Disclaimer-
Please Note- all the info below, are from ALLEGED Charges and Crimes,
stemming from Rum Running Booze
from Saskatchewan to the US in the 1920's.
I have no physical proof Mr. Dellage, Lacoste and Auld
were involved in this activity,
other than newspaper articles,
and history books, from the time.
You can make up your own mind, if they were guilty or not.
I do know he was ACQUITTED of the murder described below.

Lee Dellage was arrested and charged with the murder
of Sam Bronfman's brother-in-law, Paul Matoff
in the CPR Station Telegrapher's office on Oct 4,1922 in Bienfait.

Lee Leander Dellage
b-  Feb 2, 1886 in New Haven, Iowa, USA
(age 33 in 1920 census in Burke Co, ND)
d- Jan 15, 1988, in Long Lake, Hennepin, Minnesota, age 102!
buried in Flaxton Cemetery, Burke Co. ND

Wife- May (Mae?) Eva Dellage, nee Noyes
b- Oct 13, 1892 in Forest City, Winnebago, Iowa
(age 27 in 1920 census)
d- July 13, 1923 in Flaxton ND
buried in Flaxton Cemetery, Burke Co. ND

They had 3 children:

1910 Lee Dellage was living in Vale, Burke Co. ND

I have found Dellage family names
 buried in Flaxton Cemetery, Burke Co ND
Mae Eva, Mildred, and Mildred Mae

In the mid 1920's Lee Dellage owned and managed
a semi professional Baseball team,
called "Dellage's Cubans", based in Lignite ND.
Known as a Farmer and Carpenter in the area.

I have seen spellings of Dillage, Dillege, Dilledge, and Dellage
in various newspaper accounts, and history books.
but it appears this man's real name was Lee Leander Dellage
(1900 US census says Leo Dellage, but only place this appears)

In the book "Grass Roots" by Heather Robertson,
Lee Dellage is described as "Small and Wiry".
Jimmy LaCoste as "a big blond Frenchman with a broken nose".
She writes Dellage had a high powered Cadillac car.
In this book she says the booze was found in a straw pile
just as Jimmy LaCoste told the police.
Investigating Dellage's farm they found more booze.

Per a newspaper article, James LaCoste, the truck driver,
who worked with Dellage, and was his friend,
admitted the story he told at Matoff's coroner's inquest,
of the hijacking of the whiskey truck,
and Dellage's automobile was false.
LaCoste claimed Dellage told him to tell this story.
He admitted he told this story to Sergeant Worgan
of the Provincial Police on his return to Bienfait.
LaCoste said he told Dellage he was crazy telling such a story,
as Dellage just told him Matoff was killed.
LaCoste stuck to his story to shield Dellage from
Federal Officers in the USA.
LcCoste claimed they hid the whiskey in a straw pile near Lignite ND.
LaCoste said they were assisted by a man named Martinson,
after the truck got stuck in a ditch.
On LaCoste's return to Bienfait he told the police,
he would lead them to Dellage's farm.
When he got to a town 6 miles south of Bienfait (Roche Percee?)
he sped up, and lost the police, to warn Dellage
to not stick to the hijacking story now the truth was out.
 

then this story in the LA paper, and St Paul paper,
Lucky Tommy O'Connor was believed to have been located today
in the neighbourhood of the Canadian border
 between St. Paul, Minn., and Winnipeg, Can.
The escaped murderer (from a Chicago jail),
was said to have been recognized,
 as the leader of a gang of hijackers,
who shot and killed Paul Matoff, wealthy rum runner,
and later held up a liquor caravan,
robbed the man in charge of $6000
and drove off with the contents of a ten-ton truck.
another story, another suspect,
It seemed a lot of crimes were blamed on this fellow
while he was on the run for many years.

Lee Dellage was tried for murder at the Court of King's Bench,
in Estevan, starting Mar 21, 1923,
he was acquitted afternoon of Mar 22, 1923
the jury deliberated for 3 hours.
Trial lasted 2 days.
Justice Bigelow presided, and made a statement
to Dellage that he knew more than the evidence proved,
and stated the murder was due to a conspiracy
to violate Canadian and American Liquor laws.
the judge then made a statement to Dellage
blaming him for his illegal activities,
then is quoted as saying
I believe you had a distinct part in it.
pretty strong statement for a judge to a man acquitted.
He was then taken into custody for his robbery trial the next morning.
starting Mar 23, 1923 he was tried for robbery,
but was acquitted Mar 24, 1923 on a hung jury.
At this trial his wife and 2 children attended
sitting behind the lawyers table.
One of these was Lee Dellage Jr., age 5 or 6.
and what was written, a chubby 2 year old girl.
evidence from a guard at the Regina jail was ruled inadmissible.
supposedly Dellage told the guard damaging admissions.
the trial was in the old City Hall Auditorium,
which was used as a Court House for years.
He was then up for trial again on the robbery charge.
This trial started Oct 11, 1923. It was to last 2 days.
Robbery charge was based on $6,000.00 stolen from Matoff,
as well as Matoff's Diamond Stick Pin.
His lawyer N. R. Craig KC of Moose Jaw applied for his bail.
He was committed to stand trial Oct 9, 1923 and again bail was refused.
He would have spent over a year in jail, waiting for bail.
His lawyer W.W. Lynd then applied again with Judge Farrell this time.

While in jail in Regina, his first wife and daughter
died of typhoid fever at Lignite ND.
He had 2 sick children and a dying father-in-law at the time.
This was all ca July 1923
Oct 11, 1923 the trial resumed in Estevan.

He was let out of jail to attend his first wife's funeral on $40,000 bail.
He paid $20,000, and bondsmen, Albert C. (Al) Rodgers from Estevan,
and Maurice J. Hawkinson from Bienfait each covered $10,000.
Al Rodgers ran a Boozorium in Bienfait,
Maurice Hawkinson owned the Bienfait Coal Mine.
His name appears below for Jimmy Lacoste's bail as well.

Lee remarried a lady by the surname of Hoffman, Dec 6, 1924.
I believe her name was Mildred Mae Hoffman.
They were married for only one week,
they were returning from a dance,
Dec 13, 1924, in the early hours of a Saturday morning,
on the state highway between Columbus and Lignite ND.
Lee and his new wife were in the front seat,
and 2 other Lignite ladies in the back seat.
Some horses that were running loose, ran in front of the car.
The car on the icy road, with the brakes applied,
slid and overturned into the ditch.
Mrs. Dellage's neck was broken, and Lee suffered broken ribs.
He was taken to the Kenmare hospital.
Mrs. Dellage was from Williston, ND.,
and was a teacher at Lignite ND School.
Dillage took the Lincoln National Insurance Co. to Court
for a life insurance policy his new wife had.
She had applied to change her beneficiary to Lee,
but died before the policy could be changed.
Another Hoffman, (former husband or son?) was the beneficiary.

He owned large farms near Lignite.
Was well known as a Rum Runner from that era.
The night Paul Matoff was killed he was buying a shipment of liquor,
with the help of Jimmy LaCoste, who was an associate of his,
and who also was charged with Matoff's murder, and robbery,
and who was also acquitted.

The 100 bags of liquor were found and identified in Minot ND
according to one source, even though Lacoste said it was in a straw pile.

In July 1921 Matoff gave evidence on the stand
as Assistant Manager of the Liquor Exporters Ltd,
who had a warehouse in Gainsborough.
4 Americans from Omaha Nebraska were charged
with robbery of the Warehouse.
Arthur Henshaw, Leroy Compton, A.B. Shelton, and Axel Pearson.
They supposedly wrote a bad cheque for liquor
under the name of H. D. Myers.
Later they allegedly broke into the warehouse after a liquor buy,
and stole other cases of liquor.
Did these fellows come back for revenge?

another theory Paul Matoff was paid back
for an allegedly load of watered down booze,
sold to US Bootleggers.

Matoff supposedly testified against other American Hijackers,
who were convicted of hijacking a car load of Bronfman Booze.

The murder weapon, a sawed off shotgun was never found.
A shotgun, similar to this one, was found years later,
under the floor boards in the Alex Ronyk Pool Hall.
It was sent to the RCMP,
but they were not able to identify it as the murder weapon.

Living to be 102, it would have been neat to interview this man
and record his story, good and bad.
would love to have a picture of him as well.

 Eugene Joseph (Jim) (Jimmy) (James) Lacoste
b- Feb 1, 1896 in Cheneville, Quebec
d- Feb 23, 1929
buried in Estevan City Cemetery
enlisted in WWI, July 13, 1918 in Regina,
 single, RC, farmer, 5ft 8in tall.
address Bienfait PO.
Military svc #- LC-466124
Reg #- 3355285

Married ca 1922, name unknown

In 1902 the families left Saint-André-Avellin, Québec

Jimmy Lacoste owned an auto repair garage in Bienfait.

Nov 22, 1922 Jimmy Lacoste was cleared of the murder charge.
at the preliminary hearing held before Provincial Police
Magistrate J. C. Martin.
The charges preferred by the Crown, were
withdrawn by the Attorney General's Department.
Announced by W. M. Rose, KC, one of the Crown Prosecutors.
He had no previous charges.
He was also recently married, only a few months earlier.
He was bound over as a witness in the trial of Lee Dellage.
Magistrate Martin assigned bail of $10,000.
Half was paid by Mr. Lacoste,
$2500 each by Charles (Charlie) Vaughn, Estevan,
and Maurice Hawkinson, Bienfait.
We have seen Mr. Hawkinson's name appear above.

Both Dellage and Lacoste were asked to pose for pictures
and both refused, so reason no pictures exist I guess.

Evidence given during this trial, included:

"After the killing, a cheque signed by Lee Dellage,
on a North Dakota Bank,
 was found in the pockets of the murdered man"-
Corporal John Molyneux, S.P.P. Estevan

"A large diamond and setting was wretched
from a stick pin worn by Matoff"-
Harry Zellickson, manager of the Bienfait Boozorium

(note some records say a diamond ring, which he also wore)
I think his name might have been Zelickson, with one l.
he was a farm boy from near Hirsch,
and they did have a farm near Hirsch, and there is a Zelickson
buried in the Hirsch Jewish Cemetery.
Harry was an assistant of Matoff in Liquor shipments.
An Abe Zellickson also gave evidence.

"The money, which Dellage was Matoff were counting
at the time of the holdup, could not have been taken,
without entering the CPR ticket office. 
The glass in the window though broken,
was in such a state that it was evident
no man had thrust his arm through.
whoever took the money, and Matoff's diamond,
must have obtained entry through the door of the office"-
Corporal John Molyneux- S.P.P. Estevan

We were some miles from Bienfait when Dellage
told me Matoff was killed.  He said that the robbers
had taken everything he had, leaving him clean.
We took the liquor contained in the truck,
and Dellage's Cadillac across the line, and I and
a man named Martinson unloaded the truck,
concealing the liquor in a straw stack beside the road,
between Columbus and Lignite, ND
Dellage told me to tell the authorities on the Canadian side,
that Hijackers had held us up on the way down,
securing the liquor and stealing Dellage's car"-
James LaCoste

"Dellage had been quite an extensive dealer
with the Dominion Distributors,
the firm of which Matoff was agent.  On one occasion
he bought 115 cases of rye, taking delivery in instalments"-
W. H. Reid, Regina Manager, Dominion Distributors.

"After the murder, a car, presumed to contain the bandit gang,
which held up the CPR station at Bienfait where Matoff was killed,
passed a police car on the road to Frobisher,
Police officers tried to stop this car, shots were exchanged,
without result"-
Sergeant Leonard Harry Worgan, S.P.P. Weyburn.

An old admission by Dellage, not previously told,
that he moved Matoff's body after he was shot.
this evidence was given by Corporal Molyneux

March trial Colin Rawcliffe, express agent at Bienfait,
gave evidence Dellage was the only person with Matoff,
at the time of the Murder and robbery.
He testified that he, Matoff and Dellage were in the ticket office
with Matoff counting the money, when the glass was broken
and the shotgun was fired.
Rawcliffe claimed he ran to the living rooms upstairs
when he returned Dellage was holding Matoff's head in his lap.
June 1, 1922 a provincial edict came down closing
the Liquor warehouses in the southern part of the Province.
Rawcliffe admitted it was still going on.
Judge Bigelow presided.
Lacoste was on the stand and admitted he transported
the liquor across the border since 1920,
when the warehouse was set up.
So he effectively admitted under oath to be a rum runner.

Detective Sergeant W. Mortimer gave evidence
they found large liquor caches on Dellages farm,
and on Mr. A. Martinson's farm. (remember the helper above?)
Inspections were made with US federal enforcement Officer,
N.C. Upton, from Oct 13 to 15.
On the Dellage farm an underground chamber near his barn,
contained 22 one gallon containers of alcohol.
18 sacks of 7 year old rye, 2 sacks of Scotch,
and other intoxicants.
At the Martinson farm near Lignite, 13 one gallon containers,
6 sacks of rye, 2 sacks of scotch and other liquor was found.
In a straw stack near the high road to Columbus ND,
they found 18 sacks of 7 year old rye,
 2 sacks Simpsons White Seal, 4 sacks Martel Cognac,
10 cases of gin, a sack of port, and one case of cocktails.
It's location was described by Lacoste.
In every case the bottled liquors were purported
to come from Bronfman's Dominion Distributors, Regina
Customs vouchers were attached to the gin cases.
According to the manager Mr. Reid, it was an unusually
large order the night Matoff was killed.
It was consigned to a A. Lamont, Minot ND.

One interesting item they brought up,
and I think the most important piece of evidence,
Dellage was there when Matoff was shot,
standing almost beside him,
but somehow didn't see what happened to the diamond pin
that was on Matoff's body?

He was standing next to Matoff, but not shot.
Another vehicle was identified following Dellage's
car into Bienfait.  who was in that car?

He left the station for a brief moment, time enough
to signal someone else.  Did he?

When 2 strangers were seen on the platform,
Dellage assured Matoff they were just harvesters.

It was an unusually large shipment. 
The murder and robbery didn't happen
until the truck and car were loaded.

Dellage told Rawcliffe to not go out on the platform
or he might get shot.
If there were eye witnesses, like Rawcliffe and Dellage,
why were they not killed by the killer?

I have tried to record what I think is the true story.
what I find amazing, NONE of these books, newspapers, etc,
even have his name spelled correct.
That should have been the easy part!

Trust me it is Dellage!
or Délâge
if you want to go to his French Canadian origin!

Anyway I repeat these guys were all found NOT Guilty of the murder.