Ramsey County History – Spring 1970: “Murder Most Foul! Early “Historian” Solves Murder of Whatever Happened to “Pigs Eye” Parrant”

Murder Most Foul! Early “Historian” Solves Mystery of Whatever Happened to “Pigs Eye” Parrant
Author: Edward J. Letterman

In 1868 New York writer, publisher, and fabulist “Col.” Hankins published a history of St. Paul entitled Dakota Land; or, The Beauty of St. Paul, “an altogether charming conglomeration of local history, fact and fancy, dreams and revelations, [and] exquisite word pictures of the area.” Among the fancies was Hankins’s description of the finding of Parrant’s grave, along with a pistol engraved with his name. Despite the inventions, the book “has value to the historian … in its contemporary descriptions of the city and of Minnesota during the 1860’s.”
PDF of Letterman article