MINOT, N.D. — The call from the West Hotel meant trouble.

Jay Sharer, a Minot Police officer, responded, along with two colleagues. It was so late it was early — about 4 a.m. on Saturday, June 24, 1922.

Sharer knew where he was going. Upstairs, to Room 7.

He was looking for a man's wife.

Sharar rapped on the door, then heard a sound. Was that a gun being loaded?

He reached for his service weapon, a .32-caliber Browning pistol.

Then a man's voice from the other side of the door: Who's there?

"The law," Sharer replied.

The words had barely left his mouth when the door whipped open.

There was the man, hiding most of his body behind the door jam, and lifting a snub-nosed pistol toward Sharer.

Point-blank range.

Nobody in the hotel could mistake the sound of the gunshots.

Boom-boom

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