Sun. Feb. 21, 1897 Wea. cold

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Rory [Roy?] went home to-day. Fifteen of us clerks went out to the Penitentiary to-day in a bus. Stayed for services and then went around and viewed things. Got a glimpse of Kent. Everything was the picture of cleanliness. Went to the Pres. Church. Mr. Wood and August were there and walked home with us. They stayed til after 12 o’clock. They brought a large box of bon bons.

NOTES

1. The "bus" may have been a horse-drawn omnibus or a steam bus. If anyone has info about what sort of "bus" was used in Bismarck at the end of the 19th century, please submit a comment. Thanks!

2. Clerks = Hilda's fellow clerks at the Capitol in Bismarck.

3. Was "Kent" a famous prisoner?

4. "Pres." = Presbyterian. Hilda apparently became a Presbyterian a few years later. There seem to be no records as to any previous baptism into another denomination, although Hilda and her family seem to have attended different Protestant churches regularly.

5. The North Dakota History Timeline at e-Reference Desk says:

1885 -
* Territorial prison (now the State Penitentiary) opened at Bismarck.
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