man serving time for his role in the Carrington Depot holdup. George Yakel (spelled various ways in newspaper reports, though Yakel is the most common: Jakel, Yackle, Yackel)— along with gang member James Ryan—had pled guilty to the murder of Ernest Howard. Howard was a criminal known to Valley City officials for earlier run-ins, and he was a member of the group which perpetrated the hold-up at the Carrington Depot. Yakel confessed to accidentally shooting and killing him in the excitement of the crime. Officials hoped Yakel would give them the information they needed to connect “Red” to the crimes they were investigating. It’s not clear what came of that meeting of officials with Yakel. On that same day, the District Court held a day of testimony in the case against Hudson for the Valley City Depot holdup. The only man who appeared as a witness was J.D. beck, the Soo agent held up at the North Valley city station in November. The TR reported that “Hudson refused to go on the stand in his own defense.”
It’s unclear, looking at newspaper archives from the state of North Dakota from that point forward, what happened with George “Red” Hudson—whether or not he was charged and/or convicted of the crimes which officials suspected him in. Whatever his future held after his time in Valley City lockup, his crimes and those of others like him left a lasting mark on the memory of the west.
As men and women on horseback take to the grounds of the North Dakota Winter Show this week, it’ll feel a bit like getting a glimpse at the country’s days long past (without duels at high noon and outlaws riding through town in the middle of the night—phew). You can join in the event observing the value of our rural, country roots and celebrating the ag industry at the ND Winter Show here in Valley City, March 10-14.