Murder at Minnesota Point

 By Jeffrey Sauve

North Star Editions     2022

208 pages     True Crime

Minnesota Point is one of the showcase spots in Duluth Minnesota, my home town. Sticking out in the harbor between Duluth and Superior Wisconsin, it is the best picnic and swimming spot on the few days that the weather is warm enough for such adventures. The Park Point neighborhood is connected to the main part of the city of Duluth by the famous Aerial Life Bridge (the only still-working bridge like it in the world.) When the murder on Minnesota Point occurred, however, people got to Park Point (its common name) by several different ferry systems.

Archivist Jeffrey Sauve became intrigued with the story of the murder of Lena Olson on the Minnesota Point beach, which happened in the summer of 1894, and decided to explore the story further. The murder was called the “crime of the century,” and it’s long, involved solution forms the basis of the book. Sauve’s research lasted ten years.

After she was found dead on the beach, the victim remained anonymous for a considerable time, and the coroner left her body for the community to see for several days before she was identified. When she finally was identified as Lena Olson, she was buried in a pauper’s grave. Slowly, the potential killer was identified, and two years later the crime was solved by skilled (for the day) detective work.

Sauve very carefully takes the case to its fitting, although unsatisfying, conclusion when the villain commits suicide in jail. He says in the introduction that “the following narrative is faithful to its unfolding, and quotations are verbatim as printed in various period newspapers. Discrepancies between sources are explained in chapter endnotes. She is remembered.”

I was very intrigued by the crime, of course, because I know the area so well from my childhood, when I was on that beach many times and had been on the beach just last summer with three grandchildren. However, I had never heard about the murder. I kept my phone close to my side as I was reading, so I could Google relevant information. For instance, I had never heard the term “O-at-ka” Beach, which was the name of the beach where the body was found. We just always called it Park Point.

The most exciting part of the narrative for me was the detailed exploration of detective work in the last years of the 19^th century. One would think that information would be extremely limited by distance and the ways in which information was shared. This particular case had detectives traveling from Duluth to Minneapolis to Chicago to Tacoma Washington. The detectives would hop on the train to travel to points all over the country, because the suspect was a very well-traveled scoundrel. Information was shared via telegraph, but of course, Sauve had modern day access to newspapers from all over the country and used these 21^st century technologies to follow the story. Those details were fascinating.

I will definitely explore the sites of the book when I return to Duluth this fall. True-crime aficionados and lovers of Minnesota history will celebrate Murder at Minnesota Point, which was published this week. Kudos to Jeffrey Sauve for his skilled detective work and page-turning writing.

Here is an excellent summary of the book.