The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1911-05-18


Mrs. DeitZ, and were thrown out
Deputy Sheriff Waite Ackley, with q
companion, was ordered off the prem.
ises. and didn't hesitate. Deputy Unit.
ed States Marshal Pugh went from
Madison with legal papers. He stopped
at the edge of the Deitz clearing Iona
enough to lay them on a stump. and
entered the woods again. This timS
the papers were picked up on q pitch.
fork and thrown into the Thornapple.
Two Shot In July, 1905.
Then, on July %. came the most Sc.
rious affair in the series, until the
shooting of Horel. Sheriff James CYL,
land crept in upon the cabin with six
men from Milwaukee, including John
Rogich and John Hefft. A white
faced COW gave the alarm. Half .
mile away James GyIland was Cow
ering the advance" of Rogich and the
others. There was general shooting.
Clarence got a bullet in the forehead,
and Rogich was penetrated by a bali
that went through the fieshy part of
MS thigh and stopped in his heel.
This affair was given its preliminary
hearing in Hayward before Municipal
Judge }. F. Riordan last December
John F., Mrs. Deitz, Myra, Clarence
and Leslie were held for trial in the
u
ence was freed on the charge of as
sault with intent to kill Bert HorelI
as an accomplice Of his father.
The HoreI Shooting.
After the battle Of July rs. 'O5, no
further attempts were made to cap
ture Deitz, and probably the whole af-
fair would have drifted gradually into
history, If John Deitz had not gone
T1tA "a oP Loo
election day, September 6. There he
was engaged in a heated argument
with G.. G. O'Hare, head of the school
board, when Horel interfered. Deitz
claims Horel was the aggressor,
knocked him into a ditch and Jumped
in after him, and came at him again
when he crawled out while he himself
was being held from escape by by
ISLANDERS. Deitz pulled nine-shot au-
tomato Luger and shot Horel through
the neck and shoulder.
Instantly the sentiment of the com
munity, which had always been with
Deitz in his quarrel with the lumber
companies, veered completely, until 1t
was hard to find a person in Sawyer
county with good word to say for
the man who had once been hailed as
the Defender of Cameron Dam" The
determination to capture him was
made Immediately. On October Sher-
If Madden and two deputies. Fred
Thorbahn and Roy Van Alstyne, were
beside the road leading to the cabin
waiting for Deitz to appear Instead,
a rig came, in which were Myra, Clar-
ence and Leslie. They were ordered
to surrender. According to Madden,
they started to turn the horses. 1mme-
diately Thorbahn and Van Alstyne
opened fire. Myra was shot through
the body, Clarence was captured, and
rot ar INT he dc
days it was a question If the girl
would live.
The Final Siege.
Thorbehn was placed in charge of
making the capture and began swear
ing in deputies. Night and day the
cabin was surrounded All supplies
and mail were cut off, Staff correspond
ents for distant newspapers went to
Winter and waited with the deputies at
the edge of the woods. Back at their
home offices, on the last days of the
week, when the tragedy seemed immi-
nent, more telephone calls for the latest
information were received than came
In to the newspapers while President
Mckinley was dying in Buffalo.
Governor Davidson sent the attorney
general of Wisconsin, Frank L. Gilbert,
and the private secretary to the gov
ernor, Colonel 0. G. Munson. to talk
with Deitz, promise him a fair trial,
counsel and personal safety, and try
to persuade him to come out" Deitz
refused the offer. The next day. Octo-
Der Z, the two peace ENJOYS went again
from Winter and remained for hours
in the cabin. They went further than
their first proposition, and guaranteed
immunity from all criminal prosecution
except that necessitated by the shoot
ing of Horel Again the offer was re-
fused, Deitz demanding that all civil
suits against him also be dropped. The
two officials told Madden to do his
duty" and went back to Madison.
"The Old Man" Surrenders.
The next morning Leslie was fired on
when he left the cabin. From soon
after dawn until the middle of the aft
ernoon the attack was kept up. Final
ly, shot through the hand, and listen
ing at last to the fears of Mrs. Deitz
in connection with the expected arrival
of a new member of the family, the
"old man" surrendered. He, Mrs. De1rz
and Leslie were taken to Jail in Hay
ward, where Clarence was already
held. Myra was in the hospital in Ash
land.
1t was only after the surrender that
was found near the lumber pile. drilled
through from the mouth to the middle
of the thigh by a steel-cased bullet.
Charged With Murder.
A coroners jury in Winter charged
John Deitz, Mrs Deitz and Leslie
guilty Of the murder of the deputy The
adult members Of the family were ar
raigned for preliminary hearing in
Hayward, in the municipal court Oc-
teber Ii, and after a continuance we're
bound over to the circuit court on SER
eraI charges In addition to the Horel
and Harp allegations. All except John
Deitz were allowed out on bail. The
father gained his liberty On bail later.
At the beginning Of the murder trial in
December continuance was granted
until March 6 on account of Mrs.
Deitz's health. All efforts on the part
of attorneys for the defense to get q
change of venue failed.
Arraigned March Cases Continued
On March John Deitz, Clarence and
Leslie arrived in Hayward and APP
peared in the court house before Judge
"A. r. Reid, the "Old Man" and Leslie
to answer to the murder charge. Mrs.
Deitz was i'll at the home of friend
near Rice Lake, and did not appear.
Neither the father nor the son was rep
resented by an attorney.
On account of the enforced absence
of Mrs. Deitz, and on motion of District
Attorney S. J. Williams, the case was
continued until May 2. John Deitz per-
sisted in his announcement that he
was through with lawyers and would