This Day In History – Feb 13, 1983

This Day in History:   Medina, ND,  Feb 13, 1983, U.S. Marshals attempt to arrest Gordon Kahl. . . 

“No greater tragedy”. . . these were the words used by Former Attorney General William French Smith in responding to the deaths in North Dakota of United States Marshal Kenneth H. Muir and Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert S. Cheshire, Jr.- shot February 13, 1983 while attempting to make an arrest.*  More rememberance.  This tragic event set off a North Dakota and nationwide search, which spanned from Feb 13 through June 3rd of 1983.  By the time it was over in Arkansas, two more individuals,  Sheriff Gene Matthews and Gordon Kahl, would be dead.

1983 ND Search for Gordon Kahl from The Replay Channel on Vimeo.

Video clips from the CSi TV Archives – recorded in February of 1983 as the U.S. Marshals and FBI conducted searches for Gordon Kahl in southeastern North Dakota.

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It began outside Medina.  Marshal Muir, Deputy U.S. Marshals Cheshire, Hopson, Carl Wigglesworth, and local law enforcement personnel, set-up a roadblock to serve a warrant on Gordon Kahl, 63, for violating his probation on a tax evasion conviction.

As Kahl and others were leaving a meeting in Medina, an encounter occurred, which resulted in the deaths of Marshal Muir and Deputy Cheshire and the wounding of Deputy Hopson and two other local law enforcement officials. Kahl’s son, Yorivon, received stomach wounds in the exchange of gunfire.

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It was discovered that Gordon Kahl had escaped on the North Dakota prairie along with several others; starting one of the most intensive manhunts in recent Midwest history.   Two days after the Medina tragedy, a force of approximately 100 law enforcement personnel made up of representatives of the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and State and local agencies converged on the Kahl farmhouse near Heaton, North Dakota.  No Gordon.  The search continued in eastern ND.*

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from Wikipedia:  A tip was received by authorities from the youngest daughter of a property owner, whose land Leonard Ginter and his wife Norma Ginter lived on. Kahl hid in their earth-bermed passive solar home in Smithville, Arkansas.

Another shootout ensued on June 3, 1983, in which Kahl and Lawrence County Sheriff Gene Matthews died. Despite Federal Marshals and FBI SWAT teams firing thousands of bullets into the home before setting it alight, Kahl was killed by a single .41 Magnum bullet fired by Sheriff Gene Matthews, who died on an operating table critically wounded by a bullet from Kahl’s Mini-14.

*(from US Marshals Service website) .  More rememberance at CSiNewsNOW

“No greater tragedy”… . these were the words used by Former Attorney General William French Smith in responding to the deaths in North Dakota of United States Marshal Kenneth H. Muir and Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert S. Cheshire, Jr.- shot February 13, 1983 while attempting to make an arrest.*

This tragic event set off a nationwide search, which spanned from Feb 13 through June 3rd of 1983.  By the time it was over, two more individuals,  Gordon Kahl and Sheriff Gene Matthews, would be dead.

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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota man serving life in prison for the killing of two federal marshals outside Medina in 1983 won’t get a trial on a defamation lawsuit he filed against a news agency.

Yorie Kahl alleged the Bureau of National Affairs inaccurately reported about his appeal of his sentence in 2005. BNA asked a federal judge to dismiss the case, but the judge denied the request and said Kahl deserved a trial on his claim.

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On Thursday January 23, 2020,   Joan Kahl, wife of Gordon, passed away at the age of 93.    Obituary below:

Joan Kahl Britton, 93, Carrington formerly of rural Heaton and Fessenden, passed away Thurs Jan 23, 2020 at Golden Acres Manor in Carrington. Her funeral will be held Thursday, January 30 at 11:00 A.M. at the Church of God in Bowdon with burial in the Heaton Cemetery. Visitation will be held Wednesday from 5 P.M. to 7 P.M. at the Nelson Funeral Home of Fesssenden.

Joan Seil was born January 1, 1927 at Fessenden. She was one of ten children born to Michael and Grace (Janisch) Seil and was raised in the Sykeston area where she attended a nearby country school. Growing up, Joan and her siblings each had certain household jobs to tend to and one of Joan’s responsibilities was to get the bread dough ready for rising before she left for school.