Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1911-05-19
THE DEITZ TROUBLE FROM
THE BEGINNING IN 1904
Ten attempts Were Made to Capture "Defender of
Cameron Dam - Charged With Everything From
Assault to Muder-Th Final Siege
in October, 1910

T.
tempted to serve papers on Mr.. and
Mrs. DeitZ, and were thrown out
Deputy Sheriff Waite Ackley, with a
companion, was ordered off the prem.
Uses, 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 time
the papers were picked up on a pitch.
fork and thrown into the Thornapple
TWO Shot in July, 1905.
Then, on July 25, came the most Sc
rlous 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 q
mile away James Gylland was "cov.
ering the advance" Of Rogich and the
others. There was general shooting.
Clarence got a bullet in the forehead.
and Roglch was penetrated by a ball
that went through the fleshy part of
MS thigh and stopped in his heel
This affair was given its preliminary
hearing in Hayward before Municipal
Judge j. F. Riordan last December.
John F., Mrs. Deitz, Myra, Clarence
and Leslie We're held for trial in the
circuit court. At the same time Clar-
| ence was freed on the charge Of as
| sault with intent to kill Bert Horel,
as an accomplice Of his father.
The Horel Shooting.
After the battle of July rs, 'O5, no
further attempts We're made to cap
ture Deitz, and probably the whole af-
fair would have drifted gradually into
history, If John Deitz had not gone
INTO the town of Winter last primary
election day, September g. There he
| was engaged in a heated argument
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 a 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 it
was hard to find person in Sawyer
county with a 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 l 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,
rig came, in which were Myra, Clar-
ence and Leslie. They were ordered
to surrender. According to Madden,
they started to turn the horses. Imme-
diately Thorbahn and Van Alstyne
ivy h
the body, Clarence was captured, and
Leslie got away into the woods For
days 1t was a question If the girl
would live.
The Final Siege.
Thorbahn 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 O. 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
oil
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 new member Of the family, the
"old man" surrendered. He, Mrs. Deltz
ward, where Clarence was already
held. Myra was in the hospital in Ash
land.
It was only after the surrender that
thu dead body Of Deputy Oscar Harp
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 coHoners 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 tho municipal court. Oc-
tober II, and after continuance were
bound over to the circuit court on sew
eral 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 on account Of Mrs.
Deitz's health. All efforts on the part
of attorneys for the defense to get
change of venue failed.
Arraiqned March Ceases Continued
On March 6 John Deitz, Clarence and
Leslie arrived in Hayward and ap-
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 a 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