Minnesota Now and Then: Cook County's first Black sheriff and his run-in with a lion on the loose
For over 20 years, John Lyght was Cook County sheriff in Minnesota's Arrowhead. Lyght had grown up in Lutsen, Minn., one of the youngest children in a large family, which owned and ran the only African American-owned resort in northern Minnesota at the time.
Photo courtesy of Barb Lyght Seaburg
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Audio transcript
CATHY WURZER: Of course you know we're big fans of Minnesota history on this show. That's why we have the segment Minnesota Now and Then. See what I did there? Here's today's story. By February 1978, John Lyght had been Sheriff of Cook County, which is in Minnesota's Arrowhead region, for long enough to have seen quite a lot.
But then, a caller from Lutsen said she had an escaped animal on the loose-- a lion. And well, John figured at that point, he had probably seen it all. Brian Larsen is the editor of the Cook County News Herald. He's on the line. He was friends with John Lyght who was not only Cook County's longtime lawman, but also the first African-American sheriff in Minnesota history. Brian Larsen, it's always a pleasure. Welcome.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah, hi.
CATHY WURZER: John became sheriff in the early 1970s, which made some Minnesota history, obviously. Did he replace a retiring sheriff?
BRIAN LARSEN: He had been a longtime bus driver. And while he'd done every kind of job in the county like most of us do-- log cabin building, logging, trapping. He'd done all kinds of jobs, and he had been asked to become a deputy sheriff when they lost a deputy.
And he did that for a year, and then he ran for Sheriff. And he won with 99% of the vote. He was well respected, to say the least.
CATHY WURZER: I did not know that the Lyght family has deep roots in Lutsen. They owned the old Northern Lights Resort.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah, they did. They came here in the early-- let's see. I've got it sitting down here. I would say 1920s. They were here. 1913, even. Yeah, that's when he came. The dad came first, and the Nelson family actually owned Lutsen Resort, started Lutsen Resort and the Lutsen Ski Hill.
They helped them out, and they just had a little teeny weeny little shack they lived in. And they homesteaded it, the property, and just worked day and night and did really very well. They were a remarkable family.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like they were. That's a really interesting story. So John grows up in Lutsen and decides he's going to go into law enforcement. But just kind of paint a picture for us. What was Cook County like in the 1970s?
BRIAN LARSEN: Well, so logging was still big, and commercial fishing was kind of on the down side, but there's still a lot of commercial fishermen. And we had our tourist season, but we had it just-- it was basically June 15th to August 31st, which now it's-- I don't know-- seven or eight months of tourist season.
We had a big Hedstrom lumber mill. It's just over 100 years old, and it's still going strong. They had well over 100 employees back then. I think they have less than 40 now. It's partly automation. So it was way more of a blue collar town. There wasn't any bed and breakfasts or anything like that.
I don't know. I guess a lot of bar fights, things like that. The city-owned bar was connected to the jail, so you didn't have to walk very far if you got in a fight to go sit in a cell.
[LAUGHTER]
CATHY WURZER: I did not know that. So John was dealing with some of that as sheriff. I mean, I'm assuming he dealt with almost everything you could think of to have happened up there.
BRIAN LARSEN: He did. He had a staff of one. And you know the county is just huge. And so he built a staff through the years up to eight law officers, but he was a sheriff that was-- he wasn't a political figure as much as he was working all the time. John was out there on all the calls. He worked day and night.
He was just a very good guy. He was big and strong and looked very imposing in his officers uniform. But he was just very well liked. He arrested his own brother. So if you did something wrong, John would very fairly pick you up and take you in.
But not in a mean way. Like one guy said-- he got arrested. He said, well, I must have done something wrong, John, if you pick me up because you don't arrest people who don't do things that are wrong.
CATHY WURZER: Wow. I'm betting it's safe to say the escaped lion is probably one of the better known stories to come out of his time as sheriff. And I've heard the story, but for folks who haven't heard it, can you just succinctly tell us about it?
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. Dick Maw had a lion. He was a fellow that was into lots of different things-- interesting man in his own right. And at some point in time, the lion got a little bit too big to handle.
And Dick's wife called John up and said the lion had gotten away, and she needed it disposed. So John and Dick Dorr-- deputy-- and one other fellow went up to the house. It was in the yard, and they each shot, and they killed the lion. But it was-- yeah. You don't want a lion running around.
CATHY WURZER: No, not in Lutsen. Not anywhere, actually.
BRIAN LARSEN: Not Lutsen. Really, not anywhere. We have enough animals running around that could be problematic, but that would be problematic.
CATHY WURZER: Yes, true. I can only imagine what John said about that, too.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. Well, he had lots of interesting things going on. Like I said, he was out there in the field always working. And also, he did lots of welfare checks on older people. He was always-- he really cared about the public. That's why he kept winning.
In his last year, he was 67. And for the election, he didn't campaign. And he got beat, and he just said, well, I just figured people understood that I was out there working all the time. He'd been sheriff for 20 years at that point. But he would have made a great share for four more years. I can tell you that right now.
CATHY WURZER: I wish I would have met him, and I never had the opportunity. When did he pass away?
BRIAN LARSEN: Oh, I got to look that up now. That was probably-- I've got like a book. I've written stories about John, but there I've written thousands--
CATHY WURZER: I mean, he was older when he passed away. I think he was near 90 from what I understand.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. He was-- well, let's see. We're going to get to the end here.
CATHY WURZER: That's OK. We got about a minute, but it's OK.
BRIAN LARSEN: Oh, sorry.
CATHY WURZER: Don't worry about it. It's all right. I believe he was 89, 90 when he died. When you think about John Lyght, what word comes to mind?
BRIAN LARSEN: Integrity. Yeah. Just integrity and honesty-- just fair. Tough, but fair. I think he was just like the epitome of a sheriff. I don't think you could get to be a better sheriff than John. Yeah. He had to deal with the Rainbow Family gathering here too. Over 10,000 people showed up in the forest. That was a pretty wild and crazy time. That was 1990.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, Brian, the stories.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. There are tons of stories.
CATHY WURZER: I'm telling you. All right. I wish I had more time with you. I appreciate your time and the stories about John Lyght. Thank you so much.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. He died at 2010, by the way. He was 82.
CATHY WURZER: 2010. All right. Thank you. I appreciate that.
BRIAN LARSEN: Thank you, Cathy. You take care.
CATHY WURZER: Take care, Brian. Brian Larsen is the editor of the Cook County News Herald, which, of course, is in Cook County, Grand Marais area, where John Lyght was sheriff for more than 20 years.
But then, a caller from Lutsen said she had an escaped animal on the loose-- a lion. And well, John figured at that point, he had probably seen it all. Brian Larsen is the editor of the Cook County News Herald. He's on the line. He was friends with John Lyght who was not only Cook County's longtime lawman, but also the first African-American sheriff in Minnesota history. Brian Larsen, it's always a pleasure. Welcome.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah, hi.
CATHY WURZER: John became sheriff in the early 1970s, which made some Minnesota history, obviously. Did he replace a retiring sheriff?
BRIAN LARSEN: He had been a longtime bus driver. And while he'd done every kind of job in the county like most of us do-- log cabin building, logging, trapping. He'd done all kinds of jobs, and he had been asked to become a deputy sheriff when they lost a deputy.
And he did that for a year, and then he ran for Sheriff. And he won with 99% of the vote. He was well respected, to say the least.
CATHY WURZER: I did not know that the Lyght family has deep roots in Lutsen. They owned the old Northern Lights Resort.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah, they did. They came here in the early-- let's see. I've got it sitting down here. I would say 1920s. They were here. 1913, even. Yeah, that's when he came. The dad came first, and the Nelson family actually owned Lutsen Resort, started Lutsen Resort and the Lutsen Ski Hill.
They helped them out, and they just had a little teeny weeny little shack they lived in. And they homesteaded it, the property, and just worked day and night and did really very well. They were a remarkable family.
CATHY WURZER: It sounds like they were. That's a really interesting story. So John grows up in Lutsen and decides he's going to go into law enforcement. But just kind of paint a picture for us. What was Cook County like in the 1970s?
BRIAN LARSEN: Well, so logging was still big, and commercial fishing was kind of on the down side, but there's still a lot of commercial fishermen. And we had our tourist season, but we had it just-- it was basically June 15th to August 31st, which now it's-- I don't know-- seven or eight months of tourist season.
We had a big Hedstrom lumber mill. It's just over 100 years old, and it's still going strong. They had well over 100 employees back then. I think they have less than 40 now. It's partly automation. So it was way more of a blue collar town. There wasn't any bed and breakfasts or anything like that.
I don't know. I guess a lot of bar fights, things like that. The city-owned bar was connected to the jail, so you didn't have to walk very far if you got in a fight to go sit in a cell.
[LAUGHTER]
CATHY WURZER: I did not know that. So John was dealing with some of that as sheriff. I mean, I'm assuming he dealt with almost everything you could think of to have happened up there.
BRIAN LARSEN: He did. He had a staff of one. And you know the county is just huge. And so he built a staff through the years up to eight law officers, but he was a sheriff that was-- he wasn't a political figure as much as he was working all the time. John was out there on all the calls. He worked day and night.
He was just a very good guy. He was big and strong and looked very imposing in his officers uniform. But he was just very well liked. He arrested his own brother. So if you did something wrong, John would very fairly pick you up and take you in.
But not in a mean way. Like one guy said-- he got arrested. He said, well, I must have done something wrong, John, if you pick me up because you don't arrest people who don't do things that are wrong.
CATHY WURZER: Wow. I'm betting it's safe to say the escaped lion is probably one of the better known stories to come out of his time as sheriff. And I've heard the story, but for folks who haven't heard it, can you just succinctly tell us about it?
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. Dick Maw had a lion. He was a fellow that was into lots of different things-- interesting man in his own right. And at some point in time, the lion got a little bit too big to handle.
And Dick's wife called John up and said the lion had gotten away, and she needed it disposed. So John and Dick Dorr-- deputy-- and one other fellow went up to the house. It was in the yard, and they each shot, and they killed the lion. But it was-- yeah. You don't want a lion running around.
CATHY WURZER: No, not in Lutsen. Not anywhere, actually.
BRIAN LARSEN: Not Lutsen. Really, not anywhere. We have enough animals running around that could be problematic, but that would be problematic.
CATHY WURZER: Yes, true. I can only imagine what John said about that, too.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. Well, he had lots of interesting things going on. Like I said, he was out there in the field always working. And also, he did lots of welfare checks on older people. He was always-- he really cared about the public. That's why he kept winning.
In his last year, he was 67. And for the election, he didn't campaign. And he got beat, and he just said, well, I just figured people understood that I was out there working all the time. He'd been sheriff for 20 years at that point. But he would have made a great share for four more years. I can tell you that right now.
CATHY WURZER: I wish I would have met him, and I never had the opportunity. When did he pass away?
BRIAN LARSEN: Oh, I got to look that up now. That was probably-- I've got like a book. I've written stories about John, but there I've written thousands--
CATHY WURZER: I mean, he was older when he passed away. I think he was near 90 from what I understand.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. He was-- well, let's see. We're going to get to the end here.
CATHY WURZER: That's OK. We got about a minute, but it's OK.
BRIAN LARSEN: Oh, sorry.
CATHY WURZER: Don't worry about it. It's all right. I believe he was 89, 90 when he died. When you think about John Lyght, what word comes to mind?
BRIAN LARSEN: Integrity. Yeah. Just integrity and honesty-- just fair. Tough, but fair. I think he was just like the epitome of a sheriff. I don't think you could get to be a better sheriff than John. Yeah. He had to deal with the Rainbow Family gathering here too. Over 10,000 people showed up in the forest. That was a pretty wild and crazy time. That was 1990.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, Brian, the stories.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. There are tons of stories.
CATHY WURZER: I'm telling you. All right. I wish I had more time with you. I appreciate your time and the stories about John Lyght. Thank you so much.
BRIAN LARSEN: Yeah. He died at 2010, by the way. He was 82.
CATHY WURZER: 2010. All right. Thank you. I appreciate that.
BRIAN LARSEN: Thank you, Cathy. You take care.
CATHY WURZER: Take care, Brian. Brian Larsen is the editor of the Cook County News Herald, which, of course, is in Cook County, Grand Marais area, where John Lyght was sheriff for more than 20 years.
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