Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

“A well-known Kellogg character” named Isaac Peterson, a Finnish miner, terrorized Kellogg for hours, leaving the town constable dead and Peterson near death.

The story began nine days earlier when Peterson’s wife and their children moved in with the Normis, a neighboring Finnish family, because of Peterson’s drunken ways. More than a week later, Peterson came storming over to the Normis’ house with a revolver and 50 bullets. Everyone fled when Peterson approached – except the youngest Peterson child, age 4.

The town constable ran to the scene and was entering through the back door when Peterson shot him in the temple, killing him.

For the next two hours, Peterson fired a hail of bullets through the thin walls of the house. Nobody dared retrieve the constable’s body.

Finally, a group of men led by a newspaperman dashed to the back door and dragged the body from the doorway. Yet the standoff continued for several more hours until a team of officers ran into the house and found Peterson asleep with his arms around the unharmed 4-year-old.

Police handcuffed Peterson. Not until later did they realize that Peterson had shot himself in the heart. Peterson was not expected to survive.