The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-10-21
DE|Tz FAMILY IS BOUND
OVER TO CIRCUIT COURT
JOHN, HATTIE AND LESLIE MUST
FACE A TRIAL.
Hayward People Surprised; Expected
That Wife and Mother Would Be
Released, as There Was No Posi-
tive Evidence Against Her; Sheriff
Madden Admits He Was Afraid to
Try to Arrest the Old Man.


Deitz, his wife Hattie and Leslie
Deitz, his son, were all bound over to
the circuit court by Judge ]. F. Rior.
dan on the charge of numbering Oscar
Harp. a deputy. They were taken
back to the Sawyer county Jail and
w. b. Rubin OF Milwaukee, their at
torney, will go to Eau Claire with Dis.
trict Attorney ]. C. Davis to argue the
matter Of bail before Judge James
Wickham, circuit judge. 1t is prob
able that the bail for John Deitz will
be $1,000, while that of his wife and
son will be much less.
Neither the Deitzes nor their attor-
ney were disappointed in the outcome.
Mrs Deitz smiled for the first time
during the day. II told you So" she
said to her husband; we didn't have
the ghost of show in Hayward"
John Deitz patted her on the bacl,
and said well. Wen be out of 1t
pretty soon. anyhow"
As Sheriff Mike Madden was plac-
ing the handouts on the father and
son Mrs. Deitz said to correspond.
ent:
"They cannot see things justly here
in Sawyer county. They've got it in
for the Deitz family and we knew it.
That's why we are not disappointed.
They know that neither Leslie nor
could possibly have shot Harp. We
didn't even fire a shot"
Attorney Rubin said: 81 am more
sanguine than ever. They have not a
bit of evidence which will be admit
ted before trial Judge. We had no
chance in Hayward and l told the
Deitzes before the case opened just
what would happen, There was no
reason on earth to keep Mrs. DeitZ or
Leslie, as not one word of evidence
was spoken against them ] will ar
range bail for the Deitz family in any
amount"
No Positive Evidence Offered.
When asked what grounds there
was for holding Mrs Deitz and Les
lie on the murder charge, County
Attorney j. c. Davis said that evi
dence was introduced showing that
Thorbahn thought he saw some empty
shells lying on the floor of the Deit2
cabin after the surrender. Thorbahn
was not sure, but he was under the
impression = Even Hayward people
were surprised at the fact that Mrs
DeitZ was not given her release when
the citizens realized that this was the
only evidence offered against her.
Practically no positive evidence was
offered Every witness prefaced his
testimony with the remark Il am not
sure, but | think" or Il didn't make a
close examination. but l am under the
impression that" Every witness
called, with the exception of the cOro
ner, DR.. q. A. Grafton, was a deputy
sheriff
Sheriff Madden's stock in Hayward
has fallen about ninety points since
his admission on the stand that he did
not try to arrest Deitz because he was
afraid to. he also made the statement
that the, shooting of Myra might be de-
scribed as the waylaying of the girl
He explained that he was behind q
tree when it happened, and that he
had kept it a secret from the Deit2
family that he had appointed Thor
balm and Van Alystine as deputies.
A small sensation was sprung by the
defense during the testimony of Thor
balm. The chief deputy told of let
ter he wrote to Deitz asking him as a
friend to surrender. After the cap
ture Thorbahn went back to the house
and got possession of this letter. When
Attorney Rubin demanded the letter
ThOrbahn handed it to him, and the
lawyer made the discovery that the
letter had beer altered. Thorbahn ad
mitted adding the words deputy sher-
iff' to the signature, and confessed to
changing the date on it before offering
it as testimony.
Thorbahn admitted having fired 10C
shots at the cabin and barn from
every conceivable direction in order to
make Deitz think there were more
men than there really were. He de.
MED the possibility. however, of one
of the bullets from his gun striking