William Robert Ross was born 24 July 1873 in Missouri, to William Clara Bassett (1852-1927).
Willie as he was called by his family and friends, was an expert horseman. He knew how to ride them, pick them and train them. There was nothing he couldn't do with a horse including stealing them, he was an expert at that too. He knew a good horse breed when he saw it. On the 5th of July 1902 he went to Thomas Welsh's ranch to steal a fine herd of horses. He shot poor old Thomas through the screen door while he was sleeping in his chair.
Local authorities focused on him from the start, because of his reputation and with some hard questioning he broke and confessed.
Brought to trial at Bottineau in August, he was convicted and sentenced to hang on December 5th.
Events leading up to the execution at Bottineau were moving smoothly until the day before when Ross suddenly confessed to involvement in a second murder. In November 1901, Ross related, he and a young Minot man, Carl Hanson were working on a ranch near Delta (present-day Blaisdell) when they met Napoleon LeMay, camped overnight with several horses which they admired. When LeMay refused to trade the animals, Hanson ended by matter by simply shooting him in the back. The body was concealed in a nearby dry well.
With this confession his execution was delayed until the authorities could check out his story.
Hanson was located near Williston and though he denied complicity Ross' testimony was sufficient to obtain his conviction for murder. Ross' execution was rescheduled for early on March 6th, on an enclosed gallows set up alongside the Bottineau County courthouse. In his last days Ross converted to Catholicism and went to his death without a murmur.
Here are some newspaper articles
These three are all from 1902
Willie was married to Annie Bartsch 25 Apr 1879 in Williams County, ND
They had the following children
Fred Joseph Ross
1898–1953
Katherine Ross
1898–1946
George Henry Ross
1900–1970
Harold Mathew Ross
1901–1953
This photo of of Willie and his father William
This photo is Willie's father William
This is Annie & her daughter Katherine
After Willie was executed Annie remarried to Oscar Fuller 23 Sep 1906 in Great Falls, MT and had more children.
Katherine Fuller
1898–1946
Myrtle Grace Fuller
1908–1988
This is Fred, Katherine & George
This is Willie grave
This is Willie's Find A Grave Memorial
Willie in the buggy
I think you have a typo in the marriage year of willie
ReplyDeleteThank you, I will have to go look at the tree I made and fix it.
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