The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1908-02-28

| HlNtI IL Wntn u uOG OdTkbu anu MIS.
Boche left the house on a pretext.
She was followed by Sheriff Clements.
! When near the barn the wife called
In German. Boche himself, not twelve
feet distant answered in German.
| Under the flash OF the sherif's dark
lantern he stood for a second, easily
recognized and wearing the stif
brown hat which had figured in every
description of the man. With the fash
OF the lantern Boche had darted away
followed by the officer. stop" cried
the sheriff stop or I'll shoot"
Around the barn and thirty feet across
to wooded pasture Boche ran. Four
times the sheriff shot. At the pas
| ture fence Boche, familiar with the
place, ducked beneath a gate while
the sheriff was halted by the wires.
Then Boche made a getaway.
Until the morning of May s, Boche
to all intents and purposes had van
ished from the earth so far as the
| officers were concerned. Clues came
from Wakefield from Humphrey and
from other points. The whole coun-
| tryside along the Elkhorn was
searched and the bayou near the Bo-
che farm dragged to make sure that
Boche's body was not to be found in
| the water of the Boche slough. Gov
ernor Sheldon offered 5000 reward for
| Boche's capture and the county COM
missioners of Madison county 800.
Neighboring sheriffs joined in the
search, a search which was prosecut-
ed vigorously save for the two days
when a truce" was declared and
proclamation issued asking Boche to
come forth from the wilderness and
deliver himself of his own accord dur
| ing the intermission of the search.
Gave Himself Up.
Two days after the official "truce"
had ended Herman Boche gave him
self up. He went to the camp of his
| cousin, Fred Boche, south of Norfolk,
where it was arranged that Constable
Conley should be summoned from
| Norfolk to take Boche to Madison.
The evening previous Boche had spent
at his own home.
Herman Boche with the constable
and his cousin, Fred Boche, arrived
in Madison about noon. The first in
terview secured from Boche was that
gained by j. b. Donovan, editor of the
Madison StarMail, and that afternoon
three columns of Boche's story as it
fell from his lips was printed in The
News. Apparently trying to conceal
none of the facts in the case as he
viewed it, Boche spoke freely of the
incidents leading up to the shooting
of farmer of what dim recollection
he had of the shooting itself and of
that wild week in the woods when he
lived the life of a hunted animal.
5oche's Story.
Boche said that he had come to Nor
folk on the eve of the tragedy with
over $500 the proceeds of live stock
sale. For this reason and because he
traverses wild country in going to
Norfolk, he had carried a revolver
Then farmer, who had been seeking
to borrow money for his saloon IL
cense had, Boche said, coaXed him
ting him to drink heavily. Here, ac-
cording to his story, he was persuad
ed to drink still more until when
aroused in the morning hours he
found himself robbed. Boche recalled
being dragged towards a hack, miss
ing his money and drawing his re-
volver. The day of the shooting, Bo-
he
even less than a hazy recollection.
Near sunset he found himself in a hog
pen near the resort. He arose, ignor
ant for the most part of the momen-
tous events of the morning, and made
his way towards his farm beyond the
river. 1t was that night that Sheriff
Clements dark lantern revealed Bo-
che in the barn yard,
Boche, few minutes after he told
his story, was taken to the Office of
Senator Allen. When he left the law
yer's Office he went back to Jail with
the injunction to seal his lips and
speak to no one
A Long Legal Fight.
Boche's arrest introduced long le-
gal fight, finally successful, fol his
release on bail. On May Boche APP
peared in Norfolk in Justice Lambert's
court waived his preliminary hearing
and was bound over to the district
court. Court was in session the lat
ter part of May but Boche's attorneys
showed that they had not had time to
prepare for trial on account of the
short time elapsing. On May % Bo-
che was brought to Norfolk again, this
time in an effort to have District
Judge Welch admit BOche to bail.
Judge Welch denied the application.
Boches four attempts at suicide oc-
Cured in the jail on July 7. Three
attempts were made by hanging, one
by diving to the cement floor of the
Jail, striking his head. The same day
Boche tried to project a pitchfork