The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1923-10-25
FEDERAL AGENT SEVERELY IN
JURED ATTEMPTING TO
CAPTURE BOOZE TRUCK
PRISONERS OUT ON BAIL
UNITED STATES GRAND JURY
AT FERGUS FALLS WILL IN
VESTIGATE CASES

The arrest of three more suspects
in connection with the clash between
federal agents and liquor robbers at
the New Munich brewery Wednesday
evening of last week, and the tracing
down of the drivers of the truck
which is believed to have struck and
very severely injured Arthur Whitney
prohibition officer, were new develop
ments in the now famous case.
A force of more than a dozen fed
eraI officers and government oper-
atives are running down every clue,
and they claim to be on the trail OF
the Ford truck which escaped with a
load of alcoholic beer near Avon, aft
escaping from Agents Cole and Whit
ney.
Meanwhile behind bars in Mime
apolis, awaiting hearing before the
United States commissioner there
there, four Stearns county residents,
one of them, Valentine Herman, OF
Holdingford, and county commas
sioner. They were arrested late last
Thursday afternoon by federal
agents acting under the direction OF
HI. L. Duncan, division prohibition
chief, and his assistant, H. l.. Harvey.
Herman was arrested at Holdingford.
The three others taken into custody
were Stanley Dobis, said to have
owned one of the trucks, and well
known merchant of St. Anna; Albin
BONNER, an Avon butcher, and John
Sigmeth of Avon. Sigmeth was ar
rested Wednesday night by Federal
Agent Silverman, after a tussle in the
Pitzl brewery at New Munich.
r.
The prisoners were taken to Min
neapolis and faced the questioning of
U. S. Attorney William Anderson.
1t is alleged the authorities have clues,
which if followed up, will lead to the
arrest of the two men on the missing
truck.
The marks made by the tires of the
missing Ford truck have been traced,
and this morning agents are sand to
have searched the farms of Anton
Fornick, near st. Joe, and Gus kor-
iskowski, near Holdingford. In one
of the farmyards, the agents are said
to have found the tracks of the truck,
but were unable to locate it on the
farm.
The truck is said, upon good auth
ority, to be st. Joe truck, while the
drivers are thought to be st. Cloud
men. The agents and operatives were
continuing their search late this
afternoon. ...
Meanwhile in st. Raphael's hospi-
tai, Arthur E. Whitney, federal agent
still is unconscious. He regained con-
,sciousness for a few moments this
morning, but attendants were unable
to learn from him how he met with
his injury. He lapsed back into un-
consciousness almost at once.
Doctors declared that the injury on
the back of Whitney's skull, seeming
ly a clean fracture at the base, must
have been caused by a blunt instru-
ment. Agents are of the opinion that
he was injured when the car in which
he and Cole were pursuing the Ford
truck, narrowly missed going into the
ditch.
According to the new version OF
the story, the two agents, Cole and
Whitney, pursued the escaping truck
for several miles. About one mile this
side of Avon after attempts to pass
the truck on the left were unsuccess-
full, Cole is said to have told Whitney
that he was going to pass the truck
on the right. At that point, Whitney
is supposed to have mounted the left
running board of the car preparatory
to board the truck as the two ma
chimes came abreast.
a.
AS the car drew aside the truck, the
story goes, the truck tried to crowd it
into the ditch, and Cole thought only
of keeping his machine from being
upset. When he got ahead of the
truck, and it drew near him, he look,
ed for Whitney on it, but saw only
the two men on the seat Looking
back, he saw Whitney's flashlight in
the road, and found Whitney lying in
a pool of blood in the sand. s
Considerable mystery is attached
to the manner in which Whitney was
injured. Attendants are present al
his bedside in the hospital, hoping in
the near future to gain statement
from him. If he dies, 1t will be the
first federal agent in the state OF
Minnesota who will have been killed
in a fight with liquor thieves or boot
leggers.
The case is awaiting the capture Of
the two men who drove the Fore
truck, loaded with stolen beer. 1t il
expected that the announcement Of
their arrest will occur before tonight
H.
The case is one of the most sensa.
tional in the county in>years. Last
Monday, federal agents raided the
brewery of Matt Pitzl at New Munich