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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Washburn, First NB, W6327
Fr. 624 $10 1902PB
Grade: PMG Ch. Fine 15    

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This Blue Seal is one note from the 4,649 sheets printed. A slip of paper that came with the note talks about the murder of Cashier Funk. August E. Johnson signed as cashier, the president's signature has faded; I cannot verify that he became president and cashier after Funk's death. August E. Johnson was born in Sweden and came to the United States as a boy in 1882. He entered the employ of the McLean County Mail, and remained in the printing business for ten years. In 1896 he was elected auditor of McLean county. Early in 1890 he entered the real estate eld with the Klein Land Agency and in 1912 he became cashier of the First National Bank of Washburn. He also had a financial interest in the McLean County State Bank of Wilton and in the Baldwin State Bank and was elected state senator in 1906. North Dakota Financier Foully Killed; Suspicion Pointing at Clerk. "The Duluth Herald" April 16, 1913 Washburn. N. D., April 16. The coroner's Jury empaneled to inquire into the death of Fred E. Funk, cashier of the First National Bank of Washburn, who Monday night was mysteriously murdered, late last night brought in a verdict declaring that the bullet which killed the banker was fired from a window in the home of W.T. Anderson, a clerk in the bank with which Funk was connected. The verdict says Funk met his death by a bullet fired from a gun by some person unknown, and that it was "fired from a window in the west wall of the residence occupied by W. T. Anderson." Anderson will be arraigned and his preliminary hearing held Thursday, April 17. Funk, with his wife and two children, were on the back porch of their home. One of the children was playing and fell, and when Funk stooped to pick the youngster up, a shot rang out and Funk pitched forward. The bullet entered the back and came out just above the right breast. Funk was carried into the house, but died before a physician arrived. Washburn is the county seat of McLean County; the population was 1,246 at the 2010 census. The community, located on the Missouri River, was officially founded in 1882 and named for Cadwallader Colden Washburn, a Civil War General, Congressman, and Governor of Wisconsin. In 1804 and 1806, an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered North Dakota and wintered near the present town of Washburn on its way to the Pacific Coast. This temporary post, Fort Mandan, was frequently visited by nearby Indians. It was here that Lewis and Clark met Sakakawea (Sacagawea), the Indian woman who would be essential to the success of the Expedition. The post office was established September 4, 1882 with George G. Rhude as Postmaster, who had operated the old Turtle Valley post office just southeast of Washburn. Washburn was designated McLean County seat when the county organized in 1883, and it incorporated as a city in 1902, the year the Soo Line Railroad arrived. Until 1898, Washburn was one of the last stops for riverboats traveling from St. Louis, Missouri.

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