Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1914-12-09
GREELEY Il: YOUNG men I
Z. ARE SENTENCED
EACH MEMBER OF, NEGRO POS
.aT is FINED $500 AND ~
#&.s H~ COSTS.
JUDGE DUNHAM PRESIDES ON BENCH
Many Cases Disposed Of at the
opering Of the December
55..$45; Term. =.

seven IueIl 1FOul 'IISeley V1uu VlCI1AI.
were under, indictment, charged witt
the killing Of negro near Greeley Q
4 November 23rd, 1913. The details o
this very unfortunate affair ar
still fresh in the public mind. It viii
be recalled that a strange negro ap
peared in the vicinity of Greele!
during the evening preceding thi
date. Mr.. Hansel, the town marshal
relying upon some literature whicl
he had received, describing fugi
4 tive negro criminal, believed this t.
be the one the police were looking
for. He hastily summoned a numbe'
Of residents Of Greeley. and vicinity
organized posses and directed tha
the negro be captured, dead or alive
Searching parties secured the coun
try with the result that the negro
was found and while attempting tt
escape was shot and killed. The meT
who made up the posse were Ross
Chase, Ben Brady, Frank Sprague
Chester Willard, Herb Feuerheln
and Walter Smock. They have beer
awaiting trial since their indictment
at the December term of the 1871;
grand jury of this county. .
In i bringing the matter to the at
tention Of the court, County Attor
ney Stiles briefly reviewed the his
tory OF the case and fully explained
his actions in connection Herewith
In the first place, he said, that ii
must be remembered that these men
were not criminals in the ordinary
sense Of the word; that they had al.
ways been law abiding citizens; thai
they wrongly, though honestly, be
slieyed that they were performing a
duty to the public when they fol.
lowed the foolish Instructions of Mr.
Hansel, the town marshall at Greeley
that Mr.. Hansel had also doubtless
believed that he was acting within
his authority and was certainly limo
cent Of any intentional wrong doing
Mr.. Stiles informed the court that
the men were willing to change their
pleas. of not guilty to the charge made
in the Indictment to guilty of the
crime OF, assault with intent to in
flict great bodily injury The ques'
ton presented to the court was,
whether or not this plea should be
accepted and sentence passed there
on, the maximum fine being
$4,000. The county attorney
In his statement to the court
said he had considered the matter
long and carefully, and was convinc'
ed that under the circumstances
these men should not be sentenced
to serve a term of imprisonment in
the penitentiary, and added that con-
finement in the county jail would be
worse. He said that the acceptance
Of the pleas as offered with a SEN
tence Of fine of $50O.00 each would
not be an ideal solution Of the mat
ter. It was, however, the best solu--
tion that the circumstances and the
law permitted and he therefore re-
commended such a course to the
court.
! Mr.. Stiles said that several months
ago the, attorney general Of Iowa
was asked by some Of the citizens
OF Manchester to appear in the case
for the purpose of prosecuting 1t
vigorously, and to prevent an ad-
iustment of the matter. The attor-
ney general made a thorough inves-
tigation of the case and assured the
county attorney that he fully APPROX
ed Of his course Of action. The
two, other judges Of this judicial
district have held court here since
the return Of the Indictment in this
case and the matter was laid before
them and they also approved OF the
manner in which the case was being
handled. More recently the attorney
general was again urged by some OF
the residents of Manchester to take
hand in the case. He made a Sec
ond investigation but declined to IN
terfere in any way and fully endorsed
the procedure that was being fol-
lowed. The county attorney said
that with this record and in. view OF
all the circumstances he did not hes
itate to recommend to the court the
acceptance of the pleas. "a
~ Judge Durham, in passing sentence
plainly showed the responsibility
which he felt in the disposition of
this matter. He said that he had
made himself familiar with all the
details and had carefully considered
the case and also that he appreciated
the painstaking efforts, which the
county attorney had made in endeav-
ioring to bring the matter to a just
and proper solution. He realized the
difficulties in view Of the peculiar
circumstances of this case in decld-
ing what would be exact justice. He
expressed the opinion that the cause
Of justice and public welfare would
not be served by sending these men
to the penitentiary. Taking into consl
deration the recommendations of the
county attorney, the attorney gener-
al and the other judges who mad
been consulted in the matter, and
believing that the course suggested
was as near right and just as could
be, he concluded to accept the pleas
and to give the maximum fine which
the statute provides. H.. .-.-.-.
@ The courts entry in the case fol-
lows:; - 80 Z.
State Of Iowa VS.. Ross Chase, Ben
Brady, Frank Sprague. Chester Will
lard, Herb Feuerhelm, and Walter Walter