Weber County Heritage Foundation

11/02/2025

Applications are now open for our next round of interns! For the Spring 2026 semester, we're offering four paid internship opportunities:

📝 Records Review Internship
🗃️ Local Government Records Accessioning Internship (x2)
🔎 Cultural Heritage Research Internship

Applications are due on December 1. Find out more and apply: bit.ly/47z9pGK

10/31/2025

The murder of Dorothy Cramer, in the Broom Hotel, was called the "most brutal bludgeoning in Ogden's history."
Dorothy was a married woman but her husband was serving his country and she was having an affair with a man called Joseph Moss.
After she was found he immediately admitted to killing her.

Joseph Moss had zero regrets. He was either numb or proud depending on the day. His attorney tried to have him plead insanity but it was determined that he was not insane. He had not planned the murder but he was aware of his actions. He told them he saw her sleeping and simply thought to himself "I am going to kill her. Why not now?" It was a painful torturous death.
He was sentenced to 28 years for the killings. After six years he was moved to the State Hospital and not long after arriving there he escaped. He eventually married a woman who killed her husband. Isn't that romantic?

10/30/2025

The Montana Rooming House (160 25th)
In 1912 a man named Tasgnale Senese came to Ogden and secured a room at the Montana Rooming House. He had quite a bit of money on him, well over 1000 dollars. As well as a ticket to San Francisco.
He went into his room and slashed his own neck with a razor, severing the muscles, and then he leapt from the window and fell two stories, crushing his skull on the pavement below. When the police checked his room they found blood soaked money and fine articles of clothes. They did not find a su***de note.
The blood stains on the walls indicated that Senese had groped blindly along the wall until he found the window and opened it to throw himself out. The fall is what ultimately killed him.

10/29/2025

This handsome young man is Victor Turner.
He was 18 in 1909, when he tragically died at his girlfriend's house.
Victor was frequent visitor at the Brown home. He loved spending time with Libby Brown. It was November 29th and the adults decided to go see a show.
When they left everything was normal and calm. When they returned Victor was on the kitchen floor dying.
What happened? He suddenly stood up, went to the kitchen, said "I am going to join the man at the croassroads" and then he drank a full bottle of carbolic acid.
Libby immediately responded with butter and she sent her brother to get a doctor. They could not save him.

10/28/2025

Let's talk about Elmo Chapman, who died in January 1939.
Elmo was 32 years old, unmarried, and unemployed. He had just lost his job.
He was visiting the Ben Lomond Hotel with his best friend, a man named Glen Jackson. Glen was dealing with the same stuff. They were on the 13th floor sharing a bottle of whiskey when they both suddenly fell, plummeting to the ground below.
The whiskey bottle was left standing upright.

10/27/2025

In 1925 Leonard Carlstedt, a bank swindler, died in the Reed Hotel. This was shortly before it was rebuilt into the Ben Lomond.

Leonard Raymond Carlstedt checked into room with his "wife" and committed su***de in front of her and three police officers who had come in to arrest him at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department on suspicion of swindling. He was into robbing banks.
Can you imagine the life of a hotel maid in 1925? Probably not a great time.

*It was later revealed she was not his wife. She was a woman who was using his wife's identity to travel with her lover. His wife was in Colorado.

10/24/2025

Remembering Special Officer James David Snipes

On this day in 1903, Special Officer James Snipes made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the Ogden community.

Just three days after being sworn in with the Ogden City Police Department, Officer Snipes was tragically shot while patrolling a high-crime area near 24th Street. Despite his courage and dedication, he succumbed to his injuries the following evening.

He left behind his wife, young daughter, and a son who was born the very next day.

Though more than a century has passed, his courage, sacrifice, and commitment to the people of Ogden will never be forgotten. The Ogden City Police Department honors his life, his service, and the proud tradition of those who continue to protect this community today.

End of Watch: October 24, 1903
Gone, but never forgotten.

10/23/2025

In 1908, Marvin S. Taylor, a boy of 19, committed su***de in the Healy Hotel. His mother had been dead for years and a year prior his father had died when a hotel in Pocatello exploded. He had been sad for days before checking into the Healy Hotel.
It was the 22nd of October when he was found cold, with a revolver in his hand, by concerned relatives who received a suspicious letter. Just a few days prior he had gathered items from his family home and pawned them to buy the revolver.
In his su***de letter was the pawn ticket so the family could recover his father’s watch. He is buried here in Ogden.

10/21/2025

This is James Henry Emmett building rhe home at 2650 Lincoln Ave in 1894. We found this on Ancestry.
He build this for his wife Elizabeth.

10/21/2025

Louis Phillips literally hung himself because he was vexed that his newborn baby was a girl. It was 1917.
The baby was born the night before on the 25th of June 1917. She was born in their home and was perfectly healthy. He refused to meet her. He would not even go in the room. He just put on his hat and left.
He went to a bar and was arrested there for starting a fight with another man, who I imagine told him he was ridiculous and needed to go home.
Shortly after being locked in his cell he took off his belt and hung himself.
When the police went to inform his wife and mother in law they fell down in their grief. They told the investigating officers that he was bitter over the coming baby and was hoping if he were to be stuck with a child it would be a boy. When a girl was born instead he could not handle it.
He was only 30 years old.
Days after his tragic death another story was published stating that he was temporarily deranged due to his fear his wife would die in childbirth, as his mother had.
He is buried in Brigham.
His unwanted daughter grew up to be the coolest lady. She had a plane and a pilot's license. She had an unending zest for life and lived to be 97 years old. 97 years of adventure.

10/20/2025

10/20/2025

The Royal Dancing Academy

The Royal Dancing Academy hosted countless balls, dances, and parties from 1906 to 1917. The police and firefighters especially loved the establishment, all of their balls were celebrated there.
It was located at 2408 Washington Blvd. They were one of two dancing academies in town. Frank L. Berry ran the business and enjoyed all the success that comes with it.
Frank and his wife had an adult daughter together (they had married in 1885) when they decided to divorce in 1912, nevertheless they were working together in 1917. He managed the business and she collected the tickets. They seemed to be getting on well enough.
In November of that year Frank brought a gun to work and shot his wife in the cloak room. He fired three shots into her.
It was days after their daughter’s wedding. Frank had become jealous because he was concerned his former wife would marry another man.
If another man had not intervened Harriet would have died in the academy and Frank would have joined her. Thanks to his quick efforts she was able to get to a hospital and Frank went into the jail.
Frank would sit in his cell and ask about the condition of his wife, without giving any indication about how he felt when he was told she was improving. Was he happy? Did he feel sorry for what he did? Sorry she survived?
Mrs. Harriet Berry refused to assist the prosecution. She refused to press charges. Her plan was to leave town as soon as she could leave the hospital.
This led to Frank Berry being released from prison. He went home to his daughter and her husband and they settled into domestic life for a few days.
Then he shot himself. His daughter found him dead on the floor she returned from buying breakfast. It had been less than a month since her wedding and the shooting.
There is no information on Harriet’s fate.