Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-12-16
BUT AFFIDAviTS OF PREJUDICE
OF SAWYER COUNTY clTl-
ZENS ARE ADMITTED.
DEITZ'LAWYERS CLAIM MISTRIAL
Lengthy Argument by Opposing Coun.
sci in Famous Murder Trial at
Hayward-Thorhahn
Admits Prejudice.

a body blow as far as the present case
is concerned, Attorneys Rubin and Wit
tig, counsel for John, Hattie and Leslie
Deitz, who are being tried here for
the murder Of Deputy Oscar Harp,
were highly elated, when in night
session of the circuit court, Judge A.
r. Reid denied on a point of law
their motion for change of venue, but
admitted the affidavits of prejudice Of
the citizens of Sawyer county to be
spread on the records of the court
Only Venue Change Granted.
The court ruled that inasmuch as he
has succeeded Judge Wickham in rec
ognition of an affidavit of prejudice,
one change of venue, and the only
change allowable, has been already
granted.
A signed statement from Fred W.
Thorbahn, chief of the deputies who
captured Deitz and his family, stating
the opinion that an impartial jury for
each side could not be obtained in
Sawyer county, caused stir when
read in the court room.
Both of the Milwaukee attorneys ad.
mitted that the court had erred sutfi-
GENTLY to make the present case result
in a mis-trial.
Affidavits of Prejudice.
Affidavits of prejudice against the
citizens of Sawyer county were filed,
containing the sworn statements of
three Milwaukee detectives who have
travelled over Sawyer county during
the last month. These detectives were
the rat trap woman" as she has
been called, the "rat man." who on a
pretense of buying muskrat skins, Wis,
tied most of the men available for jury
duty in the county, and the third Wis
tied residences and stores in Hayward,
disguised as wood cutter.
Mrs. Ether c. Bolton of Milwaukee
was the rat trap" woman. Under
the name of Mrs. J. G. Spencer, Joliet,
ILL.,, she masqueraded through the en-
tire county with her rat trap and she
made affidavit that she had visited
$50 homes, in each of which she found
that the members of the family were
hostile to DeitZ.
Paul G. Dorsch was the so-called
rat man" He swore to an affidavit
that he had visited and talked with
several hundred probable jurors in the
county and that everywhere he had
found sentiment inimical to Deitz, and
the feeling against him so intense that
it was dangerous to express sympathy
for the dam defender.
In the petition for change of venue
it was alleged that the Chippewa Lum-
Der and Boom company, which is
headed by Frederick Weyerhauser
controls all of the business interests
of Sawyer county, and in fact of north
ern Wisconsin, and that this company
for six years or more has maintained
a regular press bureau, which aside
from furnishing material for publica-
ton to the regular daily papers of the
district, owned several publications of
it's own which were generally circulat
ed and were largely read in Sawyer
county.
The defense argued that for six
years this press bureau has laid spe-
cial stress on cultivating and instilling
in the minds Of the readers in this
section, hatred for the Deitz family
and had even gone to far as to publish
a pamphlet which presented the his
tory Of the Deitz troubles from their
inception, from the view point of the
lumber companies.
In his argument in chambers, At
torney Rubin declared that he was
prepared to show the court that a jury
could not be secured in Sawyer coun-
ty. He said that the total number of
voters in the county was about 700,
but that fully 100 of these were Indians
or so-called "Squaw men" A large
part were men who were unable to
read or write, another great portion
was composed of prospective citizens
who had not taken out their second
papers and were therefore unfit for
jury service. Over hundred had
served as county officers, and many
others, said the attorney, could not
serve because Of prejudice formed
while working as agents of the lumber
companies against the defense.
Narrowing the number of eligible
venire men down to "a in actual num-
bers in this way, Mr.. Rubin called the
attention of the court to the fact that
altogether the state and defense would
have u strikes, leaving but % men
from which to make a jury.
is TO WE'D DE GOGORzA