284 - Michigan Mini Mall and Bank

Generally speaking, life in Nelson County in the 1920s was relatively quiet. An early morning bank robbery on June 22, 1922 shattered the serenity of the small community of Michigan, North Dakota.

Fred Borgen was the manager of a mercantile store in nearby Whitman, ND. He had been in Michigan at a party until well after midnight. Planning to take supplies back to Whitman, he stopped at the store in Michigan. Since both stores shared the same owner, this late night stop wasn’t peculiar. It would, however, be a fatal stop for Borgen.

The Michigan store was next door to the bank, placing Borgen very close to the scene of the crime, when the gang of robbers used nitroglycerin to blast their way into Lamb’s National Bank. Hearing the ruckus, Borgen left the store to investigate. When spotted by one of the bandits, he ducked around the corner and ran to alert authorities. Sadly, he would not make it.

He crossed paths with another member of the gang and was shot. He was later found in the alley in a pool of his own blood. The thugs escaped with roughly $5000.00 in cash and bonds. The community, reeling from the shock and grieving the death of Borgen, was tasked with repairing all the telephone and telegraph lines the robbers had cut in order to isolate the entire city and aid in their escape.