The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-09-30
Dramatic Scene Comes in Circuit Court after
Alleged Slayer Had Entered a Formal
Plea of Guilty.
CLAIMS COERCION WAS USED
Prisoner in Conference with Judge and Attorneys
Asserts He Was Beaten and Chained and
Finally Confessed to Officers.

| go down as the most dramatic in the
history of the court. Judge Belden
/ was just about to impose the life sem
tence on Lang for murder-after he
had declared his willingness to accept
sentence and had declared that he
knew what it all meant-when Attor-
ney A. E. Buckmaster appeared before
! the bench.
May it please the court" said Mr.
Buckmaster. 81 have received letter
from the wife of this man which makes
me believe that this sentence should
be halted pending further inquiry
and while do not desire to make pub
lie all that / have received, should
| like to have conference with the
/ court and the district attorney" Then
followed the conference which led to
the questioning of the defendant by
the court and his resembling of his
4 confession and, his declaration that he
knew nothing about the murder of
Pacini
Lang Tells Story Himself.
| After the judge had conferred with
the attorneys for few minutes, he
summoned Lang into the chambers Of
the municipal court and then began
the questioning of Lang. al asked
Lang a dozen times in regard to the
| fact as to whether or not he killed
Pacini and he answered every time, 4
didn't kill him. He told me that his
wrists had been bound with chains and
| that he had been repeatedly struck
with clubs until he finally consented
to admit that he killed Pacini. am
not making any accusations against
the police officers. I am just relating
what happened in this conference and
the statements made to the attorneys
and myself by Lang. The only thing
that could be done under such circum-
stances is to hold the matter open,
pending a further and searching in
vestigation. The repeated denial of
the confession by this man certainly
must act as stay of sentence until
we have further information" said
Judge Belden this morning.
Police Quick to Deny Charge.
Captain Matt Wade and Police Off
Ger Charles Amberlang, who, with AS
sistant Chief John Cyzak secured the
confession, were quick to deny the
statements made by Lang.
"The man is not telling the truth
| We never had chain in the office and
the only time that there was anything
on his wrist was when we put the cuffs
on him to take him to his house to
! find money. We never struck him with
| a club at any time during the entire
examination. He was slapped a little
once"
Lang told the judge and the attor-
neys that his arms and shoulder were
/ black and blue from the beating he
| had received at the hands of the Off
/ GERS and the court directed the district
attorney to have an examination made,
Fisher Says, "All Straight With Me-"
District Attorney Peter Fisher de-
clared that there was no indication
that Lang had been submitted to any
unusual treatment when he found him
at the lookup ready to sign the confess
sion on Tuesday morning. when the
chief and / got there" said Fisher,
"the man wanted to sign the confess
f
that he had been beaten at that time
and he appeared to be entirely in a
proper mental state. I questioned him
at length and he told the story of the
killing over and over in the presence
Of the chief of police and other officers.
have no further knowledge Of the
matter"
mot Satisfied" Says Buckmaster.
"Please understand" said Attorney
Buckmaster after the hearing was
over, that l have never talked with
this man and had not seen him until
he came into court. simply acted on
the request of his wife who sent let
ter in which she declared that an in
justice was being done. She declared
in the letter that the man could not
/ have killed Pacini and that he was
being sent to prison on false state
ment. / appeared on the request of
the wife and we shall now make in
vestigations and present such facts as
we may find at the adjourned hearing
on Friday morning. have no personal
knowledge of the matter at this time
and my appearance is simply with the
idea that justice may be done to the
state and to Lang and his wife ana
children"
Court Session Starts Early.
With the insistent demand on the
part of Lang that he wanted to plead
guilty and get it over with at once,