Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-10-18
D|ETz BLAMED FOR
DEPUTYS DEATH
VERDICT FINDS THAT SHOT WAS
FIRED FROM ROOF OF
BARN.
ALL FACE CHARGE OF MURDER
Mother Tells ChiIdren's Plight
Father States That He Surrend-
cred Only at the Pleading
of His Wife.

Hayward.-The defender of Cam
eron Dam and his family have at
last surrendered and are in jail here.
John F. Dietz, his wife and son
Leslie are accused of the murder of
Deputy Sheriff Oscar Harp. War
rants were issued following the rec
ommendation of the coroner's jury
to that effect
After having viewed the Dietz
premises and the body of Harp, the
jury met with Coroner W. H. Moves
at the town hall here and rendered
the verdict given above.
The evidence given by deputies
tended to show that the fatal shot
could not have been fired at Harp
from any other point than the roof
of the Dietz barn.
Dietz himself has stated that he
ran to the barn during the battle, in
the hope of drawing the fire from the
cabin in which his family were hud-
died. He and his wife have stated
thab bCollS dlu hOL III e SIlOL
the battle, and Dietz said his wife
did not handle a gun.
The news of the capture spread
like like wildfire. Crowds gathered
on every corner and the one topic
OF discussion was "DietZ."
Sheriff Madden gave his version of
the affair as follows:
Friday evening after Attorney
General Gilbert and Mr.. Munson,
secretary to the governor, had ar
gued and pleaded in vain with Dietz
for hours to give up for the sake of
his family, if not for himself, Of
fering him all manner of induce
ments, in vain, Gilbert said to me,
We have endeavored to induce Dietz
to give up, but have been unsuccess-
full. He will not surrender to any
thing. The matter is in your hands,
do your duty.
II then called the deputies to-
gether, twenty-seven Winter residents
and three from Radisson, every one
citizens of Sawyer county, many of
them farmers living in the neighbor-
hood of the Dietz home. We closed
in on the house Friday evening late,
assisted by the darkness, some of
our men being within six rods of the
cabin and outbuildings, behind some
of Dietz' barricades. In fact. they
we're scattered thickly around the
properly.
"At about 10 O'Clock Leslie started
off down the field toward the pasture
where the cows were kept. On top
| of the hill two men were stationed,
in a protection erected by Dietz, in
the shape of triangle built up out
of rocks. They called out to Leslie:
Throw up your hands!
"He refused, and started running
back to the house, the deputies firing
at him, though no attempt to kill
| Leslie was made. At his heels one
of the dogs was running along, which
the men killed. showing that ii
would have been an easy matter to
| get the young man, had they wanted
| to kill him. A large number of bull
lets were fired in this fracas. possibly
| forty.
John Dietz himself was in the
| barn and fired from there continu-
| ously during the day. After Leslie S
retreat he did not show up again
| though all this time we kept up a
steady fire on the places where we
supposed John and Leslie were in
| the barn.
About o'clock in the afternoon
Dietz started for the house. He was
fired at, the bullet hitting him. Dietz
then beat il back to the house.
"At about 4 o'clock Mrs. Dietz anC
| hn oip Hnlnn
with a white flag, were met b,
Father Pilon and Heffiefnger of st
Paul. The girl asked to see Madden
81 went up to her and she said:
Father wants to surrender i
you will promise not to let the dep
uties kill him.
81 promised absolute protection
The priest with Hefiefinger wen
back to the house, and came bacl
stating that DietZ wanted me to agree
to allow them a doctor and to lie
the newspaper men in. / told then
they could not consent to such al
arrangement as to sending the news
paper men in, and requested thai
they come out with their hands raised
above their heads.
His surrender was a half-hearteC
way of doing it, He would not marcel
out with appraised hands. and Thor
balm, Van Alstyne and myself walked
up to the house, where Thorbahn i'm
mediately handcuffed Leslie. and be
fore Handwriting Dietz Thorbahn tool
his gun away from him, which ht
still wore in his belt.
Mrs. Dietz was then handcuffe(
and everything was done with the
exception of bringing them back t.
Hayward to be lodged in the count!
jail"