Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-04-30
BANDITS PAY
LAST PENALTY
Neidermeyer, Marx and Van
Dine Die on ScaffoId In
Chicago.
UNUSUAL DEATH SCENE
Niedermeier Was So Weak He
Had to Sit in a Chair on
the ScaffoId.
OTHERS WE'RE ~REPENTANT
Marx and Van Dine Spent Their Last
Hours With Spiritual Advisers,
But Niedermeier Was Unre-
pentant to the End.

Chicago, April 23.-Peter Nieder-
| meier. Gustav Marx and Harvey Van
Dine, the notorious car barn bandits
md confessed murderers of eight men
we're hanged here Friday. NiedermeyeT
Mas the first to die, and his manner OF
ieath was unusual. He was so weak
rs a result of his attempt at suicide
| hat the Jail guards were forced to
larry him to the scaGTold. He was
placed in a chair and the drop sprung
1T 1926. He slowly strangled TO death.
The three men passed a sleeple5s
hight and began early today to pre-
oare for the end. Niedermeier con-
| inued to rejtct all spiritual advice, de-
| ,laring that he would die an Atheist,
)ut Marx and Var Dine spent the last
hours in reading, writing n praying,
several priests being with them con-
SANITY.
A large crowd assembled about the
all previous TO the hour for the execu-
ion, but only a limited number OF per
IONS as provided by law, witnessed the
bandits leap into eternity.
Sheriff Barrett decided this morning
he men should die separately, Nieder-
meier first, Marx next and then Van
Dine. AS the latter's attorneys were
,ndeavoring to secure a stay or eXecu-
ion, consent was granted that Van
Dine should be the last to mans
Neck Was Broken.
Although 1t was at first believed by
he physicians that he was strangling,
[ developed that Niedermeyer's neck
vas broken. Twenty minutes after the
lrop fell he was pronounced bead and
he body cut down. Previous to eXecu-
ion Niedermeyer maintained the same
,ullen demeanor that has characterized
liz, cinCn hn happ mo q prisoner. ana
While the death warrant was being read
he snatched the document from the
sheriff and stuck 1t in his pocket, maxi
ng a sarcastic reference to his eXecu-
ion. He was hanged at 1926 a. m.
Marx was accompanied by two
priests and led to the scaffold repeat
ng the litany after the clergy. He
made no statement. He appeared weak
out met his death bravely.
The trap was sprung at ll:l7 and
Marx was pronounced dead at ll:34,
,is neck being broken. Marx was
neatly dressed, with a white rose on
he lapel of his coat given him by his
title sister last evening.
Harvey Van Dine was the last 10
20, the trap being sprung at 1883. He
vas pronounced dead at ll:5.
HIS neck was broken. He was COM
posed preceding his execution, and two
Catholic priests accompanied him as
le walked unfalteringly to the scat
old. He was neatly attired in black,
With a white waistcoat and a white
.os> pinned to his coat. Van Dine made
10 statement of any kind while on the
ycaffold, but the prayer which he re-
oeated with his spiritual advisers was
lutte audible. His lips were moving In
prayer when the trap was sprung.
Awful Story Of Crimes.
Hanging of the youthful car barn BAN
Tits followed closely a period of crime or
iess than six months. In that time eight
murders were committed, all attendant
lpon robberies or efforts to escape arrest.
1t was during an attempt to escape on
I stolen train after an extraordinary bat
tie in the swamps of northern Indiana,
Just east of Chicago, that on November
n of last year the capture of the gang
was completed by the arrest OF Neider-
meier, Van Dine and Emil Roeski, Their
associate, Marx, having already been
placed behind the bars TO await trial.
The specific offense for which Van Dine,
Neidermeier and Marx were tried n
was the murder of Frank Stew
art, a clerk I'm the Chicago City Railway
car barns, during a robbery there on the
morning Of August 30, 1903. James -
a motorman, was also killed,
and two persons were wounded. The ban
dts escaped after having secured $2,24o'
Roeski was not concerned In this crime,
after the conviction Of his compan-
ions, was tried separately for murder IN
which he was the principal and was con-
and sentenced to life Imprisonment.
Apprehension OF the trio In Indiana was
brought about through the boasttulness
Of Marx, which also caused his own I'M
doing. While under the influence of liquor
4, 80 ~ ufn rnNvn1Nn~ nf tho
kind known to nave been used by the car
barn murderers. He asserted that the
police would never take him alive.
This came to the notice of Captain
Detectives Quinn and Blaul
were detailed to arrest Marx. They found
him November 20 in n saloon. When
about to take him into custody Marx
shot and killed Quinn and tried to shoot
Blaul and escape, but was n
captured.
Marx Makes Confession.
Several days later Marx, angered at
the failure of his companions to carry out
4 prearranged plan to dynamite the po-
plice station In which he was confined
and secure his release, confessed TO the
murders at the street railway barn and
Neidermeier and Van Dine,
Marx told Of other desperate crimes they
had committed, and involved Roeski.
Until this admission, identity of the per-
had remained a mystery.
on Thursday evening November 26, less
than a week after the confession of Marx,
word was received that three men, an
swering the description of the car barn
BANDITS, were in hiding near Clark, Ind
Seven policemen were Immediately sent
to the town, arriving there Friday morn
Nug. They were met by Henry +. Riech-
ers, who had reported the clew, and who
had secretly traced the trio to a ~"dugout"
the sand dunes where they were living.
With Riechers as a guide the police,
with rifles and revolvers and led
by Detective John II. Sheehan, waited till
n then started for the snow
cave near the Baltimore and Ohio
tracks at Wilson's, a short dis
from Clark.
Surrounding the abode, the officers pre-
pared for the fight they expected would
follow, while Sheehan approached II