Evening star., 1938-06-27
K|DNAPERS SLAIN,
AIDE IS WOUNDED
AFTERGUNF|CHTS
20-Minute Battle in Illinois
Ends Escapade Begun by
Shooting of Officer.
ABDUCTION OF 4, MANY
PISTOL TILTS FOLLOW
Hoosier Trooper Offering Aid to
Stalled Driver Shot Sunday
Night.
ny the Associated Press.

Hy TIE Associated Press.
JOLIET, Ill.,. June 27.-Two out
laws who terorized parts Of Indiana
and Illinois with gunfire and kid
napings reached dead end in a Deselm.
ILL.,, farmyard today, one slain and
the other wounded.
Approximately 100 peace officers Of
the two States were in on the kill
which climaxed q Commute furry
of sharp fighting.
Sheriff John Stack of Kankakee,
H., said the wounded man identified
himself as Orelle J. Easton, Is, of
Valley City, N. OAK, and named his
slain companion as his brother, Car-
ence Easton, ~.
Previously, Illinois State Patrolman
Joseph Gromann identified the slain
man as Ray Leach and the wounded
desperado as James Biekke, or Brekke.
Sheriff Stack ordered immediate ques-
tioning Of the wounded man to de-
termine their true identity and the
extent of their crimes.
Shot Officer, Kidnapped Four.
Peace officers chalked up this score
against them since Sunday night:
The ruthless wounding of an Indiana
State trooper near La Porte; wanton
firing at a newspaper photographer
who escaped unscathed: the kidnap-
ing Of two La Porte deputy sherifis
who were released eight hours later:
a dawn brush with a pursuing squad
OF Illinois officers: the kidnapping of
q Wilmington farmer and his 4-year-
old son. and sporadic other fights
with pursuers before they met ulti-
mate apprehension
Illinois and Indiana authorities had
been searching for the desperadoeS
since Sunday night.
Mr.. Gromann of La Sale said his
squad sighted and pursued the fugi-
tives' car near Deselm.
The desperadoes' car became mired
in mud. Mr.. Gromann said, and they
abandoned 1t TO hunt refuge In .
corn field.
Mr.. 'Gormann said he and his two
companions pursued the men across
the field, firing several times, and drove
them into the range of another posse
Of officers. The second squad brought
the gunner down, Mr.. Gromann said
Kidnapped Pair in Car.
Mr.. Gromann said that in the mired
car they found James Novy, 80, and
his 4-year-old son. who had been ab-
Quoted by the gunmen near Whining
ton even as force Of some 100 officers
searched for them.
A bullet proof vest was also found
in the car. Mr.. Gromann said.
The State police said the fleeing
gunner commandeered the Novy au-
tomobile about q mile southeast of
Wilmington and abandoned the auto
mobile In which they had kidnapped
two Indiana deputies after shooting
Indiana State Trooper Ray Dixon near
La Porte.
State police headquarters at In
dianapolis received word that the
deputies, Charles Hahn. 40, and Jo-
seph Kowalczyk. IS. both of La Porte,
were set free near Cedar Lake in Lake
County. The officers said they were
ordered out of the car on U. s. high
way Al between Lowell and Cook, Ind.
The two were kidnapped last night
after Trooper Dixon of South Bend
was shot three times by a red-haired
man whose bold tactics were reminis-
cent of the old John Dillinger gang of
bank robbers.
State police said the automobile
which the kidnapers abandoned after
the shooting bore Michigan plates
which were reported stolen from Three
Oaks yesterday.
Illinois Police Fire at Car.
A few hours after the deputies were
freed an Illinois State police squad
exchanged shots with two men, be-
lieved to have been the gunner, near
Symerton, ILL.,, IS miles north Of Kan
kAkee.
The officers abandoned pursuit
(see SHOOTING, Page A-5.)