The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-11-22
FAILED 10 REPORT MONDAY
Istranek Declares He Will Stay in Jail
the Rest of His Life Before He VIII
Fight for U. S.-Refuses Every
Offer of the Board.

Steve Istranek, the first Kenosha
man to be classed as a deserter from
the National Army, was taken to Ft.
Sheridan this morning in irons by Sher-
if Hermann under an order of the
Kenosha City Consumption Board and
is waiting the action of military court
as to what punishment will be meted ,
out to him for failure to report for SER
vice on Monday morning when he was
to go to Camp Custer with ninety-one
other Kenoshans. Istranek, after sew
eral hours evading the sheriff, was ar
rested late Tuesday afternoon and was
given an immediate hearing before the
city CONSUMPTION board.
Istranek is an Austrian by birth but
has taken out his first papers. Even
after his arrest and his hearing before
the court he was obstinate in his re-
fusal to fight for the United States.
The board intended to be lenient and
recommend to the military court that
with a nominal punishment he be for
warded to the cantonment but upon
Istranek IS restatement of his determin-
alton to evade military service to the
last, the order was changed to read that
he was committed as q Fwilful deserter
from the United States army" and it
is believed 6hat ISL af4ek viii sc . sai6
with severely by the military court.
! At the jail Istranek made further
assertions of his intention to oppose
military service. "Now, I won It fight
for the United States if I have to stay
in jail the rest of my life, = was his al
legged remark as he was taken to the
county Jail Later he made assertions
that he would attempt to escape and
that he would refuse to go to Ft. Sheri-
dan this morning and it was found
necessary to take him under heavy
irons. While admitting that he knew
that he should have reported on Mon
day noon to go to Camp Custer, Istranek
put up as his only defense that he was
sick although his own doctor declares
that he was able to go. He made no
attempt to inform the board of his
whereabouts and is alleged to have
made assertions that he could not be
forced into service.
Istranek, when interviewed at the
Jail, declared that he did not want to
fight because he had brother, Charles,
in the Hungarian army and that he
would be forced to fight his own kins-
man. He resented any intimation that
he was cowardIy but also claimed that
he was not well enough to go into train
ing and that he should be permitted to
stay in Kenosha until he recovered.
He declared that he would not go to
France and that he would make every
effort to escape if the military authori-
ties should attempt to force him into
service.
Since Istranek was called for exam
ination, his every act has marked him
either as "slacker" or as wilfull
deserter from military service. When
he failed to gain exemption on physi-
cal grounds, he purchased small farm
near the town of Somers and for the
last six weeks lived there. He fled
Immediately claim for exemption on
industrial reasons but was again re-
fused by the district board. In spite
of his claims of being too sick to re-
port for service on Monday, he was
away from home all of Tuesday until
the time of his arrest and is apparently
in good health.
Sheriff Hermann and Deputy Sheriff
Frazier upon their return from Fort
Sheridan this afternoon stated that the
officials met them and Istranek was
delivered to the officer in charge. The
officials offered to give him ticket for
Camp Custer and upon refusal again
to go he was told that he would be sent
to federal military prison. Similar
offenders have received sentences of
fifteen years The immediate action by
the CONSUMPTION board and by the mill
tary authorities is made public in or
der that any who contemplate DESERT
ing the army may know what punish
ment to expect.