South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-03-29
INDICT WOLFE FOR
Staying UNCLE ON
OWN STATEMENT
Walkerton Mans Reputed
Statement Basis Of Grand
Jury Action at Goshen.

GOSHEN, Ind. March 29.-The
circuit court grand jury here. after
being in session for two days. for
mally indicted Walter Wolfe OF
Walkerton. St Joseph county. on the
charge of numbering his uncle. Isaac
5. BashOr, a farmer, who lived two
and one-half miles north Of Nap
panee. Wolfe. who has been a pris-
Oner in the county Jail here for a
week, did not testify before the
grand jury, but a sworn statement
made by him, called a confession,
was submitted to the body. In ad-
dition several witnesses testified,
among them Edgar +. Sheneman OF
Walkerton, 21 years old. and an ac-
quaiHtance Of Wolfe, who. in the
event of the defendant standing trial
will likely be the states principal
witness.
COnSpired To Kill Uncle.
1t is understood that when Shene-
man testified before the grand jury
he related i'm substance information
that came into possession of Sheriff
Sanford soon after Bashor was killed
Oh the liz nj OF MdrGn ] l.
The sheriff ascertained that Wolfe.
eager TO become heir TO his uncle's
$4,000 estate, had for more than a
year deliberately plotted TO murder
Bashor and that Sheneman had been
openly asked TO assist in the project.
The scheme, as outlined by Wolfe.
it is said, was for him to make a
false will in which he would be
named as beneficiary and that he
was TO place il in Uncle Ike's''
trunk. Bashor, sc years old and a
bachelor. lived alone on the farm.
He was 10 be chloroformed or pois-
oned, il is reported. Sheneman's re-
Enumeration for the assistance he
was TO give Wolfe was TO be enough
money so that he would not have
TO work for year or two at least. "
WOlfe's Alleged Confession.
The alleged confession OF Wolfe
was made 10 Sheriff Sanford at the
jail here and acknowledged by J. O.
Rants, a Nappanee lawyer, who rep
resent the Bashor estate, is utterly
prepOsterous in the opinion of some
Of those who have inspected it.
Wolfe, in the statement. saws that
on the afternoon Of March Il he
went from his Walkerton home 10
Nappanee on a Baltimore and Ohio
freight train and that he walked
from Nappanee TO his uncle's farm.
In order TO keep from being seen
on the main highway he cut through
fields and walked through a woods
and along rail fences. Not finding
Bashor in the stable, as expected, he
secreted himself in a nearby woods
and awaited the return of his uncle,
who had been in Milford and Nap
panee.
Pleads Self Defense.
Wolfe claims, il is said. that ne
asked his uncle 10 let him have
money and that he was refused
Words followed and then, the con
fession" says. Bashor ordered Wolfe
off the place. A fight ensued Wolfe
declares his uncle had him down on
the barn floor and il was then he
used a pocket knife on Bashor
Early in the fight. Wolfe relates
Bashor had struck him with a
pitchfork 1t is WolfeS story that
when he left the Bashor barn his
uncle was sitting against a stone
wall When the dead body was
found by a neighbor on the morning
of March u it was back OF horse
and there was speculation as "a
whether death had not been caused
by a kick from the animal.
Murderer Returns Home.
To reach his home, 80 miles away
Wolfe walked to IaPaz Junction
and then rode a Baltimore and Ohio
freight into Walkerton, where he
lives with his wife. two children and
his father on a 1ve-acre tract. ar
irving between I and , o'clock or
the morning OF March y. II was
learned from his wife that he
10 get into the house and that he
burned his shirt and other wearing
apparel
II is said thar Sheneman says that
Wolfe approached him after che
murder had been committed and
asked him if he had ever told any
body regarding the plot Il hav.
given that up" Wolfe is declared to
have said to Sheneman, and / want
you to shut up"
Officers have learned that fol-
three weeks before Bashor was muir
dered it was known to several per
sons about Walkerton that Wolfe
had planned killing him and that
he had actually asked Sheneman 70
enter into the proposition. Most OF
these persons kept the information
Z Otbemselves, not desiring 20 be-
come mixed up in the matter Some
Of the officers believed that had res
idents of Walkerton told all they
knew when they should have told
il that Bashor would be alive
GENERALS WIFE Is KILLED.
PARIS. March 29-Ma dame