Text from Minneapolis Tribune, June 8, 1916 (contributed by David Seutter). A one-sided love affair came to a tragic close yesterday at Kimball Prairie, near St. Cloud, when James Fitzpatrick, a street car conductor of Duluth, shot and instantly killed Sadie Johnson of Eden Valley, his boyhood sweetheart, and then killed himself. The couple boarded a Soo Line train at Eden Valley, Miss Johnson being on the way to Kimball Prairie to visit friends near there. They were seen talking together in the train, and it is presumed that Fitzpatrick renewed his proposals of marriage to the young woman. When they left the train at Kimball, Fitzpatrick followed Miss Johnson into the station, drew a revolver, murdered her and ended his own life. From members of the girl’s family it was learned last night that Fitzpatrick had frequently asked Miss Johnson to marry him, and that she had repeatedly refused. Both were born in Eden Valley and attended high school together. For the last four years Fitzpatrick had been employed in Duluth. Miss Johnson attended the state reform school at St. Cloud, and for two years was a teacher in the Blake Langwell district school near Kimball Prairie. Her school recently closed for the year and, following her intended visit with friends in the school district, she had planned to re-enter the St. Cloud normal for summer school work. Fitzpatrick was 27 years old. Miss Johnson was 20 and is survived by her father and mother, five brothers and two sisters. One of the sisters has been teaching at a school in the district adjoining the Blake Longwell. The Johnson family resided in Meeker County, about two miles south of the town of Eden Valley.
