The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1926-07-08
SLAYER OF GEISLERS
ON TRIAL IN COURT

gree uIuIuCl3 4O44OHi NV HiU
ing of the bodies of Mr.. and Mrs.
Geisler in the Big Muddy river,
near Homestead. The bodies were
found in Sheridan county so the
officials of that county were first
notified, but the crime was com
mitted in Roosevelt county. Sher-
if Anderson and County Attor-
ney Marion of this county were
notified and they brought him to-
Wolf Point, where he has been
lodged in the jail without bonds
since May 4. Information was
fled in justice court here immed-
lately and in the district court
May 10.
Confessions
At the hearing May &c, although
Schlaps had repeatedly made oral
confessions of the crime to off
Gals and others, and although he
had signed a written confession
before three witnesses, he plead
ed not guilty, and the case is first
on the calendar at the jury term
of court which began Thursday.
When Schlaps was arrested, he
at first denied any connection with
the crime but finally confessed to
the murder, describing in detail
his actions on the afternoon and
evening of May /.
His motive for killing the Gels
lers, Schlaps said, vas to obtain
possession of their new sedan and
a sum Of money which he believed
Geisler carried in his pocket.
Geisler had been in the habit Of
carrying his money with him since '
the closing of the Homestead
bank. The underlying reason for +
his desiring the car and a sun of q
money appears to have been his i
infatuation for a girl in his home h
town, Ashley, N. D. He thought .
about this girl constantly, it is
said, and believed that if he had +
a car and some money he could :
win her favor. When asked if he n
had planned the murder before I
hand. he said at one time that he :,
had planned it for three weeks,
at another time he thought about
It for a week.
Tells of Murder
According to the story Schlaps
told following his arrest, he shot il
Mr.. Geisler as the latter was
STOPPING to pick up something off
the ground, using a single barrel 8
12-gauge shot gun. The man
must have died instantly, as the 1
charge entered the heart and the
gunwad was found there. Reload
ing his gun, Schlaps went to the r
house and shot through the win
dow at Mrs. Geisler, who was
dressing. The charge tore open
her side and cut off part Of her
arm, but she retained conscious
ness and when the young man en- +
tered the house she pleaded with i
him not to shoot again. The first
shot would have proved fatal but
when Mrs. Geisler crawled behind r
the flimsy screen of a curtain
across one corner of the room,
he shot her again, the charge en- r.
tering the neck just below the
head. Mrs. Geisler was to have p
become a mother within a few n,
weeks. p.
After searching for money in a
trunk at the house, Schlaps at Il
tempted to clean up the blood on 4
the floor and wall with a mop. He I,
until evening and, under
cover of dusk, drove to the Big 10
Muddy, about 20 miles east Of the n
Geisler homestead, near the tlwn
Of Homestead. After throwing n,
the bodies into the stream, where
hey were found the following day, f.
he drove to Homestead and secur- i
ed change for a $50 bill. Then he 10
went to the Mcneil farm in that
where his mother and p
two brothers reside. He took his
mother to the home Of a neigh
Dor and returned with her to the s.
Mcneil place, where he spent the .
and where the officers
found him the next day. He had >,
Intended to take the sedan and 2
drive to Ashley, N. D., where
he thought he would be safe from
discovery. A
Come From N. D.
The Schlaps family, a mother
and several children, came to Mon pt
ana last winter from Ashley, N. Ia
D., shortly after the sudden death
Of the father Of the family, Mar az
tin Schlaps. There is said to have R
been some mystery concerning the
cause Of the elder Schlaps' death.
The Geislers had been married ],
about ten months. Before her
marriage, her name had been
Ludmilla Aldrich and she had en-
gagged in her profession of nurs- R.
ing in Texas.