A murderous good time on the Yellowstone Trail

By Nicole Rogers

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OWEN – Laughter erupted from the old school gymnasium in Owen as author and host of Murder4fun Paul Warshauer presided over the murder mystery dinner on Jan. 14 & 15. Warshauer wrote, directed and hosted the“Murder on the Yellowstone Trail” a specially scripted play reflecting locations and themes from Owen-Withee and the surrounding areas.

Each night a new murder was committed and the guests were drawn into the drama.

The audience was encouraged to question the suspects and each table voted on “who dun-nit.”

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The Cast

The cast of locals included: Mayor Fred Flipflappah, Mayor of Owen - Nathan Bier; Wilma Flipflappah, his civic-minded wife - ElizabethBier; G. Gordon Piddley, Mayor’s Chief of Staff – Kevin Hanson; Suzy Sunshayne,Chamber of Commerce Director - Jeffer Scheuer; Don D. Dahmdan, in cement & wastemanagement - Kevin Wyeth; Boobles D. Henschmann, The Don’s “muscle” - RyanLampi; Dottie DeLighté, The Don’s niece (his moll) - Lia Smith; and NortonNoclêw, Young Local historian – Conrad Flink.

The Plot

There are big plans to honor the Yellowstone Trail this year but the level of interest varies and so do the motives for wanting such acelebration. The Mayor and chamber want a big celebration, but Piddley worries about the cost and logistics.

The Mob Boss and his Henchman see a great “gaming”opportunity for a new Yellowstone Casino.

Wilma and Norton want to honor the history and legacy of the Trail and will spare no expense to make the festival happen.

Dottie is torn between her boyfriend and the historic nature of the celebration. One thing is certain: There will be a murder and one ofthese suspects will be unmasked as the dastardly murderer.

Besides enjoying the comical cast of murder suspects, guests were served a buffet dinner of beef tips, ham, two kinds of potatoes, corn,lettuce salad, rolls, and a brownie sundae.

Members of the Owen-Withee Area Chamber of Commerce, the Owen Downtown Revitalization Committee organized the event, and these members anda few other volunteers set up, prepared, and served the meal. Tim Swiggum prepared all of the food for the dinners.

“The meal was wonderful,” commented Susy Sunshyne, a.k.a.Jeffer Scheuer.

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Special Guests

Special guests on Friday night were John and Alice Ridge,authors of “A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound” A Modern Guide to Driving the Yellowstone Trail.

The couple are also part of the Yellowstone Trail Association and were on hand to sign their new book. Another historical book about theYellowstone Trail, “We Blazed the Trail” and “Bolos, Bandits and Bamboo Schools” was available for purchase by Barry Prichard.

Barry wrote the book “We Blazed a trail” as told by his mother Dorothy Downling Prichard.

Stage management and makeup was by Vickie Kuehn and it was produced by Tim Swiggum, Nancy Amacher, and Kevin Wyeth.

The members of the OWACC and DRC were very pleased with the murder mystery weekend, as seventy tickets were sold on Friday night and 130tickets on Saturday night.

Paul Warshauer announced that this was the first of hopefully many more Murder4Fun shows along the Yellowstone Trail.

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