By the end of October in 1918, the people of North Dakota held an apocalyptic view of unfolding events. The whirlwind pace of an incredibly violent year had eclipsed anything ever witnessed before. Editor F.W Wardwell of the Pioneer Express at Pembina had stated that it took blood to make people understand what war means, and, in his words, the war demon had spread his red cape across the state as loved ones were dying on the battlefields of France.