Sandpoint’s silent residents

An exploration of local cemeteries, Part 2

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

Wandering the grassy paths of any of Sandpoint’s historic cemeteries, it’s hard not to wonder what cruel twist of fate might have sent each grave resident to their eternal slumber. Luckily for those with a macabre curiosity, the Bonner County Historical Society and Museum has compiled an online archive of all the area’s historic newspapers, which invariably cataloged citizens’ lives and deaths beginning as far back as 1892.

Mamie Walters, 1893-1923: Ferry accident

Young nurse Mary Alice “Mamie” Walters tragically lost her life while on an evening “errand of mercy” crossing the Pend Oreille River in Laclede. She was accompanying Dr. Roscoe Jackson in his Dodge sedan to see a patient in the Hoodoo Valley when, while still aboard the Laclede Ferry at dusk, the car rolled forward and plunged into 60 feet of water.

“No outcry came from the car as it submerged beneath the dark waters of the river, and was lost to the sight of ferryman J.M. Dawson and several other passengers who, in another car, were accompanying the doctor upon his call,” reported Northern Idaho News.

Speculation immediately followed the tragedy, with some arguing that the old doctor thought they’d reached shore and began driving, while others believed that the vibrations of the engine and the ferry knocked the car into neutral and faulty brake lines did the rest.

A diver and tugboat with attached crane were brought in to recover the wreckage, following the trail of motor oil left by the sunken car. The diver, wearing a borrowed diving suit with a mostly broken air hose, reported that the car was barely damaged — no windows had broken, the ignition was on and the vehicle was left in neutral.

“The bodies, he said, were in the back seat where they had evidently been thrown by the lurch of the car as it went off the ferry, or by the action of the river current after both passengers were dead, or as they drowned, trapped in the ill-fated sedan,” wrote the News.

Lena Papa, 1904-1923: Murdered

Mrs. Lena Papa, née Ferraro, belonged to an “industrious and peace-loving” Italian family, which was destroyed in what the Pend d’Oreille Review dubbed the “Palm Sunday Tragedy.” Lena had married her husband, Philip Papa, at the age of 17 — just one year earlier — but the relationship was doomed from the start. Philip dragged her from one dead-end job to the next, frequently taking money from her family, until, following morning mass, Lena and her mother, Mary Ferraro, decided it was time for a divorce. They discussed this in the kitchen in front of Philip and Lena’s 14-year-old brother, Sammy, who got the sense Philip didn’t like the conversation. He told his mother and sister that they needed to leave, but they ignored him. Philip then went into the next room and returned with an Iver Johnson .38 revolver.

“He walked directly to Mrs. Ferraro, put the muzzle of the gun against her head and fired twice. One bullet entering through her left cheek, and the other through her left temple,” reported the Review.

Lena died the same way; however, Sammy was able to dodge at least two bullets and escape to the police. When the authorities arrived, Philip had shot himself twice — once in the chest and once in the head.

“When the officers arrived, all of the bodies were upon the kitchen floor, lying amid pools of blood, and with their brains oozing from the gaping fractures in their skulls,” stated the Review.

Responding officers considered the case closed upon finding the note left by Philip, reading:

“No life for me anymore because my wife she not love me at all; so I kill her first and — goodbye — goodbye — Philip Papa — goodbye to all.”