Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-07-20
CAMERON DAM WAR FARCE
NO SERIOUS EFFORT EVER MADE
TO CAPTURE AND BRING JOHN
DIETZ INTO COURT.
HE NEVER KILLED A MAN.
Expeditions Marched Up the Hill and
Down Again, Sawyer County and
Lumber Company Paying Cost.

cial IAN alleged dispatch to n Milwau-
kee newspaper printed last Friday
morning asserted that another effort was
made by Sheriff Gyland of Sawyer coun-
ty to capture the much-adyertised John
Dietz, the ThornappIe dam outlaw
This is probably an error, Tor it undoubt-
eddy refers to an effort recently made
whether final or not cannot definitely be
stated-whch ended as ali previous eff
forts have, in a bill to the county board
for expenses. This bill was presented to
the board the day the dispatch was sent
10 the Milwaukee paper.
Never Killed a Man
AS a matter of fact, the entire sensa-
ton over the Thornapple dam cOntro-
Yersy is something Of a farce, if the
stories told in this section of the state
are to be believed. There is contro-
VerSy over the title to the land on which
the dam is situated between Dietz and
the corporation that owns the timber
above the dam. Civil suits have been in
stituted to GUST Dietz from the land but
lie continues to hold possession. This
controversy has been in progress for two
years or more and during that time
Dietz has been represented as an outlaw,
armed to the teeth, thirsting for the
bIOOu VI the luIllOuS OIL the corpora ZION
as well as defying the police power of
the United States and the great and
sovereign state of Wisconsin.
But John Dietz has never killed
man. He has not even killed a child He
has not laid himself open to arrest on
criminal warrant. He has refused to
be diSpOssessed or driven from his farm.
lie has announced in firm manner that
he would resist any attempt to force
him TO leave his property, or the farm
he claims to hold under a good title, as
he believes that possession is an impor
tant point in the settlement of q civil
action. And it is because he has COM
mitted no overt act of violence that
would make him amenable to the courts
under criminal charge that he is still
IN possession Of the Thornapple dam.
Material for Opera.
The stories told of the events that
have marked the progress of this con-
troversy would furnish ample material
for a comic opera. Pinkerton detectives
have lowered around the humble log
cabin of the outlaw in droves; deputy
sheriffs have tramped through the woods
in the neighborhood of Thornapple dam
in platoons carrying Winchester rifles
on their shoulders.
At one time Twenty-Five deputy Unit
ed States marshals with a supporting
force of sixty irregulars, enlisted to serve
during the war, with eighty-nine repeat
ing rifles and enough ammunition to gut
the market in South American repub-
lie during q revolution, camped on the
line of John DietZs farm and sent for
ward a flag of truce by the hand of a
courageous deputy who notified Dietz
that he must surrender on pain of suf-
fering an assault on his works. Diet2
replied that he would not surrender; he
expressed the opinion that he might be
killed in the forthcoming battle, but, if
attacked, he felt confident that he would
be able to do some little execution him
self and he was ready to die in defense
of his rights and his property. There
was some talk about this rock shall
fly from its firm base as soon as and
so forth. But, as there is no known
provision in the civil code that justifies
a man merely because he refuses to sur
render property he claims to own, the
posse was withdrawn.
No Effort to Seize
There does not appear to have been
a serious effort made at any time to
actually seize Dietz and hale him into
court. There have been bluffs galore,
but they always stopped short of actual
hostilities by officers of the courts. One
instance is reported where Dietz was
fired upon by body of men holding nc
official authority but supposed to repre-
sent the lumber company; other stories
told by Dietz' friends are to the effect
that COW and several sheep belonging
to the outlaw" were poisoned and that
poison was placed in a spring used by
the family and from which their supply
of drinking water was taken. the result
being that daughter of Dietz was poi
soned and her life was saved by the
fact that the dose was so large that il
acted as an emetic.
Nice Bill for County.
But, during all this time nice bill of
expense has been piling up against the
lumber company and the county of Saw
YER The sheriff is paid a salary by
Sawyer county for doing the business of
his office In the county. When he goes
beyond the county lines he collects mile
age fees. In the Dietz case it has been
customary for the sheriff to visit Black
River Falls, Phillips, Fifeld, and even
Milwaukee in order to secure assistance,
the county paying the expense. The de-
tectives and other independent and ir-
regular troops that have been employed
by the lumber company have all been
paid for marching up the hill and then
marching down again. And, as has been
said, two years of this kind of bluff and
buster and nonsense has been going on
and John Dietz has never even
winged man, officer or private, sol.
diers or civilian. And the story of the
wisconsin outlaw" has been scattered
to ocean and from the gulf to the great
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