A 1920s Minnesota Publicity Stunt Creates A Stir Nearly 100 Years Later

A publicity stunt from nearly a 100 years ago has been dredged back up, literally, in a Minneapolis lake. A Minnesota diver recently stumbled across a spot on the bottom of the lake that kept giving up guns. It wasn't until later that the diver realized what they had found.

The Roaring 20s In The Twin Cities

In the 1920s in Minnesota, it wouldn't have been uncommon to run across a gangster or two. The Twin Cities were known as a safe place to hide out, as long as you didn't break any local laws while you were here.

Growing up, I would hear my grandfather talk about Kid Cann, who was legally known as Isadore Blumenfeld, a Romanian-born Jewish-American organized crime enforcer based in Minneapolis.

So when a diver was metal detecting along the bottom of Minneapolis lake Bde Maka Ska, formerly known as Lake Calhoun, there wasn't much thought when a 1920s gun turned up.

The problem was that the guns kept coming. So what was the deal with the cache of guns on the bottom of a Twin Cities lake?

Publicity Stunt For The Chief Of Police

According to this Fox 9 story, the reason for all the guns being found at the bottom of Bde Maka Ska wasn't due to some gangsters having a life-changing moment; it was a publicity stunt from a 1927 Minneapolis Police Chief.

In 1927, Minneapolis Police Chief Frank Brunskill dumped firearms into what was then called Lake Calhoun, as the weapons "had been used in serious crimes, and Brunskill wanted to ensure they did not end up back in criminal hands."

Have You Ever Found Something Odd In A Lake?

Recently, fishing technology solved a decades-old missing persons case when a car was found in the Mississippi River, so it might be just a matter of time before we find another hidden secret brought to the surface, whether it's by a scuba diver or sonar.

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This story makes me wonder what other things people might find in lakes around Central Minnesota.

READ MORE FROM PAUL SHEA