Library presents Murder in the Night

Crook County Library is hosting the program "Murder in the Night: Who Shot Father Belknap & Why?" by Tim Velder on Friday, March 15 at the library meeting room in Sundance. The program will begin at 7 p.m. and is free to the public.

The Reverend Arthur Belknap was called to a deathbed in the early hours of October 25, 1921 in Lead, South Dakota. Forced to walk across town, his killer lay in wait.

The premeditated murder has never been solved, despite investigations that stretched for years across multiple states. Three secretive groups that were active in Lead at the time were suspected in the crime, based on various conspiracy theories. Velder will examine the possible roles of the Black Hand Gang, the Ku Klux Klan and the Freemasons in the murder and why they were suspected.

Tim Velder is a communications specialist with Powder River Energy and a native of the northern Black Hills area. He has lived in Sundance for more than five years with his wife Gerri and children Gabrielle, Christian and Grace.

Tim has been collecting information on our local history since his college days at Black Hills State University in the early 1990s. He hauled a pile of history research materials with him in the 2012 move to Sundance from Butte County, South Dakota. Tim's former career in the newspaper business allowed him access to interviews and archival materials, which breathe life into stories about our local history.

For more information, please contact Jill Mackey at Crook County Library, (307) 283-1006 or [email protected].