Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-01-15
-FOUR TAKEN TO
PRISON;GANAHL
GETS "A YEARS
Three Of Group Are Par0led Negro
COnvicts-Sheriff and Chief
Deputy Are Escort
WIFB.SLAYER ADMITS GUILT
Changes Plea Before Judge W. T.
Church Yesterday-Circum-
stances Mitigate Deed.

Four prisoners, three of them pa
rolled convicts. were taken to the
Joliet penitentiary this morning by
Sheriff John G. Miller and Chief
Deputy Walter Kittilsen.
The men who will enter penal
servitude as retribution for the
crimes OF which they were found
guilty are: Ben Ganahl, charged
with the murder of his wife, Edna
Ganahl, and three negroes, George
Marshall, Frank Johnson and JOS
eph Miller, all paroled prisoners
sent to this city on probation.
Marshall pleaded guilty TO the
robbery OF Anna Ransom on Dec. Z,
when by snatching her purse he Sc
cured 50. He was arrested shortly
afterward and identified. He was
Tentenced to from one to II years at
Joliet
Johnson pleaded guilty of assault
TO numbering Tony Avendarezyk on
Nov. 20, 1918, and was sentenced
also to an indeterminate term OF
from one to fourteen years, while
Miller was convicted of burglary
and larceny and given from one to
twenty years.
Ben Ganahl pleaded guilty to
/ charge of murder in circuit court
yesterday and was sentenced TO a
fiat term of IA years in prison by
Judge w. T. Church. John K. Scott
appeared for Ganahl.
Last Saturday when arraigned
for the murder OF his wife, Edna
GanahI. as found in the ;ldictment
returned by the grand jury, Ga
nahl through his counsel pleaded
not guilty. Feeling that his case
was a hopeless one regarding his
ability to establish his innocence
the defendant decided yesterday to
rest his case with Judge Church.
About 2:3O o'clock in the after
noon of Dec. 2, 1918, Mrs. Edna
Ganahl was shot by her husband
following a quarrel at a house at
2114 Fifth avenue. But one bullet
was fred, the ball taking effect in
the lower right chest, lodging in
the liver. The stricken woman died
between z and o'clock the next
morning at st. Anthony's hospital.
Carl Wilson, a timer at work on
a nearby roof, was the first to rush
TO the assistance of the injured
woman, having heard the shot. AS
he picked her up Mrs. Ganahl en-
Joined him to call the police.
stating that her husband had shot
her
Ganahl was arrested shortly
after the shooting in his rooms at
Second avenue and Twentieth
street and at first denied all
knowledge of the crime Follow
ing a severe grilling, however, he
is alleged to have confessed to De-
tective Tom Cox.
In his confession Ganahl de-
cIared that the woman ne killed
had broken up his home by caus-
ing him to leave a wife and child
AID that after he had given up ali
for her she refused to be true to
him. The couple were involved in
and were familiar police charac-
tiers. They had been estranged
for some time when the killing oc-
Cured.
Would Have Imposed Death.
In imposing sentence Upon the
confessed slayer, Judge Church
Sa1d- In your case according TO
information which / have at hand,
there are indications of extenuat-
irg circumstances. The charac-
ter of your wife and the conditions
under which you killed her lead
me to feel that you should be
shown a degree of leniency
want to say to you, however, that
did these circumstances and con-
ditions not exist, the fact that you
pleaded guilty to the charge of
murder would not in the least de-
ter me from imposing the death
penalty"
Statement of Judge Church is
lent added significance when it is
considered that four other men
await trial on charges OF murder.
Three of these, Hale O'Rilev,
James Giblin and Howard OHara,
composing the outlaw gang which
is alleged to have been response
BILE for the death of Sheriff ]. S.
Wigers, will be tried for murder
ana the death penalty asked for.
according to States Attorney
Floyd E. Thompson. 1t is not
known whether or not capital pun
ishment will be demanded for
lanes Ellsworth. murderer of Ia