Manchester Democrat., 1921-04-06
|SELF.C0NFESSED
MURDERER IN JAIL
SPENT WHOLE WEEK IN WATER.
100 HOTEL FOLLOWING SLAY-
ING OF GREELEY FARMER
PLEADS SELF DEFENSE AS CAUSE
Mrs. Scluler Denies Sisters State
ments that Schuler Threatened Mem.
bers of Slain Mans Family

dered of VIM. G. Matusch, is in the
county pail in this city. Sheriff L. E.
Pride returned from Albert Lea, Min
nesota, Thursday evening at 500
o'clock over the Illinois Central. Hun
dreds of citizens mostly from Edge
wood and Greeley, were at the rail-
road station, to witness the arrival
of the officer with his prisoner. Sheriff
Pride, and local police officers had
no difficulty in landing the prisoner
behind the iron doors of the county
Jail.
Schuler and his wife were arrested
at the home of Mrs. Schuler's brother,
who lives at Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Following the muder Schuler and
his wife, and the murdered mans wife
and daughter, came to Manchester and
from here they went to Postville, la,
where they spent a part Of the day.
From Postville Schuler and his wife
went to Oelwein and then to Water
loo, where they remained a week at
the Waterloo hotel, where they regis
tered as Harry Cole and wife, Mason
City. and within two or three blocks
of the Police station. According to
Schuler and his wife they never were
at Cedar Rapids, but went from Water
loo to St. Paul, where they intended
to 20 to the home of brother OF
Mrs. Schuler. Not finding the brother
at his home the pair Immediately left
St. Paul and came to Albert Lea, where
another brother of Mrs. Schuler's re-
sides.
After being lodged in the county jail
schuler is said to have admitted that
he killed Matusch, but emphatically
insisted that the act was committed in
self defense. When interviewed Friday
| morning by a reporter for the Demo-
crat Schuler declined to make any
statement leading up to the killing
His answer to the first question OF
the reporter was: II have nothing to
| saw" The look on the prisoners face
showed conclusively that he was
aware of the gravity of the situation
He appeared to be under a severe
mental strain, and from his appear
ance one would take him to be a mar
more nearly thirty years of age, rath'
er than scarcely twenty-one. The
prisoners father, A., j. Schuler OF
Postville was in Manchester at the
time the officers arrived, and arrange
| ments were made at once to defer the
hearing until such time as the father
| needed to secure counsel. 1t is be-
lieved that Schuler will attempt to
| establish his claim that he did the
| killing in self-defense.
Mrs. Schuler Makes Statement
A new phase of the case has come
to light when Mrs. Schuler, wife OF
the accused man, told the reporter
that her husband never threatened
the wife and daughter of the slain
man. Mrs. Matusch and her daughter
| when questioned at the coroner's IN
quest as to why they did not repor
the murder, stated that Schuler threat
ened to kill them If they gave the
alarm, and that from the time the
murder was committed on Sunday
night, March Goth, until the follow
ing Tuesday, when they left Schuler
and his wife at Donnan Junction
Schuler kept watch of them for fear
they might tell on him. Mrs. Schuler
expressed surprise when questioned
regarding this phase Of the tragedy
that her sister, Mrs. Matusch, should
make such a statement. She said re-
peatedly that her husband never made
threats of this kind. Mrs. Schuler ac-
companied Sheriff Pride and her hus-
hand from Albert Lea to Manchester
on Thursday evening, and upon ar
rival here was taken to one OF the
hotels where she remained over night
She has not been placed under arres,
and left Friday afternoon for heI
sisters home near Littleport.
Schuler Has Checkered Career.
Lloyd Schuler has a checkered ca
reer. As a mere boy, he gave the
authorities trouble, and according tc
reports was sent to reform school
for a term. At the age of eighteen
wears he was arrested for forging
a check and sent to the penitentiary
at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the
term of one year. Since his release
from the South Dakota penitentiary
he is said to have forged checks on
several parties, and was in desperate
straights financially most of the time
On March 9th, he married Mrs