The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1923-11-23
PARTANO CAUGHT
WITHOUT BATTLE
Slayer of Four Is Now In Jail
At Bemidji, MINI.
SURPRISED BY POSSE
Murderer Was Heavily Armed and
Had Planned To Resist
Officers.
IAssoclated Press Dlspatchl

Bemidji, Mimi, November H.
Confessed slayer of four persons,
Leonard Portaro was held in the
county Jail today, awaiting prelim-
mary hearing, when he is expected
to waive examination and plead
guilty to a charge Of murder In the
first degree.
Surprised in barn two and ona-
half miles north Of Kelliher shortly
after eight o'clock last night, Por-
tano surrendered to Sheriff J r.
fight, although he was heavily
armed and had planned to resist ar
rest.
Authorities today expressed con-
fidence that no further attempt
would be made by men of the Kelli-
her district to take the law in their
own hands and seek to take Portano
from jail here, despite the efforts
they made to take him from the
sheriff last night.
Tried To Stop Sheriff.
It was while the sheriff, three
possemen and Portano were speed
ing into Kelliher, bound for Be-
midi, that a group of perhaps TWEEN
ty armed men, ranged on either
side of the road, sought to stop the
sheriff's car by placing a telephone
pole across the highway.
The sheriff's party frustrated this
attempt by swinging the automobile
around the end Of the pole and con-
tinuing with undated speed as
more than a dozen shots were fired
over the heads Of the cars occupants
in an effort to bring them to a stop.
Portano was captured less than
thirty hours after he had shot and
killed Mr.. and Mrs. John Sanders,
Oscar Jimmy and ]. A. Wilson. dep
uty sheriff and Marshal at Kelliher.
A quarrel with Jimmy over the af-
fections of fifteen year old Myrtle
Landers was one of the contributing
causes of the crime.
The shooting occurred Thursday
afternoon, but fearing night search
might lead to additional casualties,
the hunt for Portano got under way
with the break of dawn yesterday,
and all through the day possemen,
numbering more than one hundred,
beat the brush and searched the
woodlands north of Kelliher for the
fugitive. 49,.
Portano Was Recognized. g..
Late yesterday, Portano asked
for a place to sleep at the Gray
farm near Kelliher. Gray recog-
niZed Portano, but feared to make
known this recognition; instead he
directed him to the Lindquist farm,
intending to have him trapped there.
Gray then notified Sheriff John
son in Kelliher and with Deputy
Sheriff Dan Rose and two other pos
semen the sheriff went to the Lind
Quist farm, where Portano was sur
prised in pile of straw at one end
of barn.
Two automatic pistols, a revolver
and a powerful rifle, with a supply
of $50 rounds of ammunition, made
up the '~young arsenal" Portano
carried. He had planned to resist
capture, he told the sheriff, had he
not been surprised.
Portano complained that "the en-
tire country around Kelliher" is
against him, and always has been.
This feeling has added to his dislike
for many persons there and was
contributing cause for his crime, he
intimated.
I'D at Kelliher, Myrtle Sanders re-
NAMED in the care of friends, show
ing no physical effects of her terrify-
ing experience when Portano forced
her to accompany him in his orgy OF
crime. Her grief over loss Of her
parents, however, has caused off,
Gals to delay thorough question
ing. ..
Will Be Given Hearing Today.
Portano probably will be given a
preliminary hearing here late today,
according to G.. M. Torrance. county
attorney He will be charged with
murder in the first, degree. The hear
ing will be held before D. H. Fisk,
court commissioner.
The Beltrami county grand jury
does not convene until February, but
the county attorney may ask the
presiding district Judge to call a
special session of that body.
Portland who refused to talk early.
today has given no indication whe-
Their he will plead guilty when
charges are preferred.
The slayer. was captured Friday
night, in straw stack near the
scene of his killings.