Sheriff Issues Annual Report - 1957
Officers of the St. Louis county sheriff’s department last year investigated 2,829 complaints, were summoned in 90 deaths, and recorded 28 traffic fatalities, according to Sheriff Sam M. Owen’s annual report.
The report lists activities of the Duluth, Virginia, and Hibbing Offices. Included in the 90 deaths were six in aircraft accidents, one by carbon monoxide poisoning, nine by drowning, two by fire, five murders, 19 natural deaths, one by accidental shooting, one in a railroad accident, 14 suicides and four by other unlisted causes. The total of 90 deaths from all causes is 11 more than the 1956 total.
All of the 28 traffic deaths on rural highways involved persons from the Arrowhead region. Five died in train-car crashes, one when his car hit a deer, and one in a motorcycling accident. The 1956 traffic toll on rural highways was 23.
Among complaints investigated were three involving speeding in boats, 37 calls for assistance for lost persons, 241 cabin, business place, home, school and car break-ins, 84 involving destruction of property, 26 about garbage dumping, 112 centering on “family trouble” and 48 involving run-away children. The complaint total was up sharply from the 1956 total of 1,969.
Sheriff’s deputies made 585 arrests arising from the complaints, as compared with 548 in 1956.
The 1957 arrest count includes 118 for drunkenness, 44 for assault, 45 for contempt of court (usually involving failure to pay support moneys), 28 for petit larceny, 28 on non-support charges, 20 servicemen who were absent without leave from their stations, 17 for other authorities, 18 for parole violation and 14 for destruction of property.
The total also includes three arrests for murder, five for forgery, four for manslaughter, one for careless operation of a boat and nine for illegal sales of intoxicating liquor.
Ninety-two juvenile and minor cases were recorded last year, as compared with 76 in 1956.
Traffic accidents, including fatal accidents, totaled 260 last year, four more than in 1956. Property damage in the accidents were estimated at $141,476, about $20,000 more than in 1956. Injured in such accidents were 214 persons, as compared with 119 in 1956.
Traffic accidents numbered 273 in 1957, up from 261 in 1956.
Lodged in the county jail last year were 3,124 persons, 562 of them city of Duluth prisoners, 28 federal law offenders, 12 from Cook county, seven from Lake county and two from Carlton county.
The sheriff turned $40,376.43 over to the county treasurer last year, including $25,230.83 in civil fees, $6,187.75 for boarding non-county prisoners, and $8,957.85 in personal property tax collections.
Sheriff’s department vehicles traveled 514,590 miles.
Source: Duluth News Tribune, February 7, 1958 |