North Dakota Highway Patrol badge number 218 was retired 70 years ago. While many badge numbers hold decades of history and the pride of those officers who wore them, badge numbers 217 and 219 have each been worn by six troopers; 218 has only been issued to one officer. All three badges were originally issued in 1941, but badge 218 has been retired since 1954.
July 30, 1954, was a typical summer day in southern North Dakota. Summer in North Dakota is often referred to as road construction season. This summer was no different. Archie Campbell and Company, a New Rockford firm, was working on a road construction project on U.S. Highway 281 north from Edgeley to the Stutsman County line. Precipitation was just slightly above average that year. Morning rainfall was enough to prevent the Campbell crew from working that day.
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Summer, road construction and a crew unable to work because of rain were all seemingly normal, harmless and unremarkable circumstances for North Dakota, even today. Three construction workers, having no work for the day, added alcoholic beverages to the equation along with a drive to the James River Dam at LaMoure to do some fishing.
The addition of alcoholic beverages permanently changed the trajectory for a World War I veteran, his family, the agency he worked for and the state of North Dakota.
Beryl E. McLane was born in Bradford, Illinois, on May 12, 1896. He attended school in Bradford and at the age of 13, moved with his parents to Mitchell, South Dakota, where he continued his education.
He entered the U.S. Army during World War I, serving as a cook in the 49th Balloon Co. of the Aviation Section, and was honorably discharged as a private first class at Newport, Virginia.
On June 20, 1918, McLane married Bernice Hathaway in Canton, South Dakota. The couple made their home at Mitchell before moving to Aberdeen in 1928 where McLane began employment as a city agent for the Deep Rock Oil Co.
McLane began his law enforcement career as a patrolman with the Aberdeen Police Department, serving nine years.
In 1936, he moved his family to Ellendale, North Dakota, where he served as chief of police.
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In his address to the legislative assembly in 1941, Gov. John Moses requested the North Dakota Highway Patrol be expanded to accomplish a better job in traffic enforcement. Moses’ request called for a more rigid selection process to be instituted, more stringent requirements and an increase of personnel. The increase was to be paid by raising driver’s license fees from 25 cents to $1.
The 27th Legislative Assembly reorganized the patrol to somewhat remove politics, prescribe more stringent entrance requirements and procedures for removal that could be used only for cause. The powers and duties of the patrol were more clearly defined. The patrol’s strength was increased from 15 to 20 members.
With the patrol’s increase in strength, McLane joined the agency in 1941, being the first to wear badge number 18, his unit number was 218. He was originally stationed at Jamestown where he served seven years prior to transferring to a post at Napoleon.
McLane by all accounts was a well-liked lawman who employed aspects of community policing in his daily duties as evidenced by community members seeing him at the post office and coffee shop in Napoleon in his normal jovial mood on July 30, 1954.
Patrolman McLane had left the Napoleon area driving his 1953 Ford North Dakota Highway Patrol car number 218, working his way toward LaMoure to assist Patrolman Robert Kyllingstad in a traffic check, or roadblock. In those days, the patrol would stop vehicles and check the operator’s license and conduct a safety check of the vehicle’s equipment. The checks were a routine activity conducted by the patrol to promote traffic safety.
During McLane’s trip from Napoleon to LaMoure, Kyllingstad was at the office of the LaMoure County sheriff.
Meanwhile, the three construction workers were having some drinks and fishing at the area dam on the James River. As their alcoholic beverage intake increased, so did their horseplay, annoying other people fishing nearby to the point where one of the other parties was prompted to call the Sheriff’s Office to report a disturbance.
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At about 2:40 p.m., Sheriff Carl Lindblom accompanied Kyllingstad to the river in North Dakota Highway Patrol car number 222. Upon arrival at the river, officers were told the three suspects who had created the disturbance had left and gone westbound on N.D. Highway 13.
Kyllingstad and Lindblom headed westbound on N.D. Highway 13 in an attempt to catch up with the suspect vehicle. About 6 miles west of LaMoure at approximately 2:50 p.m., Kyllingstad and Lindblom approached the scene of a head-on collision involving McLane’s patrol car and the suspect’s vehicle.
Kyllingstad said one car was straddling the center line in the middle of the roadway and the other vehicle was on the south side of the roadway facing east.
McLane, who was by all accounts killed instantly, was seated in his patrol vehicle, the final resting point on the south side of the roadway.
An occupant of the other car was lying on the road and another occupant was seated in the vehicle with his feet outside touching the roadway. A third occupant, later identified as Jackson Dodd, 19, New Rockford, North Dakota, had already left the scene, being transported to a hospital in Oakes.
Kyllingstad identified the owner and driver of the second vehicle as Ernest Anderson, 26, of New Rockford. Kyllingstad said Anderson was cooperative at the scene.
The other occupant, Darrell Trudeau, of New Rockford, was less than cooperative and forthcoming with information. Subsequently at sentencing, Anderson accused Trudeau of arguing with him during the drive and kicking at the steering wheel or hands of the driver.
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Dodd was sitting between Anderson and Trudeau in the front seat of the vehicle.
Anderson said he grabbed Trudeau’s foot and twisted it and he quit kicking for a while. But Trudeau started kicking again at about the time Anderson was passing a vehicle. At this time, Trudeau’s foot allegedly got caught in the steering wheel and as he turned the car back after the pass, it went too far, dropping off the edge of the roadway.
Anderson admitted to driving 65 to 70 mph, but a witness account estimated the vehicle’s speed to be more than 90 mph. Anderson said he saw the oncoming vehicle and applied the brakes to stop.
The weather at the time of the crash was scattered clouds and intermittent sunlight. Although it had rained earlier in the day, the roadway was dry. The asphalt roadway eastbound was level, but the westbound lane had a slight upward grade that led to a hill.
The investigation of the crash revealed the point of impact was 7 feet south of the center line of the roadway. This fact clearly established that Anderson’s westbound vehicle was entirely in the eastbound lane at the time of the crash.
Occupants of Anderson's vehicle were later transported to a doctor in LaMoure and were later hospitalized in Oakes under the guard of a deputy.
Anderson was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Anderson’s blood-alcohol content was 0.19%.
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A coroner's inquest into McLane’s death was convened. The three-person coroner’s jury placed the blame for McLane’s death on Anderson, who in a reckless and heedless manner caused McLane’s death while operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, resulting in a charge of first-degree manslaughter.
Dodd and Trudeau were both charged with being drunk in a public place.
Anderson and Dodd were released from the hospital the following Monday and taken into custody. Trudeau remained hospitalized but would face charges immediately upon release.
Dodd paid fines and costs totaling $27 and was given a 15-day suspended jail sentence.
LaMoure County Judge J.V. Backlund arraigned Anderson, who waived preliminary examination, and bond was set at $5,000 which was immediately posted.
McLane was survived by his wife, Bernice; son, Robert, both Napoleon; daughter, Beverly (Olai) Attleson, Jamestown; two brothers, Glenn, Letcher, South Dakota, and Keith, Los Angeles; and two grandchildren.
McLane was laid to rest at Highland Home Cemetery in Jamestown.
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One of his grandchildren, Ken Attleson, who was 3 years old at the time, doesn’t remember the incident, but he remembers going to Napoleon to visit his grandparents.
On Jan. 11, 1955, LaMoure County State’s Attorney Theodore Kessel filed a criminal information with Albert Porter, judge for the Third Judicial District, charging Anderson with first-degree manslaughter.
Anderson was arraigned by Porter and entered a plea of not guilty. Porter set the jury trial for March 14, 1955, in LaMoure County District Court.
On March 10, 1955, Kessel told the court at a hearing that the defendant had offered to withdraw his not guilty plea and enter a guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter. Kessel had no objections to the reduction of the offense from first degree to second degree.
Porter told Anderson to rise and asked him if it was his intention to withdraw his guilty plea and upon acknowledgement, he allowed the same. Porter asked Anderson for his plea to the second-degree manslaughter charge, and Anderson answered by saying, “Guilty, sir.”
Kessel called Kyllingstad to testify to establish a factual basis for the guilty plea to the second-degree manslaughter charge.
Kyllingstad testified to the facts learned in the investigation of the crash. Getting information from the young men involved in the crash was somewhat difficult for Kyllingstad, but he also said Anderson was cooperative at the scene and later when a statement was taken by Hedstrom and Kyllingstad.
Anderson testified that he was 27 years old and prior to the crash he drank on occasion but didn’t describe himself as a steady drinker. He said he hadn’t taken a drink since July 30, 1954, and would never drink again. He said he had only missed one church service since the crash, a Sunday when he had to work.
The defense called the defendant’s wife; his employer, Archie Campbell; father; mother-in-law; and pastor.
The state read into the record a statement from Richard W. McGarvey, an eyewitness of the crash.
“He was westbound on highway 13 when a black 53 Ford came up on him fast, and passed him at a speed which he estimated to be 90 miles per hour or more, and then when it went past and cut it front of him that it careened off the pavement onto the gravel on the shoulder, then back to the pavement to the south side of the road, and back to the north side of the road, driving straight for a while before crossing back to the southside of the road where it struck an eastbound vehicle,” McGarvey’s statement says.
In his closing remarks, Kessel said he somewhat felt sorry for Anderson and his circumstances of having six children and friends who say nice things about him and it somewhat softens his heart. However, he said there is the other side of the story where a man is minding his own business, coming to help with a roadblock to do his duty as a public servant and his life was snuffed out like that (snapping his fingers) because someone broke the law. He recommended a sentence of one to three years in the penitentiary.
Anderson’s defense attorney, Stanley Siegel, said a prison sentence would punish the defendant’s family and not him. He said Trudeau and Dodds had a hand in causing the accident, and both received suspended sentences. Siegel asked the judge to forget for a time that McLane was a highway patrolman.
Porter sentenced Anderson to serve at least one year but no more than three years in the North Dakota State Penitentiary.
Anderson was taken into custody and delivered to the North Dakota State Penitentiary.
McLane’s wife died in 1993 at age 98.
Anderson died in 2008. His testimony in 1955 that he would never drink again didn’t hold true. He pleaded guilty to driving under suspension in Mercer County in 1994 and was ordered to serve five days which indicates the suspension came from an alcohol violation. In 2001, he pleaded guilty to two different charges of driving under the influence in Dunn County. He received a five-day jail sentence as a result of the second offense that year.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol has only lost one member in the line of duty in its 89-year history, a distinction not held by any other state. Two agencies, the Wyoming Highway Patrol and Hawaii Department of Public Safety/Sheriff, have recorded two line-of-duty deaths, a sharp contrast from the California Highway Patrol’s record of 231 line-of-duty deaths.
In 2016, former superintendent Mike Gerhart said he was approached by Lt. Daniel Haugen with an idea to dedicate classrooms at the training academy to the memory of officers who died in the line of duty.
“I thought it was a great idea, and we moved forward with it,” Gerhart said.
The project dedicated three classrooms and a conference room to the memory of fallen officers. Classroom No. 1 was renamed the Deputy Bryan Sleeper (Burleigh County Sheriff’s Office) classroom. Classroom No. 2 was renamed the Sgt. Steven R. Kenner (Bismarck Police Department) classroom. Classroom No. 3 was renamed the Officer Jason Moszer (Fargo Police Department) classroom. The second-floor conference room was renamed the Trooper Beryl McLane conference room. Placards with the designations were placed outside the rooms and plaques displaying a photograph of the officer, a replica of each individual’s badge, and a department patch are now displayed in each room.
In 2020, Haugen and Sgt. Tim Coughlin visited Highland Home Cemetery to locate McLane’s grave. Haugen said the grave was marked by a small marker and a military-type headstone.
Haugen spoke to Trooper Steven Mayer, the president of the North Dakota Troopers Association, and the association’s board of directors agreed to replace the grave marker which was funded by an anonymous donor.
On Aug. 1, 2022, a new tombstone was dedicated for McLane and his wife at a ceremony at the cemetery. The new tombstone featured the North Dakota State Patrol emblem, McLane’s badge number and individual stones crafted to resemble his military footstone.
In 2023, as part of House Bill 1012, the North Dakota Department of Transportation appropriations bill, the state Legislature enacted a new section to the North Dakota Century Code designating a stretch of N.D. Highway 13 from Edgeley to LaMoure as the Trooper Beryl McLane Memorial Highway. Gov. Doug Burgum signed the bill into law on May 18, 2023.
“The department shall designate state highway 13 from Edgeley to LaMoure as the Trooper Beryl McLane memorial highway and shall place signs along the highway designating that name,” says North Dakota Century Code 24-01-64. “The department may accept any appropriate signs or funds donated to the department for the placement of signs. Any donated funds are appropriated to the department on a continuing basis for the purpose of providing signs designating state highway 13 as the Trooper Beryl McLane memorial highway.”
Col. Brandon Solberg, who joined the patrol in 1999, said he became aware of McLane’s death early in his career when learning about the agency’s history. As a new trooper, Solberg said he didn’t fully recognize the impact of McLane’s sacrifice, but added, “Your mindset certainly changes when you get into leadership positions and realize the devastating impact if we were to lose one of our own.”
The superintendent said the responsibility of making sure all personnel get home safely weighs heavily on him as he knows it did for his predecessors.
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