Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1903-12-05

When Van Dine said "Pese here shot
D-iscoh N~eiderneie- smiled slightly.
and remarked: Yes, ] shot Driscoil
and the brakeman" and then sank back
TO listen TO a Dine. When Van Dine
heard that Mayor Harrison was coming
into the room he Strengthened up, tried
TO smooth down Neidermeier's hair,
which was stiff with matted blood. and,
taking a small mirror from a pocket,
tried to scrape the blood from his own
face. Both men admitted that Marx
mad told essentially the truth in con-
Meeting them with the various crimes
charged UP against them, and said that
they did the killing at the car barns.
y hit two men," said Neidermeier.
Il don't know II / killed anybody"
w left Chicago said Van Dine,
because we thought IL wise to disap-
pear for a time after Marx made his
squeal, but were comlng back again.
We intended to come In tonight and
get some money so that we could get
away"
Il suppose that means" said Chief
O'Neil. that you were going to COM
nit robbery"
why sure. certainly" said Van Dine
with a laugh.
Had Big Plans.
w were planning some big rob
berries here said Van Dine. and we
money soon but for Marx squealing on
us. j would like to get him and put
him where Driscoll is"
When told that the police meant to
take his picture, Van Dine said:
well. you don't get 1t until my face
is washed. I'll have no picture look
ing like this"
Chief of Police O'Neil took a damp
towel and wiped the faces of the two
men and then the pictures were ken.
After this Far Dine again talked Of
his surrender:
II wanted to see my friends before 1
went he said. We've got mothers
like other people, amt We Peter" and
Niedermier replied, Sure thing"
1--WE fought until there was no chance
of getting away without further MUIR
DER said Van Dine. When you was
on that trail / could have shot lots
Of those farmers. They were black
against the snow, and did not know
enough to take cover. 1t would have
been nothing but target practice to
Following fresh footprints in the
snow from the scene of the capture of
N~iedermeier and Van Dine, Fred Mil
Ter, Louis Miller, John Dillon, Charles
Hamilton and Hugo Kemp, residents Of
East Tolleston, Ind, captured Emil
Roeski sitting on a bench in the Wa
bash station at Aetna, Ind, a town four
miles northeast of Liverpool, Ind.
Arrest of Roeski.
The arrest was made at AIS o'clock
shortly after Roeski missed a train to
Chicago. He was unarmed. The bandit
was identified by Hugo Kemp, a hunter,
who engaged the desperate in a life
struggle at a sandpit at East Tolleston,
when the fugitives pressed the train
into service to escape the police.
Kemp, who vas a Witness of the muir
der Of Brakeman Sovea, told how he
II John Clifford were standing on the
other sid of the locomotive when
Niedermeier struggled with and shot
Sovea n escaped with his compan-
ions in the locomotive, Kemp firing a
double load Of birdshot at them. After
hat Kemp and several companions
went to Liverpool and took up the trail
in the snow. This trail led to a corn
shack, in which the posse discovered
the bandits had taken refuge. They
were preparing to open fire hen a
voice from the shack said: 1--WE sur
render"
Fred Miller, who was leading the
posse, ordered the men to throw out
their guns and come out with their
hands up. Three magazine guns and
ii TGNOlNtI were lDTONn Out, ana an
Dine STEPPED out with his hands up and
said:
For Gods sake, boys, don't shoot
me. l want to see my mother before l
die"
Neiderneier then stepped out with
his hands up and said:
Safe With the Posse.
I'VE know you men will do the right
TUNE with us, and that is the reason we
sun ender. We would never give UP
alive to the police, who we know are
surrounding us. !, too, want to see my
mother. You see we are both injured.
Van Dine is weak INC could not go any
further, so | remained with him. Ro-
eski went on, and there is his TRAIL" at
the same time pointing to n line OF
foot prints going northeast from the
corn shack
When the posse turned the bandits
over 10 the Chicago police, Neider-
meier said:
you have treated us all right; come
to Chicago and see us hanged"
Then the posse took up the trail for
Roeski, and the footprints took them to
Aetna station, where they captured Ro-
eski without any trouble.
Late tonight Roeski was brought TO
Chicago, and is now locked up in the
same police station as his companions.
Weak from the DAYS ordeal, Emil
Roeski sat in his cell at the Harrison
street station tonight and told a re-
markable story OF his relations with
Neidermeier and Van Dine.
wan Dine and Neidermeier knew
that that | was the only one who could
implicate them in the car barn case"
said Roeski, land they hungered for
my life. They would have killed me
today, even when all OF US faced death,
IL there had been an opportunity, but
| knew II and watched them. 1 had to
protect myself against their murderous
designs as well as those OF the men
who tracked us,
Treachery in the Gang.
II was not in on the car barn deal.
1 could nave been, and probably would
have been. but we had q little misun-
derstanding. After the job the boys
told me Of 1t. OF course, they realized
that l knew it anyway. They seemed
to fear that l would give them away
to the police.
Not long & Van Dine enticed me
into the woods somewhere in Indiana.
He pretended we were searching for
dynamite that was buried. But 1 was
wise-I knew he wanted to kill me.
When l thought he was about ready to
do the job / covered him. / told him
that If he made a move / would shoot
him on the spot. He knew / would do
1t, too. Would you blame me?
"Neidermeier and Van Dine, the very
fellows whom / had befriended time
and again, were waiting for the oppor-
tunity TO put q bullet into my brain.