 Horse thieves on the frontier were considered serious criminals. In earlier days, stealing a horse was usually punished by a swift hanging; leaving someone stranded on the plains without horses, often meant a certain death. By the late 1890s, the deputy sheriffs were summoned quickly. The phrase used to show utter contempt was: “No better than a horse thief.”
In July, 1893, Jack Carignan, a former teacher at the Grand River, Sioux County,  Congregational Day School at Standing Rock Agency, had notified Deputy Sheriff Jack Waldron in Winona, that a horse thief was headed toward Winona, from across the river at Standing Rock.
Jack Waldron was serving under Sheriff Michael Mahaney who was in Williamsport, forty miles north of Winona. The man in question, young William Hart, had sold Jack Carignan a horse at Standing Rock Agency, across the Missouri River from Winona. At Agency Headquarters, Carignan learned that the man was wanted for stealing a horse in the capital, Bismarck, ND, the very horse that Carignan has just purchased. Further news stated that the man was wanted for horse theft in Wyoming as well.
Waldron started for the ferry which ran between Ft. Yates and Winona. Taking his horse across to Standing Rock Agency, he quickly caught up with the young thief, and arrested him. Next, he started for Bismarck to turn him over to the Bismarck sheriff, a round-trip of over 100 miles. This was not unusual for Jack Waldron. Serving as Deputy Sheriff, upriver in Bismarck in the early 1880s, he had once chased a horse thief over three states, requiring warrants from each governor, to arrest his suspect. He was traveling for over three weeks.
Jack Carignan, the teacher from Grand River school, was born in 1865 at Lachine, near Montreal, Canada, and his full name was Jean Baptise Magloire Carignan. He had been a skillful pilot on the St. Lawrence River, in Quebec and was the first man to pilot a large boat down the Lachine Rapids. He came to Ft. Yates in April, 1883, where he became a clerk at the sutler’s store, owned by H. F. Douglas, who also owned the general store in Winona, operated by Major James Pitts. Carignan was a frequent visitor to Winona, as his mother Jennie (Mary Jane) Carignan Clemens lived on Fourth Street for many years. (She was usually referred to as Mrs. Carignan, although her official widowed name was Mrs. Clemens.) Jack Carignan later became a principal in the Stiles & Carignan Cattle Company. John Stiles was a well-known Winona resident. Carignan was later appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as U.S. Indian Agent at Standing Rock. Carignan also served as postmaster at Ft. Yates and served in the State Legislature from the new county of Sioux, the forty-ninth legislative district. He was married to Emma Schubert (1870 MN-1967 CA) and had seven children. His health failing, he relocated to Kansas City, MO after selling his business interests, and died on 08 July, 1931.
The horse thief, John Hart, was later convicted in District Court, of grand larceny for the theft of the Bismarck horse, as well as selling stolen property. Warrants were also served for Wyoming thefts.
Photo of John M. Carignan, courtesy of Kelly Carignan. Click on it for larger view.
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