The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-04-29
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
Narx 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 barr bandits
and confessed murderers of eight men
we're hanged here Friday. Niedermeyer
vas the first to die, and his manner of
Heath was unusual. He vas so weak
rs q result OF his attempt at suicide
hat the Jail guards We're forced to
AIRY him TO the scafrold. He was
placed in a chair ana the drop sprung
1t 1875. He slowly strangled to death.
The thrce mel passed a sleepless
hight n began early today to pre-
care for the end. Niedcrmeicr con-
inued TO rejtct all spiritual advice, de-
daring that he would die an Atheist.
out Marx and Van Dine spent the last
hours in reading, writing and praying,
ieverat priests being with them con-
jtantly.
A large crowd assembled abou the
all previous to the our for the eXecu-
ion, but only Il 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
a. iiS " S1SuiN q St'S VI
ion. consent was granted that Van
Dine should be the last to hang.
Neck Was Broken.
Although it was at first believed by
he physicians that he was strangling,
t 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 N~iedermeyer maintained the same
:ullen demeanor that has characterized
him since he became n prisoner, and
While the death warrant was being read
lie snatched the document from the
sheriff and stuck it 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 I'LL and
MARX was pronounced dead at l1:34.
lis 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 to
20, the trap being sprung at 1885. He
a pronounced dead at 11:5.
Ills neck was broken. He was COM
posed preceding his execution, and two
Catholic priests accompanied him as
lie walked unfalteringly to the scat
odd, He was neatly attired in black,
With a white Waistcoat and a white
.oSa pinned to his coat. Van Dine made
40 statement of any kind while on the
5caffold, but the prayer which he re-
oeated with his spiritual advisers was
lutte audible. His lips We're moving in
prayer when the trap was sprung.
Awful Story OF Grimes.
Hanging of the youthful car barn ban-
Its followed closely a period of crime of
less thar six months. In that time eight
murders were committed, all attendant
lpon robbcrics or efforts to escape arrest.
1t was during al attempt to escape on
/ stolen train after an extraordinary pat
tie in the swamp of northern Indiana,
Just east of Chicago, that on November
u of last year the capture of the gang
was completed by the arrest of Ncidcr-
meier, Van Dine and Emil Roesli, 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 and
sentenced was the murder of Frank Stew
art, a clerk in the Chicago City Railway
ecr barns, during a robbery there on the
mofaing of August 80, 1903. James b.
johnson, a motorman, was also killed
ultu Nll NSIS L ~. "N1
dts escapSd after having secured S2,240.
Roeski was not concerned in this crime,
but, after the conviction of his compan-
ions, was tried separately for murder II
which he was the principal and was con.
victed and sentenced to life Imprisonment
Apprehension of the trio in Indiana was
brought about through the boastfulnesE
of Marx, which also caused his own un,
doing. While under the influence of liquor
he displayed a magazine revolver of the
kim known to have been used by the cal
barn murderers. He asserted that the
police would never take him alive.
This came to the notice of Captain
Schlettler. Detectives Quinn and Blau
were detailed to arrest Marx. They fount
hin November 20 in a saloon. Mher
about to take hin into custody Mar.
shot and killed Quinn and tried to shoe
Blaul and escape, but was wounded anc
captured.
Marx Makes Confession.
Several days later Marx, angered a
the failur of his companions to carry GU
u prearranged plan to dynamite the pc
plice station in which he was confinc:
and secure his release, confessed to tn
murders at the street railway barn ant
implicated Neidermeier and Van Dine
Marx told of other desperate crimes the,
had committed, and involved Roeski
Until this admission, identity of the per
petrators had remained a mystery.
On Thursday evening November 26, les
thar a week after the confession of Marx
word was received that three men, an
swering the description of the car bari
bandidts, were in hiding near Clark, Ind
Seven policemen were Immediately sen
to the town, arriving there Friday morn
ing. They were met by Henry f. Riech
ers, who had reported the clew, and VIII
had secretly traced the trio to a 'dugout
in the sand dunes where they were living
With Riechers as a guide the police
g armed with rifles and revolvers and lie
by Detective John H. Sheehan, waited I'll
daybreak and then started for the snoN
covered cave near the Baltimore and Obi
railroad tracks at Wilson'S, a short dis
tance from Clark.
Surrounding the abode. the officers pre-
pared for the fight they expected woul
follow, while Sheehan approached an
The Horse Blew First.