Semi-weekly herald., 1911-05-04

John Dietz who for number of year
had defied the officers. The troubl
grew out of a dispute with the Chin
pewa Boom and Lumber compan,
which built dam in the ThornappI
river near the Dietz homestead Floo,
waters. so Dietz asserted. damage,
his land, He claimed he could not pc
satisfaction out of the lumber com
pany and 50 destroyed the dam an,
held up large cut of logs for a yea,
or more. The company was obIigee
to haul the logs off with teams.
I HAYWARD, Wis, May 2.-Th,
joint case against John f. Deitz, Mrs
Deitz and their son. Leslie Deitz. TO,
the murder of Deputy Oscar Harpir
the early part of October, 1910, was
called for trial here today before
Judge Reid of the circuit court. This
is the first and most serious of the
cases growing out of the heroic de
fense of the Cameron dam, Thornap-
pie river, by John f. Deitz and his
family. After this case is disposed of
there will be two more cases to come
up for trial; one is against John r.
Deitz alone and is for his assault on
William Giblin, the former sheriff,
who, with Patrick McGinn, tried to
capture Deitz in 1904. The third case
Ia against Almyra Deitz, the eldest
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Deitz, who
Ia charged with intent to kill John
Rogich, deputy from Milwaukee,
who Joined in the attack upon Dietz'
home in 1904. This last mentioned
case will probably he dropped by the
state, as the prosecution is under
stood to have absolutely no evidence
against the girl. Almyra Deitz was
shot In the hip at the time of her ar
rest, but has since then fully recov-
cred from her injury,
The troubles OF the Deitz family.
which eliminated in long siege of
their log cabin rear the Cameron dam
and their fnal capture after desper
ate and bloody battle in the early
part of last October, began in 1904,
with the purchase of the Cameron
dam by Mr., and Mrs. Deitz. Prior to
that time Deitz and his family occu-
pied cabin near Price dam and Deitz
was employed as watchmqn of the
dam by the Chippewa Lumber & Boom
company. When Deitz removed to his
place Mt Cameron dam, he gave up his
position. The refusal Of the repse-
sentative of the lumber company to
settle with Deitz for the pay which
the latter claimed for his services,
led to an assault by Deitz upon the
agent of the company. The latter oh
tained warrant, hut all attempts to
serve it failed.
After short time dispute arose
between Dcitz and the lumber com
pany concerning the right of the com
pany to run logs through the sluicc
OF Cameron dam. Deitz, who owned
the property, refused to allow the
company the use of the suice without
payment and the company took the
matter into the courts. Summons were
issued for Deitz and also a temporary
injunction, but he would not accept
service. The ease was fought in the
civil courts and was finally decided in
favor of Deitz. During the years
since the Deitz family moved into
their log house on Cameron dam nu-
merous attempts were made to serve
and legal papers ON Deitz,
but the latter, claiming that he could
get no justice in the courts, refused 10
accept service. ON May ., 1904, for
mer Sheriff Giblin and three armed
men tried to arrest Deitz, but he de
Tended himself with his rifle and
forced the sheriff TO withdraw.
Deputy Sheriff Rogich was shot
during another attack upon the Deitz
homestead, on July 25, 1906. A pitch
ed battle between the deputy sheriffs
on one side and the members of the
Dcitz family on the other took place
and Rogich was seriously wounded by
a shot. 1t was said at the time that
Almyra Deitz had fired the shot. In
of last year Deitz became
involved in a quarrel with the presi-
dent Of the school board during
visit to the town of Winter and in
cidentally shot Bert Horel, who tried
10 act as peacemaker. This last trou-
Bile led to the long siege Of the Deitz
home by a large posse seeking TO ar
rest Deitz. II was during the final
assault, which ended with the sur
render of Deitz and his family, that
Deputy Harper was shot and killed.
C0mmoner Sees Great Opportunity for
Democratic Party-AlsO Has