Nebraska, H-J, 1887-1996, Undated

. PIONEER TISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY

was again convicted and is now ready for execution, T therefore ask vou to
do your duty as law-abiding citizens, I want to say fo you that the arm of
the law is all powerful if it can have the support of honest ‘men, 1 know

Governor Boyd, and I believe that he is an honest man, Ile must have had
good reason for granting this reprieve. We do not know whit showing

may have been made to him. There are always two sides to a question, and
I believe that we should have patience and trust the man that your ballots
have placed in such a high position. You have yet no reason to complain,
Wait. You will be protected. Telegrams have been sent, but as yet we have
recelved no answer. You have no reason to doubt yet. 1 am aware of the
fact that the burden of taxation upon you is already heavy-—no one knows
this better’ than I—but the expense has already been made. No further ex:
pense is to be incurred. IJ therefore ask you, as honest men, as law-abiding
citizens, that you do nothing rash. Let it be said that the law has trinmphed
in Custer county, and that justice reigns. T thank you,” |

During this speech the crowd listened with the most respeetful attention,
and, seemingly satisfied, began to disperse. later, however, headed by friends

and relatives of the murdered men, and armed with crow bars and a sledge.

hammer, the crowd, which had now assumed the semblance of a mob, filed
into the court house and demanded the keys of the sheriff, but were refused
and a senile ensued, This was a most eriticeal period, and but for the personal
efforts of Judge Wall, who stood in the door of. the sheriff's office and with
his giant strength kept back the onrushing crowd, coinmanding them at the
saine time, in the name of the law, to desist, the sheriff would have been over-
powered and the keys secured. At this juncture Judge Hamer, who liad been
striving to allay the excitement outside, arrived, and mounting a chair, he
exhorted and commanded the mob to desist. Ile assured them no undue effort
would be made to prevent the punishment of Llaunstine and defended the
action of the governor as thoroughly justified under the circumstances; that
the prisoner merited death, but let it be meted out to him legally aud not by
violence in contempt and violation of law. As through sheer exhaustion he
discontinued speaking, James Whitehead, who was called for, responded as
follows:

“Gentlemen—Asg you well know, until last April I was a resident of Grant
precinct, where this murder was committed. I was well acquainted with
Roten and Ashley, whose lives were cruelly taken by the one you now demand
shall expiate the penalty of his crime upon the gallows that has been prepared
for his execution, They were friends of mine, “Thad met them in their homes,
worked with them in the harvest field, and under different circumstances been

f va

Ry:

266

AND SHORT SKETCHES OF KARLY DAYS IN NEBRASKA,

Sa Cee NNO =

his track, and he was taken by surprise and captured while sitting im the
smoker with his rifle across his lap. ce

Me-was tried at. the March tem of the District Court. TI, M. Sulliy
who was county attorney, had been eonsulled by the prisoner prior fo lis
election, and had, therefore, some scruples against acting ag prosecuter, As
a substitute, however, he employed Judge Wall of Loup City, wl
firm of Blair & Campbell, represented the state. The defense y
hy ©. L, Gutterson, A. R. Humphry and N. V. Marlen of York. LHe was found
guilty and sentenced to be hung on September 6th following. The case was

appealed to the Supreme Court, and he was again sentenced to be hung, April

Un,

io, with the
ms condueted

17, 1891. Ilis defense was insanity, and before the date fixed for his execution
he acted so strangely that a jury was called to determine his meutal condition,
The trial lasted three days. Publie sentiment against the prisoner was so
strong that a good deal of trouble wag experienced in selecting a jury. The
following named persons were finally agreed upon: J. I, Dillenbeck, ava
Thum, James Dinwiddie, Frank Newbeek, ¢. C, Ilunter, GC. U, Richardson,
Jolin Curry, Nolan Webb, A. Rv ITuckleberry, A, Cross, Ty IT. MeCarger and
J. L. Compton. The witnesses for the defense were Mrs. Dr. Talbot, Miss
Anna Crawford, Mrs. Wim. Slain, O. M. Kem, Wim. Blair, Win, Hartsell,
John Miller, Charles Parkhurst and Robert Noreutt. Iror the state were:
Dr. Carter, physician at the state penitentiary; Dr. Knapp, superintendent
insane asylum at Lincoln, Dr. ©. Pickett, Dr. J. J. Pickett, count
Dr. ©. H. Morris, Sheriff Jones and Rey. O, R. Beebe, all of whom, with the
exception of Dr. Knapp (who said that without a more extended obser
he was not prepared to state whether he wag sane or insane), pronounced. him
sane, and believed that hig condition’ was a feigned one. The proseemtion
was conducted by the attorneys who had managed the case from the begin-
ning, while to the defense was added II, M. Sullivan, whose term of oflice
‘is county attorney had expired. It was one of the hardest fought and most
ibly conducted legal battles ever witnessed in Custer couly, Mr, Campbell
(then county attorney), was a lawyer of long practice, he was familiar with
every turn and ‘detail of the case, his associates were men of exceptional

vation

ability. Judge Wall, especially, ranked high as-a trial lawyer, was keen and

resourceful, a good reasoner and an eloquent pleader. Guttlerson, Liumphrey
and Harlan were experienced and well-informed practitioners, and the addi
tion of Sullivan made a quartette that combined qualities well night invulner-
ible. They were, however, placed in a most trying position, ‘The prejudice
against the prisoner was marked and universal. No circumstance connected
with the killing of his victims could be urged in palliation, It was a evld-

Y physician; -

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AND SHORT SKETCHES OF KARLY DAYS IN NEBRASKA, 6'7

requested Sheriff Jones to call in Father Ifaley to administer the necessary
consolation in the last moments of his earthly career, At half past 10 o'clock
the priest visited the jail and learned his wishes, Te requested the priest
to come early next morning and prepare him to die a sincere Catholic. At
the appointed hour Father faley visited the jail, explained the doctrine of his
church, and stated the necessary conditions for one who embraces the Catholic
faith. Being satisfied as to the prisoner’s sincerity and disposition to become
a Catholic, he heard his confession, had him.make the profession of faith,
and administered the sacrament of baptism according to the rites of ‘the
church,

In the meantime a rumor had been floating about that a telegram had
been received by Sheriff Jones from Governor Boyd, granting to the con-
demned a reprieve for thirty days, which, upon investigation, proved true,
After the fact: becaine gene ‘ally known, great indignation was freely ex:
pressed, About 8 o’clock in the afternoon the immense throne became rest:
less, and muttered threatenings began to be heard on all sides. Just at this
critical moment, before the thunder cloud of discontent and disirust of the
law could burst forth, the calm, dignified person of Judge Mamer appeared
upon the stone steps at the front door of the court house, who briefly, in a
clear, ringing voice, addressed the people as follows:

“Hellow Citizens of Custer County—I have been trying to fdminister the
law in this county, as I interpreted it, fairly, carefully and candidly—go enre.
fully that no decision handed down by me upon this bench hag been reversed,
[live patience; the majesty of the law will be maintained, I linye always
found the people of this county law-abiding citizens; I have always found
them ready to defend the innocent and punish the guilty. If, as T have been
informed, there seems to be a disposition to murmur at the liw’s delay arising
among you, I pray you be patient. Pause; make no mistake, This man whom
you would have expiate his offense upon the gallows to-day was tried by a
fair and impartial jury of his countrymen and found guilty. As he had a
perfect right to do, he appealed his cage to the Supreme Court, and there
the verdict of your jury was sustained and he wag again sentenced (o be
hanged. Where there is a question of the sanity of a prisoner under sentence
of death, the law provides that upon notice from the sherilf of the county
it becomes the duty of the district judge to cause a jury to be empanelled to
make inquiry as to the sanity or insanity of such prisoner, I received such
a notice. Such a jury was called, and after areful inquiry, pronouneed him
sane. I desire to again call the attention of the people to the fact that, as
fo the prisoner, he stands in this position: Ife was tried and convicted, Ile

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Spt ae Sona


256 PIONBER HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY

blooded, unprovoked butchery of two respected and highly esteemed citizens,
and public sentiment demanded hig exeention.. The date of haneing was fixed
for the following day and a yast multitude had assembled fron: all parts of
the county and from different portions of the state as well. The determined
expression and sullen silence of the erowd was ominous. Representatives of
the press from Lincoln, Omaha and elsewhere were present, awaiting the hour
when the prisoner should atone. for his erime. Adjoining the court house and
facing its south door, the gallows was being erected and the din of the work:
men’s hammers were distinetly heard in the court room, None were more
keenly alive to the situation and the odds against him than the prisoner’s
counsel, By mutual agreement the principal plea in his behalf was made
by Mr. Sullivan. He remained calmly in his seat until the proper moment
urrived.. When he arose to address. the jury no sound save the breathing of
the audieuce could be heard. With a few preliminary remarks, in whieh he
avowed his belief, and that of his associates, in the irresponsibility of the
prisoner, he pushed eagerly forward into the very heart of the matter. The
scene that followed was bewilderingly ‘apid in transformations; his appeal
seemed absolutely to swell with indignation. very look, word and gesture
showed the intensity of his feelings. Those who were opposed to him in their
belief as to the mental.condition of the prisoner were forced to admire the
determined and intrepid courage manifested in the face of all opposition, As
by the legerdemain of some skilled Inagician, that vast audience was swayed
and moved by the passionate appeals of the orator and the dramatic episodes
that marked its delivery. The prisoner alone sat unmoved. The veteran judge
Who for years had sat upon the bench and listened to the most powerful
pleadings of attorneys of note and orators of national renown, was visibly
alfected by the eloquence and: earnestness of the young lawyer, and after-
wards, in conversation with the writer, paid high tribute to his splendid effort,
But no power on earth could save his client. ‘Che sword of justice, so long
suspended, was about to descend. he judge delivered his charge:and the
jury retired to their rooms for deliberation, They returned to the court room
several times for further instructions, and for the reading of different parts of
the testimony, They also examined the eell, and appeared to he according the
doomed man every chance. At 2 o’cloek in the morning they came into court
with a verdict of sanity. The prisoner received the verdict with the same
stolid indifference that had characterized his appearance during the whole
inquiry, When, however, the time arrived that had been desivnuated by the
court as the fatal morning, the doomed man scemed to haye- thrown off the
mask and was, apparently, trying to fit himself for his impending fate. Tle

‘
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we a hte ksh! bi dB) ite ht tasks

AND SHORT BSKETOHES OF ¥ ‘ARLY DAYS IN NEBR. ASKA, ; 250

a nm enc ne a ne een etyrtomnnteoonyis es A he ns

cast into their society. They were men of integrity and good standing in the

oe and I deemed it an honor to have been classed among their:

friends, Standing here beside me ig a near relation of one of the men so
foully a behind me is his brother, David Roten, while to (he lett J
recognize a son of Mr, Ashley. These men are honored and respected citizens
of Grant township. I cannot blame them that ly vving quietly, as law-abiding
citizens, permitted the law, so far, to take its course, they now demand that
Tfaunstine, who desolated their homes and removed their-father and brother
from their midst, who has caused them untold sorrow and inexpressible an-
guish of heart, sien here and now meet the punishment he has merited by
his epravelicd and diabolical crime. For them now to seck this as a last
extreme measure—to take the law into their own hands and see that justice ig
surely and speedily executed—there is mueh to be said in palliation, Bue,
gentlemen, for you to do so, while it might hasten, it would not, in my opinion,
change the result. This reprieve is only a tempor iy stity of execution,
Ifaunstine is sure to be hung, and that within the next thirty days; then 1

bescech you to allow the law to take its course. The honor of our county, the:

reputation of its citizens, are involved in your action here to- day. Pwo. years
ago, while discharging my duty as your representative, I was told in the heat
of debate in the legislative halls of thig state that the citizens of Custer
county are hoodlumgs and outlaws. T resented the insinuation wilh all the in-
dignation of one who had faith in the honor and manhood of his people. Now,
it rests with you to proye to the people of this great commonwealth that 1
was correct in my estimation of you; that you ave of truth law-abiding cit-
izens. Judge Mamer has promised you that Haunstine shall not be removed
from this jail, Sherilf Jones has done the same, Our judge has promised
you that he will personally visit the governor and present this ease properly
to him, Mr. Stockham, who has some acquaintance with Governor Boyd, has
also told you he will start in the morning for the state capital. What more
do you want? Gentlemen, those of you who live in Grant township, who
have known and associated with me, know that it has been my jonest en-
deavor to redeem every promise and fulfill every pledge made you, and I now
say, only preserve the patience that hag hitherto characterized you for the
thirty days’ stay fixed by the governor, and if at the end of that time Lfann-
stine is not executed by law, assemble here again, and I promise that I will
be one who will assist you in meting out justice to this murderer in your own
way and manner, Only do this, and every precinct in the county will be
under obligations to make honorable recognition and acknowledgement of the
patience, forbearance and law-abiding qualities of the citizens of Grant

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262. 2 ' . PIONEER HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY

execution at 1 o'clock, but this was not known to the publie generally. Ac-
cordingly as early as 9 o’clock in the morning the erowd bersan to gather in
order to be on hand when the time came. ‘The seaffold svas feneed in: bya
high board wall. Time wore on slowly until about noon: the crowd gathered
until fully 2,000 men, women and children blocked the street on the south
side of the court house, Noticeable among the number avere many women
with babes in their arms. Prominent among those present were many rela.
lives of the men murdered, all eager to witness the doomed man pay the death

. penalty, We would add here that the relatives of the doomed man were

esteemed and highly respeeted cilizens, well known to our people, who sym-
pathizd deeply with them in their great trouble, whieh, through no fault of

theirs, had come upon them,

About 12:30 o'clock a thrill of excitement went through. the. crowd when
Ili Roten appeared on the top beam of the seatfold which projected above
the fenee, and threw a block of wood over into the yard. This was 9 signal
whieh had, seemingly, been agreed upon, whereupon about fifty men sprang °

“over the wire fence, shoved the guards aside, and in Jess time than it takes to

tell it, (he high fenee was lying flat on the ground and the gruesome vibbet
stood in plain view of everybody, It was a moment. of intense excilement,
but Sheril dpones stepped upon the seaffold and exacted of the crowd a
solemn promise to remain outside the fence and interfere no further with
the proceedings. ilaunstine, accompanied by Father IHaley and Sheriff Jones,
mounted the scaffold. Ife looked for a moment over the sea of upturned

faces and in a full, sleady yoiee, without a tremor. he anid:
y . ; )

“Ladies and Gentlemen—-I desire (o ask forgiveness from any one here
whom T have offended. Ialso want you to forgive me for. all the trouble and
expense T have been to the county. T algo ask all to take warning from me,
and learn to do right before it is too Inte. Remember that little things grow
info large things and the conunilting of lille sins led me on to the eonmis.
sion of the crime which hag brought me where I now stand. Again TL ask all
to forgive me, and hope you will not neglect (o seek salvation.’

Mather Laley then whispered a few parting words of consolation, pressed
the crucifix to the doomed man’s lips and placed a cross and a string of beads

around his neck, and exactly two minules before 1 o’clock the trap was sprung,

The strain of the shock was too much for the rope, which ‘parted like a thread,
Jetting the unfortunate man fall in a heap to the ground. The seeond fall
broke his neck and in thirteen minutes he was pronounced dead by the physi
cians in attendance. His body was taken into the sheriff's offiee, where it was
prepared for burial by W. J. Woods, after which it was turned over to his -

i a EO A ie Til i Et a
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Se rg se te

200 PIONEER HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY

township exhibited nuder the preates ‘provocation, the most trying &iren
slances imaginable,

Janes Stoekham, chairman of the.county board, was then ealled for ae
exhorted the assembled nuiltitude to stand by and vindicale the majesty
the Jaw, “A great crime has been committed, and not unjustly or unreas:
ably, you now demand that justice shall be visited upon the perpetrator
this crime. 'Mhis will be done, and done te wily under the law, T promise ¥
that I will start to-morrow morning for Lineotn. Twill se e the govern:
Judge Hamer says he will aecomp: Invine (Judge dlamer: “PU be vieht ther
and I have no reason to doubt that when this matter is properly present

to him he will permit the execution (o proceed and Launstine will be hun

Tam addressing no mob, bul an uprising of the people in their honest indi:

nation, and I doubt not you will listen to reasoy and let the law be vind

- cated.”

Judge Wall of Loup City, in strong and manly tones, Appeated to thre
sense of right and said: “TI have been one to help w ring a verdict of guili
from the jury that tried this man two Jong years ago. But T insist that
law-abiding citizens, you wait until (he law shall take its course.”

Others spoke. Amid the.tumull the reporter was unable to eateh the
names. With additional assurance from Judge IIamer and Sheriff Jones th.
the prisoner should not be removed from the eounty the crowd quietly di:
persed and went to their homes.

In an excellently written account of the exciting events that followed th.

announcement of the governor’s reprieve, the State Journal thus alluded |
the presence of Mrs, Roten, wife of one of the men inurdered by [aunstin
“She is a splendid looking woman, but twenty-six years of Ayre, and the moth:
of four children rendered fatheriess by Tlaunstine’s crime. She stood in th
very inidst of the thickest part of the struggle with anerve that exeited t)
wonder of all who wilnessed the ¢ spectacle. The lenders of the mob eirel:
around her, whispering to her for counsel, as if she were their queen, and

she had finally insisted on Tlaunstine’s execution, no power at the command «

the sheriff could have prevented them fulfilling her command. The peac:
makers besought her earnesily, with every asurance of the justice of the ou!
come, to ask the men to Serebee, but she called attention to the fiendishne:

of the crime and to her fatherless children as an excuse for fefusing to 81}

word in the culprit’s behalf. Tailing in this aim, the peacemakers turne
their endeavors toward preventing her from giving SreacinEemnnt to th
mob, and succeeded.

With reference to the committee, consisting. of Maier,

Stoekham an


AND SHORT SKETCIPS OF BARLY DAYS

Whitehead, who waited upon the governor to ob{ain nsuranee that
ohstacle would be offered lo (he execution of the sentenee, they
thot as far ag any action of his might be
less, Ie intimated that he
vided for in his order

© concerned, their trip y
proposed to offer no further de
of respile, and should not have offe
informed in (ime of the result. of the
insanity, |

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Execution of Haunstino at Broken Bow,

Thirly days thereafter, at an early
Broken Bow began to HL with |
the closing ceremonie

hour in the morning, the streets af
cople from the surrounding country {
s of the doomed man’s career on arth,
attraction for the crowd appeared to be adjoin.
the south end of the eourt house, which hid from public gaze the seafold from
whieh the murderer was to be dropped into eternity, f

The doors of the court
house were closed against the admussion of all exeept those who had a permit
from the sheriff,

and a wire fence was placed about {]
scaffold at a distance of about twenty feet,

O wilness

The center of
the enelosure of rough boards

ie shed containing the
It had been decided to have the

Riba) bLhn uatatecienten en
r brit he yids ated

IN NEPRASKA, a 201

ho furthes
. were tnfarmed
asuftlerly use-
lay than that pro.
red that had he heen
investigation of: Thannstine's allered

ons,
Nata te


HILL, Harry, hanged Plattsmouth, Neb. 3/1/1895

HI8 CRIME A BRUTAL ONE,

Nebraska Man Hanged For Murder
ing a Man Whom He ‘fried to Rob.
Plattsmouth, Neb., March 1.—Harry

Hil), the murderer of Matthaw Akeson,

a Caxs-county farmer, was hanged at

9:06 a. m. to-day. His neck was broken

by the fall.

The crime was committed November
1, 1893, and was a most brutal one. Two
other men were-shot during the con-
Nict, which was the outgrowth of an

attempt at robbery, and Mrs. Akeaon
was nearly beaten to death by John
Benwell, Hill's partner, who ig now
serving a life sentence for the crime.
Hill was, formerly a policeman at
Washington, Db, C., but lost his posi-
tlon because of drink, and became a
tramp,

OURIER, arene


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EXECUTION OF HARRY Rilke!

AT PLATTSMOUTH, NEB, “ay -

FRIDAY, MARCH. I1st,_ 1896.3 x

COMPLIMENTS OF
J.-C. BIKENBARY, SHERIFF,
Cass County, Nee. 6 Bes

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t tte tg A+. D VitA Drbard ca CLE Adlrd.
Lh v Kas L fae hoy bed. AA ae Lhatlsh arth heogs
heh COL Adhd. ech lifnee ner ett
eictagh bra hp

hdl, the ob otrey pa ore AVAL ae al:
(0 ak ? AGU. gears s jAS Flatt: toch,

atiarict re ZL, ben ce
wife eT bak. oi he LAE atts oF”,

amet etek hich ee Qn ¢ f Lg bm P ice

Tie —. OP ai % ae: irk pet
of fact grgun rat fee
: ti yer wis ae: lin Chee Lbtb i, he.
ore board [droukcy 7 bin Hh. ditch nets Wa. (bun oe I /- ee ia
Miner artired bee afin an thi Shootin -Hrws farryd Years bilir/ ~ @
Jl gard ~ Pen. _ bs net alld ang He betel wae

2 ey, Ny ek re SAL Se bes trcchozh)
a ree nee Mona Ml (ope-e8 CBeul\A Pome 8 ka POSTER “—

tf Nats road tho Sra yp a a gt Z

po bran &


s
+

INE

SOCKED IT TO THE DOCTOR

Judge Ecott Livens Up the Hoover Trial by
Jumping-On a Witness,

TAKING OF TESTIMONY QUICKLY OVER

Cane Clonsen FRarly and Attorneys Com-

uence Thelr Arzuments—Kvi-
dence Introdnecd on Noth
‘ Sides ia-frief.
.

Tho trial of Claude Hoover, the slayer of |
Bam Dubois, which was begun Thursday aft- j
ernoon, proceeded rapidly in the eriininal
court yesterday before Judge Se.tt and wilh
bo finished today. The procerdings, were
listezxed to by a court. room full
of curiosity seekers, who gave ciore at-
tention to the testimony. The evidence was
interesting, inasmuch as ft. consisted of a
review of the circumstances which led up to
the wshocting aml of the statements of eye-
witnesses to the tragedy,

Houver, while he showed that he possessed
a opatere which did not appear to be very
pusceptible to fopebodings over his fate, was

eet as
7

Miss Hoover testified and when sheslef the
stand he turned forward again with reddened
ey. s,

Isaac FE. Burtiek, an architect. was called
to Identify a plan he had made ef thg shoe
shop of Gustave Saaifoldt at 418'% South
Thirteenth street, where the tragedy oc-
curred, ;

Dr. Sherman’ Vanness, who made an ‘au
topsy on Dufois’ body aty the morrue, wags
called to testify to the results of his ex-
amination. He fcund two bullet wounds
about an Inch to the left side of the middle
line of the body, just above the pit of tke
stomach. They rangel downward, backward
and to the right. Both went through the
liver. producing necessarily fatal wounds.
One bullet was found in the ablominal cavity.

The cther could not be found, having prob-
ably gone Into the deep muscles of the back.
Death was produced from the shock and
from hemorrhage. {

It was ae this time that the court incident:
in which the doctors fienured 9 prominently ;
occurred, County Attorney Baldrige. ealled
Dre. Allison, Summers and Conlter, but they
falled to respond. The proceedings were, de-
layed until Dr. Allisen arrived, and after he
had been fined and impressed with the dig-
nity of the court, he waz allowed to finally
take the stand.

Dr. Allison testified that he bad assisted
In the cperation on Pultois and had also been
present at the antopsy. He said that after
the operation it was found that the wound
was necessarily fatal, the leaden bullet
having perferated the liver. DuBois died be-
tween 3 and 4 o'clock on Sunday, fifteen or

afiactenjin

evidently disturbed by sume of the evidence.
He appeared to be especially éffecied whio
hiw half sister told of the quarrel which oc-
curred between himself and DuBols on the
day on which he ehot the latter. He lip
tened more calmly to the narrations of the,
shooting. Throughout the morning his eenail |
figure was huddled in a corner ¢f his chatr |
and he sat with his head supported by his
hand.

In the course of the morning's proceedings |
Judg* Scot had an oppertunity to dinpress toe |

dignity of the court upon the spectatcrs, and _

noe-at Hot fall to do so. The opportunity |
presentad ttself when Dra, Allison, Summers ;
and Coulter were called and failed to re-
spond, He was told that they had be nj
subpocnacd, but had not reported. The!
court inetruct:d the clerk to issue a caplas |
fer each of the doctors, and the trial. was
delayed wnotil one arrived,

Dr. Allison soon entered the room and
Judge Scott rnmounted the bench. The phys-
felan walked toward the witn:ss stand, but
Judge Scott pointed to the- front of the
bench and ettied out:
~'Come here.”

“Dr. Allison obeyed and then Judge Scott
sald:

“Why wasn't you here?”

Dr. Allison explained that when he was
summoned by a deputy sheriff! he was told
that it would not be necessary to hang about
the court room; that he could wait until he
was called by telephone. Thts explanation
did net appear to satisfy the court.

FINE IMPOSED AND REMITTED.

“This witness ain't going to be sworn un-
til this Is explained,” remarked Judge Scott.
“I want to find out how it !s that when a
care is called the court has to wait until it
pleases a doctor to be here.”

The court paused a moment and then ad-
ministercd the oath to the physician to tell
the truth regarding his non-appearance and
once more he questioned the man of med-
cine. Dr. Allison gave the same explana-
tion. Judge Seott sent for the deputy sheriff,
but he could not be found, .

“T want to find out whether the power of
this court Is to be sruperseded by a sheriff, or
any one elee. ‘I fine you $50 and costs and
you stand committed until it Is paid. I pro-
pow to settle this," the court continued
anerily, “if I settle nothing else.”

After Dr. Alliscom gave his testimony he
Was taken In chargo by a deputy sheriff.
After adjournment at noon an attorney ap-
peared in his behalf. His stated that Dr. Al-
Ilson ways doing nothing more than obeying
the orders of the deputy sheriff. He had
como within five minutes after he was
summoned.

“Tt im the principle of this court that rich
and pocr stan! equal before it," sald Judge
Scott In anrwer. “Doctors semm to think
that because they are doctors thév can d
as they please, but they will find cut differ-
ently. I don't care If th ore ts only one doe
tor In this city and he tis called in a caso of
Nfe and death, When he ts eummone! he
hae to be here and that fs all there fs about
{t. The preceedings of this court can't be
etopped by th m. 1 will, however, remit this
fine if Dr. Allison will promise to be promptly
on hand the next tim” he tis subpoenaet."

Dr. Allison promised and he was freed.
The other physicians did not appear. Judz>
Seoxtt ordered that the guilty doputy sheriff
be brought before him as soon ae he came tn.

When court convene] yesterday avery
few. minutes were spent by the counsel on
sboth sides In briefly making a stit.ment to
the jury. The state then at once called tts

first witness.

eighteon heurs after having been shot. “

The story of the trag’dy which occurred
In the shoe shop en Thirte nth street was
told by the propriet r, Gustave Saalfeldt.
During the recital Hoover was plainly af-
fected. He sank down in his chair and pre-
eonted a pleture of despondency

Saalfeldt testified that Hoover entered the
shoe shop between 1 and 2 o'clock on the
afternoon of December 13. but said nothing
of his quarreé with Dubois, stating simply
thit he had been discharged, Hoover eames
In again at §:20 o'clock and at the time
Saatftrtdt, nits Droilier Charlic and a negro
boy, Andrew Jackson, were there. Tloover
fat down in a thair about three feet from
Saalfeldt's bench. Yhe pertics engaged fn
a conversation and in the course of it Hoover
remarked: “I would give a quarier if Sam
DuBois would show up.”

About ten or fifteen minutes later DuBols
entered, He called out: ‘Good evening,
gentlemen,’ and walkid to the front’ of
Saalf:ldt’s bench, not more than two feet
from Hoover. Fle said nothing mere, but
Hoover half arose and callhd out: ‘I've got
you where I want you, you -—~- —-."”

FIRED THE FATAL SHOTS.

With these words Hoover flashed a re-
volver and fired twice at DuBois.

Witness said that at this point he decided
that he had seen enough and got out of a
back window as fost as he could. As ho
ran he looked back: and saw DuBois rush
toward Hoover.

Charlie Saalfeldt, a brother of the pre-
ceding Witness, who was present when the
shooting took place, gave an account of the
affair. He testified that Hoover was not
drink, but appeared to be downhearted.,
Saalfeldt also went cut of the back window
after the shooting ftarted.

The witness sald that later !n tho evening
he went info the rear room of Rell's drug
stere, DnBols was lying down and Hoover
was beside him. <A convirsation was golng
on ond Saalfellt heard Hoover say:

“T always told you I'd kill you.”

“T never though! you yould do anything
like that,” responded DuBols,

Andrew Jackson, the negro who was in
the shcp, told the story of th: oecurrence.

egran out of the front deor of the shop and

ho ran he saw Dunes seiz> Hoover's
1s. He did not sso DuBols again until
er he was dead,

Rh. C. Bell, the drugg'st, into whose place
Dubois dragged Hoov r after he had been
shot, testified that he saw DuBots drag
Hoover frem the shor shop tnto his drug
store, DuBole called for a doctor, saying
that he had been shot by Heover. Hoover
sald: ’

“Yes, Tshot you. T told you T wonld shoot
you theefirst thne T saw you.”

DuBels by this the suceeded tn taking
th revolver from Hoover and handed It to a
Jvstand ro wih the remark:

“Take thin pun. He shot me, but I den't
want to sheot him.”

DubBels was led to the rear of the store.
Heover accompanted him and two or three
times sald that he was sorry he had shot
DuBols and stated that he hoped he would
get well. Boll satd that he did not) think
that HE. ver was drunk.

Jamea P. Fenton test'fled that he receive?
the revolver from DuBciseand he later turned
it over to the police. He h ard Hoover re-
mark several times, “DT told you that T would
sheet you.” Ao Hoover was takin out by the
pollen witness heard him say that he hoped
Dubsis would get well. The witness sai?
that Hocver did not appear drunk.

A coupls of phlice officers who arrested

Hoover were called. One of them tJe«nt!fed

~~.
ment this’ morning, and the ®case will be
then given to the jury. ‘

ee
DEDICATED TO ENGLAND.

OMAHA, Dec. 27.—To the Editor of The
Bee: In your London cablegram of Decem-
ber 25 to the New York. World are a few
werds that, as an Irish-American, I wish to
express my sentiments upon, They are
writt:n In bitter denunciation of Mr. Red-
mond. They are as follows: ‘Mr. Redmond's,
dispatch has arouscd the one really bitter
note of the entire controversy.” ‘If Mr.

Redmond,” says the Graphic, “is correctly
reported by telegraph he haz succeeded In
driving another nail fnto the already well
studded coffin of home rule. At a crisis tn
the history of Great Britain and the United
States, when war b-tween these two great

y
branches of on¢ family has been hinted at}

as within the range of possibility, he tells

l_Ameritca*that the sympathies of Ireland are

with the enemies of England, and th? reason
fer this declaration of treason and foul libel
upon @ gallant racs, to which he claims to be-
lenge, i. the rejection of the home rule Dill.”

Mr. Redmond expresses the sentiments cf
+his exiled brethren ‘all over. the world, and
Irish-Americans in part’cular. *

What allegiance do we cwe to Englind?
During the last 709 years what has been our
history? I nesd not repeat {it here. We
know ft In our hearts, and none but the Uv-
ing God knows what we have suffered at the
hands ef cruel and trascherous England.

The spirit of our countrymen js Still, un-
broken, and we are at all times ready for
the fray, biding our time and awaiting cur
opportunity. We honor and admire the pres-
ident of the United States for the stand he
“as taken, and we pledge our undivided sup-
port whenever the emergency arises.

We deivy England's right to claim ua on
this side cf the Atlantic as members of her
{imily, fer sh> has always treated us, when-
ever it was In her power to do so, with treach.
ery. Americans do not forget the Mason and
Slidell and the. Trent-affair,-nor- de-we forget
that she did all that laid In her power to
divide this family in America, nor do we
forget that when Richmond was captured the
Armstrong guns were there bearing the In-
scription as presented to Jeff Davis, nor do
we forget that in spite of all remonstrance:
the Alabama was turned loose 49 destroy
our commerce and ruin us as a naticn; nor
do we forget that England tried to prevent
Shermnan from confl*cating cotton In the
south, pretending to give It the protection of
the English flag. We do not forget that while
Irishmen were shouting for the union in the
streets of Dublin that In the streets of Lon-
don, the capital of England, Englishmen
were shouting for the confederacy.

Irieh-Americans and their children will
protect this nation and Its flag against any
country en the face of the earth, We arc
here to stay. We love and honcr this land
of our adoption as the home of the cppressed
of all nations, recognizing neither creed nor
color, We are one homogeneous people, will-
ing and ready at all times to pretect our
country’s rignts against all ecmers. Irish-
men in general have nevit given their sinc.
tion to home rule. Ireland in chains is dearer
to our hearts than it syould be as ai de-
pendency of Etigiend. Our hepe ‘s thet in the
near future an emergency may arise that will
give us the chance to unfurl her banner on
her own soll. We do not desire any sop from
England, nor do we expect to recéive any
favors frcm her, cnly as we get them at th>
peint of the bayonet. She has never given
conecssions or mercy to any person or power
that she was able to bully. She has lived
and grown great by the sword, and the time
will come when she will perish. by it. My
countrymen have been starved and presied
Into her service, and they have brought vic-
tcry to htr banners in ell parts of the world.
She Is a relentless enemy, one that will show
you no mercy if you fall Into her power, and
she will u»> any and all means at her com-
mand to obtain her object. Treachery, bribery
and fraud are h¢r best weapons, and she has
no honor tin dealing with a weaker fre, as we
well know to cur eost, by her treachery
after signing the treaty of Timertek and her
slaughter at New Ress. She has never shown
merey to a conquered foe, but the day will
come when, as a nation, she will get her
deserts,

The hearts of our eltizens throuphout this
broad land are filled with patriotie pride
and pleasure at the action of our ropres  nta-
tive: in congress in so ably supporting the
president and by giving all Europe to un-
derstard that tho pearie of this: republic
are patriotic where our rights and the richts
of cur sister republics arc interfered with.
We man for all time to stand by the
Mcnroe doctrine, and also enforce its princi-
plea. The action of Senator ITill of New
York is worthy of all praise. His bill gives
fo our southern brethren their full rights
a@ citizens and should have ben conecdent
Inng ago, for we should recognize no nerth
no #cuth, no east, no west. “United we
stand, divided we fall." The words of Gen-
eral Gordon of Georgla, spoken in Chicags,
and his patriotic speech and pl'dge in be-
half af tha annlodorata wriereeu waa timaly.

ARMENIANS ARE SURRDUN

Generally Eclieved that Another Ma
is Imminent.

THOUSANDS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN Dé

—

Representatives of the Eure
Powers Unite In a Request *
' the Sultan Interfere but th:

Porte Can Do Nothing.

CONSTANTINOPLE, Dec. 27.—It !
cially announced that most cbatinate fi
preceded the capture of Zeitoun by the
Semi-official advices from Zelitoun say
the Armenians lost 2,500 killed durir
engagement’ and that only 250 Turks
killed. The narrow pass between the
leading from Zettoun is said‘to be er
with Armenians, men, women and ch
and It ts’ feared they will be massacred
ambiyssadors of Great Britain, France,
sia, Germany, Italy and Austria, sent
dragomans to the palace. ‘today in or.
make representations with the view o
venting tlie Armentang from being mass
and pointed out the gravity of euch a
Little hope is-felt, however, that the
ecntations of the anibaytaders will aval
the general bellef is that the survivors
Armenians of Zeitoun have already
killed,

T.ie financial situation continues ver:
The various projects of the Porte to
money by granting menapolles fer th
of petroleum, alcohol, ete., have esbap:
the present. although It is _bedieved th
Zothitions on the subject will shortly
suined. The Perte, however, haa sac
in couecting £20,000 from the varlous
ycts, which money was devoted to payli
mouth's salaries of the officials here
nothing has been said about paying th
déers and others who are in arrears, a
consequences the feeling of discontent |
ariny, Which has frequently been referr
is understood to be on the increase an
situation is by no means a bright one.

SALVADOREAN SOLDIERS REV
Mill Their Off_eers and Deelars
Ionetn,

NEW YORK, Dec. ‘27.—A special t:
Journal from Salvador says: The sold
the garrison at Sonsohat have: been dis
fled for a long time because they wer
paid, though there had been’ no open
break, but at noon on the 19th, whe

greater portion of the troops were out di
under cornmand of Colonel Rivera, he or
them to maneuver and form a hdllow sc
The men wero ferling most bitter be
Colenel Rivera ordered acsoldler who :
minutes before had accidentally droppe
gun, to be bucked, gagged and beaten
soldier dying under tho lash. Wham the s
was formed by the grumbHne soldiers
the offlesrs had all taken thelr places |
the square, some one. .cried out ‘Viva |
tad.”” ‘

The words were immediately taken vu
mcst of the soldiers, and b:fere any o
cfllcery were able to do anything to pi
themselves they were overpowgrel and f
to ptand in} ne ard Col nel Riverwand tw
four cffoers were shot. Toe soldiers lef
bodies of their victims lying where the:
and ourder the command of (aptain I
they marched toward the feoast... ye
“Viva. la Revolution; viva. AMmtonio Ez

It is believed these men ar@ now nea:
coast, awaiting the arrival of Ezeta's
Thore are only a few real followers cf |
among thes: men, but they are ready to
come any change from, the tyranny of Gi
rez. cpa sh
Funeral of Crridjunt Melehers,
COLOGNE, Dee. 27.—The remains
Cardinal Paul Melchers, who dated in R
on December 14, were aecorded an impo
funeral here today. The protezsion from
church of St. Gereon, where the body
been lying sines it was brought from R«
to the cathedral where it was consigne:
the tomb included, all the clergy of the
and many bishops from other towns; Ca
nal Phillpp Krementz, archbishop
Cologne, celebrated pentifical m
and the bishop of Treves delivered an :
tion,

ener we ey

i
VISITED BY CHICKEN
Captured the Poultry of a No
Kightecnth Street: Man,
Henry Haskell, 1424 North Elghtes
street, had an exciting chase. after chic
thieves Thursday evening. Shortly after d

“THIEYV

he wae atttine near a windees fy the rear

~
.

” tragedy seems to have directly arisen,

SYive tone, but readtly,

“timacy.

» Heover,

pleares a dnetor To he jere. |

The court paused a moment and then ad-
ministered the oath to the physician to tell
the truth regarding his non-appearance and
once more he questioned the man of metdi-
eine. Dr. Allison gave the same explana-
tion. Judge Scott sent for the deputy sheriff,
but he could mot be foun.

“[ want to find ou whether the power of
this court Is to be euperseded by o sheriff, or
any one elae, “I fine you $50 and costs and

you stand committed until it Is patd. I pro-
pow to rettle this,” the court continued
angrily, “if I settle nothing else.”

After Dr. Allison gave his trrtimony he
was taken In charge by a deputy sheriff.
After adjournment at noon an attorney ap-
peared In his behalf. Hie stated that Dr. Al-
Iison wap doing nothing more than obeying
the orders of the deputy sheriff. He had
come within five minutes after he was
summoned.

“It im the principle of this court that rich
and poor stan! equal before it,"’ said Judge
Beott In anawer. “Doctors seem to think
that because they are doctors théy can d
as they please, but they will find cut differ-
ently, I don't care If th:re ts only one doc-
tor In this city and he is called in a caso of
Nfe and death. When he {fs summonel he
has to be here and that ts all there Is about
it. The preeeedings of this court can't be
etopped by thm. I will, however, remit this
fine if Dr. Allison will promise to b> promptly
on hand the next time he ts subpoenact.”

Dr. Allison promised and he was freed.
The other physicians did not apprar. Judge
Seott ordered that the guilty d-puty sheriff
be brought before him as soon ax he came in.

When court convene! yesterday a= very
few. minutes were repent hy the counsel on
both aides In briefly making a stat ment to
the Jury. The state then at once called its
first witners,

TOLD BY A RELATIVE.

An account of the quarrel out of which the
was
given by the first witness called, Katle Bro-
phy, a 17-year-old half-sister of Hoover and
Mra. DuBole, The witness speke in a plain-
and referred to the
principals In the tragedy as Sam and Claude.

According to the statement of the witness
it appears that Hoover hid objected for some
time to an Intimacy which existed between
Miss Brophy, who was employed in DuBois’
office near Thirteenth and Howard streets,
and another girl in the office. On the after-
noon of December 13, the day of the crime.
Hoover entered the office and remonstrated
with the girl again on aceount of this in-
The girl began to ery and while
rhe was wecping DuBois entered, The sight
angered Dulols.

“LT don’t want you to be fussing over that
girl,’ he said to Hoover, testified Miss: Bro-

phy.

“That's none of your business,’ was the
response, .

A few minor words followed and then

Duols angrily remarked:
“Get out of here, you d—d mis‘rable whelp

end coward.’ a
He led Hoover to the door, Hut there
Hoover esked that he be givenché time. Th

two figured for a while and then they agreed
that the amount due Hoover was $10.40.
Dubots sald thet he Cid not have the money
and went out to borrow it. Heo r.turned a
few: minutes later and handed $10.50 to
telling him to keep the chatige..
Hoover, however, persisted
the 10 cents. Tho parting between the tw’
men wap not indicative of the tragedy which
followed.

“Tam ever fo much obliged to you,” rald
Hoover.

“You are welcome," answered DuBois,

Hoover went out.

Miss Hoover added that while DuRols was
out cf the office to borrow money she en-
treated Hoover not to have any- trouble with
DuBols. He responde!l that he would not
and with upratsed right hand premised.

The witness emald that shortly before 23
o'clock she received a telephone messag> from
Hoover asking her to meet him. She prom-
{sed to see him on Howard streot, opposite
the office, and .a few moments later Hoover
appesred and motioned fer her to come over.
She did so and found Hoover tin what ap-
peared to her a somewhat Intoxicated condi-
tion. ‘He inquired of the whereabouts of a
friend end then sald that he intended to go
to Kareas City. He referred to the quarrel!
with DuBols with the follwing words:

“Sam had no business to stick his nose
Into that, and he would be- sorry that he dit.
T would hove dene right if I had shot him.”

The witness sgaid that she remonstrate!
with her half brother again. and that he

+ again rald he would do nothing to DuBois.

‘

’ ~ affected.

DOC TORS AS WITNESSES ‘
The definne Attempted to"ahow that Il over
drank ,considgrably, but th» questicn was

not allowed by the*court. . The witness was
permitted to ‘fay, though, that she thought
that Hoover was drunk when she spoke with
him the seccnd time. She was also ask: if
Hoover had not always been a go-d broth-r,
‘TH this quesiion was also ruled out. = She
eaid Mist she had formerly lived at the house
of lmBots, but during the past two years
had lived at Hoover's hous-.

During the recital of this story by the
witness Hoover appeared to be considerably
He turned his head away while

In giving: back..

The witness sald that later fn ths evening
he went In'o the rear room of Bell's drug
store, DuBols was: lying down and Hoover
was beside him. A convirsation was going
on and Saalfelit heard Hoover may:

“T always told you I'd kill you.”

“T never thourht you would do anything
like that," responded DuBals,

Andrew Jackson, the negro who was in
the shcp, told the story of th» occurrence.

egran out of the front door of the shop and

ho ran he saw DuBois seize Hoover's

i. He did not seo DuBols agiin until

er he was dead.

hi. C. Bell, the druggist, into whose place
DuBois dragged Hoov r after he had been
shot, testified that he saw DuBols drag
Hoover frem the shoe shop tnto his drug
Stare, DuBolgs called for a doctor, saying
i he had been shot by Heover. Hoover
said;

“Yes, I shot you. T told you IT would shoot
you theefirst time I saw you.

DuBeis by this tlme succeeded in taking
th: revolver from Hoover and handed It to a
bystand¢r with the remark:

“Take thin gun. He shot me, but I don't
want to sheot him.”

DuBols was led to the rear of the store.
Hoover accompanied him and two or three
times sald that he was sorry he had shot
DuBols and stated that he hoped he would
get well. Bll sald that he did not think
that Hoover was drunk.

James P,. Fenton test'fled that he receiver!
the revolver from DuBcis and he later turned
it over to the police. He h-ard Hoover re-
mark several times, “I told you that T would
shoot you.’ Ag Hoover was taken out by tho
polfen witnees heard him say that he hoped
Dufbsie would get well. The witness sail
that Hoover did not appear drunk.

A coupl: of pellee ofiiccrs who arrested
Hoover were called. One of them Ilentified
the revolver with which DuRots bad been
shet and which was turned over to th» police
by Fenten,

When court reconv: ned at 1 o'clock Josoph
Avskleford was called to the stand. He was
“present while DuBois was dragging Hoover
into the drug store, and until Hoover was.
arrest<d, He testified to the admission made
by Hoover that he chot DuBols, and his
later remarks that he .was sorry thit he
Aid It.

Sheriff Drexel, who acted ag coroner tn the
Inqu st DuPoir body. pr duced and
indentifiel the bullet which was taken from
ths body.

John W. Bell,
witness, Dell, and
of the drug sto-e,

aver

a brother of the former

one of the proprietors
was also a witness of the
swcident in the drug store. He heard the
admission of Hoover. After tiking the revo!-
ver from Hoov r. Dab out walked back to e

mirror and seeing the blo 1 on his ehirt
exelafmed: “My God, my God! My poor
wife end children.”

Abeham Singer, a Douglas street pawn-

breker, identified the revolver uscd by Hoover
e1one be eeld on th: afternoon of the day
the tragely occurred. He» conld not tdentify
Ho ver as the man who mad: the purchase,
but he mld thit he looked Uke him.

ATTEMPT TO SHOW INSANITY.

With this witness the state at 2 o'clock
revted Ver cass. The defense at ence aponed
by callirg to the siard Mrs. DuBois, tho wif
of the murdered man, and a elster of the
aeeused man, She was dressed in deep
black.

Fiom questions which were put to Mre
DuBois tt was evident that th: dofens> wa:
to.b» Insanity. Attorneys started ont hy
asking If Heover was insane, but an objection
from County Attorney Baldrige was sustained
The witnes: was then asked wat) effect
liquor had on Hoover, bnt this was also rul-!
out. The same fat: met
Hocver's father and grandfather were Insane.

Tho attorneys for the d.fense put a whole
s‘rics of questicns, the gist of which was
ta discover, whethor by actions or word
or in any other way, Heover exdibited indica-
tiens cf Insanity. The ¢ questions were
all ruted out on the grount! that they called
for a conclusion of the witness, Mra. DuBois.
however, did state over an cbfecticn that
Hleover never showed any hostile feeling
teward her husbind in her presence.

Tho half-tister, Miss Brophy, was called to
the stand and an attempt was also. mad
to show by her that Hoover wae Insane.
The witness wae permitted to gay that on
both oecasions when she geiw Hoover that
Yay he said that he was going to Kansas
City. In the second ecnversatizn he bade
foe lbye to her ard ec ied. ve

On crora-eximination the state tried to
shew that in th: first conversation Hoover
eeohlel Misa Beovhy and that he erled in
the socond while he was trying to make up.

When the witness left the stand the court
gave the Jury oa few minutes’ reessa, When
't returned at 3:15 the attorneys for the
defenss consulted a few minutes with Hoover
eod then announced:

“We rest.’

It was a surprise, as it
that the defenes wonid introduce cumulative
evidincee to show the insanity of H-over.

The-state apnouneed that fit ‘had no re-
buttal testimeény to introduce and the at-
torneys at once b gan their addressees to
the jury. Three of them were finished whey
an adjournment was taken at 5:30 o'clock.
County Attorney Baldrige will make bis argu-

.

a question whether.

had be:n thought’

Sot we SUSCUY Wee REPUTE RSet Sr fF See eo
give us the chance to unfurl her banner on
her own soll. We do not derire any sop from
England, ner do we expect to recéive any
favors frcm her, cnly as we g*t them at the
peint of the bayonet. She has never given
concessions or mercy to any person or power
that she was able to bully. She has lived
and grown great by the sword, and the time
will come when she will perish by it. My
countrymen have been starved and pressed
Into her service, and they have brought vic-
tery to hér banners in all parts of the world.
She {ts a relentless enemy, one that will show
you no mercy if you fall Into her power, and
she will us> any and all means at her com-
mand to obtain her object. Treachery, bribery
and fraud are her best weapons, and she has
no honor in dealing with a weaker fre, as we
well know to our cost, by her treachery
after signing the treaty of Limerick and her
slaughter at New Ress. She has never shown
mercy to a conquered foe, but the day will
come when, as a nation, she will get her
deserts.

The hearts of our eitizens throughout this
broad land are filled with patriotic pride
and pleasure at the action of our repres:nta-
tives in congress in so ably supporting the
president and by giving all Europe to un-
derstard that the peaorie of this republic
are patriotic where our rights and the rights
of our sister republics are intérfered with.
We man for all time to stand by the
Menroe doctrine, and also enforce its princi-
ples. The action of Senator Hill of New
York {is worthy of all praise. His bill gives
to our southern brethren their full rights
aa citizons and should have been conceded
Inong ago, for we should recognize no nerth
no ecuth, no east, no west. “United we
stand, divided we fall." The words of Gen-
eral Go:don of Georgia, rpoken in Chicago,
and his patriotte speech and pledge in be-
half of the confederate veterans, was timely
and deserving of all praise. The hearts of
our people thrcughout this broad land ar:
overflowing with prids and pleasure and. love
for cur efcuthern brethren.

Comredsa: of the Grand Army and all olf
soldiers of the unfon send greeting to our
southern brethren on this occasion, and we

again pledge our undivided and our. oun-
dying love to cur country. Although old
'n year: we are young in thought and rolld

In action, with an undying lov> for that starry
banner which today protects within its folds
an undivided people.

AN IRISH-AMERICAN,

2: ere a eT ot
Canght at a Coke Walk,

William Cannon, colored, was arrested
Thursday cn complaint of W. M. Green,
charging him with the larceny. of an over-
eoat. Green and Cannon attended a cake
walk, given under the auspices of the Misses
Peach on South Twelfth strect, Christmas
night. Punch was served, and together with
a large growler, which was industrlously
worked between the back door and a netgh-
boring salcon, William fell considerably
under the influence by the time ine was
ready to take his departure. Having given
his own coat away, Willlam protected him-

relf from the chilly night alr with the gar-
ment belonging to Mr. Green and wandered
homeward by a cireuitous route, Cannon

was considerably surprised to find himself {n
jail, and. stated to the judge yesterday
that the whole affair was but a hizy memory
to him. Cannon was discharged under a
promise to keep away from-cake walks and
avold growlers In the future.

Christnras “‘Raccrinen at St. John’s,

St. John’s Episcopal church kad its Christ-
mas celebration for children Thursday even-
ing. At >the rear of the Guild hall toa stage.
The arrangem nt cf this was quite unique It
represented the Interfor of a parlor and In
th*® eonter was an immense epen fire place.
Down the chimney and cut through the fire

place came the famous St. Nicholas, followed
y ebout thirty snow-white fairies. The g ol

eld saint and his followers sang many beau-
tiful scngs and recited some very sweet
Christmas pozms.

A feature of the children’s treaf at St.
John’s was the giving of prizes to the chotr
boys. Perey Jamiscn received the first prize,
which was a Filver watch. The rrcond went
to Fred Rhoey. This was a gold pin.
third, a fountain pen, was won by Frank
Thomas, The other members of the choir
received sleds, skates, foot balls, ete.

—
Named for the Sherift'n OMce,

It in given cut from a rellabl> source that
Sheriff-elect John McDonald has practically
decided on at least six of the mea whom he
will appoint to the subordinate positions in
his office, According to the pre-e nvention
agreement, Jonn E,wils will be his chef
ceputy, occupying the same desk which he
had under ex-Sileriff Beonett.. Henry Me-
Donald -will probably be cashier ‘and bo'k-
keeper. The servic s of the feinale stenog-
rapier and bookkeeper wili be dispensed with
and the work will be done by the other begk-
keepora. DD Il A. Pearcs will assist in the
bockkeeping and: also do outside work,
George Hill, at present c_unty superintendent
of schools, and George Shand will be the
out’de men and John. Linn will be s°cond
jailer: The selection of a jailer is still in
doubt,

The}

was formed eonimbing soldiers
the oMecrs had sll taken their places In:
the square, some one cried “Viva iil
tad.’”

The words were immediatet; taken up
mest of the soldiers, and before any of
cfileery were able to do anything to pro
themselves they were overpowgrel and fc:
to ptand in} ne ard Ccl nel Riverwand twit
four cfivzrs were shot. The seldicre left
bodies of their victims lying where they

and under the command of (aptain. Re
they marched toward the fconst ‘yell

“Viva. la Revolution; viva. Antonio Ez:'

It iv believed these men are now near
coast, awaiting the arrival of Ezeta’s s
Thore are only a few real followers of EF
among thes> men, but they are ready to \
come any change from; ‘the tyranny of Gul
rez.

Funernl of of Cardinal Metchers,
COLOGNE, Dec. 27.~The remains
Cardinal Paul Melcherr, whe died in Re
on December 14, were accorded an impor
funeral here today. The proeeasion from
church of St. Gereon, where the body
been lying since it was bronght from Ro
to the cathedral where it was consigned
the tomb included, all the clergy of the «
and many bishops from other towns; Ca
nal Philipp Krementz, archbishop
Cologne, celebrated pontifical m
and the bishop of Treves delivered an «

tion,

VISITED BY

——

CHICKEN. -THIEV

Captured the Poultry of a No
Kightecnth Street: Man,

Haskell, 1424 North Elghtec
street, had an exciting chase after chic
thieves Thursday evening. Shortly after d
he was sitting near a window in the rear
his home. Glancing in the dfrection of
cocp containing his feathered treasures
discerned three dark objects moving acr
ths horizon, flanked by his. own fenc:.
moment Tater they had entered the sB
and the feeble sound denoted that the
game rooster had fallen a victim. to
robbers. Haskell at ones donned his c
and a war-like demeanor and with an
s‘arted to the rescue of his chickens.
scon ag the marauders discovired that
man thoroughly in earncsst was camping
th Ir trail they hastily swept the occupa
of the roost Into two sacks, and, briaki
out of the shed, set a rapid pace down t
midtle of the strect.

To other accomplishments Haskell |
added that of a sprinter and he legged it
merrily that the rar thi.f, Inside of t
blocks, waz almost within touching distan
Being hard pushed the man dropped
plunder and sought refuge by cutting acr
lots, finally disappearing down an all
fhe other thief made pood his escape a
land'd hims If an’ prize in safety.

Henry

wom ———

WILL CREMATE: TARRY

Rody of the Dend Murderer Shipp
to Chiengo Laat Nieht,

CHICAGO, Dec, 27.—The body of Har
Hayward, recently execnted tf Minneapo
fer the murder of Catherine Ging, arrived
Chicago teday and was immediately tak
from the express company’ par for trar
portation to Graceland c mttery for crem
“tfon. At the station was a crowd waiti:
When the train bearing the remains roll
in a number of employes of the expres
company lifted the box contalning the 1
nmins out of the car and placed {it upon t
Canal str-et sidewalk, where: it lay fifte:
minutes, awaiting transfer to a suburi:
train for transportation to Gre@ecland.

N. S. Warner of Minneapoiis; was in char
of the body and superintended the transf
from one train to the other. Ace:mpanyil
the remains were Dr. Alfred Haywar
brother ef the executed man, and Mr. Ge
9 ll, the cousin for whose benefit Harry Ha:
ward dictated a story of hie life, in. whic
ho clatme! to have killed half a dozen peopl
Ags the box lay on the sifewalk on Can
street seores of pe'ple passing by stopped 1
look at it. When the box: was. carried u
th» Incline from the basement of the dep
to the sidewalk the crowd of spectator
parted, making room for th? truck to pas
and then closed in.

HAYWAR

— .
Count Ziehy and Mra. Vananga Marric:
NEW YORK, Dee. 27.—The World thi
morning says: Count Zichy of Austria
Ilungary and Mabel EMzabeth Wright, for
méerly Mra. Fernando Yinaga, are marrie!
The, ecrremony.cecurred at 8t.. Stephen’
Roman Cathole church Thursday. The rac
rament wre admintetered, af course, by 1
priest of the Roman Catholic chutch. Tha
the ceremouk® was to take place had beer
kept a profcund scecret, and. the weddin:
party cors'sted of barely a dozen persons
The body of the church was in dense dark
ness, and the only Hehts were the candles
at the alter. The marringe was celebrated
uncer the archeptscopal blessing.» Arch
bishap, Corrigan. granted the dispensation
after a careful examination cf the previous
history of beth bride and groom.
, tee s
Why throw away your money for every new
cough syrup, when you can buy that standard

remedy, Dr, Bull's Cough Syrup?



Oissslea. wt

an Lataa te Rian

TNS JG JHWNSON PAYS.
PENALTY OF HIS CRE

lored Man "Who, ‘Murdered:
and ° Robbed: Henry. oon ‘

:| Lincoln, .Neb., May. 12.—Thomag John-
soh, colored, was hanged at the state
_ penitenttary: this ‘afternoon at: 2:13:30; ‘The
t-reflex vanished fourteen minutes and
4 ¢- second latér.’ Johnson was hanged for
a the murder ‘ot Henry Franklung In Oma-
4 -\sJqhnson ‘preserv. ‘a calm’ exterist” but,
: ie Jabored_ under tremendous. excitement
Aeapite his-appearance.:-He did not: lose
8, nerve. when the death: warrant. wes
read to him shortly after‘noon by J;-D.
M ard’ of the warden’s : office; he maijn-
ined a smiling and ‘even’ blase exterior
When questioned -by reporters; ‘continued
Is, dexterous use of words when QO. J.
urchardt,, a - colored religious. worker,
A Westioned -him= with~ reference to ‘his
2@ epllts and even’ when, on the scaffold
a emiled and oke his | few words in a
Npm yolce, %*:
t nu. time iat his: Yorionie’ Convereniteas tes
he deny’ his guilt nor did “he protest -| +i
i innocence, ‘He’ did ‘not’ 'revile «the
der of the court: nor ald he admit ‘its
<a justice. Whenever: this subject ‘was ap-.
proached he shifted the conversation to
ething else, and the. most direct reply
Be Burcharat - succeeded -_ in: , getting
“dtr - him wee. thet “I am an accused

he | walked about 150 yards .over=.the-

' vel pathg formerly, used ag: a -barne-

hich stands In the nouthwest corner of |

prison court.’ He walked ip the acat-

ag’ without. support, although’ members |

ft 'the executioter’s party had hold of.

ht . He leaned against the railing when

he yeached the scaffold floor, smiled and

replied politely to George Stryker's jn-

“a quify as to whether he had anything to

Heay, shook hands with Burchardt, say-

Wing] “Good by, brother, and'God bleza-

you,” in a firm voice ong then stepped
on the trap. |

Johnson stood .on: the trap. “that

wak soon to fly from under. his: feet, he

touched his’ hands together and prayed.

Fiye Guards Press Batton.

he electric buttons were pressed by
@ |squad of five guards and visiting
shériffs and the work of the physician
began. The fall of seven feet and th
tang of the — an x “broke wae P
dead welght at its roke the #&
sete bl 4 neck. ba -


oat

x Fatt

OMAHA WeWtD -GERALH
Oct. 14 ,1(%0F AASRAW @

\ATADLID E

re

Rete ake s OE EE aay

“Police SURE THEY HAVE tue . 7
MUR DE Au aeaes’® aa HENRY _FRANKLAND "

oS Thomas Jonson, Negro. “Suspect,” te Identi-

“ft hip pocket, The Folfs
chased go’ fecently the blood had!

ve

a ts

ngh

ac-

ible
nid

and

will
a

a
ng | tor tor shortly before the murder, |

va 4k

died as Dead ‘Man's Companion Bue
i by Two Men.” NSE IE

‘Inthe arrest. Calis dR ‘of
Thomas. Johnson, @ colored | ex-con-
vict, the police are convinced they,
have captured the murderer of Henry,
R. Frankland, who was found in a

{dying condition beneath the Tenth

atreet viaduct Wednesday bight, his
|head Rearly severed from. his body,
bis watch gone, and bs pockets
rifled.

A private up reached Chiet af Deteo-
tives Bavage shortly ‘before noon that
the murderer was about to leave the
city. Detective Doverecse and Officer
Cunningham immediatetly sbaatened _
the union depot with a gubsianiial de-
scription of the suspect. Tie was arreaiod
just as he wes about to board « train
for Chicago. He was considerably fus-
trated, but ‘was gotten away | enent
excitement,

Upon being scarched at the police tae
tion it was found that the sleeves of his
shirt, which was otherwise immaculate, ;
baving been recently laundereu, wee
paehes in blood. The inaide of the sleeves '

there was ample evidence where the bicod *
on the outside had been scrubbed off. The |
man had @ sweater over his shirt and a
light overtoat over his inner coat. He
save big addrees ee 723 Dorth Sizteenth

- Bloody Kalle in Pocket.
@ expressed Sreat indignation-at be-
ine arsed es @ sus tha murder

coatetd with new blood, was found in hig

Bot even ecaked off the iktle paper price
tags which are pasted on. the blades,

when arrested. -
This much was enough to ‘penvines the

} when Bernice Wilhoit. @ colrred woman,
came tn and tetatified that Johnson came
to ber room tn the Humboldi hotel at
109 Dodge street at 1) o'clock and: then!
ha@-a valuable -~waeteb~ with’ 9 -brekes -
chain they were sti«nore certals. Using
the Gescriptien and the aumbers of the
watch which had toleeraphed by the
Chicago police the local officers had lit-
tle trouble in locating ft @t the G ear
Western loan office, 17 Farnam

where @ man - identified ag Johnson
pawned it for $ yesterday mornirg, This
was consid a the police as one of
the last links in the demn'ng chain of
evidence against the colored man...
To further strengthan (he case against
Johnson, Manager. Harrig of the Wool-
stein Wholesale Liquor company, just
opposite lar Union depot, wes brought

to the jall and positively identified the
prisoner ag a who accompanied
shone tt yg te, t place Wednesday
evening 6f4 Grank With him. Qeliven,
the elevator boy at the depot, alsa iden-
tiled the suppect as the colored man who
coompanied Frankland down the eleve-

of bis coat were also soaned in goie and |

~Suspect Identified as “Man

‘
,

* Pawning. Ite aM ie

°

By carota, inquiry, Chief of Datertives
Savage escertained: thet Johnson ex<.
Dressed two suit “cases. ta” Chicage
Wednesday night, at en hour before the
murder, These have been headed of ¢3'
route, and ~ will arrive in Omaha this:
morning. It le Savage's gurmise that they
are Frankland'’s property and that Johu-:

end shipped them ahead Curing his Vihar.
tim's intoxication. tS, Be

Johnson has a ertmine) record in penne .
ha which makes himenecessarily a sum
pictous character, Two years ago he was
caught burglarising Huntalnger’e salcas '
Opposite the Union depot and conflexacd .
the crime, He served one and one-Lail
rm. and only left the nitentiary oa |
ely. 1. Sines. than We Bee Bot bees geen |
jn Omaha. 4
| Upon being ewented: he “gtooa pat. re
j@sys that he bought the watch in Line.
 |eptoca three years aga and that he got the

on his shirt and coat while cook-:
te in Grand Island {wo weeks ego. The
watch le identified by the numbers sent
from Chicago gs being Vrankland’s The
cooking story ig deemed ridiculous unless
Johnson kept a shirt immaculate for two
weeks, The plood, furthermore, is sald
| BB mapal midee Ain y Bancerares

County: Attorney ‘English - questioned
| Johnson @ long time, but did not guccesd
tm getting & .contession, He wil) Sl¢ @.
complaint for murder against him today, ~

The women will also be bold 94 ® state's ie

witness.

Coroner Hea fey - will hold an a ‘

today, cotducted . by, County Attorney

case, He never inched: when a biand , English.
new pocket kni with a keen blade! R Ww, Chambertain _ of: 08 Curaing

| ptreet, a hack x driver and former sergeant

pag deen pur-. of Omaha polos, last evening identined

Johnaon an "Viennteea'c two men with*
whom he had been drinking jn 4, sgloon
opposite the Union station s y before

The man hea mearly $18 on 7 persom : the saloon closed at § g'clock Wednesday

evening.

"Caaccesiatare hack stand teat the -}-°"
police that they had the tight man, A Union station. He says he was with

the men for half as hour in the aalicoa |
| ana @uspected Johoson of evil Intentions
4 at the time, but did not nosy @ pulioe

oticer .beceuse he thought ts was puge-
“of bis affair, Chamberlain will. testify af

the coroner's Inquest today, and Ie cons!d-

7ered'one of the most | agra. Vitnevscs 5 |

for the state, ' nike rs say
Was 020K Dy. K 15 CHICAGO, ,” #3

+) Lett Three Weeks Age. «
to the WerlécHeraia ~
IL, Oct. 44.~Heary Frankland
wes a cook who left bere thre weeks
to look for work tn the west, -
le wife says she heard from him reg-
ulate and there wee pothing to tadical@
be feared inju ee
Bhe is alone a “shete home bere end ta «
on the verge of collapse from the effecta
of the shook the sudden bed Bows gave -

vt der tae Watoen ee

|

prehending the murderer@ 96 oe to,

TOBE. epee ee Ieee

ox

,
'
\
{
gb :
pity © i
FF:
¥
.

} gon took them, premediating the murder,

Johnson Has Record, -’ aa

- ween gy a er eee pete pe ete tn mers

Wile Had Receslly Heard From i

her. ;
Omaha police have asked for a desevios :

3 tang. of the rope: as. it ferked. with. the.
34 dead weight at its 04). broke: the. £on-,
-q de nned. man's neck.

9 & faded fe one rdse showed . ‘sonaplcu-:
q ously on t e cheap: _bluck ult: sworn by.
q the man, etic se:

“ @. John McNeil, the’ man "whe marched. on
“4 ong side of Johnson during this last jour.

~ § ney, was .the intended. victim of the
4 asspult planned about ten days ago by)
<4 Johnson and Prince, another negro, Mc-

“g Niel. had- frequently taken Johnson out
‘9 for|:exercise, an@ says: that he: always |
YW .treated him as well as other. prisoners.
4 “A knife, made from the steel In the sole:
% of ja shoe, and.a bludgeon of a plece
“4 cof jpiping broken- from the framework:

‘of |the cot .in Johnson's. cell; were: the:
“Weapons that were to be used. -The plen
-‘wab for Prince to stab McNjel, for John-
son to then take’ McNiel's° keys and

; a 7 escape, “leaving the door open for. the |

Z ; Blas Os gf escape ‘of as. many other «convicts as |
oe ss Si eould get away. MecNiel has been on this |
EES ou - "“@ jot for five years, however, and trusts |

( oe el -no}convict, making them always march |

} es SM ghead of him. The: Johnson-Prince plot |

4 wap discovered and a few days ago John- |

2 £07) Voluntarily gave up the weapons: that.J

“f helhad concealed fn the cell. sis

far as known no relative of Johnson

present ‘at the penitentiary. He

te letters to a sister and a. brother a

days ago and received a postal card.

= m his brother. today. :..This posta!

4 ‘card, together with a pair of spectacles

: Ee the words of a hymn were given to
; oe “ hardt today by the condemried man,

od

3}

: Johnson’s itymn Gen ieattien ee |
-“Yhe hymn composed by Johnson was.

of three four-line: stanzas, -referrin
3} own Sevebihacei at, and his love of the,

ee bout an hour and a half before hls:
@ death Johnson wrote a stat:ment for the
_ newspaper repor sere. This raper he signed

‘d Bete ,88 follows; | .: ‘wells
\y Gentlemen: .T am,sarr y you disturbed
. o.) I Was feeling very go But J can-
ee : aS =| ‘not turn you, away if you come, so view.

eee ES "a °>ma Put I am.sorry I could not see you
, . Ys “&- before it was-too late. My Lord is all
all now. Tt have done all that J.

do. ;

(signed) © : “/THAMAS JOHNS SON.”
* Quite’ according to: traditional: reports,
Johnson ate a hearty noon meal, smoked

pipe and asked the death watch If
thought it wus going to rain.. ‘
-€ bout 19 persons witnessed the hang-
“$n, sheriffs and thelr deputies making up
sibly a fifth of the number. A dozen
“a etfeet car men’ were present, as many
4% nawspaper reporters and the .remainder
@ of|the crowd was made.up of peraons ate.
“ trpcted by curjosity, °°” nf
a hile Johnson was being dinposed of
th prison population: was increased by
the receipt of ‘two more convicts from’:
» Omaha, brought to Lincoln by. Sheriff
Brailey and his deputies, and anot “al
_ convict , from ;the western part. of |
‘ ptate.
et ? abez 8. Cross, and. Ww. ap OF “Painter ‘at
&Ofmaha, presidenteand vice president of
Q tha. Thirteey”™ club, ywoeS atid present.’


—-ifitwill bn .
| “T just ask the families of Danny

ee \{ “-)
i VoVlate |

ee!

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD Thursday, July 18, 1996

Execution Witness Recalls the Sights and Sounds

Note: World-Herald reporter Paul
was among the official witnesses
to the John Joubert execution.

BY PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — It took 13 years to put John
Joubert into Nebraska’s electric chair.

It took just over a minute to kill
him early Wednesday.

Four jolts of electrical current — first
2,450 volts, then 490 volts running from a
leather skullcap through his torso to a
leather strap around his left calf —
slammed Joubert’s body upward against
the straps that held him in the medium-
brown oak chair.

The jolts came one after another, with
less than a second’s pause. A muffled
“thunk” sound, and the straining of the
body against the straps, signaled the
current.

The “execution sequence” began at
12:14 a.m. It ended at 12:15.

Ten official witnesses — four selected
by Joubert, five from the news media,
one from the prison — sat silently in a
room adjacent to the death chamber.

A uniformed Lancaster County depu-
ty sheriff walked into the death chamber
six minutes after the last jolt in the

- execution sequence and felt Joubert’s

neck for a pulse. He shook his head and

waved a hand.

Joubert was pronounced dead at 12:22

_ am. His feet, covered in white socks,
| hung limply to a floor they could not

reac

For only the second time in 37 years,
Nebraska carried out the death penalty.

Joubert had confessed to killing two
Sarpy County boys, Danny Eberle and
Christopher Walden, in 1983. Joubert
snatched them from quiet suburban
Streets, tied them up, carried them to
remote fields, slashed them with knives
and left them dead.

The killings terrorized the Omaha
area. In his final statement Tuesday
night, Joubert asked for peace.

At 10:42 p.m. Tuesday, the five news
media witnesses were led upstairs to the
prison’s hospital wing to hear the death
warrant and Joubert’s last remarks. The
five witnesses stood with five guards and
circled the doorway to the prison hospi-

‘tal room that Joubert had occupied for

the last week.

Joubert, ankles shackled, arms hand-
cuffed at his waist, and dressed in tan
prison pants and a white T-shirt, oy
shuffled to the doorway along with Ric

Pitre, who had taught Joubert music in
his hometown. Joubert’s eyes darted

i quckty from side to side as he scanned

e gathering. He never met our eyes.
He gulped, looked down and slowly
closed his eyes before uty Warden
. Mike Kenney read the death warrant.

“Mr. Joubert, if you have any last
comments, this is your opportunity,”
Kenney said when he finished.

Joubert slowly, quietly and with pur-
pose began, looking _downward and
Speakinginasteady monotone:
~“\ Just want to say that,

He and blinked slowly. “I don’t
know if my death will Se ins or
bring anyone any

Tm

ee

Eberle and Christopher Walden ... and

Richard Stetson to please try to find ©

“some peace and ask the
’ braska to for,

: people of Ne-
‘give me,

on the tan shirt he had donned was
stained with sweat.

Joubert’s four witnesses sat in the
front row of plastic chairs in the witness
room.

Lincoln psychologist Laurel Van Ham
and Pitre sat on either side of Theresa
O’Brien, an Irish woman who had corre-
sponded with Joubert. Ms. Van Ham put
her arm around Miss O’Brien, arg
7 dg her ear, eae he: Pitre held

O’Brien’s hand. Dale Baich, an
attorney from Ohio and a death-penalty
Opponent, sat taking notes.

n the second row, the prison’s wit-
ness, Associate Warden Frank Britten,
sat with me. The other four news media
representatives stood against the back
wall. They were Ed Howard of The

{
{
1
}

& “That's all,” he said as he turned awa ve

Thenex ‘time We saw Joubert, itwasin
1 . 4 iy re Wik r ’

- the death chambe

___Thecurtains to the 10-by 10-foot white
Toom opened at 12:06 a.m. Joubert was
Strapped tightly into the electric chair.
‘The wide, untanned leather straps made
‘is prison clothing bulge out. The collar

enc AORANRRSatpen ee ,

d
i
i

Associated Press’ Lincoln bureau, Eu-
ene Curtin of the Bellevue. Leader,
uck Ashby of Omaha radio station
KFAB and Gavin Williams, anchorman
at KHAS-TV in Hastings.

Joubert a) calm. A slight smile
crossed his face. He looked and nodded
at each of his four witnesses, mouthing
“thank you.”

He turned to Miss O’Brien and
mouthed, “I love you.” She mouthed the
words back. His lips came together in an
awkward attempt to blow her a kiss.

The curtains closed. The witnesses
waited.

Pitre, at Ms. Van Ham’s urging,
moved his chair closer to Miss O’Brien.
She shook her head back and forth. He
warmed her that “when they pull the

curtain back, they'll have that big leather
strap on him.” ;

At 12:13, the curtain opened again.
Except for Joubert’s nose and shaved
forehead, a leather mask tightly covered
his face, contorting the skin.

He raised two fingers of his right hand
from the arm of the electric chair, then
only his index finger, in an apparent
signal to his friends. ;

He held the finger upward until the
first electric current hit. His hands con-
vulsed into fists and his body shot
upward at the first “thunk.”

It lasted about 10 seconds. His left
hand relaxed ‘slightly and then another
“thunk,” this one longer. A third fol-
lowed and then a fourth. The final jolt
lasted 28 seconds.

At each jolt, the body jumped upward
against the straps of the chair. A single
stream of liquid ran down across the
leather strap covering his mouth.
Howard said he saw steam rise from the
left leg.

No one moved. No one gasped audi-
bly.

When it was over, the attorney and the
reporters moved closer toward the plate-
glass opening to the death chamber.

Ms. Van Ham and Pitre held Miss
O’Brien tightly. She stared ahead, mo-
tionless.

After the deputy shook his head, the
news media witnesses solemnly filed out.
Miss O’Brien stood and embraced Ms.
Van Ham and Pitre, burying her head
into their shoulders.

Stenberg Says
Joubert Stay
Is Not Likely

Continued from Page 1
granted numerous interviews.

Joubert eventually won a stay from the

U.S. Supreme Court while it decided
another test case on death-penalty law.
The reprieve proved brief, however,
when the Nebraska Supreme Court set a
new execution date that afforded Joubert
less than three additional weeks of life.

Monday, it appeared that the U.S.
Supreme Court, once again, was Jou-
a pa hap for life. Fra ibo:

lou two a g
fore the court. One i that the
electric chair is cruel and unusual pun-
ishment, and the other challenges the
constitutionality of Nebraska’s Pardons |
Board. |

Attorney General Don Stenberg
Played down the significance of both
a .

Per think it’s highly unlikely the Su-
preme Court will grant a stay of execu-
tion,” he said. “To a large extent,
Joubert’s lawyers have up any
colorable legal argument that can be
made. There just really doesn’t appear to
be any ee avenues left.”

Gov. Nelson agreed. “I do believe the
execution will proceed as scheduled to-
morrow,” he said during a telephone
press conference Monday.

Stenberg said that if the U.S. Supreme
Court follows its previous practice in
Nebraska death-penalty cases, it will not
release a ruling on Joubert’s request until
the end of business hours today.

Lawyers hired by the American Civil
Liberties Union were the only ones still
officially working on Joubert’s case
Monday.

Matt LeMieux, executive director of
the ACLU-Nebraska, said the pending
appeals are the only ones his organiza-
tion plans. ;

“We're basically sitting and waiting to
see how the court will rule,” he said.

“There’s really nothing else we can do.”

He said the ACLU is involved in the
case primarily because of its concern that
the electric chair is cruel.

“We have an issue, and John Joubert
hay to be our plaintiff,” LeMieux
said. He did not rule out the possibility . |
that other lawyers might file something
in Joubert’s case.

Even if Joubert is executed early
Wednesday, the ACLU will continue its
pe against the electric chair, LeMieux
said.

“We would get another plaintiff,” he |
said, “This is not the last attempt we're —
going to make to stop the use of the ,
electric chair. We're jn had try to peta
court to deal with this on the merits.

i

fees with

.m. today at Lincoln’s Christ United |
thodist Church at 45th and A Streets. - |
‘Ms. Abraham’s croup ae ait Com- |
mittee and the Social Mini Me Commis-
sion of the peg nner are
co-sponsoring an interfaith prayer vi
tonight front 9 to midnight at St.
John’s Church on the Creighton Univer-

sity campus.

Mis. Abraham said 175 people went to
a prayer vigil in late June even after
Joubert been granted a stay of
execution. She predicted even more peo-
ple would turn out tonight.

Nelson said the response to Joubert’s
case seems less intense than it did in late
June.

“There’s some recognition that the
legal avenues have probably been
closed,” he said. “It’s unli ely acourtof |
Jaw will entertain any further legal activi-

, and people have come to grips with

(hag i

Nelson expressed some hurt that he |

and ather membere af tha Dardanc Raned


SMIOSt OF U
infliction of
bert said. “

and discomfort,” Jou-
ey stopped just short of

In August 1982, when Joubert was 19,
he strangled 11-year-old Richard Stetson
in Portland, Maine. Both lived in Port-
land, but they did pes
not know each other.
On Sept. 18, 1983, &
when Joubert was #
an airman stationed §
at Offutt Air Force §

— the a an- :

iddy, Harold LaMont

“wa

gered Joubert.

Joubert, 33, today

1983.

ASF eet Ys
Sept. 2, 1994, the carnival-

followed his
friend’s footsteps and took a seat in the
electric chair. Joubert was put to death
for killing two Sarpy County boys in late

nature was shaped early and that he was
remarkably detached from emotions.
They diagnosed Joubert as a sexual
sadist with obsessive-compulsive and
schizoid traits. He was self-centered,
highly defensive and had unconscious
homosexual tendencies, they said.

Dr. Bruce Gutnik, an Omaha psychia-
trist who evaluated Joubert, found him
to be “very sick and extremely complex.”

“He had a lot of confusion between the
issues of violence and sex, and he had
obsessions driving him to try to act out
some of these fantasies in order to get

sexual gratification,” Dr.Gutnik said. _

He said the sexual sadism that drove

- Joubert to violence is extremely difficult,

if not impossible, to treat.
In the weeks before his execution,

Joubert changed his story about the

nature and origin of his violent thoughts.

_ In interviews with The World-Herald
- from May 28

; through June 10, Joubert
said he continued to have violent fanta-

ews at the Nebraska
ee about

“Willie” (Otey’s nick-
name) and “Nebraska State Pen First
Annual BBQ.”

Those who take yee in criminals
being put to death have murder in their
own hearts, Joubert said.

“Jesus says that the sin in the heart is

after his arrest found that his dangerous ~

Hearts Oo

sies and believed he always would. He
said he prayed every morning that he
would not have murderous thoughts that
day.
In subsequent television interviews,
Joubert said that he no longer had the
violent thoughts.

He also changed his oy about the
causes of his violence. From 1984
through June 10, 1996, Joubert said there
was no domestic abuse in his background
that he could recall and that nothing in
his childhood justified the killings.
~~ Later in June, Joubert said that his
father’s “abusive” behavior toward his
mother caused Joubert to become a
killer.

Joubert’s parents divorced when he
was 8. He, his mother and his younger
sister, Jane, moved to Portland, Maine,
when Joubert was 11. Joubert felt he was
in a custody “tug of war,” he said.

ust as bad as the sin in the body,”
Joubert said. “Well, the le who hate
_me and really want me dead are going to

shave to come to terms with that.”
kill him will become no different ‘fror

In June 1993, he wrote a fictional story
about a reporter who covers an execu
tion. As the ending in his story, he wrote
how the fictional reporter would begin
his article:

“Tn order to take the life of another, we

After Joubert was arrested for murder,
his father suffered a nervous breakdown
and was hospitalized several times for
depression, said Joubert's stepmother,
Kathy Joubert of Lawrence.

Family members would have gotten
the younger Joubert psychiatric help
long ago if they had known he needed it,
the stepmother said. “I never saw any
inkling of strange behavior,” she said.
“He acted as normal as could be.”

Joubert’s mother now lives in Alaska,
where she is an accountant. His sister is
married and lives in New Ulm, Minn.
She works for a delivery service.

Joubert’s girlfriend, Theresa O’Brien,
37, of County Meath, Ireland, has trav-
eled to Lincoln to see Joubert. She and
Joubert, 33, met through a computerized
network of death- ty opponents in
the spring of 1992. They became pen pals
and eventually fell in love, Joubert said.

£ Rejoicers in Death Penalty

must first put that on a level
‘beneath us. We must shut ourselves off
from the feelings of compassion and love
to which we are all heirs. We must
convert, in our minds, a human being, a
jivinge creature, another one of us, to an
inanimate object.

“This truism holds for the convicted
murderet’s actions as well as those who
kill in the name of God or the State. It isa
fatal illusion, however, because when we
believe this illusion there is something
within us that dies.”

Sentenced to Death in Nebraska

Danny Joe Eberie

Mrs. Walden Tells
Of Darkest Hours,

Strangers

BY JOY POWELL
COPYRIGHT © 1996, OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Susan Walden needed a winter
dress to wear to the services for her
murdered son, Christopher.

Five months earlier, her family had
relocated to Sarpy County from Ha-
waii, and they knew few Nebraskans.
Mrs. Walden was so grief-stricken
that even the simple task of going to
the store alone seemed formidable.

FBI Agent Barbara Hamner, who

had been assigned to the child-killing
case, drove Mrs. Walden to a depart-
ment store and helped her select a
dress.
_ Such gestures of kindness from
investigators, neighbors and strang-
ers helped Mrs. Walden and her
husband, Steve, endure the worst
time of their lives.

“The only thing that got us through
were the people,” Mrs. Walden said
in a telephone interview from York-
town, Va., where the Waldens now

ve.

Christopher, 12, was kidnapped
and murdered Dec. 2, 1983, by John
Joubert. He had murdered another
boy, 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle,
2% months earlier.

The Waldens will never forget the
community’s support 12% years ago,

RA. WATAAR A+:

Christopher Walden

’ Kindness

Joubert kidnapped Christopher at
knifepoint when the sixth-grader was
two blocks south of his school, Paw-
nee Elementary, in Sarpy County.
Three days later, hunters found
Christopher’s body in a plum grove
near LaVista.

“Chris was real innocent,” his
mother said. “He had a sweet disposi-
tion, a sweet spirit. He fought hard,
but he didn’t have a chance.”

Joubert was on death row at the
Nebraska Penitentiary in Lincoln for
about as long as his victims lived.

Mrs. Walden refuses to call Joubert
by name, saying it “humanizes” him.
She refers to Joubert as “the guy who
killed Chris” or “the perpetrator”
and tries not to think of him.

Both families chose not to witness
the execution.

“To be honest, I feel bad that some-
body else had to die,” Mrs. Walden
said. “But God gave us all choices,
and he (Joubert) crossed the line.”

Walden, 52, has retired from the
Air Force and works on computers at
a private company. Mrs. Walden, 47,
has not worked recently; she plays a
lot of tennis and is taking pottery
courses.

The Walden and Eberle families
say they have a void in their lives that
will never be filled.


Gov. Nelson agreed. “i do believe te
execution will proceed as scheduled to-
morrow,” he said during a telephone
press conference eure s

Stenberg said that if the U.S. Supreme
Court follows its previous practice in
Nebraska death-penalty cases, it will not
release a ruling on Joubert’s request until
the end of business hours today.

Lawyers hired by the American Civil
Liberties Union were the only ones still
officially working on Joubert’s case
Monday.

Matt LeMieux, executive director of
the ACLU-Nebraska, said the pending
appeals are the only ones his organiza-
tion J ape
“We're basically sitting and waiting to
see how the court will rule,” he said.
“There’s really nothing else we can do.”

He said the ACLU is involved in the
case f airernpe because of its concern that
the electric chair is cruel.

“We have an issue, and John Joubert
hap to be our plaintiff,” LeMieux
said. He did not rule out the possibility

that other lawyers might file something _

in Joubert’s case.

Even if Joubert is executed early
Wednesday, the ACLU will continue its
re against the electric chair, LeMieux
said.

“We would get another plaintiff,” he
said. “This is not the last attempt we're
going to make to stop the use of the
electric chair. We're going to try to get a
court to deal with this on the merits.”

Christine Abraham, state coordinator
for Nebraskans Against the Death Pen-
alty, said the commitment of death-pen-
alt ments has not wavered,
although the emotional roller coaster of
the case has been taxing.

“Our convictions and energy remain
the same. The time element is against
us,” she said.

Many of Joubert’s friends and loved
ones have been able to return to his side.

Theresa O’Brien, the Irish woman who
developed a romantic relationship with
Joubert while exchanging letters with
him, and Rich Pitre, Joubert’s Maine
high school teacher and spiritual adviser,
are among those who have returned to
Nebraska, Ms. Abraham said.

Ms. Abraham said her organization
continues to conduct lunch-hour picket-
ing outside the governor’s mansion. It
also plans a prayer vigil from 8 p.m. to 10

.m. today at Lincoln’s Christ United
ethodist Church at 45th and A Streets. -

Ms. Abraham’s ey Faith Com-
mittee and the Social Ministry Commis-
sion of the Archdiocese of are
co-sponsoring an interfaith prayer vig
tonight from 9 to midnight at St.
John’s Church on the Creighton Univer-

sity campus

. Abraham said 175 people went to
a prayer vigil in late June even after
Joubert been granted a stay of
execution. She predicted even more peo-
ple would turn out tonight.

Nelson said the response to Joubert’s
case seems less intense than it did in late
June.

“There’s some recognition that the
legal avenues have probably been
closed,” he said. “It’s unlikely a court of
law will entertain any further legal activi-

, and people have come to grips with

t.”

Nelson expressed some hurt that he
and other members of the Pardons Board
have been criticized for allowing the
execution to proceed.

“It’s a bit unfair” for death- ty

opponents to call upon him and other

Pardons Board members to stop the

execution, Nelson said. Instead, he said,
they should be ar, ing to get the death-

penalty law repealed.

“] have ar ibility to see the law

carried out,” he said. “It’s nothing Pm
hiding behind.”
He said not to expect a last-minute call
from the Governor’s Office to stop the
execution. He’s only one member of the |
Pardons Board and, in Nebraska, it takes _

a me poe vote of the three-member |

to grant clemen

“Tt’s not ecaiibies don’t have the ,

authority to do that,” he said. “That's

movie.”

right out of an old black-and-white Q

Se ee


>

Killer S

BY JOY POWELL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — In his fantasies, John
Joubert said, he saw himself as an

-powerful slayer of the innocent.

In the real world, Joubert said, he felt
little mastery over his own life.

The man who was executed today for
the murders of two Sarpy County a
had been a lifelong pushover — until he
killed.

As far back as grade school, when he
was the smallest im his classes, Joubert
refused to fight back when bullies tor-
mented him.

“Pye always been afraid of confronta~
tion,” Joubert said in a prison interview
last month.

His existence seemed regimented from.
start to finish. He lived under the rules of
a domineering mother, parochia
schools, military college and the Ast
Force. His last 12 years were spent in th?
highly structured confines of death ro¥”
at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.

It was the lack of control that he nad
over his own life, Joubert said, that 8
him to fantasize about cannibalism 27
early as age 4 and, later, of torturin
stabbing and strangling women a?
‘children. ‘

“Most of the fantasies were about th”

infliction of pain and discomfort,” Jove

bert said. “They stopped just short 0
death.” g
In August 1982, when Joubert was }77
he strangled 11-year-old Richard Stets?,_
he siratiend, Maine. Both lived in PO
jand, but they did ze

ab nw

ef
OMAHA WORLD-HERALD Wednesday, July !

John Joubert Execution

mee oe " “el ABER EN peas
ih WAR NT ae ae Spr cst AMER

wt? AT POE EY eA nah tea aie Pa teaa en, I sxe. oe PO THAR GAMA

4
Pare

coe appa ADEA ESTE Y LERRIED RD ONT

id Regimented Life
Fed a Longing for Control

Psychiatrists who evaluated Joubert
after his arrest found th
dangerous nature was sh
and that he was remarkably
detached from emotions. They
diagnosed Joubert as a sexual
sadist with obsessive-_
compulsive
and schizoid
traits.

Maine killing until after his arrest in the
Nebraska slayings. Bite marks on the
Stetson boy were then linked to Joubert.
He said he mentally rehearsed the
knife killings, masturbating before them
in anticipation and afi terward while reliv-

“ ing them.

“Tt makes no sense now,” Joubert said,
“and it didn’t then.”

He was a paradoxical man, methodical
yet impulsive. Intellectually developed
yet emotionally immature. Though he
was of superior intelligence with an IQ of
123, he was an underachiever who
flunked out of college at Norwich Uni-
versity in Northfield, Vt. Joubert had
been studying engineering in an ROTC
program there in 1981-82.

He was the firstborn of Beverly and
Jack Joubert of Lawrence, Mass.
Lawrence, a city of about 70,000, is 28
miles northwest of Boston. _

Joubert could read b
became an altar boy an
Nicknamed Jacque — ronounced Jack-
ie — he spent much of his life as a loner
who avidly read science fiction, fantasy
and adventure books. As an adult, he
began reading true crime magazines,
attracted most to pictures of terrified
women.

Psychiatrists who evaluated Joubert
after his arrest found that his dangerous

nature was shaped early and that he was
remarkably detached from emotions.
They diagnosed Joubert as a sexual
sadist with obsessive-compulsive and
schizoid traits. He was self-centered,
highly defensive and had unconscious
homosexual tendencies, they said.

Dr. Bruce Gutnik, an Omaha psychia-

ataa eethan avalnated Tanhert found him

age 3. He
Eagle Scout.

aped early

arrested for murder,
breakdown .
al times for
Joubert’s stepmother,
Lawrence.

s would have gotten
chiatric help
he needed it,

sies and believed
said he prayed every morning that he

would not have murderous thoughts that

he always would. He
talized sever

vent television interviews,
that he no longer had the

Joubert said
violent thoughts. the younger

lane ago if they had known

aid’ a cnv's: es Baeewcd: a8


ee

“=

JOUBERT, John - Nebraska

sone y is, eae of

sentences to life in prison. Spent Ex-Airman Sentenced to Die
. Sarpy County District Judge Ronald re es See aEON, Neb., Oct. 10(AP)— A]
Reagan accepted Joubert’s pleas and Yas sentenced Tuesday. to che
said he would rule Thursday on wheth- Fe pene data killing two boys Bred
er Joubert would be sentenced by a Zohn J. Joubert, a eee
single judge or a three-judge panel. a he caget Wei pander ene trom Portland, |
~ Joubert had been scheduled to stand at wl A gree murder in the deaths, of Decne
___ trial beginning Monday in the slayings ue Bes £2 * Key aa, 12 ude istopher
“of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, in September. sees enw core hg BO a gr: ho read: the sentence in Savy
and Christophe. Paul Walden, 12, in ae ee ‘dere sy 1 cet, termed the mur.,
December. Both boys lived in Belle- | Sta] ct GB ee Sage wae ee ee

_. why he had killed the youths, and is re-
morseful about doing so, Miller added, | --*s-' ss. 0% 0 1S reeute ton

~ PAPILLION, NEB. (AP) — An Air
Force apprentice mechanic pleaded
guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder
for the stabbing :
deaths of two subur-
-ban Omaha boys
whose slayings
prompted thousands
of telephone tips to
police. ae

In exchange for
the pleas from John
Joubert, prosecutors

agreed to drop two # 2a
counts each of kid- §, 53
napping and using a = JOUBERT ez
knife in a felony. Under Nebraska law, } Fs S Chir ae
‘Joubert, 21, of Portland, Maine, could | ~ Metin b
be sentenced to death. Bi S *
Prosecutors would not say whether ay.

they will seek a death sentence. The
alternative would be two consecutive }

vue, and Joubert. was stationed at |
nearby Offutt Air Force Base.

Joubert pleaded guilty because he
was unable to mount a defense con-
tending insanity at the time he com-
mitted the murders, said Public De-
fender James Miller. Three
psychological examinations found
that Joubert was sane, Miller said.

_ Miller said another factor in the de-
cision to plead guilty was that Joubert
had made ‘“‘two confessions and two

‘admissions’ to the crimes shortly
after his arrest. Joubert did not know


In a 1984 letter to the Sarpy County sentencing panel, Joubert wrote, "The taking of a human life,
especially that of a child, is the most atrocious thing a person can do ..0. If I don't get anything else out of
the results of your disposition, I would like to find out why I senselessly took the lives of two young
boys.

"T realize that I cannot bring Danny and Chris back to their families, but in this way I may be able to repay
a small part of my debt to society."

In a written appeal this year to the Pardons Board for clemency, Joubert said he had tried to apologize to
the families of his victims and directly asked Danny Jo's mother, Judy Eberle, to forgive him.

"I am sorry. I have tried to say this whenever possible. These murders will always be a part of what
defines me," he wrote.

Earlier Tuesday, Joubert spent time with his closest friends, including Pitre, who was Joubert's high
school music teacher in Portland.

Joubert's mother, who apparently lives in Alaska, visited him for about three days in early June before
returning to her home. Joubert's father was said to be living in the Boston area and has severe mental
problems.

For his last meal, Joubert requested pizza, a lettuce salad with Catalina dressing, strawberry cheesecake
and black coffee, prison officials said.

In 37 years, only two other people have been executed in Nebraska's electric chair.

Mass murderer Charles Starkweather was executed at the prison in 1959. Harold Lamont Otey died in
the electric chair in September 1994 for the rape and murder of an Omaha woman.

During the past three weeks, attorneys filed multiple appeals in state and federal court in an attempt to
stave off Joubert's execution. One of those appeals ended in a limited success.

On June 27, Joubert was less than seven hours away from execution when the U.S. Supreme Court
agreed to stay the execution until it decided a Georgia death row case.

The court lifted the stay July 1, but not before the death warrant on Joubert had expired, forcing Stenberg
to get a new execution date from the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Tuesday, in the final legal setbacks for Joubert, the U.S. Supreme Court and the 8th Circuit Court refused
to stay the execution in order to hear two remaining appeals.

One of the appeals argued that death in the electric chair violates the Eighth Amendment provision
against cruel and unusual punishment. The second claimed Joubert was denied an opportunity for a fair
clemency hearing before the Nebraska Pardons Board.

Pardons board members include Nelson, Stenberg and Secretary of State Scott Moore. The board voted
unanimously June 26 to deny Joubert's request for a clemency hearing.

Both appeals before the high court were filed by attorneys working for the American Civil Liberties
Union in Nebraska.

Matt LeMieux, director of the Nebraska ACLU, said Tuesday he was disappointed by the Supreme
Court's decision.

"We're disappointed because there's still not been a court that's been willing to review the case on the
merits," he said. "No one has yet to say whether death in the electric chair is constitutional or
unconstitutional. That's all we wanted."

Joubert, from Al
erle disappeared while delivering
newspapers; 12-year-old Christo.
pher Walden disappeared while
walking to school in Bellevue, a
suburb of Omaha. The boys’ bod-
ies were found days later. Each
had been stabbed ‘and slashed
repeatedly.

After Joubert was convicted of
the Nebraska murders, he was
convicted in Maine of murdering
11-year-old Richard Stetson in
Portland in 1989. Maine, which
does not have a death penalty,
returned him to Nebraska for exe~
cution.

A frustrated Gov. Ben Nelson
lashed out Thursday night at the
courts for delaying the execution. |

“Will the ap-peals be endless?”
Nelson asked. “Are we looking at
five more years or just a few more
months? Justice is on hold one
more time.’ .

Joubert, meanwhile, remained
at the prison infirmary after visits
from family and friends. Correc-
tions Director Harold Clarke said
the execution could take place
within three hours of word that
the stay of executi
‘lifted. After 11:15 p.m., he said, it
would be difficult. ‘
- In Joubert’s
land, a handful of people held.a
noontime vigil Thursday opposing
the execution.

“John Joubert is not an evil,
‘unredeemable man,” ‘said Bill]
‘Slavick;! a° coordinator’:
group Pax: Christj . Maine. .' He:
described Joubert’s sad childhood:
in a broken and violent home. °°;

‘At’ the ‘Nebraska prison, park-
ing’ lots that’. were expected to
draw . demonstrators’ Thursday
night were empty. The’ prison'was'

" PLL Mayes

Pe, to end its lockdo

on’ had been

hometown of Port- i

for the’

wn early today.
Joubert filed a flurry of appeals
Thursday to delay the execution.
Hours before the U.S. Supreme
Court put the execution on hold,
the Nebraska Supreme Court
rejected his appeal that the elec-
tric chair was an unconstitutional
form of cruel and unusual punish-

ment.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals also rejected his appeal
that the procedures and make-up of
the Nebraska Pardons Board ~—
which voted Wednesday against
granting a clemency hearing ~
were unconstitutional.

His life may hinge on a decision
by the U.S. Supreme Court on a
Georgia case that challenges fed-
eral limits on the number of
appeals by death-row inmates.

Court spokeswoman Toni House
Said the court is expected to
decide that case, Felker vs, Geor-
gia, before its term ends within a
week — possibly today.

The federal law,‘ approved this
spring, limits most state prisoners
to one appeal in federa] court and,
if that fails, to a lone and fina]
decision from a three-judge appel-

: late panel on whether another fed-
eral appeal can be filed.

is Felker has challenged the
ent ‘for permission ‘from

. requirem
panel. Felker,

the three-judge
convicted of killing a college stu:
dent in 1981, has been on death
Tow for 13 years’‘—‘one more. than
Joubert: FLIPS Dery peri al ae aac
'’” The'U.S. Supreme Court’s stay
‘of execution ‘for Joubert does not
mention the Felker'casé, but Sten-
berg and J. Kirk Brown, the assis-
tant attorney general in charge of
capital’ cases; said the issue is
probably behind the delay,”

Joubert wins reprieve

| : , be
Death warrant valid pending high court decision
f

By Dave Zelio
The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. ~— Maine
native John Joubert, who admit-
ted he murdered two young boys
after they pleaded for mercy, won
a few more hours of life Thursday
when the U.S. Supreme Court put
his execution on hold.

The death warrant to kill Jou-
bert in the state’s electric chair
remains in effect all day today. If
the court rejects Joubert’s request
to hear his case anytime up until!
‘about 11:15 p.m. CDT, he could be
executed.

If the warrant expires, Nebra-

ska prosecutors would have to
request a new execution date — a
time-consuming step that could
take until fall.

“At this point, we’ll simply
await the decision of the Supreme
Court,” said a disappointed Attor-
ney General Don Stenberg. ‘‘If the
sentence is not carried out (today)
there will be a serious delay, prob-
ably of several months.”’

Joubert, 32, has been on death
row for 12 years for the murders
that terrified Omaha-area resi-
dents for three months in late
1983.

Thirteen-year-old Danny Jo Eb-

See Joubert, A5, Col, 5

Cs Re

ne

#33 Wak é ¥ “ sy Pin
FBI sketch of suspect ... This is
the composite that news media

had been running.

_ Slayings Suspect ‘

Age: 18 to 25

Complexion: Dark coloring,

Race: White

Height: 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10
Weight: About 160 pounds

Hair: Dark
Eyes: Brown

ee aa.

Nala

| Offutt.

Age: 20

ower)

iy

- Boson vs Mes :
John J. Joubert is native of Port- '
land, Maine, ... He is stationed at

~ Joubert’s Profile

| Complexion: Light
Race: White ~

_ Height: 5-foot-6
Weight: 135 pounds
Hair: Brown

Eyes: Biue

Sketch of murder suspect is shown alongside photo of actual. suspect, John Joubert, an airman at Offutt base outside Omaha

likely that he would get in a car or take
rides with strangers of his own volition,
as he had been warned repeatedly about
the dangers of doing so.

In light of the fact that there had been
no trace of the boy and no clues to his
whereabouts, Bellevue police asked
several other law enforecement agenc-
ies, including the FBI, Nebraska State
Patrol, the Douglas County sheriff's
office and law enforcement agencies in
adjacent counties, to assist in the search
for the missing 13-year-old. ’

As one day followed another with still
no sign of Danny Eberle, a feeling of

38 Official Detective

hopelessness was felt by the law enforce-
ment agencies involved as well as by the
boy’s parents, relatives and friends. In
their search efforts, police checked out
all the local shops, video-game parlors,
anywhere that a 13-year-old might fre-
quent. But no one recognized the. boy’s
photo and no one had seen him.

After checking all the vacant houses
and buildings in the area, which yielded
nothing. the police felt that they were up
against a wall, and hoped that publicity
surrounding the case would. generate
new leads. Relying on the public to be
their eyes and ears, they admitted there

was not much else they could do at this
point, with little else to search, no
new leads to run down. They would sim-
ply have to wait for, leads to develop,

and hope...

On Wednesday, September 21st, the
waiting and. hoping ended when Danny’s
body was found lying along a roadside in
neighboring Sarpy County. Shortly after
being notified, Sheriff Pat Thomas, de-
puties and-detectives arrived at the site,
accompanied by Chief Deputy County
Attorney Michael Wellman and a deputy
coroner, proper procedure in a case in-
volving a violent or otherwise

Suspect Jou

> of Port: |
;tioned at

ar

a

base outside Omaha

they could do at this
else to search, no
jown. They would sim-
for, leads to develop,

September 21st, the
> ended when Danny's
ing along a roadside in

County. Shortly after
ff Pat Thomas, de-

es arrived at the site,
Chief Deputy County
Wellman and a deputy
orocedure in a case 1n-
ent or otherwise

mysterious type of death.
The body was quickly identified as
13-year-old Danny Eberle from the
‘ photos that had been distributed by the
bby’s parents and the Bellevue Police
‘Department, and all it took was one look
for the lawmen to determine that Danny
had sustained stab wounds over various
parts of his body. The boy’s face was
severely contorted, indicating that he
a died horribly. It was a grisly sight, to
x say the least, made all the more horrible
by the accompanying thoughts about the
pain and suffering the youngster had en-
dured before succumbing to the inevit-
able death brought about by his obvious-
ly sick, perverted killer.
Within minutes after their arrival,
Sheriff Thomas directed his team of in-
vestigators to cordon off the area. After
that task was accomplished and the di-
mensions of the crime scene now de-
termined, the probers began their careful
search for any evidence that might be
present, beginning at the outer perimet-
ers of the crime scene and working in-
ward toward the body. However, little
was found aside from the corpse of the
young victim and his blood.
Just the same, detectives remained at
the crime scene most of the day, collect-
ing blood and soil samples near the body,
as well as obtaining blood and other
bodily fluid samples from the corpse it-
self. After obtaining as much obvious
evidence from the scene as was avail-
able, not to mention the not-so-obvious,
Sheriff Thomas and his detectives pack-
ed up their gear and released the body to
the county coroner. Danny’s body was
thoroughly photographed, then removed
to the county morgue where a definitive
autopsy would be performed.

Following the autopsy, the county
coroner confirmed that Danny Eberle
died as a result of having been repeatedly
stabbed. Although the murder was
thought to have been sexually motivated,
it was not revealed whether or not the
victim had acutally been sexually
assaulted. The coroner’s report indicated
that the boy had been dead for acouple of
days when found, which would be con-
sistent with his disappearance, but a pre-
cise time of death would be difficult, if
not impossible, to establish.

Sheriff Thomas and his detectives in-
terviewed all of the residents in the vicin-
ity of where Danny’s body had been
found but, unfortunately, their efforts
were fruitless, aS no one reported seeing
or hearing anything unusual, and the
police simply had to resign themselves to
accept the fact they had been unable to

(Continued on page 42)

Suspect Joubert shown here in custody. He had often worked as Boy Scout leader

Official Detective 39


ptly called the Be-
tment and reported
plaining the suspi-
surrounding the ap-

to the officer on
juickly dispatched
‘here they obtained
‘rought parents as
nation about their
at morning as well

de three days later

the names, telephone numbers and ad-
dresses of all his friends. The parents

also provided the officers with a recent:

school picture of their son, copies of
which were subsequently made and dis-
tributed among all police units.

In the meantime, instead of just sitting
idle and doing nothing, Danny’s parents
and other relatives decided to search the
neighborhood themselves. Knowing his
paper route, as all responsible parents
should under similar circumstances,
Danny’s parents drove slowly up and
down every street along the way, some-
times even venturing off the paper route
on foot as they searched for any sign of
their missing son. But in spite of their
efforts they found no sign of Danny, his
bicycle, or any other personal items, ul-
timately dashing their hopes and making
their search efforts seem in vain.

Where could Danny be? He had not
gone to any of his friends’ or rel-
atives’ homes, that was known, and he
did not have a running-away history. As
the hours passed with still no word from
or about their son, the nagging question
returned again and again as Danny’s par-
ents became frantic with worry.

Under the direction of Bellevue Police
Chief Warren Robinson, detectives and

These two cars figured in murder probe. Nova at right, with incriminating

officers alike hit the streets along Dan-
ny’s regular delivery route in a
seach ‘for the missing young boy or
some clues to his whereabouts. Fore-
going the customary 72-hour waiting
period observed in a missing person
case, since this one involved a juv-
enile, the investigators knocked on
doors and questioned residents of every
home, regardless of whether they were
newspaper customers or not, and showed
the boy’s photograph to everyone they
talked to. Unfortunately, however, no
one had seen the youngster, and after
several hours along these lines the law-

. men returned to headquarters, reluctant- -

ly, with no new leads to run down. An
all-points-bulletin was issued statewide
as an added measure, and posters with
Danny’s picture and other pertinent in-
formation were placed in public loca-
tions.

The. next day, National Guard
volunteers, law enforcement Explorer
Scouts and police reservists, aided by
tracking dogs, joined in the search for the
missing 13-year-old boy. After being
briefed at police headquarters, the
volunteers went out to canvass Danny’s
neighborhood, as well as all adjacent
neighborhoods, going door-to-door.

license number, was used in boys’ abductions

But, again, there was no sign of Danny
Eberle.
A police spokesman said there was

**‘no apparent reason’’ for Danny to have

run away from home. ‘‘He appears to
have a good family life.’’ Although
police officials said they had no reason to
suspect foul play at this point in the boy’s
disappearance, a police spokesman said,
“‘We can’t rule it out...We have no
logical explanation for his dis-
appearance.”’

In other developments reported later,
bloodhounds picked up the boy’s scent
but lost it after a considerable time was
spent tracking it. ‘‘The scent just stop-
ped, so what you assume is he’s been
picked up or got on a bus or something. ”’
said an official close to the investigation
who requested anonymity. Along those
lines, police interviewed bus drivers and
taxi drivers who worked in the area, hop-
ing to contact someone who might recog-
nize the boy through his photo, all to no
avail.

Family members told police that Dan-
ny was a cautious youngster and quickly
discounted the possibility that he would
wander very far away from home on his"
own without telling someone where he
was going, and added it was highly un-

rag:

vad
aft
an

Official Detective 37


town,”’ he said. ‘All I wanted was to be
needed...

“‘T was stereotyped,’’ he went on,
‘right from a little tyke. My mom died
from a fire | set when I was six. She was
taking a nap with me and I got up
and played with some matches. I
took mom’s dying quite bad. My dad
had to lift me up to her coffin to
say goodbye to her. I tried to blot
it from my mind, but I couldn’t...

Adams acknowledged having known
both Cyrus Everett and Donna Mauch,
but would not say if he had killed them.
He answered vaguely when the question
of his guilt or innocence was raised by
the journalist and said that there were at
least two different personalities inside
him and that he found it hard to sort them
out.

‘‘Anyone is capable of taking another
life,”’ he said. ‘“‘If the circumstances
were right, wouldn’t you?”’

When he was asked if he knew Donna
Mauch, Adams said that, *‘We were
only nodding acquaintances. We
traveled in different circles, if you know
what I mean...”’

Asked where he was living at the time
of the waitress’ slaying, Adams said, ‘‘I
don’t remember where I was living. That
had always baffled me.”’

When the reporter referred to him as

ee
‘

Philip, Adams appeared injured.

‘I hate Philip,’’ he said. ‘*Call me
Phil. That represents my gentler side.
Philip is what my mother called me when
she was angry with me.”’

When he was asked what defense he
would present if the case against him
came to trial, Adams said, ‘‘I do know
that | don’t have an alibi. What can I say
about the man I once was? All I can talk
about is the man | am now. People say |
have two or three different personalities,
but how can anybody know that?”’

On Wednesday, August 15th, Assis-
tant Attorney General William Stokes
announced he had filed, Interstate
Agreements on Retainer forms with
Connecticut authorities and that ‘‘every-
thing is proceeding smoothly in efforts to
return Adams to Maine.’

Under American legal tradition, Phi-
lip Adams must be considered innocent
of all charges unless and until proven
otherwise by due process.

kk

... stalked Little Boys! (from page 39)

uncover any leads. At this point all they
had was a 13-year-old male victim on
their hands who disappeared while de-
livering Sunday papers, who ultimately
ended up dead after being repeatedly
stabbed by a sexual sadist.

News of Danny’s sad and tragic death,
as well as the gruesome details surround-
ing it, spread quickly throughout the
community, likewise quickly fueling
fears that the sexually sadistic child-
killer would strike again, as often hap-
pens, if not apprehended first.

In the meantime, Sarpy County Sher-
iff Thomas made a plea to the public to
come forward with any information that
might be helpful to the case. He asked
that all suspicious persons hanging
around schools, playgrounds and parks
be reported to his office, along with de-
scriptions of the suspect and/or vehicle
license numbers. He said that every lead
would be checked out in the order of
importance and that, if necessary, addi-

42 Official Detective

ty

tional law enforcement agencies would
be asked to assist his office in running
down any potential leads.

As the days and weeks passed, the
sheriff’s office received an occasional
lead in the case from a concerned citizen,
all of which ultimately proved fruitless.
And, with the passage of time, fear of the
killer began to subside as people pushed
the horrible memories of Danny Eberle’s
violent death into the outer reaches
of their minds, making his murder seem
less of a reality. But real it was, and the
suffering, torment and anguish lived on
in the lives of Danny’s parents, relatives
and friends; it would likely haunt them
the rest of their days.

By December, things were pretty
much back to business as usual for most
of the area’s residents. People became
more cheerful as the Christmas season
came into being, and most children were
now no longer afraid to venture out
alone. Although nobody had forgotten

about Danny Eberle’s violent murder—
particularly his family, friends and the
lawmen investigating the case—the pas-
sage of time and the ensuing Christmas
holidays had enabled most to at least
concentrate on more agreeable matters.

Until, that is, the inevitable happened.
The sick child-killer struck again.

On Friday morning, December 2nd,
little 11-year-old Christopher Paul Wal-
den awoke to the ringing of his alarm
clock and the sound of the ancient B-52s
at nearby Offutt Air Force Base as their
pilots checked their bomber’s engines in
preparation for their daily ‘‘round-
robin’’ training missions. As Christ-
opher dressed himself for the week’s last
day of school, mechanics, security
police personnel and pilots were chang-
ing shifts on Offutt’s flight line, fresh
personnel replacing those going off shift.
As pilots turned in their flight plans to the
base operations aircraft dispatcher and
made their way toward their giant bomb-
ers awaiting them on the flight line,
Christopher Walden likely ate his last
bowl of cereal and kissed his parents
goodbye as he left the warmth of his
home for his walk to school on this
cold winter morning.

Little did he or his parents know that
he would not make it to school that day;
that the same horrible fate that
befell Danny Eberle now awaited him.

Although precise details of what hap-
pened that fateful morning after Christ-
opher left for school aren’t known, in all
likelihood the youngster was approached
by the suspect in a car which pulled
ahead of him and stopped, after which
Christopher was either lured by the
promise of something or was physically
forced inside the vehicle and taken to a
different spot. Whatever the case, lit-
le Christopher never made it to school
that morning, was counted absent by his
teacher, but otherwise not missed until
he failed to return home that afternoon.

When Christopher didn’t return home
from school at his usual time, his parents
naturally became worried and called the
school to see if he had been detained for
some reason. When they learned that he
hadn’t been in school at all that day they
became frantic with the worry that comes
from not knowing what had happened.
They immediately notified the police and
reported the suspicious circumstances,
marking the beginning of another leng-
thy, hard-driving investigation.

Police investigators, as well as
Christopher’s parents, contacted every
friend the youngster had, but no one had
seen him. They also re-traced his usual
route to school, hoping to find something

belonging to |
what had happ
efforts proved t
one living in |
Christopher s
heard anything
out of the ordi

Days passed
parents and tric
of the missing p
friends, as
vestigators, mad
uncover clues |
abouts, each att
in failure and fr
cerned tried to +
though, and ren
the fact that ther
missing boy

On the follow
Sth, three days
disappeared, the
another suffer
The thing ever
the most had |

C hristopher
dered
The boys {
Sarpy County
but instead of bh:
as Danoy’s bod
been taken int
ing to police re}
or the killer's
the same as in
young boy had
public street a1
death, with the
or near a road
According t
by the count)
opher Walden
been repeated!
other sharp ins
lieved, as in D
Christopher's d
vated to fulfill '
mented lust for
on a helpless
Following 4 '
at the crime sit
Virtually emy
There was 1
obvious clue
onto a suspect
vaged, blood
same Vicious
his MO whicl
struck again an
them to catch h
By now, Sh
vestigators had
ing with a kill

he a
HOOVEn, Ulaude, white,

4

| ployed by De Bots in

SHOT HS BROTHER LA

Councilman DuBois Lying at the Point of
Death in tho Hospital.

QUARRELED OVER MONEY . ‘MATTERS
Wwodade Man Grappled with) Wts
Asantinoné and Finally _ Secured
the Revolver—Anantlant

Under Arrent, |

Councilman Samvel c.” DuNols was: shot
twice and sericusly Injured shortly after 6
o'clock last evening by Claude YH. Ncover, his
brother-in-law, The latter Is under. arrest,
DuBols Is at the Presbyterian hospital and his
fe depends upon the result of an operarton
Which has just been performed. The two
shots entered the body Just above the
stomach, The aftulr occurred In a shoe store
ft 498% South Thirteenth street, kept) by:
Gustav Saalfeld, .

Hoover lives with. his mother at Eleventh
and Dorcas streets, and Is occersionally eny-
repairing elevators. Dur-
Ing the last week he hag been drinking quite
heavily, It is sald, and Was more or less under
the Influence of liquor when the shooting was
done, About three evenings ago Hoover
asked DuBols for $12 which the latter owed
hin. for work done. DuBolyg replied that he
did not have the money then, but would get
It for him at an early day. Yesterday after.
ncon the two met and the Httle debt was the
subject fer a fresin quarrel, DuBols, gave him
-the-money,..Hoover ~promising- to-leave-rown-|
al once if this were paid, am |

He did not keep his word, however, and |
about 6 o'clock last night Doltols was com.
Dolled to borrow $2 additio: io Satisfy the |
demands of hip brother-!n-taw. It lacked ten
minutes of § o'clock when the councilman.
elect went into the saloon of Kelly Bros.,

1324 Howard Street, and arked for a loan of
#2. He sald that his brother-in-law was on
the bum again and Wanted $2. “I'l give him
this money and Jet him get good and drunk,"
eld) DuBois, “iy return {it in the morn-
Ing.” IIs remained in the saluon for ten min-

utes and seemed In no great hurrry to 80 cul. |
He left the place about 6:05,

hanged Omaha » NEDMAS Ae,

on August 7, 1896

met In the shoo Store,

Immediately Brappleld wy
th him, He ele
loover'g hands Within hig Own, ty thot
nae ne ve ent him from Shooting any
‘ & two went Cut of the ttle )
quale having hig nN around yi
fts and holding tlehtly to his 4Ssailant's
cxbausten tough DuBois Was fast becoming
Kt » Als gyn
Mrod atari Perior gize and. Flreng h

ae ho did po:
“Fer Gail's sak Hepiona |
I'm shot," © telephone sors
Tho Injured man re
‘ : maved his =;
and vest and lay down tn ths rear of pro

store, caln . ;
hospital, ly Awaltlng dik removal to the:

After

doctor;

Duboly
hd n * would
(ns Word, although
"© shots wi

additional one The revolver .wag pe 38.

and had five he on
the possession Of the police He le ia

oo WENT our THE WINDOW, | wey
‘Gustav Saalfeld, the Propristor of the shoe
‘shop’ wherein the shooting occurred, was
feen lat las! night at his .home, 2731 Blondo
treet, hy a> Dee reporter, and sald: “Hoover
came In the shop about ‘ten or fftecn min-
ulti before th: thing happen:d, “Yes, he
often came tn the shop, as he Worked around
the corner. “When DuBole came in there wag
ro quarrel or fight. He nad been in ther:
not more ‘than’ a mindte when Hoove;
‘reached down in‘ his overccat pocket and
drew: out his revolver, He anid: ‘Now/'I've
got you.” applying a Vile epithet to DuBols,
With that) he rho him twice. Tae mex
were not more. than two fe2t apart, When
Saw the: révolver Mashed of ray
to. the back window. and jumped
ont. My broth?r, . alongside of whem
‘Hoecver‘ had bern sitting, went out the Pame
way.” The negro in’the shop was named
Andrew. Jackson, I think he muat have gone
out the’ front door, aa he Was not In there
hy Whe tlhe we came around to thefront, No,
Hoovir wea not drunk ay ther time, although
Tthink -he had been drinking during the after.
noon... ‘The two men clutched together, and in
i thelr gcume they broke the top: part: of my
} machine, . im awfully ' sorry DuBols: war
Shot, for he was a mighty nice fellow,
| b:Meve the trouble started over DuBois’ dis.
eharging Hoover in the aftarnoon."! ;
-. Miss Katherine Brophy isa hall sister to
; Hoover and Mra, Du8ola, Yesterday after-
'noon about 1:20. o'clock : Hoover came ints
| Sehnoiderwind'» coal ofite, 1206. Howard
Street, where. Miss Brophy was,’ and begin
abusing the young: woman, He said that she
-had- not been going with the kind Of company
“that -he liked.” During this’ tirade of abuse
‘DuBois: entered the plave, He Was provoked,
and. after consuring Hoover for hls ungentle-
manly conduct, took him by the arm and led
hiin out of the place, telling him to kezp
“away. [t is) said that Miss Brophy saw
Hoover afterward and begged him. not. to
inake any further trouble or ‘disturbance,
But Hoover went away vowing vengeance for
What he constdered an affront,

fatd that DuBols had threatened him,

tt

HOOVER EXPRESSES REGRET.

eCaptain King réfused to allow the repor.ers
to see Hoov:r last night at the police station,
The prisoner is a thort; well built) man,
somewhat over 30 years of age, He was but
slightly under the Influence of liquor when he
Was brought Into the station by Sergeant
Cory and OMecers Kirk and Hog, At first ho
Was ‘net very Rreatly concerned, Over: :the
Shooting he had done, but Jater In the night,

Bols’ condition, grew nervous, ag though just
réalizing: the fnormity of his Offense.: Te
sa'd that he had. bought the: revolver during
the afternoon at a Pawnshop, but he. could
not tell the location of the Pawnshop. He
sald he had patd $1.90 for the revolver, and
made the purchase b:cause he wag golng weat
and theught he might need. it, He. almitted
that he had been west several times before
and-had never_b fore_armed himaelf. He said
that he was forry for what: he had, done, but

The police ‘have PoSseesion of the revolver,
und. the articles of clothing. whieh DuBots
Wore, and through which the bullets paaged.
There is: one hole alongside of the secon]
buttonhole 3f. the Vest,. the other js about
two In ches: further away on the left Bide.
The. neekije also shows a hole where the
latter’ bullet “Probably pasacd threugh,

DuBols was removed to the Pr-ebyterlan
hospital in the patrol wagon, and Doctors
Allison, . Summers and Coulter gave their
‘iftention to the care. . A consultation was
held, and it was decided that Aan Operation }
to. dizeaver ‘the bullots was advisable, - The
cperation:- was perfermed, and one bullet wag
extricated, - The other — had entered the
bowels, and It was deemed hazardourn to
Undertake Its. removal, . Both: bytlets had en.
fered the abdominal cavity and taken a down.
Sard eourse,: The pattent stood the opera.

‘DuBols ts a Inan nearly 40 years, Old, Wye
fas a splendid physique, and appeared
Spectally large when alongsid > of hie brother.
nePiw, The wounded man came to: Omaha

Pitrolmsn In the local department, - At the
recent election he Was chosen councilman,
Pi « \ ;

%

' a6 bart; he;
si . LAG fn eee eee Venad, hitn and the know two ladies who were
@ HOM. Clark and tin asaowintes. and Crime, j Nose Was auljosted bys Sheet: Menitnan [they were Mra. Wright
Be has sixty day in which to Begin opera- +) .€ 4 : And Deputy‘ Huberte, ‘When hin legs Were! hn dere)
oma, he 5 wilt’ be buils es ig FULL PARTICULARS ‘ ; ! pinioned henwayed to and fro, : Hofaiau. the wreek ¢
vn NB cere ths ee ci Pie cues. ‘ ne wept all ducing this tube and was weepitv ] There was wo i
@ more | The fist legend exeeution that exc: took” whew Giebinck: was. dtawa down “over were taking up the tall; aa .
© Friday. when | place in tive co bts won on Ma'Caluui, ead L046 me about Lape te rail, ° 8 tial
Ng we : aaa

Tin
%

AOS SES have any mosiey at thal time,
pepenee that nat connected wit
ek

Thy eetle, 4 u ogee ee as SASS Ses ac, 4
' | Bites it ceased to heat and he wae pio | a ner wih whieh to « aeply ¢
aad the worth!) pounced dead, oAter he was cut down it | A0d none of his irlends — if be had

j ‘ i Were willing to aseist him. AM di
Ea ese isha hie heck was broken and trial he sat

Wit dent

tesas Meee

“*

Unadilla abvetltwo earn: |
With Huftmas a
‘brother-indaw's,

wreek

sister's feneral; tet . hime’

bright evening of wreck at Daaber.
drank at the ¢ ’

since

g

Zande aloe the,

f Was) over, EK :

tea wilt never be -able tu
es, ot : ve ohyinwr: must have nore
5 he veliter sunie three nytelies, but le never | thse cbedeor one ig nid i pincah

1 deserted fis rots helug ne deutet Willing » | atid sieved vat » ber ond yore Mt to. me
leave Teliow that hb was, tw stertiive huis Then. he cams out with » wrench, wien.
j tebe life to save, if jwraitle, thume af the | athd, “what fire yore scorbingg tap edt" nied;
pitseenigers under Iie charge. ‘the trnin | tthe D with wher yen. memom.”* ‘pe *4
pers Viewal

N teaving the track idl tert frtliow the eh | inadded frm 0 2 le ny aepth? 885s
ae at xine, but went duwi a draw interthe ereet, twiny done, 9 veln- ob tor’ he he

ne nndlhe wtrangeat part of (1 woe HDAt very | ton ches with HH, neo be tombs tar cote tan fry

5) [Str ave the ebnie eur, tiruedivver cn hte | der und went ap 0. 4°, tench, whbhe 3

at) fry B oy ps beley and Hone Of the pasniyérs wer tq [hrwest, Where we eure $40 2 eet one ‘ Mre. Fiteh wan hin tavurite sister, |

ce: Seip mt wiped injonae mney’ bw “The| perlathag 6 ny rete pele es oom Vee we be wimneie av ein..

Ca ae és , prulsed an mine Mm . ner U " ; . , ‘i
AO Sima a peg es prem messenger, Henuk Chemnwirth, ilid | We thet eronced ever 40 the fro or b Duet aetht about wid: | The Parting with bie riser. and the be

vo 8 or

; |
WA fape «> well, the large iron ene falling | nid went threnagty wmee Sertemls “tomes © nrning, amd after taking “« lintmmal nnd -a depressiey inflaeses =| tearhere bad sot
!
}
|

ae the Bant depio~ition cm thedide of iba head, inching his Cee | Misurai Vaeige trark, 8 wx Sohind 4 t Hoodman tor & short * time tas Boe

MAH fe the came of the] And brenking the jOull.:; 1, vas thee | med oben f onae op be wan tepting to’ R ody repeteapohgg 1 ae ye _Hicionnd wns himsett again.” Ie compen

td Kieok who in charged | MOuthy before he was able to he out, and | serew mrinet hing with x rene. aad in hare tet; portion of his tits ‘ ogy With the geant he walked dawn the errs ;

be Bore, : NT 'wenty-four picees,of bone were taken | “what are, sow doing to wiseerts be sey > gn bet @ lying dows due tu the cet! Seca pled try Phellenberger,

Qian Bohannon frowy the wound before he recovered. | "1 awe going to wreck thist-do ss teste, pt icoaty A cel ee eee we the pa: | wt these two tuth endur the nentenee of
Superintendent Dalby was ov she wrecked { he coutd have plemty sf leah LE a) se Sect Arete ide Hint sty wed wrote an .

é tatd th» same tory that he dict the'day the | train, and joing te Dunbur tnd a retief | “Dawe, E wen't tose mare thetet we ews illne io

“Witton Wise ds Utentinn wine no

themthy pitta minect


i mine Manner, Ted et, ine brother due tees wade: the FUN echt ee tre a ehtld'e ene at mal’ bal MF aati - worwrd

Druled and injured in sine manner, “Vhree} yreobeet ing tor @ fermey bernard, 6 pvery iii ; * With <-> plate, ithe

ADrean Hesnenver, Krank ( Weenerwieth, died We then : s nig ‘i td Wet A B: ‘

ttt ne wa) well, the lnryge iron enter falling | and went ; Ry Pe tome, ;

tk the Aide of hid head, innching his fnew | Minerrart

trad teeiking the ahull,: 3 Was three! mud whens IS

Mouth ‘he: foe cut, sud ;

twenty: t ia ie | A! delay > t

Rings qe frowe 4 | am going to wrk that:
that the day the Tine 8 feliel |~Dase, | won't have muy

before, 5 ‘ Mapes, He hich towk the

f j this, for isribaor J in bert
bie! little Mnoking a vars the injured the penitemtinry: f will tet
atone he "aw Kigeke take Bo Ainination.of the

uth an

t onithe worth nide of | bad run off, it was
i pee ates had been re
ime Hee eorAdor | Mi! and the "
mt the length of
Waa ahoved te
bag “n foul"
M. claw bar

ilk

:
i

i
ree
HSE

il
lid

red of ts
foal oP Ape
: yarde north of the tre
weit Artuory at 8 o'clork th

wanthhg lief train,
; morning and maroied |

Mate Chap weee placed on gu
Tees td MARIN: The we

teck anh
Manding at the

Th

rl

nA prea
The citizens fm aad about :
faurioes when +

me ta this sity, z Oe Be treth j
cum pany with Sherif MeCathun ¢ a . Biol patarpce
Wisoneri tom coum iu the i ‘a

* | hotel. where the fallowing cuntemion wan om. inet : ee
f taleed fro David Hoffman: an wm te

ee ee - Mbt CONPaRmOs, aed
" Myjeame te David Hoffman, aged 34
Seam; was bord northeast of Mt. Pleasaat,
"tia Ubave four brothers and foar ninler

“© [hret met Ja
‘pack | SOrth of Vaadilla tne

if

ft

f
bt

- ‘ ion
ee, co ohr gy
:

i

if
frat

i


«
Ot fox 7.02 7
om eed. TS et
r ed Veelch
caiby. dinner at
i in nksiiving.
if r of Stromsburg
5 Pe: * % on
‘ ee v aca tien ner 3

or, Airs. Clyde Jen,
> i mily.
nie Long - gent Thanks- ye:
Fairbury with” be
iS; ae and. her
eo Leeper. She traveled -

» to Aubu wn Ww here she

a

a
a

inde

naer

the
other sister.
Mrs.

Willard
Hale, Mo... Wednesday

f the week

Mateer

to spend. Thanksgiving

. Mateey’s. sister-in-law,

y Tudor and Harold and
Mrs. Gienn Koch and

nd his family.v£ Beatrice."
-of twon guests

MM. Kohler: entertained *
'v uta Thinksgiving di.

d Mrs. Orin Rizgs had as
sts on Thanksgiving, Mrs.
rother, G. J. Meier, his

i
“'

ox

ad Mrs. David ‘Somanan :

ne

id Mrs. J. F. Meier
iildren, Deloris and :
Lincoln. ~ >

ied Mr. and Mrs. W..J.
Mrs. Rosemary Shipps and
nklin Huebner family of
on Thanksgiving.

‘avelock Methodist, Haves et

ristian, First church and .

_ Christian .
iving.

Presbyterian of -University .
id union services at the *:
church “on ~

73.

SSRVIC
—

Siew be de bres

EG Wahl

See. the new’.
QvtT °F 97 S57
he om Of Yess: éake

Sevenelie?

F ?. . c Seon

Lat

3

j

were Lee °:

Duane of Kansas °

SoS EY IOI MTS (TE CE TNS
sg ‘ ve

SeenON Se Seana

we techn thin a ti om a Bea Pe

f mission of an atrocity
foe (Continued i von ride Two) Bea

a cape cen sept a aeee

a ae of

i" tha pure
Ys f >
‘heg hoard we acts Senresens
7 if ‘ ’ ” » Pres 3!
tatives of state Ses tin
‘ 3 2 tay Yee
‘duties cicariy aeons e the iw
® -— rare LMsye Voobyer the
20 trace OWENS. HE ee,
nw Ve there wos no pre}yue
dictuket'3 veraiple error and that
hi rs gy
the legalorights of Fimothy Iron
Bear were carefully asuards a. by
the trial court. :
“We are of the epinion "that

there was no evidence of insanity,

‘and-although he told this board he

drank, we are of the further opin-
ion that he was not drunk to the
point of not: knowing the differ-
ence between right and wrong

- when _he committed this crime.

- “Nothing strange or queer in
the’ applicant's personal ' history
appears-in the record that: would.

condone his homicidal: act and de-

prive it of criminal intent..Com-
does, not of}

Ie

ry iig a stats. Sea's beard touad no:

Jron Boar will be executed.
ta tho electric chelr * tho Vebraska
penitentiary shortly after his reprioye

yA

ms expires ‘at midnight Tuesday.” Pe era

~ ty os
2

‘Wn Memes. [Lill 4°

“LOUISBURG, ‘Kas.—(INS At
four. was found dead” in

~~

Begs to set aside “his docth sen. ; |
s a fence.

Mateo came
‘farm srovp’s SOUy anu:
tion atthe Lincoln hotel,
Approximately $50 07
cration's °8.000 members
hand for the first
sion os the farmers presered tc
elect directors and choose a. lcadtry
foy the next three. years. ‘Preasi-
dent. Marshall, of .Elmvood,’ ais
seeking his second term. pees
_: Price-Supports An: Issues “
The “price-support”  questich
nopkine up Monday as the most
important issue of the convention
with the Field Crop. committee
tackling the problem of what stand
should. be taken in the resolution
that will go to the convention floor
on Tuesday. -. * ‘ x

-A’ floor fight on’ the parit y ques- |

the!
pS

bus ins {3

on

“ose

headed by Farmer Roland Nelson,
“\ Mead, can.irgn out the differences !
en :the 69 and $0. per cent Jevels|

| modities: AES |
; “Reads; ‘Schools, Takes:.!
Mand of. the younger: oliates

i pea

feel: that ‘the federation should. go

on: record ‘as. favoring a straight

1 across-the-board 90° per. cent sup-
port: price. level. for farm produc.s.

Opposing that view:are the older
delegates, including Charles Mar-
‘shall, president, who- supports the

voring the 90 to 60 per cent sliding
scale for farm parity. : ie

‘Chairman Dale. Erlewine; Ogal-
Hala, -of the -resolution’s commit-
tee, refused to predict: -the outcome
jon the parity. issue. However,
Erlewine. did forecast that the
federation: would come‘up with a

‘lresolution’ praising’ the stute’s ru-

Tal. mail route graveling bill.

rand the use ‘to which the state’s

(Continued on Page Twa):

ry, y <¢ a4 Pi
Railroad Cressing
> wT 4? a, Saf bay :
i@n Nordia Core! Ts:
eT oe es eh en vidivnn ee.
“|Saidk Daz SAMs

club. that
the oy

somcethi be’
about the “danrerous”

inyet
Ae

eit

tion loomed -untess Ee coiriaitet fake .

“for SUPPOF. prices: for farm sores

federation's present stand of. fa~

-.; gasoline tox is being put are the
: other two.“big” issues in the pile

A request by the Haveloct: Lions
done by

ott

5 J eic Sd { ‘
bait Mae No ad

Product}: len 2

“r es ef o>
LED SS a Geant vay $j
BY, bd #3
pew UTLEY y

me!

; ERL IN ary: EAT ~ A mitite:
se vorinent economist Said tad
Western Germany has: inerpat
woduction.. J \thrceesquarters | °¢
| nor: al ntinivillt be self aupner He
by 1952, ° with the end Ob. SRE’ 8
sistance. Bess Tet :
The economist, "Phillips: Haw’:
pe deputy: economics “adviser, t
the military , .governor,~ said pre

-f duction in ‘the western zones-ia

increased from: 38 per cent of nor
mal before currency ™ ‘reform la
summer to 73 per cent of.morm:
now. He gave-the year. 1936 as nor
mal, the year-oefore intensive Ww.
-preparations began in Germany.
His statements were made. {9
group ‘of ,correspondents brou:
from Paris where they had was
covering the United Nations. a.
t sembly. Steel production: now. is .
the rate of, 7,900,000 tons a-ye.
‘compared: with half that amou:
four. months 20. Coal producti:
has reached .325.999 tons daily.
increase from 280, 000 tons bet’
currency. reform) was uncer iaKe
In: contrast, “Hawkins - said.

ul

™ Soviet zone’s production hut. fal:
The redistricting of rura} schools

to 50 per cent of what it was _b
fore currency teform. This’ w
due, he said; to the blockade whi
the Russians imposed ‘June.
Now the Russian zone.is ‘stifferi.
lacute shortage ‘of. coal:and oth
materials, needed to: keep. the
zone’s factories goihg. “The cous!
‘plockade imposed by the weste
me ers not only hurt the Russi
hone'S s industry, but left much ¢:
int’ the western. zone which jeer
hav e been allocated. ta the east.

eo

eoer
Sf it rakenny

=, ation at the: Rock Island raile| ow CDRRRIUES Lt Saate
Mets ! nt! vic- 7 :
- Louisburg today,. apparently ae id pet sing of North Rigty-third | ps TD teas aN bs
4iimns of fumes from 2 #35 hea ners peireet wae referre “d to the raffie: ae wb RS Gil ew Pas a
The: .dead were Sherman R. | convmi Monday. bt ihe city) 2 Mrsvo Geral line ‘¢ *
P illins, 37. his cwite, faye, 3f »f comune ee Rees | Sout thy Forlyese verti: letrett,? %
acd teen two children, Guerga| The ‘tet ter by othe chub states ai tal; ei ty iegvun “Agernortal hosp
Baye he Wee gOReO: Te Ithat 98 per, cont ef the traffic] | Manday , aft wenoony: after the
when mtn foateet ity Worthedstodyoec schgall ‘ys jsbe sais Cylverss steel ROBat
bs y thd eee 2, : vole Ve hielo On. karst
at no wean hae Fes 2
é Y der
6b Cie tf ty La
t ffs:
t3 j
e¢ ea @enewve '* > e+ ¥ ay

seen. Havelock — and
>. registered Monday
‘y¥ council ina joint
o-Goodyear. Tire and
paiy and the Burling-

‘erred to Cobe Venner.
public. “welfare and
) indicated he would
e matter. immediately.
ympany officials.
- written by R. A. Jay,
ser for-Goodyear, states
-es are dissatisfied with

ecifically at the time|

mange.” -- ;

, that “bus drivers have|- perienced in handling of elec- | Allen, S, D... There he: was. ar-| definite sacrifices to get them."

of leaving Havelock
aud of time” thereby
-kers who were depend-
i sch2dules, stranded.

or states that “drivers
way from the bus stop
ous is completely loaded
'e are approaching from

ch ur employes are
- bus acrvice, they have
on to. expect the service
ered in the manner ad-
the letter points out.

f the withdrawal order.
Nanking observers sug-
t nationalist commuand-
‘chow are reluctant to
tons of munitions and
nat have been stockpiled
.e past several months.
Suchow commanders ig-
rders from the capital—
nue to leave idle the
ody ‘of troops left to
ij-eshek—the reds will be
slish off other, smaller
by one, and attack Su-
never ready.
yernment’s 12th army
hich moved up ‘from
nan effort to reinforce
sas reported encircled by
ns. about 12 miles south
. Chiang En Route.
these developments,
Chiang Kai-shek, wife of
resident, sped ‘oward the
states in an American
ye to plead for immedi-

- @ ie
sromier, OS
H ; %, .f $ .
*s
2
’
a
bad
% dep offtrie Caine

nt against the bus) thy Iron Bear when shortly_aft- | Frank Marsh. Walter, Johnson, at- | M&naser, died Su

==!than in the previous 200,” said farm rubbish in a small farm: “After carefully “weighing “the

+} Lat ong The treed rng pt ; fee —tY DCs. of vehicles. ... Se Selo Pyoothy
ae that the Joke, Deo cardies ve He told of drinkin. and smek-|° “As an, example, five cents per! ae
Udy yy Stare eneionl society gt LES marijerarne fy Alsance “BOG | yaile is a conservative figure 207 comb
aie te et oe ic take ere Stans nae hafter he‘styrted work at the Stol-! senreciation, cost of gasoline, OL ace.
Ee, eS medical Supers ‘tay, reneh. an faly O° Evidences tires: etc. for. the averave pis | de oat
ae : Pn eee ore {ak the trial showed that no empty Isenpes car and smal truck, Nate | NEE
too apt oaens! scheduled’ fe! lquor.oitie could | be found anddurally. for the larger trucks and,
ae egy woepten at tne Nee cat the commutation heacing he ad~i buses the total net cost nt depree hy siue
(beeke barn p urea Cony ntiow | mitted he only smoked one cigarel: ciation 8 He da tele Bigher. Fy eas
Monday-afternson, She planed ever a perlod of three ‘days, IThe ficurcs chow that f ee at
‘to discuss the rural woman's re=} Tron Bear hid previously served jvear 1)4% there were youlstereh mn :
‘ tar 1 $ *% AT yO -s

+

[Svea e \Onanaape (IRON BEAR TO DIE WW. Seaver, Ves
Deniietinteenee are ek bo lanah at eg SO “Continued ‘from Page Ond). - eS Slemarihg Hee oo SiG Roe ee
er, = ee SL wa ae a,, itself, in-our opinion, prove a dis- LOEOSS Retired Cyn.
LS LFeOrs pave Oa” .S- orderly ‘mind or one: temporarily. ES Bete rs
Se ee Me PN EIN Cred liquor-or.-drugs.” *,-: | Passenger Viawmager

oa eae ae Fae so ey A adh OMAHA —(AP)— W.e.S. Ba-{ Giean
< aoe toe ecis ee wT wie i ging 2 ET han oF ReaD
teak for dinner tonight was ET ee dad ib g a on Val | Sinsers 75, former, Union ‘Pacific ; es
ihe only request made by-Timo-.- Peterson and Secretary. of State|-railroad .general passenser traffic fe
os . : C ; nday following ¢ ptt zs

° £: PR eee oer MU ait tee , VAaATGER

torney. general, third member ‘of heart attack. ai nee * ES juries rece
; the board, was out ofthe city at}. > Basinger retired in 1942-after 51) the entry:
*¢ : niten= |! : at ME A . : restate 7A} the entry

Jones, |W arcen gtaahe PE iten= .' ne time of the commutation hear- | years of continuous service inthe i eKon: on.
-tiary, “informed* him that the © ing and. again today. .-- ss. company .under nine. presidents. | between I
© Stollar He began his.career as an auditing |

er noon Monday Co}, James: M.

pardon’ board. had denied his | eR aR rh :
‘; request for cimigney sa: se ot while per eae ante ‘in her departmeht clerk at Kansas. City | cident. on:
“He showed no: emotion, | home, followed the killing of her in 1891. Bigger Se at EN carrer: Bit
whatever,” Col, Jonesssaid after ‘husband, John W. Stollar, 58, dur- “Survivors include -his widow, | sidewalk
spending an. hour with the Jing a fit,of anger by Iron Bear whom he married early this year, | unlighted
condemned ‘man in the death |The Indfan,. who had been em-| 8nd a sister, Mrs. E.P. Lawton of be tie co:
colt: “Ee Wat eee traditional « ‘ployed by. Stollar two days earlier. Savannah, Ga... as PASE Gig hai es
{Indian stoic ata times." -l46 work in the hay fields, was an-{-: Funeral services ‘will be held at}- es
| A special 24-hour: guard. has: | gered when his employer refused |2 p. m, Wednesdays 9.2000 be oaaneybey
nee paeet bite ipo to take him to town to buy clothes. | «77 ce aE IEEREE 5 oastigc ci
been ih will be maintained. | After the double. axe slaying,| > TOLMNS REPORT. On Wi
until the hour of execution, the. 5 AT ee ee the Berane a ge HOLMNS REPORT neighborh
warden said, >. oe | §tollar and fled to the: home. of} Joo (Continued trom: Page One)" <" fo-make
The executioner will ‘be ex-. | his mother,. Mrs. Pete Richards. at/ roads, ‘and sare willing «to. “make hae %

‘trie chairs and come from an-/rested on July 28 by Indian police |.’ “Our - comm Meg eet Zumbrun:
outsidg state, according tothe land Sheriff F. D. Hsing ti noe committee. has eaten pand neve
warden.’ In agreeing to come { Deputy Wendall Hills, of Sheridan mended to you, Governor Peterson, containin
-to Nebraska, the executioner | county. Dey eg eh ae that Nebraska a crhig be ta 20+ [+ Ott’ sa:
pledged prison officials to se- |. , ai ryear program. . s Wl sap-j} totally. b

* The murder. was discovered Soint many who are impatient for | “slight }

-crecy both as to nis name and | when the mailman could see no},; , ; :
the state from which he comes. |evidence, of activity about the headin A oogtie: ee ee Poe ocis
ranch and. notified Gail Thomp- . “d why

aes - - pr Paishice eused of embarking upon an overly | suffered

Cancer Researela | 507. son-in-law’ of the Stollars,| mbitious program upder : these| ture -of
- |who investigated and: found the | .:

39>) ct tad body of Mrs. Stollar aed >\ circumstances. Such, a program ‘ttusion ar
L°POSress Is Toi “aah pee “|will require additional funds for} shock, ‘in
uctincer” peidarch’ had. petori- | Admitted Both Slayings. / | all governmental units totaling |and vari’
¥ | Search by the sheriff later found | approximately | $10,000,000 - @n-| erations.
plished more In the past 10 years' the body of Stollar covered with | nually. te tie

_

ar: ;
Mrs: Tarot Go Bogert, at the building where ff ~ hae been many factors involved, and con- | inocr
'SW CLA. Monday noon dragged. sidering the .wiews of: those who: sarelc
aa x NO: | During the trial, Iron Bear | appeared before us in the public) Elizabes
Mrs. Bogert, national deputy | steadfastly denied any knowledge -hearings, the committee recom ly-dn
commander of the American Can- | of the killing of Mrs. Stollar. How-|mends that the additional ‘high- | Conlee,
cer Society, speaking to Lincoln ever, at the commutation hearing bah dag Bde ’ ogame tiniest reperny
he admitted the slaying but said | tain y increasin gti peng ty
members outlined ve educational he believed he hit. nee with aj fuels tax one cent, and by a re-| signed b
program of the national organiza~| hammar rather than the axe that |adjustment of motor vehicle fees.} Spencer
tion. | The program's _two major | was found along side, the body. “Details of the program are ty will r
objectives ‘are making people The Sioux Indian freely ad- outlined in our report to “you.| levied a
aware of cancer’s early symptoms | mitted to the pardon board that he Translated into dollars and cents, remainc!
—when the disease is curable—|pa-t Killed Stollar, but insisted that this will represent an increased | Merrick
and stressing the need for physical | ne threw down the axe beside the [cost of $5 for each automobile) ..'—
examinations. ae aay Pe) d did not Fae ce land Jight. truck, plus AN AVCTage | ree
4 y an id not return.’ He de- DP ae ‘serine that the car. ALrxws3
Questioned about research with | nied moving the body-to-the farm cost‘ of °$7,-assuming Mab ine AS ee
‘radioactive isotopes, Mrs. Bogert/ building. gan GAGE Ty hg travels on an average of . 10,000 t nese
said, “Atomic. reasearch holds} The story told by Iron Bear was miles bs i Aad hela AN ied SDR hiae n ite
great promise, but at present {here |that he. had been released from et ai FAIR, METHODS (0°74 og pet
are only three approved treat-|the state penitentiary on.July 20, . “f am reasonably certain that i” bac
ments for cancer: surgery, X-ray jafter completing a {wo year sen- the people of this state will be |. th hi
and radium.” ‘ -ltence for forfery, and returned to| happy to pay a moderate high- | declare
Nebraska's education program | Alliance. Before leaving Lincoln, | Way Use tax, as it has always |p cece:

under Mra. TRhdémas Houlton, Oma- | he said he bought a half dozen been considered a fair raat hon. 38 Cohen;
ha, is progressing very well ac marijuana eigarets from.a street defraying highsway costs, th poet suppor
cording to. Mrs. Bogert. . Mrs. peddler, ©. .° ; . other hand, better roaus W ‘ range

1 erease the cost of travel for all

Houlton was with Mrs. Bogert at -* Quit School At 16. thins f

‘sponsibility, in cancer control. a two vear term in the state rae | Nebrask®: POST 84
toe i 4 4 sf a { yin at eed 4 { 1 ‘


Rev. AP, (79%

rire »Stoliar Slaylng. -
“0 py ARCH DONOVAN
© Timothy Iron Bear, 24, Allen,

S. D.,-must die In the ‘state peni-
tentiary electric chair on Dec. 1.
Saute The state pardon and parole
*- board announced Monday that at
the hearing on Nov.-12 it found
vit “no ‘extenuating circumstances to
>. warrant granting his” application
for commutation of the death s sen-
necpence to life. imprisonment. _ of 3
“The Ogallala Sioux India was
~ found guilty at Frusbvills on Renal

.

: lion Bear Will Be.
“VTth To Die In Chatr :
Timothy ‘Iron Beqy will be the
(17th porson to- die since. eloctrocu-
‘J tton was adopted In the state. Last.
i Pie person ta so pay -the penalty: tor
‘30. Paurder wes Joseph T. MacAvoy.
| crmy sergecat, who died March 23,
1945. for ' slaying Sh Sutton wait

school guhL - + =" ‘ i
“Provious to that time there had

beon na electrocutions tr a period}:
wth vot ; rs Rea ee

co 7 cncananloncs ms Cravat

Maxim ~

ii City in:
Belgt

127 Diteh |
in Carats 123 Halt in em’,

33, 1997, of: the axe slaying on
July 24 of Mrs. Grace Blanche
~. Stollar, 60,° Sheridan con ranch

e elemen: ris,
*:340 Incursionis® o*'

_-woman.: rte fats
pigs. The atrocity of the crime in
“4°. our opinion is no reason, for |
“2 thinking he was
so brutally. murdered 5 defense~ |
less: woman to keep her from -
‘knowing that he had ‘previously-
‘/murdered her husband,” hove
é: ‘rtp said in 2 statement, :
“No Evidence of Siasnlty :
Matter a full hearing before this”
-“poard, no evidence’ has been .ad-

144 Newt Gea ae

= 145 Distant’. 2

. 146 Regards with =
- “- apprehension ~

: 152 At tempted .
* 9. 184 Chess pieces |.
+356 bith abe af

ing fungus
fin << ts 12 Exhibits ‘
tls set Observed oot,

Pa:

insane when he}.

Sign Ene: BUlEe duced other than Iron Bear's ‘be-
les 3
d - nie nae ; “Jated admission that he ified Sire
ppcedya - ie 1 of onvinced he
‘= 168 Greek letter |. 7 Stoll ary ee are i n : x oi gtcke
Oe yi eS A Literary scraps’: fuilty of e murder of
TAO « 1c Compase point ae »sdar. “
tape As a board we act us repres en-

ot: acale Pe webs

partite) Ep ae tatives of state avernment,”s
eee : eevee du ities clearly ecfindd ne he lav
‘ POE COL ee ane under ‘powers Vin y the
* oF ot Pi or 2 igs ® Ax Faw wve fect tiece 2098 rey}? seat
ate Focal Lie Se Pinta Lever UX me

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Of Wolcuniow
t write

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t
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ies ss 8 BaD sicarhatehedn leven yh
YEE CORY gS a mere
ee LOS eh a

fpr cemenesy= tp ameungmeimese tor .

ridreest farm -organization

OFepeuktion PRESIDENT. GREETS YOUNG FARM ‘douris AT STA !
i with. who opercta @ 409-acro farm southeast. of Dunbar. Neb. are aaa’
second
Wisths, graduates of the Unlversity of Nobraska, were typical aricng the
3-dey convention at thd Lintola hotol. Mel Bt rman, ace. Rear yt

by Charles Marshall,  Elvrood, .

hee

Pre ey New |

a * weakness In ssveral important direct:

- Federation Wackies.
Farrn, Support Issue.
At State: Convention.

“Nebraska Farm ren Buresu! Federa-
tion members ivere called-6n Mon-
day to “protect their new ‘adv, nees
In agriculture and to work for a
greater and more pawertal
America.” . ,« he

The appeal sade? oy Chvcles
Marshall, president of the second
; in the
viv, came at the opening of the
yroup’s 30th annual conven=
Hees at the Lincoln hotel. .

orgy

wo a pay omen

from ; left. preeident. of the -

bre

*

le  wew 'YORX—{AP)—Business | cs
“tegle regions showed today. + Ly
< Business leaders miadied : anxious
“thepor’’ ‘
(0) A: dectine In Sascctintis a pie
(2) Scattered shutdowns or tayo!
(8) Easing ogriceltural prices. -
(4) Some business expansion, als
; ($) An unsasy inertia In textiles
“The question wos: Are thesa rech
Sake alarms, lize the ons which oof
“ok thts year caused rocetsion wortle
3s A chock of the Dusinszs pulve in
: af lilxed: trend. Laysils, for oxcmpi
“England and the middle Atiaaiic ax
upward In the soutkweat Pric 14%

pehigher In the midwest. .
Midwest emplayrsent wus aia
Groas, Gnd business ex
~ Prices la the swidwa
whole, and yroso atti aes toe

to ne sage ne: ener ete
.

beet yr ees 39 0 of bs tet

RA MTEL ie RARE



NRISE:

BUSINESS
Prudential Customers

Can Get Claims Advice
Page 12

LIVING
Summer Camp

Funny and Fun
Page 27

ii brcoN

ASKA, JULY 9, 1996

Joubert’s Executio:

30

OUR 131ST YEAR
34 PAGES

AN INDEPENDENT
NEWSPAPER OWNED
BY EMPLOYEES

Scheduled for July 17

BY PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — Acting with surprising
speed, the Nebraska Supreme Court on
Monday set a July 17 execution date for
confessed child-killer John Joubert.

The action came one week after the
U.S. Supreme Court rejected two appeals
brought by Joubert and lifted a stay of
execution that had halted a planned June
28 trip to the electric chair.

State prison officials immediately
began taking steps to prepare for an
execution to occur at 12:01 am. or
shortly thereafter July 17.

Attorney General Don Stenberg said
Monday that he did not expect further

legal delays.

Joubert, 33, was sentenced to death
after pleading guilty to the 1983 kidnap-
murders of two Sarpy County boys,
Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and Chnstopher
Walden, 12.

He also admitted killing 11-year-old
Richard Stetson in 1982 in Portland,
Maine, Joubert’s hometown.

The U.S. Supreme Court halted a
scheduled June 28 execution with hours
to spare so that it could consider
two appeals brought by Joubert. That
allowed the death warrant to expire and
required the state to seek a new execu-
tion date.

The swiftness with which the State
Supreme Court provided the new death

warrant, plus the setting of a date so
soon, caught representatives of the state
and Joubert by surprise.

“This caught a lot of people off
guard,” said Matt LeMieux, executive
director of the Nebraska chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union, which is
providing legal help for Joubert.

ACLU attorneys had asked that the
execution be delayed until at least Octo-
ber to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to
rule on two appeals. The Nebraska
Attorney General’s Office had sought a
new execution date within two weeks.

Stenberg, at a press conference, com-
mended the court for “acting so quickly
and recognizing that justice will not be

Please turn to Page 2, Col. 1

4 OVER —-®

HIV Infection Grows

For New Generation
Ot Homosexual Men

Vancouver, British Columbia (AP) —
A generation of young gay men across
the industrialized world is ignoring the
lessons of the AIDS epidemic and risking
a new wave of HIV infection by engaging

in unsafe sex, researchers reported Mon-
dav.: i, | a ia MS RR aa 9 abba AE nik)

“The figures are high,
very high, especially if
we consider that these


we we eee aL Wiwolnl
Monday with the dilemma of what to do
with him.

The defector, Lt. Col. Jose Fernandez
Pupo, remained at the base Monday,
where various U.S. agencies debriefed
him, while the Immigration and Natural-
ization Service considered his plea for
political asylum.

State Department spokesman Nicho-
las Burns said the Clinton administra-
tion “strongly condemns this act of air

Hurricane Bertha Blasts

Continued from Pagel
today to discuss evacuation plans.

Authorities advised South Florida res-
idents to calmly begin their preparations.
Many took heed: Reservation lines at
hotels in Orlando and other inland areas
began lighting up, and shoppers jammed
South Florida supermarkets and other
suppliers of hurricane provisions.

“This is Mother Nature tapping you
on the shoulder, telling you to get ready,”
Said Art St. Amand, director of Broward

County’s Office of Emergency Manage-
ment.

An American surfer was missing in the
Tough seas and high winds off Puerto
Rico. Police said Lilton Jones, 35, of
New York City was Bertha’s first victim,

Hours after Jones disappeared, U.S.
Virgin Islands Gov. Roy Schneider
Said another surfer had drowned off
Lindbergh Beach, near St. Thomas’
airport.

Amateur radio operators picked up
reports that a Venezuelan ship was
drifting in the hurricane off Puerto Rico

Court Sets Joubert Ex

Continued from Page 1
served by further delays.”

The Nebraska Supreme Court, he said,
had reviewed Joubert’s case five times,
That probably played a role, Stenberg
Said.

“And I think the court recognizes, as
do all Nebraskans. that 12 years of
review in the case of someone who has
pleaded guilty and confessed to several
murders is adequate and that further
delays do not contribute to the adminis-
tration of justice,” he said.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha,
the leading opponent of capital punish-
ment in the Nebraska Legislature, said
he was disappointed that the court ap-

had been en route to the city of Guantan-
amo from Santiago, Cuba. After. the
plane landed, Fernandez Pupo placed his
weapons on the ground and told U.S.
military personnel that he sought politi-
cal asylum in the United States. The
plane carried 14 other passengers and
three crew members,

One U.S. source told the Miami
Herald that Fernandez Pupo had fired

one of his pistols at least once aboard the’

and that half of the 42 people on board
Were missing in the storm.

Police also blamed the storm’s high
winds and rain for two traffic deaths on
Puerto Rico, in which a car slid off a wet
road and hit a tree.

If the forecasts hold true, South Flori-
da would sustain its first direct hit since
August 1992, when Hurricane Andrew
stormed ashore in South Dade County
with catastrophic fury.

With those memories fresh, local offi-
cials conducted emergency meetings
Monday. Preparedness plans were exam-
ined, assigned duties checked off.

“We are in mobility mode,” said
Miami City Manager Cesar Odio. “God
willing, we hope it doesn’t hit here.”

Said Chuck Lanza, Dade’s emergency
management director: “I haven’t seen
anything yet that indicates it’s not going
to hit here. We’re planning as if it will.”

In the Caribbean, meanwhile, direct
hits were becoming a way of life.

Bertha struck particularly hard at St.
Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, still

parently bowed to the public pressure for
swift executions.

“That’s regrettable,” Chambers said.
“If the pressure will move them on this
issue, it may begin to move them on
Others,

Joubert’s two pending appeals chal-
lenge the makeup of Nebraska’s Board of
Pardons and allege that electrocution is
cruel and unusual punishment.

The U.S. Supreme Court is on summer
recess and will not reconvene until Octo-
ber. It could issue another Stay of the
execution if it decides the appeals have
merit.

Stenberg said he doubted that would

Vas Ihldd SdalU.

Clinton administration officials pri-
vately acknowledged Monday that a
flurry of political considerations were
being weighed in determining whether to
return Fernandez Pupo to Cuba, try him
in U.S. courts, or grant him asylum and
set him free.

The hijacking took place only two
weeks before the administration plans to

seek condemnation against Cuba at the
U.N. Security Council for its Feb. 24

Caribbean

Bertha arrived. Later, the Storm’s winds
Shredded roofs and felled trees.

Hundreds of people crowded govern-
ment shelters in the U.S. Virgin Islands
on Monday, and 3,000 people filled 170
Shelters in Puerto Rico,

Nearly all hotel and motel rooms on
St. Thomas were filled as residents
Sought shelter more secure than their

- homes.

The story was much the same on St.
Croix, St. Martin, Tortola and many
other islands along the Caribbean’s rim.

Puerto Rico escaped with a glancing
blow. The center of the storm and the
worst of its weather passed about 50
miles north of San Juan, but outlying
Squalls rocked the island with heavy rain.
55 mph winds and high seas.

The Associated Press contributed tr
this report.

ecution for July 17-

happen. The high court rejected an
appeal by Joubert on the electrocution
issue last week and turned down an
appeal on the makeup of the Pardons
Board before the execution of Harold
Lamont Otey two years ago.

Stenberg ‘said that although Joubert
needs only “a piece of paper and a filing
fee” to file more appeals, he thought
that Joubert had exhausted any avenues
of legitimate appeal.

LeMieux said Joubert’s previous ap-
peal on whether electrocution is crue
and unusual punishment was thrown ou
on procedural grounds. That constity
tional issue has never been argued on if
merits, he said,


Rovbery]

State Moves Quickly in Seeking
New Execution Date for Joubert

Continued from Page 1

any longer to execute Joubert, who
pleaded guilty to the 1983 kidnap-mur-
_ders of two Sarpy County boys, Danny
13° Eberle, 13, and Christopher Walden,

12.

“There’s just no sense in setting an
execution date out any further than a
week or two because all the litigation
occurs in that time frame anyway,”
Brown said. “After 12 years, i ar pate
have had the opportunity to think of any
claims you can raise.”

.. Nelson, at an afternoon press confer-
ence, said he agreed.

A spokesman with the American Civil
Liberties Union, which is representing
Joubert in one court appeal, said he
questioned the motivations of state offi-
cials in seeking such a quick date for an
execution.

“I’m concerned that the politicians in
this state are making this an issue for
political gain,” said Matt LeMieux of
Lincoln, the executive director of ACLU
Nebraska. “For me, the execution of

vanother human being is an instance
"where no individual should gain person-
“ally or politically.”
-*« The attorney who had been represent-
"itig Joubert, Mark Weber of Omaha, said
he had. expected Morday’s ruling and
was not surprised that the state is seeking
an early execution date.
“ He said it was possible that the
-xecution could be carried out within
70 weeks.
s“Technically, as we are standing here,
pre are no stays,” Weber said. “Could
Aere be one within the next day or two?
Sure.”

* The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling,

announced about 9:30 a.m., rejected two
appeals filed by Joubert.

= One, filed Thursday, challenged a
state’s right to limit the federal court
appeals provided a death-row inmate.
‘The U.S. Supreme Court, in a ruling
Friday, upheld that right in a case
jnvolving a condemned Georgia inmate,
Ellis Wayne Felker.

* In the second appeal, Joubert asked.

«@

the Supreme Court to rule that electrocu-
tion —. the means used in Nebraska to
carry out the death penalty — amounted
to cruel and unusual punishment.

Brown said he didn’t consider either
appeal legitimate.

“We only have 100 years of law saying

that electrocution is a constitutionally |

valid way of imposing death,” he said.
“(Joubert’s attorneys) will have to come
up with something new or we're going to
be in a position to go forward with the
execution.”

One appeal filed by the ACLU on
Joubert’s behalf is pending, although it
would not halt an execution unless the
U.S, Supreme Court put a new stay of
execution in place.

That appeal, filed by ACLU attomeys
Lyle Koenig of Lincoln and Jeffrey

elleher of Cleveland, Ohio, also alleges
that electrocution is cruel and unusual
punishment in violation of the Eighth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

It was rejected last week by Sarpy

County District Court Judge Ronald
Reagan and the Nebraska Supreme
Court. It was filed directly with the U.S.
Sune Court on Saturday.
e court said Monday that it would
not rule on that petition until after its
summer recess, LeMieux said. He said
Monday’s ruling dismissing a similar
appeal on electrocution has no bearing
ona second ps on the issue.

While a ruli

g might come too late to
help Joubert, ieux said he was
pleased that the second appeal on the

electrocution issue was not immediately ©

dismissed on Monday,

“We know from past decisions that
there are at least two justices who are
leaning toward finding this form of
puniahonent as unconstitutional,” Le-

ieux said,

As of Monday, Weber and a second
attorney, Scott Calkins of Omaha, are
officially off the Joubert case. Weber
said he would continue to assist the
ACLU attorneys.

World-Herald staff writer Joy Powell
contributed to this report.

Friday

ene - i
4 a ra
| vat (OO

De

Ves

adline Set

For Joubert Briefs -

BY PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — In an apparent attempt to
expedite a decision, the Nebraska Su-
preme Court has given attorneys repre-
senting confessed child-killer John
Joubert until Friday to argue against
setting a new execution date within two
weeks,

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Of-
fice filed a request Monday for a new
execution date to be set for Joubert.
Tuesday, the Supreme Court gave Jou-
bert’s attorneys until Friday to respond.

Normally, defendant’s attorneys are
ven 14 days to file written response

riefs, said J. Kirk Brown, the assistant
attorney general who handles the state’s
death penalty cases.

“I’m pleased that it looks like the court
is trying to expedite our request,” Brown
said. “It looks like they’re trying to give
Joubert a chance to respond and still deal
with this expeditiously.”

Attempts to reach Lyle Koenig, a_

Lincoln attorney who had represented
Joubert, were unsuccessful Tuesday af-
ternoon.

Joubert, 32, had been scheduled to die
in the electric chair Friday. He. had
pleaded guilty to the 1983 kidnap-mur-
ders of two y County boys, Danny
Joe Eberle, 13, and Christopher Walden,
12:

The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the
Friday execution and postponed rulings
on Joubert’s appeals until Monday,
when it rejected them.

That lifted the stay of execution. The
State now must seek a new execution date
from the Nebraska Supreme Court. .

The Attorney General’s Office, in its
request on Monday, asked that a new
date be set within two weeks.

Brown said the State Supreme Court
could rule on that request as early as next
week. If granted, “the execution could
proceed later this month — barring
another stay from the U.S. Supreme
Court.

That court still has two Joubert ap-

peals pending.

Profile:

When the
fantasies —

By Patricia Edmonds .
USA TODAY — J

While the baby sitter sat watching
television, John Joubert fantasized

that he took a knife from the kitchen,

killed her and consumed her flesh.

_ He had that fantasy when he was 7
years old. A dozen years later, in

1983, Joubert killed three boys, leav-

ing bite marks on the bodies. Today -

he is on Nebraska’s death row.

Criminologists say Joubert “fit the
profile” of a sexual serial killer —
and they suspect Milwaukee murder
suspect Jeffrey Dahmer may fit the
profile, too. 4

According to the profile, certain
individuals — most white and male
— flee broken homes and abusive
parents into grisly fantasy lives that
link violence with sexual delight.

What the profile cannot predict is
who will stick to fantasies — and
who will go further.

“We don’t understand, of the hun-
dreds of thousands who fit the profile
of serial killer, why some never kill,”
Says criminologist James Fox.

As experts struggle to: compre-
hend the behavior, criminal psychol-
ogist Robert Ressler warns that this
kind of deviance will. flourish: “It’s
escalating every decade.”

Ressler, a former FBI agent

turned private consultant, profiled 36.

of the country’s most notorious kill-
ers for the landmark study Sexual
Homicide: Patterns and Motives. He
says most grow from abused chil-
dren into “introverted and weird”
adolescents who destroy property
and assault peers and pets.

As adults, Ressler says, the poten-
tial killers often are “pushed over
the line into acting out their fanta-
sies” by desperation over money,

work or love. And once they have’

killed and escaped punishment, “it

turn violent:

- AP
JOUBERT: He’s on Nebraska’s
death row for slaying 3 youths.

becomes so exciting, they fantasize
about repeating it — and the next
time they do it with more finesse.”
Ressler says real-life serial killers
bear no resemblance to the glamor-
ized killers of popular fiction, such as

brilliant psychiatrist-turned-cannibal

Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of
the Lambs. “These people are not
successful — they’re losers... horri-
ble losers in life,” he says.

Fox, co-author of the book Mass -
Murder: America’s Growing. Men-
ace, suggests that Dahmer may fit
the stereotype — “someone who’s in-
sane and being driven by his bizarre
thoughts” — but that in reality most
Serial killers are not mentally ill.

“They’re crafty, not crazy,” he.
says. “They have an intense need for

power. ... They lack a conscience,

remorse, any capacity for empathy.”
Combine an insatiable need to vic-
timize with an utter disregard for the
victim, “and you have a very danger-
ous individual,” Fox says.

While mutilating and cannibaliz-
ing bodies are unimaginable acts to
most people, they make twisted
sense to sexual killers. Fox says kill-
ers may regard the carnage as “sou-
venirs — and we all keep souvenirs
of the things we like to do the best.”


—_

a

-_ JOUBERT
‘Continued from Page 1D

 Kravchuk’s ruling said that would
not violate Joubert’s right to due

process of law, because his Maine :

conviction would be considered
VOI. 23 5-3: es Re ee

__ In arguments before Kravchuk
~~ last month, Assistant Attorney Gen-

~eral Lisa Marchese said Joubert

was using Maine to hide. from the
death penalty.
She said in a legal brief that

Joubert “is: requesting to Stay in

Maine not out of concern for appel-
late rights but in an effort to have

‘the (governors’ agreement)
declared null.and void.”

_ Marchese was on vacation Wed-

-hesday and couldn’t be reached for
_ comment. bh eee haere a athe

: Wright said J oubert had a chance.

to contest the extradition agree-

ment when he was in Nebraska, but

he didn’t.
“From his point of view, he

wanted to stay here in Maine
because Nebraska has the death

focus on Maine’s extradition proce-
dures, not the pending Nebraska

' - death sentence. He said Joubert still
- has the right to argue about return- ~

- ing to Nebraska.

penalty and. Maine doesn’t,” Said |

Wright ae
“We all know he’s going back to

Nebraska,” Wright said. “It's just a

matter of when.” st

_ Tisdale said Joubert’s arguments

Tisdale has contended that:
Nebraska gave up its jurisdiction in
the case when it sent Joubert to”
Maine. ae

Tisdale has 10 days to file his
plans to appeal to the state supreme
court i Be:


Victim’s father waits
for Joubert to ‘pay’

Stetson says execution will bring satisfaction

Joubert, from B1 °

Walden, 12, in Sarpy County in
1983.

In 1990, Joubert was convicted of
the 1982 murder of 11-year-old
Richard Stetson in Portland and
sentenced to life in prison. He was
transferred from Maine, which
does not have the death penalty, to
face the Nebraska charges.

Joubert has asked the U.S. Su-

preme Court for a stay of execu--

tion. And with the help of a friend
from Maine, Joubert is preparing a
last-minute request for a clemency
hearing before the Nebraska Par-
dons Board.

Joubert, who spent a troubled
childhood in Portland, was an air-
man stationed at Offutt Air Force

Base at the time of the Nebraska |

killings. In recent newspaper inter-
views, he has repeatedly apolo-
gized for his crimes.

Stetson, who last saw his son
alive when he left home to go jog-
ging around the city’s Back Cove
on Aug. 23, 1982, said he is not im-
pressed by Joubert’s remorse.

‘He says he’s sorry, but that’s
not going to do any good,” the fa-
ther told the Maine Sunday Tele-
gram. “I think the guy is just
trying to make people feel sorry for
him so he can buy more time.”

Portland police consider Joubert ‘

the only serial killer ever to have
struck Maine’s largest city. —
In Lincoln, Neb., where Joubert

is on death row at the Nebraska
_ State Penitentiary, an Old Orchard’

Beach man who says he helped
Joubert learn to play the clarinet in
high school is working to convince
the pardons board that Joubert
should not be executed. =
Richard Pitre, who is not a law-
yer, said Friday he is helping Jou-
bert draft a request for a clemency
hearing before the board. Pitre, 42,

said Joubert is no longer the same
man who-committed the murders.

“The progress he has made is
flabbergasting, his growth, his se-
renity,’’ he said. ‘I’m not sure any-
one wants to hear that side of it,”
Pitre said. ‘I’ve heard a lot about

**The progress he
[foubert] has
made is
flabbergasting,
his growth, his

- Serenity.’

— Richard Pitre

John Joubert the monster but not
about the fact that there is another
side to him.”

Pitre said he formerly taught
high ‘school band, but has left
teaching and returned to school to
study music.

He said a news conference would
be: held Monday regarding Jou-
bert’s request for a hearing before
the three-member pardons board.
Pitre said he consulted with attor-
neys but he, Joubert and others
drafted the petition.

The.board is ‘scheduled to meet
Friday to consider Joubert’s antic-
ipated request, but would meet
sooner if it is filed early.

Two board members, Gov. Ben
Nelson and Attorney General Don
Stenberg, said they are unlikely to
favor a hearing. The third mem-
ber, Secretary of State Scott
Moore, said he could support a
hearing if it was not a last-minute
attempt to delay the execution.

Slain boy’s
dad waiting
for justice

‘Joubert must “pay price,
says Portland resident

?

The Associated Press

PORTLAND — The father of a
Portland boy whom John Joubert
stabbed and strangled 14 years ago
says he will get some satisfaction if
Joubert is put to death Friday as
scheduled.

“T’m just glad it’s almost over,”
said Edward Stetson, 67, who stiil
lives in Portland. ‘‘When it hap-
pens, I’ll have the knowledge that
my dead son’s killer has paid the
price and won’t walk.”

Joubert, 32, is scheduled to die in
Nebraska’s electric chair for the
separate stabbing deaths of Danny
Joe Eberle, 13, and Christopher

See Joubert, B2, Col. 5

Sagas aily News

Nebraska's Current Death Row Inmates

Nine people remain on Nebraska's death row while their appeals remain under review. All
are there for murder. One death row inmate, C. Michael Anderson, hired another, Peter Lynn
|

Hochstein, to commit a murder. Execution dates have been set for two of the nine: Clarence
Victor, Sept. 22, and Robert E. Williams, Nov. 16.

Name ‘Age Date Sentenced
John J. Joubert 31 October 9, 1984
Robert E. Williams 57. June 30, 1978
Peter L. Hochstein 40 August 24,1978
C. Michael Anderson 42 August 24, 1978
Carey D. Moore 36 June 20, 1980
Charles J. Palmer* 56 September 6, 1984
Dn » ‘Randolph Reeves 38 | September 11, 1981
TOT: . Michael Ryan 46 October 16, 1986
eens pistes nda Clarence Victor 61 November 21, 1988

“Two earlier death sentences, in 1980, and 1982, were set aside

Jamates Who Died on Death Row ©

on he
ANDERSON

“HARPER
| Wesley Peery 64, sentenced in 1976, died |
 Ofa heart attack, July 3, 1988.

Steven Harper 37, sentenced in 1979, died of

REEVES RYAN | VICTOR apparent suicide, December 7, 1990


=
C
Od
M
cy
NY

A rope helped collar

Nebraska's Killer

BELLEVUE, NEBRASKA
AUGUST 8, 1984

There was nothing to warn the resident
of the peaceful city of Bellevue, Ne-
braska on that warm autumn morning of
September 18, 1983 that they were about
to experience a three-month reign of ter-
ror involving the safety of their children.

And, certainly, danger was not on the
mind of 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle as
he left home and pedalled his bicycle
down to the corner of Madison Avenue
and Mission Street to pick up 70 Sunday
papers for delivery to customers on his
route. The time was 5:30 a.m.

His supervisor saw the cheerful boy
as he dropped off the newspapers on
the corner for Danny. But, at 8:30 a.m.
the supervisor received a telephone call
from a customer on the boy’s route com-
plaining that he had not yet received his
paper. The supervisor was puzzled,
recalling that Danny’s job performance
had always been excellent. He decided to
investigate.

Starting at the beginning of the boy’s
route, it was not long before he came
upon some evidence that alarmed him.
Inside a gate on the fourth house on Dan-
ny’s route, the supervisor found the
boy’s bicycle and papers.

When Danny’s parents were notified,
the worried father and Danny’s brothers,
ages 11 and 15, drove around the area
looking for him.

Eberle, a postal worker, and his two
sons went to the house where the papers
and Danny’s bicycle had been found.
The doctor who lived there said he had
found his paper on the porch at 6:30 a.m.

‘I saw his papers sitting outside the
fence with his bike,’’ the doctor told the
worried father, ‘‘but I didn’t see Danny
or anyone else on the street.”’

The doctor said that when he returned
from church at about 8:30 a.m., the bicy-
cle and papers were still on the sidewalk
and he told his son to protect them by
putting them inside the fence.

After a thorough search of the streets
on which his son delivered papers,

32

MAL

Q. QE) Y7

Is it life in the pen or death in

the chair? A three-judge panel will
have to decide the fate of the
killer whose reign of terror
triggered a manhunt that had not
been equalled since the search for
multiple killer Charles Starkweather.

roe

ie Be % ns
yiwre ak ; se aie xan Ti

‘Danny Eberle always delivered his newspapers promptly, but one day his super-

visor stumbled upon something strange—bicycle and papers—but no Danny.

Eberle was ¢
conscientious

abandoned his '

so he contacte¢

It was then t

among parent

Nebraska bega

that hadn't
search for kil
in the year of

Bellevue Po
son immediate
ous implicat
treated it as
soon as the
Eberle said |
inches in heig
pounds, had b
with a scar on

He said Dar
duroy pants,
denim shirt an
Eberle said his
tarily have left
away without !

“*He was
always fiddlin
and he was pri
‘*We've neve
and I’m cert
own choice. F
guess that’s o1
asked him a qu
go over to the

No trace of t!
Monday morn
agent in charg:
FBI headquart
bureau was tr
‘*as a crime

He said 2'
the Bellevue p:
ty Shenffs Of!
agents, he ex;
of state chec}
way.

From the ou
ing paper boy
of all those w!
and a feeling
the state. A rey
with the Omahi
off with a conu

Agent Eva
had become a '

LG

al

Joubert makes plea for his life

Convicted child killer says he’d be ‘of more use alive than dead’

The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. — Convicted killer
John Joubert’s request for a commuta-
tion of his death sentence goes. before
Nebraska Pardons Board on Wednes-
day, two days before his scheduled exe-
cution.

There was no indication Monday that
the three board members were likely to
grant a clemency hearing.

In his written plea for clemency, Jou-
bert reiterated his guilt and his remorse
for killing of Danny Jo Eberle, 13, and
Christopher Walden, 12, both of Sarpy
County, in 1983.

Joubert concluded by offering the
board this thought: ‘‘I ask you to spare
my life because you are not like me, you
are not killers.”

While filing the request immediately
won a stay of his execution, the board
could dispose of his petition, dissolve the
stay and allow the sentence to be car-
ried out.

Joubert also has a request for a stay

of execution pending before the U.S.
Supreme Court.

Joubert, 32, who is from Maine, also
was convicted of the 1982 killing of 11-
year-old Richard Stetson in Portland,
and sentenced to life in prison without
parole in this state.

The meeting on
Wednesday is not @ pnd
hearing to determine @
whether Joubert’s sen-
tence should be com- #@
muted. The board will  °
consider only if he
should be granted a full
clemency hearing.

The board members,
Gov. Ben Nelson, Attor-
ney General Don Sten-
berg and Secretary of
State Scott Moore, indicated Monday
that they each would have an open
mind.

They also have indicated that they
would need convincing reasons to grant
a clemency hearing. Stenberg and Nel-

Joubert

DAnmy NEwS
TUES. 6-25-76

son have said they would be hard
pressed to imagine an argument that
would warrant a hearing, let alone
clemency.

Moore offered a similar view Monday.
He said Joubert could have brought his
petition weeks ago, instead of waiting
until virtually the last minute.

“If we agreed to a hearing and sched-
uled it for Thursday and Friday, I am
wondering if Joubert would go to court
and say he wasn’t being given enough
time to prepare,’’ Moore said. ‘“‘(M)y
concern is that filings like this simply
become attempts to delay carrying out
the sentence.”’

Joubert’s petition told the board he
wanted to work with other inmates and
with the psychiatric community, saying
the latter might learn much from study-
ing how he became the person who
killed two children.

“T believe I could be of more use to
the community alive than dead. And so,
I ask you to spare my life,’’ Joubert

‘said. ‘I ask you to spare my life,

Banco (MAINE)

not because I am innocent, I am
not; not because what I did was
not horrible, it was.”

=.

ep
tne ——

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1994

A6 San Francisco Chronicle xx?

\ NATIONAL REPORT

J ‘ Nebraska Killer
oN Goes to Electric Chair

eee Lincoln, Neb. — Harold LaMont
Otey, convicted of raping a wom-
an, then beating her with a ham-
‘mer and stabbing her to death, was
executed early today in Nebras-
ka’s first execution in 35 years.

Otey, 43, was executed in Ne- -
praska’s electric chair for the 1977
rape and murder of Jane McMan-
us, 26, of Omaha.

Before Otey was put to death,
the last execution in Nebraska was
that of 20-year-old Charles Stark-
weather in 1959 for a string of 11
killings across the state.


1

small for his

prove something.
brief chat with
Police Detective

\earns, Jr. said that

secking the death

ng case. *‘We still

added.
questing anyone

stetson on Sunday

thing out of the
xed car or people
‘rassy triangle or
2 boy was found,

Police Depart-

ffort by Portland
no quick break in
Stetson’s killer.
n the last week

of October, the baffled detectives ad-
ministered lie detector tests to the
child’s closest acquaintances, but
learned nothing other than that no one
who knew Richie had any information
about the boy’s brutal death.

Richie’s father told newsmen that the

investigators ‘‘have some leads, but ©

they aren’t at liberty to say what they
are.

“‘There’s been a lot of talk someone
picked him up and tried to molest him.

My only theory is someone grabbed —

him, did what they had to and dumped
him.

‘*All I know is that night on Marginal
Way at eight o’clock he said he was do-
ing his exercises and I told him to be
careful.

**They can pinpoint him up to nine
o’clock, when he was seen [by some
other joggers],’’ he added.

Detective Captain Kearns told the re-
porters only that the case was ‘“‘still un-
der investigation.”’

The following year, jubilant Portland
homicide probers announced that they
had taken a 24-year-old man into custo-
dy in connection with the slaying of
Richie Stetson. Although the suspect

was subsequently indicted by the Cum;
berland County grand jury, the charges
against him were dropped in February
1984, when further investigation indi-
cated that the man was not the one they
were looking for.

By that time, however, more than
1,500 miles to the west of Portland, a
tragic series of events had been put into
motion that would culminate with the
conclusion of the investigation into little
Richie Stetson’s killing.

Those events began at around 5:30 on
the humid Sunday morning of Septem-
ber 18, 1983, in the town of Bellevue,
Nebraska. Thirteen-year-old Danny Joe
Eberle had just left his home to pedal
his bicycle to the corner of Madison Ay-
enue and Mission Street to pick up the
70 Sunday newspapers that were his re-
sponsibility to deliver to the customers
along his route.

Some three hours after giving Danny
his load of papers, the boy’s supervisor
was surprised to receive a call from an
irate customer complaining that her pa-
per had not yet been delivered. Puzzled,
the supervisor got in his car and began
tracing Danny’s whereabouts; he hadn’t
gotten very far before he discovered the

FBI sketch of murder suspect, which was released to the news media, is shown along-
side an actual photo of John J. Joubert, an airman at the Offutt Air Force Base

Despite an all-out effort by Portland
investigators, there would be no quick
break in the massive manhunt for
little Richie Stetson’s strangler.

John J. Joubert, who was once a Boy
Scout leader, in custody for the ab-
duction and murder of three young boys.

boy’s bicycle and a pile of undelivered
papers at the fourth house on the route.

When they were informed of the
child’s disappearance and the discovery
of his bicycle, Danny’s father and broth-
er cruised the neighborhood looking for
him. Finding nothing, they hurried to
the house where the bicycle and news-
papers had been found, but the man who
lived there had nothing much to offer
them.

‘It was about six-thirty when I got up
and I saw his papers sitting outside the
fence with his bike,’’ the man reported.
‘*But I didn’t see Danny or anyone on
the street.”’

When he was told of the boy’s disap-
pearance, Bellevue Police Chief Warren
Robinson decided at once to treat the
case as a possible abduction and put out
an alert for the child. Danny was de-
scribed as carrying fewer than 100
pounds on a S-foot, 2-inch frame, and

(Continued on page 50)

Inside Detective 4]

a

vard,’’ the boy’s brother said. ‘‘I said,
‘Are you crazy? Don’t go around the
boulevard.” But he said, ‘I can’t Stop
now. I’m going to go around the boule-
vard.’ ”’

The boy’s brother said he had been
‘‘shocked he was going to run around
the whole boulevard,’’ because the three
youngsters had just run around the
neighborhood some 15 to 20 times.

‘‘He asked if I wanted to run around
with him and I told him no, it was get-
ting dark.’’

Richie’s friend said that the 11-year-
old had ‘‘wanted to see who could run
the most laps.”’

A man who worked for Richie’s fa-
ther said: “I’ve never known him
(Richie) to go around the boulevard.”’
He described Richie Stetson as ‘‘the lit;

40 Inside Detective

ah i mee eels ae mn

of

Search party conducts grim hunt (top)
for a 13-year-old boy. Danny Eberle
(above) was eventually found—bound
at the feet and stabbed to death.

tlest guy—very, very small for his
age,’’ so he had to prove something.
On Tuesday, in a brief chat with
newsmen, Portland Police Detective
Captain William F. Kearns, Jr. said that
his investigators were seeking the death
weapon in the troubling case. ‘‘We still
have no suspects,’’ he added.
Investigators were requesting anyone

who had seen Richie Stetson on Sunday

night, or who saw anything out of the
ordinary, such as a parked car or people
walking through the grassy triangle or
on the bridge where the boy was found,
to notify the Portland Police Depart-
ment’s detective bureau.

Despite an all-out effort by Portland
police, there would be no quick break in
the hunt for little Richie Stetson’s killer.
Some two months later, in the last week

of October
ministered
child’s
learned not}
who knew
about the |

Richie's !
investigator
they aren't
are.

“*There’s
picked hur
My only
him, did wt
him.

“All T kn
Way at eigh
ing his exer
careful.

“They Cal
o’clock, wt
other jogger

Detective
porters only
der investig

The folk
homicide
had taken a
dy in conn
Richie Stets

£3

di

FBI sketch of
side an actue


area is a rugged, wooded section of
West Virginia with very few residents.

As the search continued the following
day, the mystery concerning the suitcase
was solved when the prison mainte-
nance supervisor who Mollohan had
worked under, returned home with his
family after a few days of vacation. He
recognized the articles as having been
taken from his house. He said he did not
think Tommie Mollohan knew where he
lived and it was just a coincidence that
he happened to select his home to
burglarize.

Despite the several hundred lawmen
searching for Mollohan in the woods, he
managed to elude them. Known as an
avid outdoorsman when not serving jail
time, he would be familiar with the
rugged countryside. Officers felt their
best chance to take him would be to
keep the area sealed off until he would
have to come out for food.

Meanwhile, Bobby Stacy was re-
turned to the prison and the person in
whose apartment he hid was charged
with harboring a fugitive. The man ac-
knowledged that he knew Stacy had es-
caped from prison, but denied that he
had helped the trio make their break.

As Stacy entered the prison, he wise-
cracked to a guard, ‘‘Everybody needs a
little vacation once in awhile,’’ and then
added, ‘‘I suppose they’ll tack on some
more time. I hope I live long enough to
serve all of it.’

Five days after Tommie Mollohan
managed to flee from his near capture at
Beelers Station, there was a new devel-
opment. A resident on Gosney Hill
Road, about 20 miles away, reported
that he and his family had returned to
their home to discover it had been
burglarized.

The thief had taken a .22-caliber rifle,
a .222-caliber high-power rifle with a
scope, a shotgun, ammunition for the
weapons, tobacco, canned food and
some clothing. Officers were certain
Mollohan had been the thief. The search
turned to the Gosney Hill area but, with
Mollohan well-armed and supplied with
food, it would be difficult and danger-
ous to apprehend him while he re-
mained in the woods.

In the meantime, troopers attempting
to get a lead on where David Williams
might have gone after the escape,
learned that he had a relative in the
southern part of the state. A surveillance
was set up on the relative’s house in the
event Williams showed up there.

Just short of three weeks after Will- .

iams and the others broke out of prison,
a trooper reported that he had seen twd

50 Inside Detective

men leave Williams’ relative’s house in
a pickup truck. The trooper said he
hadn’t been able to see them clearly
enough to identify Williams, but said he
had not seen the man around previously
and suspected he might be the fugitive.

Troopers located the pickup on US 52
near Premier and gave the signal for it
to stop. The pickup pulled over to the
road shoulder and a passenger leaped
out and began running. The chase was
brief as troopers threatened to shoot.
The man taken into custody was David
Williams. A relative driving the truck
was charged with harboring a fugitive.

With two of the three escapees back
in prison, the manhunt now concen-
trated on Tommie Mollohan. With the
area where he was hiding sealed off, a
sweep of the woods was organized, with
officers moving slowly behind search
dogs. It took a week, but the sweep paid

having blond hair and blue eyes and a
scar on his left cheek. When he’d left
his home that morning, the boy had
been wearing blue corduroy pants, a
light-blue, long-sleeved denim shirt and
dark-blue tennis shoes. The boy’s father
made it clear that Danny would not have
put down his bicycle and voluntarily
walked away from his paper route.

When no trace of the child was found
by the following morning, John Evans,
the assistant agent in charge of the
Iowa-Nebraska office of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, was notified at
his Omaha headquarters. Evans said that
the bureau was treating the case as ‘‘a
crime of abduction,’’ with no fewer than
20 federal agents assigned to help the
Bellevue police and Sarpy County Sher-
iff’s Office. Many of the agents were
checking rest stops along midwestern
highways while others visited Danny’s
friends and acquaintances, and followed
up on telephone tips from an aroused
public spurred, in part, by a $10,000 re-
ward fund established by the Omaha
World-Herald.

Around 9:30 on Wednesday morning,
September 21st, some 100 lawmen from
21 police agencies, joined by 30 officers
from the nearby Offutt Air Force Base,
took part in a search covering a nine
square-mile area of Sarpy County.
Searchers divided into 10 teams that
scoured the Missouri River shoreline
from the Platte River north of the Fon-
tenelle Forest and as far as Hancock

off when the manhunters located a lean-
to in the woods where Mollohan had
been camping. Using a bullhorn, an of-
ficer called out for Mollohan to give
himself up or he would be shot.
Ignoring the warning, Mollohan took
off running along with a small dog he
had on a leash made out of string. Offi-
cers pursued the fleeing man and, when
the dog slowed him down, Mollohan re-
leased the animal and kept running.
The chase lasted better than an hour
before Mollohan realized he was sur-
rounded by officers and came out into
the open with his hands in the air.
With the three escapees back in pris-
on, Colonel Donohoe had high praise
for the many men engaged in the multi-
agency manhunt. ‘“‘They brought them
in without anyone getting hurt,’’ Don-
ohoe said. ‘‘And that is what we were
hoping for.’’ ®

Street in Bellevue. In overall charge of
the search was Lieutenant Gerald
Groves of the Sioux City, lowa, Police
Department. Assisting the men on the
ground were a helicopter from the Ne-
braska State Patrol, an airplane from the
FBI and a boat manned by Sarpy sher-
iff’s deputies.

Approximately 80 minutes into the
effort, Wahoo, Nebraska, Police Chief
John Kolterman was walking along the
Iske Park roadway when he discovered
the body of a small red-haired boy par-
tially hidden by weeds in a ficld not far
from the pavement. The search for Dan-
ny Joe Eberle had ended.

Soon, more than 20 homicide probers
had flocked to the scene, just two miles
from the giant air base, to hunt for phys-
ical evidence. A couple of empty beer
bottles and part of a Saturday Omaha
World-Herald were seized by forensic
science probers. Preliminary indications
were that the 13-year-old boy had been
stabbed to death and that at least one of
his feet had been bound with tape.

‘*There’s a pretty good chance that
the boy was snatched off his bicycle and
then taken somewhere else and killed
there,’’ one investigator said. ‘‘We
hardly found any blood with the body,
so you can’t say it’s likely that the child
was killed in the field.”’

Chief Robinson ordered his probers
to check empty buildings and remote ar-
eas of Bellevue and Sarpy County for
any Clues that might point to the actual

site of the slaying.
For more than tw
months, Bellevue «
probers worked wit!
to the identity of D
slayer. And then, o:
2nd, while they werc
dark as they were
vanished, a second
ported missing.
Christopher Hal!
child of an Offutt “
tenant colonel, was
when he left his S
around 8:20 a.m., to
Elementary Schoo! !
child never showed
ever, a frantic :
produce word of
Around 5 p.m., on !
Sth, two men hunt
the railroad tracks
Road, discovered th«
75 yards from the p
tors who rushed to |!
two sets of footpr
of trees from the
only one set emers
‘*From the look
tor said, “‘you'd |
killer forced Chris
the trees here. (!
walked out alone
The kiter, com
Chuck Wiley, ‘‘p:
individual and...it
who doesn’t have
The following di
ber 6th, a composi!
pect was released
Police said that the
in the sketch had hb:
ness on Friday mor
Christopher norma
Agent Wilcy said
reported what he |
Friday night after |
disappearance and
been completed o:
The composite
plained, was that
tween the ages of
complexion and s!
feet, 8 inches and
He had been wea
cap and wool plai
by the witness.
Wiley went on |
had not seen Chris!
into a car, Or any
ture. He added tha
psychiatric trainin;
vestigation comma
couple of days to |
emotional and beh


aters located a lean-
here Mollohan had
g a bullhorn, an of-
Mollohan to give
uld be shot.
ing, Mollohan took
ith a small dog he
out of string. Offi-
ing man and, when
iown, Mollohan re-
d kept running.
vetter than an hour
‘lized he was sur-
and came out into
ids in the air.
ipees back in pris-
e had high praise
raged in the multi-
hey brought them
tting hurt,’? Don-
is what we were
®

overall charge of

ieutenant Gerald
City, Iowa, Police
g the men on the
pter from the Ne-
airplanesfrom the
ed by Sarpy sher-

minutes into the
ska, Police Chief
walking along the
ien he discovered
-d-haired boy par-
s in a field not far
ie search for Dan-
fed.
homicide probers
ne, just two miles
. to hunt for phys-
le of empty beer
Saturday Omaha
sized by forensic
linary indications
Id boy had been
lat at least one of
id with tape.
200d chance that
ff his bicycle and
else and killed
ator said. ‘‘We
d with the body,
ely that the child

ered his probers
2s and remote ar-
arpy County for
int to the actual

site of the slaying. °

For more than two long and fruitless
months, Bellevue and Sarpy County
probers worked without finding a clue
to the. identity of Danny Joe Eberle’s
slayer. And then, on Friday, December
2nd, while they were still as much in the
dark as they were on the day the boy
vanished, a second local child was re-
ported missing.

Christopher Hall Walden, the only
child of an Offutt Air Force Base lieu-
tenant colonel, was just 12 years old
when he left his Sarpy County home
around 8:20 a.m., to walk to the Pawnee
Elementary School 13 blocks away. The
child never showed up at school, how-
ever, a frantic search failed to
produce word of his whereabouts.
Around 5 p.m., on Monday, December
Sth, two men hunting pheasants along
the railroad tracks east of Cornhusker

Road, discovered the child’s body about ~

75 yards from the pavement. Investiga-
tors who rushed to the scene discovered
two sets of footprints entering a grove
of trees from the railroad tracks and
only one set emerging.

‘From the look of it,’’ one investiga-
tor said, ‘‘you’d have to say that the
killer forced Christopher to walk into
the trees here, then killed him and
walked out alone.’’

The killer, commented FBI Agent
Chuck Wiley, ‘‘probably was a single
individual and...it might be someone
who doesn’t have a criminal record.’

The following day, Tuesday, Decem-
ber 6th, a composite drawing of a sus-
pect was released to the news media.
Police said that the young man pictured
in the sketch had been spotted by a wit-
ness on Friday morning along the route
Christopher normally took to school.
Agent Wiley said that the witness had
reported what he had scen to police on
Friday night after learning of the child’s
disappearance and that the drawing had
been completed on Sunday.

The composite, Agent Wiley ex-
plained, was that of a white male be-
tween the ages of 18 and 25 with a dark
complexion and standing between five
feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall.
He had been wearing a dark stocking
cap and wool plaid pants when spotted
by the witness.

Wiley went on to say that the witness
had not seen Christopher Walden forced
into a car, or anything of a violent na-
ture. He added that two FBI agents with
psychiatric training would be at the in-
vestigation command post over the next
couple of days to try and put together an
emotional and behavioral profile of the

killer. Ten additional agents had recent- :

ly been added to the case, he said, bring-
ing the total number to 45.

Chief Robinson pointed out that the
task force working on the Eberle and
Walden slayings now totaled more than
100 officers. The reward for informa-
tion leading to the arrest and conviction
of the slayer currently stood in excess of
$48,000.

Also assisting the probers were 32
Omaha detectives. Scores of calls were
constantly coming into Omaha police
headquarters from residents volunteer-
ing information they hoped would crack
the case and, ‘at the same time, make
them eligible for the huge reward.

More than a month later, around 8:20
on the bitterly cold morning of January
11, 1984, a woman arriving at the base-
ment of the Aldergate United Methodist
Church to prepare for the opening of
nursery School, noticed a young man sit-
ting outside in a car. When the vehicle
drove away from the church and then
quickly returned, the woman grew sus-
picious and quickly committed the li-
cense plate to memory.

Once more, the car drove away from
the school and, just as before, it re-
turned. This time, though, the driver got
out and walked up to the church to ask if
he could use the phone. When the wo-
man told him there was no phone in the
church, the stranger became enraged
pushed her aside and threatened to kill
her.

The terrified woman squirmed away
and ran to the pastor’s home a block
away. “‘Call the police,’’ she screamed
to the pastor’s wife. ‘‘Somebody just
tried to kill me!’’

Moments later, Sarpy County depu-
ties arrived at the pastor’s home. Al-
though the stranger had fled the school,
the woman had not forgotten his car—a
white 1983 Chevrolet Citation—or its
license plate. Quickly, the lawmen

traced the vehicle to a Bellevue car ©

dealership where they learned that it had
been rented on January Sth to John J.
Joubert, an enlisted man at Offutt Air
Force Base. On the dealership’s lot, the
probers also found a tan 1979 Chevrolet
Nova that was the property of Joubert
and was currently awaiting repairs.

A search warrant signed by Sarpy
County Judge Jeffrey Campbell autho-
rized an inspection of the Nova which
heightened the police’s interest in Jou-
bert. By late afternoon, investigators
were searching Joubert’s barracks. In-
side a duffel bag belonging to the air-
man was a piece of tape which, to the
trained eye of Sarpy Sheriff’s Lieuten-

ant James Sanderson, was exactly like
the tape that had been tied into a square
Rnot to bind the hands of Danny Joe

Eberle. A similar -piece of tape twisted

into a slip knot had been found around
the boy’s legs. A search of Joubert’s
Chevrolet Citation reportedly turned up
more of the distinctive tape and a knife
under the front seat.

At precisely 3:40 that afternoon, 20-
year-old John J. Joubert was taken into
custody at the air base that he had been
calling home since July. The following
day, Thursday, January 12th, Joubert
was arraigned in Sarpy County court on
two counts of first-degree murder, kid-
napping and using a knife to commit a
felony. Judge Campbell set bail at $10
million, citing the suspect’s lack of local
ties and the seriousness of the charges
against him.

John J. Joubert, newsmen would
learn, was a native of Portland, Maine,
and a member of the class of 1981 at
Cheverus High School. Reportedly, he
had gone to college for a year before en-
listing in the Air Force on December 6,
1982. A slight man carrying barely 135
pounds on a S5-foot, 5-inch frame, he
looked younger than his 20 years.

On June 1st, Joubert’s attorney an-
nounced that insanity would not be the
defense employed when his client went
to trial on July 9th. However, on July
3rd, just six days before the start of
those proceedings, the attorney pleaded
his client guilty two counts of first-de-
gree murder.

“It was our only option based on a
number of statements he made,”’ the at-
torney explained.

By pleading guilty, he continued,
Joubert had wanted to demonstrate his
remorse for his actions as well as to be
spared a possible death sentence. Until
recently, the attorney added, he had
counseled his client against the guilty
pleas.

“I think John would have pleaded
January twelfth,’ he said. ‘‘I had a duty
as his counsel to explore all
possibilities.’’

In a January 11th statement to the po-
lice, he noted, Joubert had admitted kill-
ing Danny Joe Eberle and Christopher
Hall Walden and had said that he was
afraid he might kill again.

Bellevue Police Chief Don Carlson
had asked Joubert if he thought he
might kill other boys.

“If I wasn’t picked up today, yes,”’
the suspect had answered. ‘‘I’m glad I
was picked up today.”’

In exchange for his guilty pleas to the
murder charges, the prosecution had

Inside Detective 51

» Me See ey
co 8 BAR Re a ARES Resign vias ane Ht

AND SHORT SKETCHES OF MARLY DAYS INN EBRASICA,

203

brother, who, in the silence of the night, took the remains to his home in the
southwestern part of the county, where they were quietly interred. Thus
ended the tragedy whieh opened that bright November morning jn. 188, ft
was an impressive, a horrible scene, and one which few w
ever care to see repeated.

In preparing the above account of the first and only legal exeeution that
has ever taken place in Custer county tw

elve years after the committal of
(he erime, we have had aecess to the records, and from the a tlorneys cngaged

have sought additional information; but it ig the local papers that so faith.
fully chronicled ihe events and daily happenings in the conununity that we
are principally indebted for the details given, prominent among whieh we

mention the Custer Leader, the Republican, Merna Record, Call
and State Journal,

ho witnessed will

RET eR rags Ice

away Courier:

Mike D'Rafferty as a Cowboy,

nn

“The top o° the mornin’ to ye, colonel.” :

“Good morning, Mike. I am pleased to see you,

How are you getting
Along?”

“Well, sor Oj have turned cowbye. Phwat do ye think 0’ the loikes o’
that at my toime of life?” :
“Well, Mike; since I knew you away back in the sixties you have gur-
prised me so often I have kind of gotten used toil. Where have you been?”
“Up in the sand hills northwest of Arnold on

the Dismal river wid Dan
Haskell, Uncle Swain Iineh, Jim JIrarley, C. I, Cooper; I. P: Olive and soine

twenty other cowbyes on a gineral round-up, and was gone exactly thirty
days. And such seads of fun as the byes had. Sure am’ ye wouldn't belaye
were Oi to tell ye sor,” ae

“T am not very busy this mornin; perhaps you could give me a nice little
description of your trip, and of course you will allow me the privilege of using
my judgment when I think you are stretching the blanket a little too tight.”

“Well, sor, if ye’ll give me a pipe and tobaccy (Oi have a mateh of me
own) Oi am ready to procade,”’

“All right, here you are.” a .

“Well, our firgt camp wor on the Disimal] river, an’ it’s rightly named,
sor, or me name isn’t Mike O’Rafferty. It wor near the North & Cody ranch

>

acre


“i

3

7 ee Seen 5 Bi. . « eee Ce ee a a a a ee

60 NW 916 (According to appeal, was an Army veteran who had been discharged dishonorably —
after serving a term in Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth,) See appeal
HILL, Harry, hanged at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, March lst, 1895.

The following information concerning the hanging of Hill, the only legal
hanging to occur in Cass County (..el must admit that out in the county
there were some horse thieves that end@d upon the end of a rope & a rough
guy from Iowa came in & finally were disposed of in the Missouri River...)
was provided in a letter-dated Feb. 15, 1977, from Alice Pollock (Mrs.

V. We) Perry, Curator, Cass County Historica Society Museum, Plattsmouth,
Nebraska68048, and is typed from her hand written copy: -

"This is a copy of the newspaper clipping. It is in our museum but could
not have been duplicated:
"tQuestion Mark - Tickets So

ed,

1d for Killer's Haning?
"tQ - Harry Hill on Nov. 1, 1893,

killed Matt AKeson., How? Harry Hill
was the only man hung at the Cass County Court House yard. ‘ere tickets

sold to this affair? Mrs. Paul Druery, Louisviile, Neb.

"ta, The "World Herald" (Omaha paper) of Nov. 2, 1893, told of the killing
4 } ° nf 7 ) ;

under a headline: "Murder Most Foul." The story told how two tramps

appeared at the house six miles northwest of Weeping Water, murdering Mr.

Akeson and wounding Mrs, Akeson, her son Tom, and a hired hand. The men,

captured in Lincoln 3 days later, were Hill and John Carnes, who throughout

his trial went under the name of John Benwell. The two, who had husked

corn on the’ Akeson farm for 2 days before being discharged, apparently

had been @rinking prior to the killing and evidently planned a robbery.

However, when the two Akeson men grappled with them, a pistol discharged,

killing the @lderly farmer. As the World-Herald story pointed out, "this

dastardly deed only seemed to incite the fiends to other acts of violence,"

Both men were returned to Plattsmouth for triel and on Deé, 17, a jury found

Hill guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced him to death,

Carnes, or Benwell, as he was called, was tried that same month and on

Dec. 23 was sentenced to life imprisonment. Hill's ex cution took place

in Plattsmouth on March 1, 1895. The World-Herald account gave no indi-

cation that tickets were sold to the event, but Mrs, Helen Ledgeway, Clerk

of Cass County District Court, found in county files a ticket which reads:

"Admit bearer to the execution of Harry Hill at Plattsmouth, Neb., on

Friday, March ., 1895," If tickets were sold or given away, it is a safe

bet most holders missed the execution which took place at 9:08 awm., al-

most an hour ahead of schedule. The time was advanced, the story said,

for fear too large a mob would gather, As a result, only 100 persons

were present. The story noted that Hill's "demeanor upon the waffold

was a marvel of coolness and nerve. When he ascended the scaffold he

joked and chatted with those in attendance and shook hands with every-

body." Hill, the story added, was buried at Oak Hill Gemetery near

Plattsmouthe® :

From Mrs. Perry, the following: "In going throvgh my grandfather's (James
M. Patterson's) papers, I found, in a vest pocket memorandum book a ticket
to the hanging of Harry Hill. I framed the ticket and it is on idsplay

in the Cass County Historical Society Museum along with the hanging X&Pek
rope that was used on Hill & the clippings of the affair (which are copied
in full for you) and the rusty metal part of the revolver which was used
in the killing. Apparently they threw it in a ditch near the farm house
as they escaped after the shooting. It was found years later. My grand-
father did not attend the hanging. His ticket was a complimentary one
from the Sheriff - See duplicate copy enclosed. My father, Thomas He
Pollock (Bert) did attend and admitted he wished he had no% done so.

The tickets sold for $1.00 each & hanging was in jail yard. (There was

a high board fence around the jail yard. The jail still stands. Apart-
ments now)"

'The following article from a Plattsmouth paper - Clipping is in our
museum, but not suitable to duplicate: ‘Murder Free/ John Benwell Karnes,

-

4

4

*

Nwe.

«
a
wipe Xa %

ee

SHERIFF,

”
at
ey

‘y

eS Rreee
ae TS

wee

< pl 4

Cass County,

, i
at
‘
‘

4

TES

ete

(AM A;
-+,70,

MARCH. 1st, 18954.

oF
BIKENBARY.

eo
Es

c.

fh

AT PLATTSMOUTH, N&B.,

J.

?
Sc Setane ees
Po hea Steriice

’

: Miisraty
So toe ee kee $ net tin : STat;
f< we “ : 3

= a ee *
ete £5 ES. Oe fcc ee Paste
RPE yg ge gO oe $ rae

er. ne ot a Frakes

os 4

ey
thas ye

=


the Fiend Who Helped Harry Hill in Ohe Murder of Matt veces is Pardoned
by Governor Poynter/ Convicted of the Crime, but a Sympathetic Jury Saved
Him From the Extreme Penalty/ Sentenced for hate » NHYWER Served Six Years.
John KH Benwell Karnes, or as he was commonly: ae John Benwell, the brute
who participated in the coldblooded killing of Matt Akeson, is a "free many
while his partner in crime, Harry Hill, is roasting in helt where Benwell
ought to be keeping him company. Governor Poynter commuted Benwell's sen-
tence and the criminal was released. May 20th, yet the report was not sent
to Cass County officials until the 6th of this month. Cass County people
knew nothing of any: intention of asking Benwell's release, unless a few
had a part to play that they dared not let be known. The report that Ben-
well had been pardoned was received here with. indignation anc politics. ce
no figure in the condemnation of the Governor's action. The 'Ledger!
endeavored to get a complete statement of the transaction from the records
at Lincoln showing how the pardon ers tee but. no definite report was
received in time-for this issue. It said fhat the pardon was granted
on the grounds that the. prisoner was steering from tuberculosis and that
he might go to his home in.Canada to die. Opposed to that pretense is. '
the X¥® assertion of Sheriff Wheeler and Attorney H. D. Travis of Platts-
mouth, both of whom saw Benwell prior to his release and say that he was
apparently in the best of health. But even if the.fiend was dying by de-=
grees, what claim had he for the least. bit of merey? Did he show mercy on
the nig ght of Nov. ly 1893, when he and Hill shot. to death that good old
man, | fattes Akegon ror the sole purpose of getting the old: man's money?
They were proven guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt, and Hill paid the
penalty on the gallowsy Benwell's baby actions: securing for. him clemency
at the hands of the jury. We had the pleasure of seeing Harry Hill die
“at the end of a rope, and then thought the: group was not complete without
Benwell hanging> beside ira People. in this’ vicinity are interested in the
matter and are desirous knowing all the facts in. connection with Ben=
well'ts pardon, and the Ledeen will puplish any reliable. information. that
may come to light in the’ Putures"’

The following is another note by Mrs. Perry: "We:also have a gooé@ por-
t¥4ai%' of Mr. Akkeson. This exhibit seems to fas scinate visitors, especially
the hanging rope. According to the Tanily of Mr, Akeson, Benwell begged
Harry Hill to Tot hurt the old lady.' - Theo son: ot serious injury

as the, bullet hit his belt budkle.. Mr.:Akeson had shipped quite a few
hogs to Omaha the day before or that day. These men had heard a rumor
that he aid not bank his money & they figured he would have it on him.
They laid in wait'in the ditch near the house. Failing to hit Mr. Ake-
sen with the first shot, they folloed him. into the house where the shoot-
ing continued,"


e.

SATURDAY MORN

a ee

ING, AUC

al

il!

#
‘

ST 8, 4 896—TWELVE PAGES.

ai).

SINGLE COPY Ff

‘SEEITS OF SOUND MONEY

A. Cady Explains the Issues of the Cam-

paign in a Letter,

—_

UNTRY'’S EXPERIENCE OF HIGH TARIFF

Iver tn the World
Plentiful Suppoce

in Entire!

to that

x

Price WHEL Be Doubled Under

Kree Coinnge.

~

—_——

the St. Paul Phonograph, a

nin friendly words.

pop
bished at Mr. Cady'sa home, referred to |.
The following letter !

pa

Too
its

written to the editor of the OE

d is self explanatory:
‘My Dear Sir:

the North Platte convention which re-!
ited In my nomination for congress,

I have read your account

wish to thank you for the kindly sentl |

ent of your reference to

myself.

spect) and confidence of the people with

1om T have cast my lot is to me far dearer |
: pendent of any othe
the accomplishment of any political | important

an

nbitton my abilities would permit me to

tain.

“LT observe that yeur one objection to my: The only enunitics of cons
: Vee we 2LONSCQUEHl?e

indidacy, and to which you call the par-

cular attention of your readers,

and upon a platform opposed to the bes
" el
nkly if I velleved this to be true, i the remedy international?

of the people of this state

in that I

t}

fay |

..

: : !
you for a moment Imagine that by the pas- |

in the United States the value
in the world can be doubled?
that be true this country
lver standard at once, the
wilt go out of circula-

sage of a law
of all the silver
And yet unless
will go to a si
$625,000,000 of gold |

|

Execution Occurs Shortly After Eleven,

—

tion and instead of having more money we ' :

will have infinitely leww:, You are a candid O'Clock Yesterday.

man. Would you advocate a policy thet eis

would lead to this periloss contraction of

the currency? And yet.you must concede MAN NEVER: FLINCHED

that this result will inevitably follow unless
you succeed in doubling ‘the value of silver
throughout the world. Hew is this to be
acvomplished ? ;

SILVER TO PLENTIFUL.

“India has $950,000.90 of silver. Do we
unterstan’d that by te! nassage of a free
coinaze law in the Usite States silver at
once resmes the purehésivs power of ¢!.-
That surpasees the dreams

r nation you fgnore two
facts. First, that) when siivct
wes former!) at par with gold the mints of
the entire commerctal world with the eacen-
tion of England were cpen to its coinage.
Whole

mints are now open are Canina and Mexico.

, CONDEMNED

|; Expresses Himself

‘The sun had nearly reached the

The closing of the mints af the vorld to the !

free coinage of ellver in trped as the person
for tg depreciation ant if this fa true Is
not the difficulty International? And fs not
If it required ten

I ht my success, or the principles Tj
oe { aie ” . spk’
l.ocate would either continue or add to | Se ae sa sce Tie : fae
te burdens which now opprees the people | aid iv: ae is! ae an ager ee
Nebraska, | would withdraw pay ae van ay insist on ff won't you Fill your
b halal? orse? Another fact you ignore fa the in-
mntest. Everything I have in the world=Paye er : :
very. hope nay cesta lies within thet care? supply of silver,” U0 Ov elie ADE
oundarter of my adopted ntate. Here os the twenty-one years subsequent to
ava Veet ae a dee ot ae e Ay oo Sg — production of silver was a6
: : ee ; san- | much es during the previous 16) yeare”
-ol—here was the first home building, here | you expect the toited i, Catt ss
vy children were born. Every tie of home, | s a ‘ ae
SE eres ieee Cn he shoulder that additional burden? Po you
’ tS apy slacetize what har been done for silver in

nad to have sald that I
colley opposed to the best
cople sounds to me not un
reason, Can you give any
1 omaterial, why IT should'do s
ne,
nent and experience to de
esents. the
“Let me_
aith that is in me.
iples of the republican
ection and sound money.

réadhn

My

perience with and without It.
tion previous to the war resulted
trourly,
the country abject

to poverty,

wonkingmen Into ftdleness and destro

how: market of the American farin
valse of
mise} by the fact that {t requ
of flour to buy a pound of tea.
teciff in 1837 clesed our factorics,
the first time tn our history
were opened to feed

Wheat sold in Ohio for &

poor that in 1840 an agent was sent to Eu-
rope to borrow $10,000,000 to pay the run-
ning expense of the government, and he
could find no one with enough confidence
in our ability to pay to make the logn.
WORK AT ANY PRICE.
“A popular loan was advertised and a

few hundred thousanc

Ce The cry of the workingmen Was,
a Ing to the papers of that date: ‘Give
uw k; give us work at your own terms.

Our familles are starving.”
this period there w
a law providing for the f
ver at the ratio of 16 to 1,
tion. The
followed by the panic of 1857.
attendant miseries, and when in 1&
ham Lincoln took the

credit. A protective tariff was again en-
acted. It imparted a new vigor, it brougut
new life. Meana were raised to carry on the

civil war, and when tha
anecsectl conclusion the country

soup
American workingmen.
cents a bushel.
The panic that ensued lost to this nation
as much money as was required to supprcss
the late rebellion, and it left the country so

~.

would advocate a
Interests of our
like a charge of
, moral
bh? “there fs
It becomes then a question of judg-
terttine who rep-
bert interests of the people.

briefly give the reasons for the
The two cardinal prin-
platform are
devotion- to
he former ts based upon the country's. eXx-
Every devia-
disass
The revenue tariff of 1820 reduced
threw

yed
er.

heat at that time’can be deter-
ired a barre?
A revenue

and
ho

1 dollars subreribed at
rates of interest running &s high as 32 per

And during all
as on the statute books
ree coinage of sti-
but no protec-
next tariff reform measure was
with all
Abra-
reins of government
he found a bankrupt treasury and a ruined

fil

t was brought to a

was
a.

pro-

the
the
The

for
wse3

ite

recent years? Let us briefly examine. There
is a constant recurrence of the statement
that the people of the world have had tekcn
froin them one-helf of their money. In 1873
the coined silver of the world anounte.) to
$1,816.000,000, Today Ie Ix $4,000,000,090, Does
not that show that the silver money of the
werld has been more than doubled durlug
the last twenty-two years? During that thine
the world’s product of silver bas been $5.-
(WYy,000,000 and the above record shows that
more than 70 per cent Was coined Into money.
You assume that the republican party is
unfriendly to silver. Let me call your atten-
tion to the fact that tn the fifteen years
from 1878 to 1893 there was added to the
monetary system of this country $625,090,000
of silver, more than one-fourth of all the
silver produced in the world during that
period, more than one-third of all the coined
silver in the world ia 1873.

“AIL of this silver, however, was coined
by the government on its own account. The
silver was bought at the market price and
whatever margin remeined went to the gov-
cinment. This was not and is not satis-
factory to the mine owner, he wants the
freedom of the mint; he wants the privi-
lege of having bis plece of silver stamped

a. dollar, though the judgment of the world
says it is worth but 30 cents. It is oa
demand without a paralich in history and the
very suggestion of its success will be
watehed for with anxtety and fear. Very
respeetfully, A. KE. CADDY.”
Se oa —

FIRE CHIEFS RBACH (THE CUry.
On the Way to the Goasention nt Snit

Lak eCity.

There was a crowd atti aepot yesterday
morning to cee the-fre chiefs’ rain. “Spud”
Farish did the hpyors in behalf of the Omaha
department, na abo the first man he
struck was Chief}? from Roanoke, Va.,

“Spud's” old home.

The train, whic Msted fof one bag-
gage, one smoker, dine and seven
sleepers, came in oO “hicazo, Mil-

waukee & St. Paul to gchédule dot, hay-
ing left Chicago ct 6 o'clock Thursday even-
Ing, arriving here at 8:05. It came in two
sections, the fire bosses from the many differ-

left

lon! eaetorn cities oceupying the first sec-

|
|

—_—_—— -

teen Forgiven.—Not a
the Prenrranged
Prowran,

Sins Jinve 1!
Hiteh in

Claude H. Hoover, the murderer of Samuel

per , 402 000,090? of

the Indian Juggler. Chine has $750,000.00 | Dupols, was executed yesterday morning at
ritver and by the touch of this magic wand ‘ ipae aciocke: J thirt inutes later

of legislation tx this te be transformed ant: st O COCK: ust ta fe DE AUSS
beceme a value of £1.500,000 60)? Some one ‘he was pronounced dead, his neck having
urges that if the law of this country makes been pronounced dislocated by pbysiclans
os es eel an ee S hee oe i so;secected for ‘the examination by Sheriff
elsewhere. ery true. But the law will not ayepenald. Twenty minutes from the time
' make it worth £1.29 In anything but itse.f. | the nes oe: A the sheriftcut

and) the Jaw will rimply détermine that src | on was presse” - :
of silver is worth $1.28 in silver. That lee rope by which the body had been sus-
The | truc today. - pended, and the remains of the dead man

“tn advocating the free and unlimited} were given over to the undertakers.
cotnage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 inte- ‘The hanging took place in the southwest

jail
yond

corner of the yard surrounding the
and was witnessed byifew persens be
the sheriffs of a few counties of the state,
Sherlf? MecDenald anid his deputies, a few
physicians and representatives of the press.

and was ehining down brightly upon the
scaffold when the appointed, time arrived.

Hoover walked firmly to the scaf-
fold. Not for a single moment did
‘he hesitate and falter. At no time, not
even for the briefest Instant, did he hold
back or shrink from the awful death that
ewaited him. Hf inwardly he had any fear

|
!
|
|
1
|

concealed such feelings

or misgivings, he
manner and well played

in an admirable
the part of an intrepid actor.

It was 10:45 o'clock when Sherlf! Me-
Lionald came out from the jali to make the
ting) test of the death machine. The but-
tens were pressed and cverything Was found
to be In working conditicn. The bolt flew

back readily and tne platform fell promptly.
The clergymen who were with Hoover,
had eked ‘that they be ellowed
to remain with him until 11
o'clock. Sher|% MeDonald granted their
request, and ft was twenty-three minutes
past that hour when the sheriff and bis
party proceeded upstairs to the cell in
which tke condemned man has spent the

last days of his life.
HOOVER'S NERVE WAS FIRM.
On the arrival of the party one of
de.th watches placed his
around Hoover and slightiy urged him
from his. cell. It was unnecessary,
the man who knew he was soon to die
waikead out into the corridor without the
slightest hesitation and with a fearlessness
that wes almost amazing. A half hour be-
fore Dr. BE. W. Lee had examined the heart
of Hioover. He found that instead of need-
ing any stimplants the condemned man Was

the
arm
out
for

in a better physical condition than almost
any of these around him. He was not
nervous and the pulsations of his heart

were as regular as found in the case of any

healthy man.
Hoover came out

upper tier and faced t

licht streaming In on his f

from hts cell on the
he north window, the
ace and showing

there not the faintest sizn of fear. The
sheriff stood over close to the window and
slowly read the death warrant, the final
decree of the supreme court In the case.

Hoover kept his eyes intently on the offictal,
who was- charged with the solemn duty of
taking his life, standing firm, with his head
bent slightly backward. :
-MARCH TO THE YALLOWS.

As he stood there close to Sheriff Me-
Donald, who ts an unusually large and well-
built man, Hoover appeared insignificantly
sinall, A man of short stature, he seemed
smaller than ever before. He was dressed
in a suit of black clothes -that bad been
mace for the eecasion. They were of light
weight. The coat was of a sack cut and
was held together with the top button alone.
In hfs buttonhole there was a beautiful
white rose, with a single leaf back of it.
His linen was of spotless white, and a neat
black tle was worn at the neck.

Sheriff McDonald read the decree of the
state’s highest judicial tribunal. Before he

had finished a hal dozen words he stopped

meridian |

HOOVER PAYS THE PENALTY!

\
|

4

|

|
{

There were four buttons on the railing et
surrounded the platform two on the south
side, and one each ow;\he east and west
sides. The sheriff and his three deputles
pressed the four buttons simultancously, #0
that it would be difficult to lay the trans-
action to any one of the four officials. The
trap dropped end the body shot downward
and swung around three times rapidly, and
then in-the revorse_dircetion more slowly
while the rope unwound Itself. The doctors
came forward, so did the curious spectators,
but the latter were quickly pressed back by
the policemen. The heart was examined

na Confident Hie py pr, Lee and County Physician Mercer,

the pulsations being counted till the last
faint beat of that organ was a thing of the
past. It was 11:50 o'clock when their ver-
dict that Claude H. Hoover was dead was
given. Seven minutes later the body was
taken down and placed on an undertaker’s
stand. ‘

it was the request of the mother that the
body should not be taken to the morgue or
to any other undertaking establishment,
her greatest fear“being that It should be ex-.
posed to public view. In accordance with
her wishes M. O. Maul took charge of the
body . immediately after the hanging and
performed his work at the jail. It had
beeh requested that he should not be sent
tc his late home In the same suit of clothes
which he wore when banged, 80 the sult of
plain black was taken off and the body was
roled in a black shraud. As soon as the
undertaker. completed his work. the, ‘body
was removed to the home of the mother and
sister, 3197 South Thirteenth strect. It
was the home of the man whom he had shot
and killed, and the eager observers that
crowded around the house during
the aftcrnoon commented on this fact In
particular, The funeral services will be
held Sunday afternoon at 9:30 o'clock at the
Castellar Presbyterian church, and will be
conducted by Rev. J. M. Wilson, who was
Heever’s constant spiritual adviser since
the gentcnee of death was pronounced,
Memorial services will alfo be held in the
People’s church on Sunday evening next at
& oclock, At that time Rev. Charles W.
Savidge will preach a sermon, a greater part
of which was written by Hoover during his
last days on carth. The subject is ‘God's
Message Through Claude Hoover.” It will
be delivered at the apecial request of the
man who has been hanged and will deal
with the great evils of intemperance. It
is new tn the posses#ton of one of the
sheriff's deputies, but It will not be made
public before the time assigned for its de-
livery by Rev. ©. W. Savidge.

Significant of Hoover’s deep contrition and
repentance fs the gift that he has left for his
mother. It is a bible that was presented
to him by Rev. J. M. Wilson on January 14,
during his imprisonment. It {s bound In
dark red cloth and {s of a common form. In-
séribed on the last fly leaf are the words:
“Return this book to my mother, 3197 South
Thirteenth street, Omaha, Nebraska, and
oblige Claude HH. Hoover.” In the sdme
place was found a hymn that had been torn
from his hymn hook. It was pencil marked
with two crosses. Its title was, “My
Mother's Praver,” and was based on the
passage of scripture which reads, “Her chil-
dren arise up and call her blessed.” With
the bible and the hymn was a boquet of
reses. rimilar to the one he wore to
his death. He asked that there be sent to
his mother. is

SPENT THE NIGHT INS PRAYER.

Thursday evening Rev. Wilf#on called at the
jail shortly after 7 o'clock and was at once
adinitted to Hoover's cell. Hoover had just
finished a hearty supper of pork chops.
witermelon and & glass of milk. From i

until & o'clock the two prayed and sans, and
conversed on things spiritual. At 9 o'clock
Rev. CSavidge called and remained
until 1:45 o'clock yesterday morn-
ing. Most of the time was apent in
singing the hyms that were dearest to
Hoover, and In prayer. From the early

morning hour at which the religious adviser
took leave of his. charge for the night,
Hoover talked with the death watch until
abcut -half an hour after the clock had
struck 2. Hoover soon went to sleep and
slept soundly until 5 o'clock yesterday morn-

ing. He woke up, but not with any
sudden start or with any indica-
tion that any thought or had

dream was troubling him. He exchanged a
few words with his watcher and rolled off
to sleep once more. This ‘time {t war’ to
sleep until daylight. The sun had risen
and was gently peering In the single win-
dow of the solitary cell when Hoover arose.
It lacked about fifteen minutes of 7, and
by the thme the hour was reached break-
fast was served, Hoover did not eat as

though he was going to meet his final doom
within tha nevt few hoars. He disposed

ENCHA

Eastern
st

SAW NC

Thelr "%
- Thel
,

Assis*:
Smith o
jaunt ov
land ag
Michiga
pective
agricult
through
and sto
during !
Icft
Thurad:
states
The tr:
Spectal
was in
entiro t

In sp
diserim
Omaha
eral I:
lington

“Not!
from o
this ex
state, J
with tl
the eas!
mon in
time a
them +
ducemt
our
enterpm
we tho
constrt
earnes’
and th
we wo
and gi
in Om
was to
unsury
cities.
save f
stoppe
What
RBurlin

Mr.
not 8¢
withon
ple, al
We ste
place
the ~
as wel
mers 1
deligh!
they
them |
had, a
acconls
Tiinol
astonit
had th
magni
in fac
dise,
grain,
and h:
day &f
There
prairie
green.

“Ma
and a:
Into t
at Ha
nice
potent

The
Paci fir
umes
The fi
“Out
beside
vised
all k
erteke

hothe:


THE OMAITA DAILY E

1: FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1896.

IS PURIED IN TROPHIES.

Visitors Make a Triumphant
Through the Corn Country.
\SKA CITY, Aug. 6.—The features
natern business” men's excursion
Nebraska today and last evening
pttons on a grand scale at Burwell,

e---*++ Central City, Merrick
Rr Row, Custer county; Re-
tut punty, York and Seward

Cor: at Nebraska City, At Bur-
pver was eaten in a bower formed
cts) from adjoining counties, A
seption lasting until midnight was
in the Christian church, during
» people of the town and surround-
ry were present. Addresses of wel-
statistics refating to the history
“ultural progress were made by
tizens. Responses by P. S. Eustis,
t. H. Johnson of Pontiac, Il, B.
son, Rensrelaer, Ind.; W. H. Dana,
Hl, and J, Friar, Grand Rapids,
‘eo church was also adorned with
stalks of corn, millet, beets, oats,
falfa and scores of other products.
the western terminus of the trip.
to@n along the Burlington route
had committees and samples of
1iting the train, by the time the
ached Lincoln it was hard to dis-
he cars, so hidden were they with
of, Nebraska's prolific soll. York
ages waiting and the passengers
on about the town.
being the occasion for the Mod-
Imenas annual assembly at York.
iusianm prevailed, Seward eclipsed
to that point in the character
ption and elaborate displays. The
‘ved lemonade and other refresh-
d presented everybody with beau-
-enira of Seward In the shape of
and ribbons bearing the name of
Mr. Eustis was made the recip-
1 magnificent bouquet of flowers
name inscribed in blue heliotropes
hite tuberores, having been a Ne-
an twelve years, ond by reason of
mal popularity, he was generally
of the occasion.
ginal intention of having the train
icago early Friday morning has
ngced, so that the daylight trip may
throuch. IHinois to give the people
unity to see some of the samples
xterior of the car. Accordingly
will not arrive at Chicago until
The presidential campaign of Ne-
mn have aroused greater in-
e in general being anxious
f 4d Impression created east
dry serson two fyears ago. The
h all their maginficence are but
if at all, better than years previous
riod, ‘
Neb., Aug. 6.—(Spectal.)—The spe-
‘sion train arrived here this morn-
0:42. The party was met at the
the Commercial club and other
‘ith carriages and taken for a short
r the city. There were fifty-five in
and all were enthusiastic with

Passenger Agent Eustis, Assist-
ral Passenrer Agent Smith, EB, |.
nd other officials of the Burlington
ccompanted the party. Mr. Eustis
leat Httle: speech to the crowd at

in which he predicted great re-
n the excursion, The excurstonists

Ohio, Indiana and Iilinois, and
the best class of real estate men
tates. A very good display of grain
nged In the waiting rooms of the
| a placard like this attracted at-
“Samples from two farms of York
These farms ave not for sale.”
tin remained here thirty minutes.
\SKA CITY, Aug. 6.—4Special)—
irsion of the real estate men of
lington passed through here on
y to Chicago thls evening. A large
n of prominent citizens of the city
n at the depot and entertained
wg their stay of ten minutes be-
tins.

nr of Losing the Corn Crop.
LF, Neb., Aug. 6.—(Special.)—Two
sard wind from the south was fol-
y* an all-night rain last night of
two Inches. This practically in-
» largest corn crop Webster county
r blessed with. The hay crop Is
eat ever known.
\SKA CITY, Aug. 6.—(Spectal.)—
s fallen almost continucusly kere
terday at 3 o'clock. The ground ts
ly soaked and the corn crop prac-
ss
Mt! N, Neb., Aug. 6.—(Special.)
a ain this year fell last night.
o incnes fell. This makes the corn
ured, Old corn and new wheat are
jarketed as fast as they can be

MSEH, Neb., Aug. 6.—(Spectal.)—
and one-fourth of rata fell here last
Vegetation is greatly bencfited and
perature moderatea In accordance,
lL, Neb., Aug. 6.—(Special.)—A_ fine
) here last night and this morning
very welcome, after the hot weather
vast week. Late corn had begun to
ye. but this rain practically assures

READY FOR THE EXECUTION

Machinery Which is to End Claude Hoover's
. Days Tested Last Evening.

—

EVERYTHING WORKED

. ne

PERFECTLY

Governor Holcom) for the Last Time
Refures to Interfere— Condemned
Man Continues in Good
Spirits.

All preparations for the execution of
Claude Hoover, the convicted murderer of
his brother-in-law, Samuel DuBois, are now
complete. All hopes of executive clemency
have been abandoned, Governor Holcomb
having finally declined to Interfere with
the inflicting of the death penalty. A tele-
gram was received last night by J. L. Kaley,
who has been active in trying to save
Hoovers’ life. In the telegram the gov-
ernor says: “Close Investigation precludes
in my mind the slightest doubt of Hoover's
sanity, now or at the time of the homi-
cide, or of his moral or legal responsibility.
Sentiment enly exists for executive Inter-
ference. T cannot act on that.”

Last night the engine that will launch
Hoover into eternity was tested and the
workings were pronounced complete. The
reaffold is of the regulation size, with a
drop of seven fect. It is entirely new, and
is painted a dark brown. It stands close
to the south wall of the enclosure, facing
the north, with steps leading from the
ground to the platform. The drop will he

released by electricity, four wires being
connected with the bolt that holds the
trap in place. The buttons are placed

along the railing that surrounds the scaf-
fold, and these will be pushed by Sheriff Mc-
Donald an) Deputies Lewis, Stryker and
Shand, and thus none of the officers will
know just who sprung the bolt.

The exact hour of the execution Is known
only to the sheriff, his deputies, Hoover and
Rev. J. M. Wilson, the clergyman who ad-
ministers spiritual consolation to the con-
demned man. However, it is certain that
it will occur between the hours of 10 in
the morning and 2 o'clock in the. after-
noon, Another thing is certain, and that ts
that the-erowd in attendance will be very
small, as the statute provides for only a
limited nuniber of persons, who shall be
witnesses to an execution. Sheriff McDon-
ald has followed along the line of the pro-
visions of the Jaw and has refused admis-
sion to the hundreis who have applied.

CONTINUES IN GOOD SPIRITS.

Hoover continues in remarkably good
spirits, and lest night he informed the
death watch that he would retain his norve
nad walk to the gallows unassisted. tis
last twenty-four hours on earth were di-
vided up in a very methodical manner
Yesterday morning he arose at 7 cviock and
ate a hearty breakfast of ham aad eggs.
warm biscuits, topping it off with a couple

of cups of coffee. After that he wes
shaved, and for the next two hours he
read his bible. During the forenoon he

sent word to the sheriff that he desired to
have some photographs taken to leave with
his” relatives. A local photographer was
called in and Hoover was taken into the
corridor, where the negative was taken.
During the forenoon Rev. Mr. Wilson ealled,
and, after praying and reading the bible.
Hoover partook of the Lord's supper. Dur-
ing the remainder of the day Hoover con-
versed with the death watch, A. P. Larson
and John Croft, reading his bible at inter-
vals. At supper he ate a hearty meal of
meat and hot rol!s. During the evening
he sent tor the sheriff and requested him
to remain with him during the night. The
sheriff agreed to this, and sat outside of
the cage during the long hours. Hoover
retired to his bunk early in the evening, but
did not go to sleep for some time.

The measure for the clothes Hoover will
wear upon the scaffold was taken some
days aro. They were completed yerter-
day and taken to the jall last night. The
coat, vest and pants are plain black. The
shirt is white, with a low, turn-down col-
lar.

In going from to the gallows
the party will march down the front
stairs, through the jail office, into the
kitchen and out of the back door into the
enclosure that surrounds the scaffold, and
up the steps to the place where the fatal
noose will be adjusted. After life Is ex-
tinct the body will be cut down and turned
over to a local undertaker, who will pre-
pare it for burial and then take it to the
resilence of Hoover's mother, where bricf
services will be held prior to the Inter-
ment.

————
SHIPT OF ARTILLERY OFFICERS.

the cell

the Fort
= F -

Lieutenants at Monroe

| RUSSI an-fpubhicans FOR ' MKINLEY,
: Cla’ with an Large Membership Or-
anniscd Wednesday Night.

A Russian; merican McKinley and Hobart
club was organized Wednesday night at 511
‘South Tenth street, with the following of.
cers: J. D. Nathanson, president; [, 11. Carrol,
vice president; H. Goldstein, treasurer ; M.
Bellman, sevtetaty; executive committee, M.

Logasa, N. Ginsberg, H. Lapidus, William
Preisman, D,. Michael, M. Stone, K. Robison;
flanance cothdnittce, A. Wolf, F. Stein, D.
Kolomitz, SJeN,+ Lesser, H. Greenberg, S.
Robinson, H..Stern: committee to secure a
hall and soiicjt memebership,. A. -Bostwitch
and M. Wright.

After some discussion the following reso-
lution was read by J. D. Nathanson, and was
unanimously adopted by the club:

“Whereas, The Russian-American club in
sexsion assembled,.does pass and endorse the
following resolution as the sentiment of
this club, and as a code of principles for
which the sald club shall labor In the coming
election.

“Whereas, The members of this club being
foreign born citizens left the mother country
for the purpose of bettering our condition.

“Whereas, Russia, the country from
which we come, is a free silver country, and
we know the condition of the poor laboring
people of that country, brought about by
free silver legislation.

“Whereas, We have lived in America
under the financial legislation of the re-
publican party where gold, silver and paper
are of equal debt paying and. purchasing
power, ant where each dollar Is as good as
auy other dollar and we believe that to be
the best and safest financial system in the
world. .

“\hereas, We have seen the effect of
free trade, both in Europe and America, as
contra-distinjuished from a protective
tariff system and believe that ft is to the
best interest of every laboring man to vote
for a protective system, promulgated and
advocated by the republican party, 88.
rgainst the free irade policy, advocated by
the democratic and populist party; now
therefore, be it.

“Resolved, That in order that our present
sound financial system may be continued
and the system. of tariff protection to
American labor may again be reinaugurated
whereby we may Witress a return to national
prosperity, the fires be rebuilt) jin our
furnaces, and the wheels of industry and
commerce be again put in motion, and all
our people be given remunerative employ-
ment.

“We hereby heartily endorse the platform
of the repubitcan party adopted at St. Louls,
and declare for the triumphant election of
McKinley and Hobart, and to this end we
and each of us agree to labor and use all
honorable means.”

This club has now 160 chartered members
and expects to increase its membership
to 1.009 between now and election. It Is the
intention of the club to exercise its Influence
among the Ruasian-Americans through the
state and make it the strongest organization
of this kind in existence.

Rrynn's Strength nt Arlington,

ARLINGTON, Neb., Aug. 5.—To the Edi-
tor of The Hee: There abpears in the
Omaha World-Herald an account of the or-
ganizing of a Bryan, Sewall, Watson & Co.

Idenoecrat-pop club at this villaxe on
Saturday evening last, in which is stated
that there were. present ‘former repub-

licans” and that the meeting was “enthusi-
astic,” and that mot a democrat in town
“but what would support Bryan.” Allow me
to give you the facts regarding the meet-
ing referred to an: also the so-calied rati-
fication meeting after the nomination of
Bryan, as heretofore reported In the Omana
World-Herald:

At the meeting. on Saturday night there
were but twelve persons present and not to
exceed ten who signed the club roll. Only
one republican signed with the “repudia-
tors.” and he has ever been a chronic
kicker against anybody who dared to differ
with him on any question. Those present at
that meeting took it upon themselves to
sign the names of those whom they could
call to mind as haying heretofore been dem-
ocrats and  ,popocrats, without knowing
whether the. parties whose names they so
signed to that toll would support Bryan.

At the ratifeation meeting herctofore re-
ported there were not to exceed six men
present at any one time, and one of them,
now the ‘would-be leader’ of demo-pop-
ocrats, told me himself that he bought
25 cents worth of firecrackers and burned
them in making ‘Bryan thunder,”” and that
a littie powder and an old anvil which
they borrowed constituted the cannon and
entire outfit used by that ‘enthusiastic
erowd” of six, ard the good citizens of
this place gave wha! was being done no
more than a passing thought. Every little
boy who has fired a “cracker since the
Fourth has been charged with ratifying
Bryan‘’s ‘‘nomination.” :

Not a mar who has heretofore been a
leader in the democratic party attended
elther the club meeting or the ratification
meeting, if that is what they called it, and
|, hear daily upon the streets ol] leaders
of the democratic party say that they can-
not and will not svmport Bryan, and their

SOME FAVOR A THIRD TICKET

fn

Opinion Among the Sound Money Democra
is Divided, =

EARLY ARRIVALS AT

INDIANAPOLIS

General Dragg of Wisconsin and Con-
gressman John K. Cowen of Mary-
“int Are Suggested as Possible

Presidential Candidates,

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 6.—Ex-Congress-
man Bynum ts: overwhelmed with mail and
telegrams today, indicating a larger attend-
ance than he expected for the meeting of
the provisional national committee of the
gold standard democrats tombdrrow. Among
the telegrams is one announcing the sick-
ness of Louis Erich of Colorado, who was
announced as the main speaker for the mass
mecting for Saturday night at Tomlinson
hall, The executive committee has accord-
ingly declared the Saturday night meeting
off. Mr. Erich promised to attend the na-
tional convention if there is one called and
then-deliver an address.

M. L. Crawford of Dallas, a delegate who
arrived today, sald that he was not in favor
of an independent democratic ticket, al-
though ho supposed one would be named.
democrats refrain from voting for Bryan it
will be because they are opposed to his
election. The same motive, he said, should
constrain them to vote for McKinley. If a
gold standard democratic candidate Is nom-
inated, Mr. Crawford thought, it should be
General Bragg of Wisconsin.

J. P. Smith of Fort Worth, another dele-
rate from Texas, is also among the arrivals.
Delegate H. C. Sims of Huntington, W. Va..
and Randolph Stalnaker_of Wheeling arrived
at noon. Both these gentlemen favor an
Independent ticket. Mr. Stalnaker sald the
ticket would have the effect of opposing
Bryan rather than being favorable to Mc-
Kinley.
gold standard democrat who would support
Bryan In the event of a choice between him
and McKinley, sald he.
yored as the Independent candidate Con-
gressman Jobn K. Cowen of Maryland.

Bryan's Strength In Dael County.

CHAPPELL, Neb., Aug. 4.—To the Editor
of The Bee: I notice in the World-Herald,
under date of August 3, 1896, thelr corres-
pondent from this place says: “Count Deuel
comnty off Mark Hanna's roll of honor. I do
not know of a single democratic bolter in the
county, while there are several republicans
that have declared themselves for Bryan.”
Now, the facts are there: There are only four
free silver republicans in this county, and
only two of them have ever said they would
vote for Bryan; while, on the other hand, I
cantname two sound money democrats that
have exvreszed themselves for McKinley for
every republican the World-Herald cor-
respondent can name for Bryan.

H. I. BABCOCK.
Tenth Dintrict Republleans,

FREMONT, Aug. 6.—(Special Telegram.)-—
The republican senatorial convention for the
Tenth district met at the court house yester-
day afternoon and was called to order by
Chairman L. C. Webber of Arlington. Hon.
W. D. Holbrook was chosen chairman and L.
A. Willlams secretary. F. II. Claridge of
Washington county presented the name of
W. D. Haller of Blair for the nomination,
There being no further names presented, the
nomination of Haller was made by acclama-
tion, Mr. Haller in a brief speech thanked
the convention for the honor conferred on
him. The convention was well attended and
enthusiastic for the whole republican ticket.

Campnign at Villisxen,

REP OAK, Ia, Aug. 6,—(Special.)—The
eampalgn .was opened at Villkica Tucs-
day night by one of the mort
enthuslastle rallles in the history
of the county. Senator J. M. Junkin

of this district addressed the throng of eager
listenera and did not neglect to state that
protection and the starting up of American
industries, putting to work thousands of idle
men, thus creating a demand for beef, pork,
cereals and other farm productions, would
again place the farmer on the road to pros-
perity. A McKinley and Hobart club was
organized with a membership of 400. The
Red Oak club has 600 members; Ellfott, 193;
Sclola,; 194.

To Entertain Wyoming Repoblleans,

CHEYENNE, Aug. 6.—(Speclal.)}—Fxten-
sive preparations are being made by the re-
publicans of this clty to entertain the dele

gates to the republican state convention
which will be held here August 12. Gov-
ernor Richards, who is at the head of the
recentian camnilttee

|
|
|

If |

Many democrats woyld vote for a |

Mr. Stalnaker fa- |

VDOBED DBVIBWVVWUVVESB BWVVOBD 8028 HORBBDWOBVBBWOUVEWY D BF § BWBVWV*W

vesterday appointed a


~TEMUST CO TO TIE GALLOWS

Claude Hoover Found Guilty of Murder fa
the First Degree,

—

DETERMINED THAT HE MUST SUFFER DEATH

B

Urisoner Unmoved When He Wenrg
the Verdlet Yesterday Morning
Conviction: Followed Quick

After the Crime, ‘

S eunememanemee’
Marg

“

Claude HH. Hoover, the slayer of Sam Due

Rots,, will’ pay the penalty of hls erime ch.”

the gallows, a oy

The Jury returned a verdict to this effect
yesterday morning at) 10:20) o'clock. Tha
report of the jury was antlelpated, as it

Was not Rencrally Fupposod Chat the twelve:

men had much to delib rate about, and tn
Cousequence there was a erewd numbering
In‘ the nelehborbood ef 10 in the: court
reemat the time. Airong the number were
over a dezon girls, employes of, Clirk - of
the Distriet Court Moores, Whose prerence
somewhat relieved the seriousness which
Semel to pervad: the room, Altogether tho
/ectirt: reom presented a debidedly agreeable
‘eentrast to dts bare aspeet foie Sundays
hago when Mergin, the murderer of Ida
i Gaskill, received aostmitar fate, when there
were pone ‘present exevpting the court. oflle
efals, “

Heover was seated when the twelve men
fled into. the room and he appeared to bo
the least interested of all-in the court roem
In-the verdlet whieh they were bringing: with
them. Fle ghaineed eerelessdy about the room
and pres nted the Mppeiranee «f aman who
Was certain of aequittal Te was dressed
In the onrat and quiet’ clothing which he
Wore Chroughout the trial,

When the jury. was seated the usual quene
‘lon wre asked if they hed agreed on a vere
Met, and the answer wee In the atirmative,
Foreman) Vanness haved: d othe papers to
the bali, who extended thom to Clerk
Moores, The Jateer opted the verdict,
gIaneed over ft, and then read:

Wee the fury, diaty oMmpinel band swern,
eo the the Cefeudaot, Charde TH. Hoover
Buty Of the ertine Of tetreder day Che thee
PUCRree Ge charred dn the fevond count of
‘The Infertation, amd weete delormine that
adel Cer chant shall suffer death, ;

HOOVER SEEMS Nor TO LCARE,

As the last word wae Wteored the eves of
the listeners at onee Fhifted fom the clerk
te the face of the doomed murderer, If any
hed antie'pated that he wontd show emotion
of any kind they were Usappointed, for hlg
face remained as stl and ‘parsive as if
he had net heard the fatefal words Which had
Just heen utter d, 7° , an)

The Jury was polled, qu. wich answered
that the verdiet Juet ead was the one agreed
Mpon. Judge Seatt thersupen briefly thanked
“the Jurers for their cerytepe during the trial
And diseitrged them for the tenn, Turning
te othe sherif, he instruct d him to take
eearge of Hoover and pormit ne one to See
him without an order, frou the eoaurt. At
Aosignal fram jis guard Heover- arom and
Walk Out of the eouct roam With the, swag.
vor whieh marka his galt, and which under
the cireumstanees Appeared to tndieate exag-
eervted indifference, We regehed the Jail
ned bis cell without saying a word. Tle hal
rot wpek a while he was being brought over
from othe Jal) to the wurt room.

The Jury was out longer than wae antlete
piled, Thelease wie placed in ite hands at
Hho eeloek Saturday ma rie, and ot was
coneeqnently out twenty three hours. But

was n° corgidi rable disagresment. A verdict
of guilty was found, but three was soma

discussion over the pennlty, The'doliberaticzne

were not begun until the middle of the after.
neon, and ao deelslon war reached rather
early Saturday night, but the. jurymen were
net ‘partleularly anxious to be discharged at
that hour and dertermined to hold over unit):
orninag, . F
ne Hae rovpeet the trial hag furnished a
reeerd breaker ino the history of the county. .
This Is fund ty the remarkably phart Isngth
of thie Mat elapsed hbetweon the commiastion
of the@ime ard the consi tion of the cceured,

Tt was sixt en days age yest rday. that Hoover

killed DuaBols. Ags the cverdict was reached
Saturday night, ft was Just two weeks after
the murdered man dled that the fate of bila
murder r was determined,
The trial itsef cotsumed comparatively
little thme. It was begun at 2 o'clock Thurs-
day affernon, continued on’ Friday and ths
lest srgument was delivered acd. the instruc
tlons given at 11:30 Saturday morning, It
covered thirty-six hours, althongh the actual
time ecnsimed was about ‘fourteen hours.
Of this entire thne onty five hours and a,
half on Friday were. occupled with: the ine
troduction of testimony, | .

REVIEW OF THE Grim,
Theverime of which, Hoover wag convicted

| is still fresh In the public mind, having been.
J} committed on Friday, Dseember 13, about

& o'clock in the ev ning. Sam DuRols, tha
uidered man, was well known in tals sity,
having been-a polleeman at ons (ime ‘and at
the thie of his. death bolng ecouneiiman-elect
from othe First ward, Hlorv r was his
brother-in-law, and was in his: employ,

It appears that while the two ncn wire

J}usually on goo terma, they had been df.

vided some thie over Hoover's treatment of
his 16-y ar-oll - half sister, Kate: Brophy.
The girl was much In the company of another
girl in Dubois’ offce at Thirteenth and Howe
ard streets, and to this Jntimacy Hoover ohe
jected, He frequently remoustrated with
her, and to this DuBols objeeted. On tho
aft rnson Hoover was agatn speaking to the
girl about the obnoxious aciaintanes when
Dubois entered the offies, The. two men
quarreled. over the niatter, and the upshot
was that Dubets discharged Hoover and patd
him dis wag s.- ie
Just bfere 6 o'clock on the evening of tha
some day Hoover wag sifting Ina shoe shop
at 418 Sonth Thirtecnth stre-t with rome
(lends when DuBois entered. Hodver halt

jaress, with the werds, “L have you nay
twhere TP want you.” aud drawing a. revelv.e
Jshet htm twiee Just -abive the Stomach,

Dubois grappied: with the murderer and

Jaracged him into a drug etore pext deer,

Heover calling out reveral times “I told
you T would shoot you.” Hoover «was are
rested, cnd Dubois was r moved to the Prers
byterian hospital, where he died th-s next
day, . ;
 ehaee were the facts hreught out tn the
trial, ‘The defense wat weak, chi fy from
the fact thit there was no d-fens* to'make,
It was shown that Jlouver had been drinking
that day, but he was not Intoxteated, An
attempt was made to show that he was. ine
san, but this also fell through, and no exe
ports were’ called, Finally the--defense
rested without geing further, and the attore
neva directed the remainder of thelr efforts
in ¢xtenuating the crime in.their arguments
ane attempting to dimduce the Jury to be mere

edna,
The trial was Hstened to by big crowds; the

ecurt room: being Glled each day during Its

Wem cveweresees

whife Ik was out ied a beth OF tne, Teri

Chamilirs Deserihes’

Killer’s Last Hours

BY LESLIE BOELLSTORFF
___ WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln —A single tear may have run
down John Joubert’s right cheek as a

State prison official sheared his hair

Tuesday night in preparation for his
death in Nebraska’s electric chair,

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha
said that was the closest Joubert came to

breaking oe emotionally as his execu- ;

tion neared.”

In his role as a special observer of the

Pre-execution proceedings, Chambers
Stayed with Joubert until prison guards
tightl strapped the condemned man
into the chair in the death chamber,
Joubert was Pronounced dead at 12:22
a.m. after being electrocuted for the

murders of two Sarpy County boys. He

had spent nearly 12 years on death row.

Chambers said he and Joubert had a.

private conversation after Joubert’s visi-
tors were escorted from his prison hospi-

@ World-Herald reporter Paul Hammel
gives an eyewitness account of the execu-
tion and related events, Page 7,

tal room about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
_ Chambers said he urged Joubert to be

Oe

“They’ve sentenced you to die. Don’t
let them take anything more from you
than your body,” Chambers said he told
Joubert. “You've got to keep your dig-

nity. You can keep them from taking

that. You can’t falter or waver. You can’

faint or fight, You can’t give them
anything ee ort

Joubert’s face twitched slightly and his
eyes seemed to moisten, but he shed no
tears as they talked, Chambers said.

Joubert’s execution was the second in
Nebraska in less than two years. On

esday, activists on both sides of the
death penalty yowed to return to the
Legislature to. get the state’s law
changed,

Attorney General Don Stenberg said
he wants changes so executions can be
carried out more quickly. He noted that
Joubert had presented his case five times
to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

“There’s no constitutional Tight to
have your case heard five times,” he said,
“In my. opinion, one appeal is suffi-
cient.”

Death-penalty. opponents, includin
Chamblee aia Nelson Potter of Teck

said the execution would spur them to

work even harder to repeal Nebraska’s
capital punishment law,
“We recognize that’s the only way to
revent what happenéd last night from
appening again,” said Potter, a Univer-
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln philosophy
Protssor who serves. as chairman of

ebraskans Against the Death Penalty.
“Tf. we don’t repeal it, it will happen
again.”

Lawyers with the Attorney General’s
Office could offer no estimate on how
long it might be before Nebraska carries
out another execution. The cases of three
of the 11 men on death row are nearing
their final appeal stages, however,

At least once in every legislative term
since the death penalty was reinstated in
Nebraska, Chambers has offered.a bill to

t

repeal it.

Chambers said Wednesday that he

found the preparations leading. up to
Joubert’s execution _horrifyi g, even
though he said prison staff 1 members
treated Joubert with utmost considera-

Please tur to Page 6, Col. 1

|
|
|
:


Continued from Page 1
tion during his final hours.
“I have nothing negative to ppeut
the actions by oto staff onecil
watched over Joubert during his final
hours, Chambers said.
“But the fact is that all of them are part
of of tis grisly, grotesque hideousness,’ he

He said many staff members were
visibly nervous and uncomfortable. The

guards who strapped Joubert into the
electric chair refused to look at Cham-

bers, even though he deliberately tried to thing.”

catch their eye, he said.

Chambers said Deputy Warden Mike
Kenney showed much gentleness earlier
as he cut Joubert’s hair and beard and
then shaved his face and head, steps
taken to assure a good electrical contact,

Kenney asked several times if he was
hurting Joubert. Joubert sat quietly as his
hair was shorn — and spoke only to
thank Kenney for brushing the loose hair
off his shoulders, Chambers said.

Without his hair and beard, Joubert

looked younger and smaller — almost
like a child, bers said.
Chambers accompanied Joubert from

the hospita] room, down the hallway to

an elevator that took him to the room.

that houses the death chamber.

Joubert’s legs were too short to touch
the floor from the electric chair and the
four guards who escorted him to the
execution chamber lifted him onto the
chair, Chambers said.

Each applied his full force — leaning
back and pulling — to buckle three wide
leather straps as tightly as possible across
Joubert’s chest, waist and hips, Cham-
bers said.

The straps were so tight that they cut:

deeply into Toubert’s flesh. The straps on
his arms and legs were equally tight, His
o hands began turning blue because the
straps on his arms were so tight, Cham-
bers said.

Joubert obviously was in discomfort.

But Chambers said he did not fault the

ds.
“They didn’t want any movement at

all. He’s so, small, his body could have: :

taken quite a battering,” Chambers said,
breaking off. “It’s grotesque, the whole

Gov. Nelson, who was joined at a
Wednesday press conference by Correc-

tions Director Harold Clarke, praised _

the staff at the State Penitentiary for
administering Joubert’s sentence on)
schedule and without incident, ©

prison lent credibility to the prison |
staff's performance.

Chambers said he had a deep urge to
take Joubert’s hand as that last strap was
tightened. He chose not to.

a wasn’t there to bring comfort in a

ting like that,” he said, “What comfort
pane offer?”

Chambers said he left the death cham-
ber without another word to Joubert.
The Omaha senator was not among the
witnesses to the execution.

Chambers said he pondered before
offeri B to serve as a special observer.
He didn’t want to appear as if he were
pancdoning the death penalty, he said.

He said he decided that it was impor-
tant that Joubert — despised by so many

le — have someone there to act as
an advocate for him. ,
othe mat, of all people needed

are Gig

ath

heros ea pa S
Clarke said Chambers’ presence at the

can standard-bearers are depic

_ the group that realizes he is
afraid of

(0 uae «|

Chambers: Joubert May atie Shed Tear

somebody there who was not unwilling
to oe out for his interests,” Chambers
sai

“T think the experience was good for
me,” Chamber said. “It deepened my
awareness of the suffering caused by the
death penalty — not only that of the
pindemned man, but the people who
have to do these terrible things.”

| Scols tor’s Nudes

Include Clintons

Essex, Conn. (AP) — If President
Clinton and Bob Dole take time from
their canipalan schedules to view a

ow, they might find an issue
ey could agree on — restoring the fig

ubli-
ina
exhibition of 28 bronze nudes that also
show Ronald Reagan, House Speaker
Newt Gingrich and first lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton.

“That’s who we are underneath,” said
sculptor Nicholas Swearer, whose earlier
works depicted lizards. “Clothing adds a
layer of psychological protection.” The
lack of working models apparently left
much to the artist’s i tion.

Swearer doesn’t think these political

The current Democratic and R:

in the buff — ex

R-N.C., who is yaaved with one hand
covering his genitals and the other cover-
ing his backside. “He’s the only one of ©
ed or is

leaders would ios ag mind being seen
Jesse Hein,

is nakedness,” he said.

: - -_


What’s Next

The Joubert execution could
occur today If:
| The U.S. Supreme Court rules
ina test case that challenges
| limits on death-row appeals and
| then rules on a similar Joubert
; appeal. A ‘no’ to the Joubert
| appeal would allow his execution
' today.
_ @ The court doesn’t rule on the :
, test case but decides that it
| does not apply to Joubert's case
; —-as the 8th US. Circuit Court of
Appeals previously concluded.

| _ The Joubert execution could be

delayed If:

& The court does not decide
_Joubert’s case before 11:59 to-

night, when his death warrant

expires,

@ The court adjourns for the

year without deciding Joubert's

case. The high court's next term

.beginsin October. hes

@ Thecourt agrees to hear Jou-
bert’s case, It could take months,
if not years, to resolve all the
issues.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, JUNE 28, 1996

Court’s Late-Hour Ruling

maha eorld-Herald

35¢

OUR 131ST YEAR
48 PAGES

AN INDEPENDENT
NEWSPAPER OWNED
BY EMPLOYEES

Keeps John Joubert Alive

BY LESLIE BOELLSTORFF
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — For the third time in five
years, Nebraska on Thursday came to
the brink of carrying out an execution
only to have the action stopped by a
late-hour court ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an
order to stop John Joubert’s execution
about 5:30 p.m., less than seven hours
before he was scheduled to go to the
electric chair.

It was a scene reminiscent of one that
occurred almost exactly five years ago —
at 6 p.m. on June 30, 1991 — when the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued
an order stopping the execution of
Harold LaMont Otey only hours before

Otey’s scheduled death. More than three
years passed before Otey was put to
death on Sept. 2, 1994,

In March 1995, Robert Williams came
within three hours of execution when the
Nebraska Supreme Court called a halt
because of new allegations that a juror
acted improperly at his trial. Williams
still is on death row.

Joubert remained on death watch

Thursday in the prison infirmary, with
Attorney General Don Stenberg hoping
the execution can be carried out before
the death warrant expires at 11:59 to-
night. .
Joubert received the death penalty for
the 1983 kidnapping and murder of two
Sarpy County boys.

Mark Weber, Joubert’s attorney, said

he spoke with Joubert minutes. after
learning of the Supreme Court’s action
Thursday. “Obviously,” Weber said, “he
was relieved that we have a little more
time.”

Joubert had spent the day with friends
and loved ones, including his sister, Jane
Huffman of New Ulm, Minn.

Stenberg explained that the delay
appeared to be based on what is known
as the Felker case. That case, pending
before the U.S. Supreme Court, chal-
lenges the constitutionality of limits
Congress imposed on the death-row
appeals. The court heard arguments in
Felker vs. Georgia earlier this month.

A ruling in that case could be released
as early as this morning, lawyers and
others said.

A U.S. Supreme Court official said
Thursday that the Felker decision is
aa before the court ends its term.

ile the Supreme Court usually con-
cludes its business for the year at the end
of June, it does not have a specified date
for concluding.

The court official said this term could
extend into next week.

The full court voted to grant the stay
of execution after the Joubert appeal was
referred by Justice Clarence Thomas,
who handles appeals from the 8th Cir-
cuit, which includes Nebraska.

Supreme Court officials described the
ruling as a “temporary stay” that would
remain in effect until the court decides

Please turn to Page 8, Col. 5

—— le ee

High Court Ruling © Colat/w]

[~
5

rt
L__-

Keeps Joubert Alive

Continued from Page 1

whether to consider Joubert’s appeal.
The Supreme Court order said the stay of
execution would be automatically dis-
solved if the court decides not to hear
Joubert’s case.

Officials in the Attorney General’s
Office and elsewhere speculated on sev-
eral ways the case could play out this
morning:

™ The high court could release its

Felker decision and then issue rulings yet.

today in the cases of Joubert and other
death row inmates from across the coun-
try who were granted stays of execution
because of the pending ruling. Rejection
of Joubert’s case would allow his execu-
tion today.

@ Joubert could be executed even if
the court does not release the Felker
decision today. That could happen if the
court examines Joubert’s case and con-
cludes Felker does not apply — as the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pre-
viously concluded.

i The execution could be postponed if
the high court does not decide Joubert’s
case before 11:59 tonight, when his death
warrant will expire. Stenberg said it

robably would be months before Jou-

ert could be executed. At the least, it
will take some time to get a new death
warrant issued by the Nebraska Supreme
Court.

WA Supreme Court decision — and
the execution — could be delayed if the
high court adjourns for the year without
deciding Joubert’s case. The high court’s
next term begins in October.

M@The execution could be delayed
months, if not years, if the high court
agrees to hear Joubert’s case.

Weber, Joubert’s attorney, said it is “a
little too early” to tell what the tem-
porary stay will mean. “It basically buys
us until 10 am.,” when the Felker
decision could be announced, he said.

Supreme Court rulings generally are
released at 10 a.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m.
Omaha time.

Stenberg said: “Because Joubert
raised these issues recently, it may be as
simple as the fact that the Supréme Court
has not had a chance to carefully enough
review his case. ... If they lift the stay
tomorrow (Friday), it is almost certain
the execution will be carried out tomor-
row.”

Corrections Director Harold Clarke
said the State Penitentiary could quickly
resume readiness for the execution if the
court clears the way yet today. He
estimated that about three hours would
be needed from the time the stay is lifted
before the execution could be carried

out. The time is needed to gather the.

witnesses and prepare Joubert for the
execution.

However, if no word is received from
the U.S. Supreme Court by 6 p.m. or 7

“Tf they lift the stay
tomorrow (Friday), it is
almost certain the execu-
tion will be carried out

tomorrow.”
-— Attorney General Don Stenberg

p.m., witnesses and others involved in
the execution would be summoned to the
prison so that the execution could be
carried out in less than an hour, he said.

Stenberg expressed dismay that a case
that has lingered 12 years would be
further delayed. He said it was difficult
for everyone involved, but most especial-
ly the families of the victims.

Gov. Nelson said Thursday night that
he expected that the victims’ families
were crestfallen by the decision, which he
said was frustrating to all Nebraskans.

“It appears that once again the courts
are not helping establish the faith of the
people in the system,” Nelson said. “I
share the frustration of Nebraskans to-

"a

lier this week, the Sarpy County
District Court, U.S. District Court, Ne-
braska Supreme Court and 8th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals threw out
Joubert appeals.

The U.S. Supreme Court had three
separate appeals asking to stop Joubert’s
execution pending before it as of Thurs-
day morning. While its order did not

specify, the court apparently acted on the
appeal that cited the Felker case.

It rejected one of the other appeals late
Thursday, challenging the 8th Circuit’s
decision to reinstate his death sentence
after U.S. District Judge William Cam-
bridge overturned it in October 1994.

Cambridge’s ruling had been based on
wording of the Nebraska death sentenc-
ing statute that the judge said was
impermissibly vague. The 8th Circuit
said it was a “harmless error” — mean-
ing that Joubert would have been given a
death sentence even without the vague
wording.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made no
ruling in a Joubert appeal raising issues
on use of the electric chair and on
withdrawal of his guilty plea. That ap-
peal questions whether the electric chair
amounts to unconstitutionally cruel and
unusual punishment and whether Jou-
bert should have been allowed to with-
draw his plea because he didn’t know he
could have a hearing on whether his
confession could be suppressed.

World-Herald staff writers Joy Powell
and Bill Hord contributed to this report.

Nebraska Executes Man Who Killed 3 Boys

LINCOLN, Neb., July 17 (AP) —A
man who said he enjoyed the ‘power
and domination”’ of killing was exe-
cuted in the electric chair early to-
day for murdering two boys in 1983.

The prisoner, John J. Joubert, a
former airman, repeatedly stabbed
and slashed Danny Jo Eberle, 13, and
Christopher Walden, 12, in Bellevue
near Offutt Air Force Base, where he
was stationed. He was also convicted
of stabbing and strangling a boy in
Maine.

In his final statement, Mr. Joubert
apologized for the three murders and
added, ‘‘I do not know if my death
will change anything or if it will
bring anyone any peace.”’

In trying to explain the crimes, Mr.
Joubert, 33, told The Omaha World-

Herald last month: “It was the pow-
er and the domination and seeing the
fear. That was more exciting than
actually causing the harm.”

Mr. Joubert was caught after he
tried to abduct a preschool teacher,
who then noted the license plate
number of his car. Mr. Joubert con-
fessed later that day.

Judy Eberle, Danny’s mother, said
Mr. Joubert deserved the death pen-
alty not out of vengeance but because
“it is the only punishment that can
make sure that he will never walk
the streets again.”’

SUMMERTIME/FRESH AIR TIME:
GIVE TO THE FRESH AIR FUND

Hew York Times 8/96 AUB

nano nen dees


ee

Se eee + CE oi ap Paes ate ee Si ated nl aren a
name) and “Nebraska State Pen First Tp June 1993, he wrote a fi

gered Joubert.
Annual BBQ.”

Joubert, 33, today followed his
friend’s footsteps and took a seatinthe |
electric chair. Joubert was put to death being put . —— e

killin S County boysinlate own hearts, Joubert said.
1983, eee yo “Jesus says that the sin in the heart is

about a reporter who covers an

his article:

Ctional story
Those who take pleasure in criminals tion. As the ending in his story, he wrote
hae murder in their how the fictional reporter would begin

“In order to take the life of another, we

~~ yranimate Object.

“This truism holds for the convicted

execu- murderer’s actions as well as those who

kill in the name of God or the State. Itis a
fatal illusion, however, because when we

believe this illusion there is something

within us that dies.”

Sentenced to Death in Nebraska

Robert E. Williams, 59 C. Michael Anderson, 44 Peter Lynn Hochstein, 42 Carey Dean Moore, 38

"Randolph Reeves, 40

Robert E. Williams

For killing Catherine Brooks and Patricia McGarry, both 25, of Lincoln in 1977.
SENTENCED JUNE 30, 1978 (A federal appeals court has ordered that he be resentenced in Mis. MeSary's murder)

SENTENCED AUG. 24, 1978

C. Michael Anderson* For the hired killing of Omaha real estate man Ron Abboud in October 1975.

SENTENCED AUG. 24, 1978

Peter Lynn Hochstein* For the killing of Omaha real estate man Ron Abboud in October 1975.

Michael Ryan, 7 was raped. SENTENCED SEPT. 11, 1981

Carey Dean Moore For killing two Omaha cabdrivers tour days apart in August 1979.
SENTENCED JUNE 20, 1980
Randolph Reeves* For stabbing to death two Lincoln women in March 1980, one of whom

Charles Jess Palmer For killing Grand Island coin dealer Eugene Zimmerman in 1979.

SENTENCED SEPT. 6, 1984 (Two earlier death sentences, 1980 and 1982, were set aside.)

4993 at the Lincoln Correctional Center. SENTENCED APRIL 30, 1996

Michael Ryan For torture killing of James Thimm at a farm near Rulo in 1985.
SENTENCED OCT. 16, 1986
Clarence Victor For beating death of Alyce Singleton, 82, in her Omaha home in December 1987.
SENTENCED NOV. 21, 1988
Roger Bjorklund For the kidnapping, rape and shooting death of Candice Harms, 18, of Lincoln in
September 1992. SENTENCED SEPT. 20, 1994
John Lotter For killing Teena Brandon, 21, Lisa Lambert, 24, and Philip DeVine, 22, ina
oo farmhouse near Humboldt, Neb. , on New Year's Eve 1993. SENTENCED FEB. 21, 1996
OSEAN, Jerry Simpson For drug-related stabbing death of prisoner Kevin Goodenow of North Platte in

rulings. and the three continue to live on death row.

* Federal judges have ruled that Hochstein, Anderson and Reeves get new sentencing hearings. The state has appealed those

Ta

Charles Jess Palmer,

Clarence Victor, 63

John Lotter, 25

Jerry Simpson, 40
NO PHOTO AVAILABLE

muraered son, CUnristopner. a
Five months earlier, her family had
relocated to Sarpy County from Ha-
waii, and they knew few Nebraskans.
Mrs. Walden was so grief-stricken
that even the simple task of gong to
the store alone seemed formidable.

FB] Agent Barbara Hamner, who
had been assigned to the child-killing
case, drove Mrs. Walden to a depart-
ment store and helped her select a
dress.

Such gestures of kindness from
investigators, neighbors and strang-
ers helped Mrs. Walden and her
husband, Steve, endure the worst
time of their lives.

“The only thing that got us through
were the pre Mrs. Walden said
in a telephone interview from York-
town, Va., where the Waldens now
live.

Christopher, 12, was kidnapped
and murdered Dec. 2, 1983, by John
Joubert. He had murdered another
boy, 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle,
2% months earlier.

The Waldens will never forget the
community’s support 12% years ago,
Mrs. Walden aid. -_

“It keeps us, as victims, from being
very bitter, which we could have been.
It could have totally ruined our
lives.”

Joubert, 33, was executed early
today in Lincoln for killing the
two Sarpy County boys. He also
faced a life sentence in Portland,
Maine, for murdering 11-year-old
Richard Stetson there in 1982.

Danny Joe is survived by his
mother, Judy; father, Leonard; and
brothers and sisters, Chantel, Maria,
Leonard II and Steve. They are living
in the Omaha and Bellevue areas.

Danny Joe was an eighth-grader at
Mission Junior High School. He was
slain while delivering the Sunday
World-Herald on Sept. 18, 1983. His
body was found three days later near

- Harlan Lewis and Iske Park Roads.

Mrs. Eberle, in a letter to the Sarpy
County District Court before Jou-
bert’s sentencing, wrote that Danny
had helped many people in his short
life. She described how her son loved
and was loved and his firm beliefs of
right and wrong.

“For such a young person, he was
wise beyond his years,” Mrs. Eberle
wrote.

She has said that only execution
would guarantee that Joubert would
not kill again.

Mrs. Walden said the execution
won't change anything for her family.

“It might be closure for other
people,” she said. “Closure for us was
when they caught him, because we
were terrified he would do it again.”

Mrs. Walden said news of Danny
Joe’s slaying in September 1983 led
her and her husband to warn Chris-
topher to be wary of strangers.

rn ee
72} 2

ee ot i bad we
Christopher's body in a plum grove
near LaVista.

“Chris was real innocent,” his
mother said. “He had a sweet disposi-
tion, a sweet spirit. He fought d,
but he didn’t have a chance.’

Joubert was on death row at the
Nebraska Penitentiary in Lincoln for

about as long as his victims lived.

Mrs. Walden refuses to call Joubert
by name, saying it “humanizes” him.
She refers to Joubert as “the guy who
killed Chris” or “the perpetrator”
and tries not to think of him.

‘Both families chose not to witness
the execution.

“To be honest, I feel bad that some-
body else had to die,” Mrs. Walden
said. “But God gave us all choices,
and he (Joubert) crossed the line.”

Walden, 52, has retired from the
Air Force and works on computers at
a private company. Mrs. Walden, 47,
has not worked recently; she plays a
lot of tennis and is taking pottery
courses.

The Walden and Eberle families
say they have a void in their lives that
will never be filled.

Shortly before Christopher was
killed he had begun having whispery
phone conversations with his first
girlfriend. More than girls, he liked
the “Star Wars” movies, computers
and video games.

Mrs. Walden said she and Chris-
topher had become extremely close in
the summer of 1983, their last togeth-
er. Walden, then an Air Force officer,
had been reassigned to Offutt that
July, and Christopher had not yet met
many children. He spent his days
helping his mother shop and decorate
their new home in the Faulkland
Heights subdivision of northern
Sarpy County.

e community’s benevolence dur-
ing those painful times after Chris-
topher’s abduction and death was
“the light in the midst of the evil
darkness,” Mrs. Walden said.

She remembers wanting to give
away some of Christopher’s toys but
finding the task too painful. Agent
Hamner and investigators took time
to pack the toys, fighting their
own tears.

The Air Force community helped,
too, sending a chaplain to notify Mrs.
Walden’s ailing mother in Florida
that her only grandchild had been
slain.

In the Midlands, sympathetic
friends and strangers filled the Wal-
den and Eberle mailboxes with letters
and cards. Neighbors brought food.

’ The Waldens’ neighbors and even
FBI agents ran errands for them,
Mrs. Walden said.

“Words aren’t adequate to thank
them,” she said of the many who
offered help. “It just shows there are
more good people than bad. It gives
you faith in humanity.”

Child Killer Executed In Neb.
AP 17-Jul-1996 1:43 EDT REF5132
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

The information contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written
authority of The Associated Press.

By DAWN FALLIK

Associated Press Writer

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -~ A former Boy Scout leader who said he enjoyed
“seeing the fear" of his murder victims was executed in the electric
chair early Wednesday for stabbing two boys to death in 1983.

John Joubert, also a former airman, confessed to repeatedly stabbing
and slashing Danny Jo Eberle, 13, and Christopher Walden, 12, near the
Air Force Base where he was stationed,

After Joubert was convicted in Nebraska, he was convicted in Maine
with strangling and stabbing 1ll-year-old Richard Stetson in Portland in
1982. He got a life prison term without parole for that killing.

"It was the power and the domination and seéing the fear," Joubert
told the Omaha World-Herald last month in explaining why he killed the
boys. “That was more exciting than actually causing the harm."

Joubert, 33, has said the murders were the culmination of years of
psychosexual fantasies. He had asked the Nebraska Pardons Board to keep
him alive so researchers could study him.

He wanted to be taken to Omaha, about 50 miles from Lincoln, for a
brain scan before his execution so researchers could check for
abnormalities.

State and prison officials denied the request because they feared
potential security risks and legal appeals to delay the execution if
any abnormalities were found.

The killings 13 years ago in Bellevue near Offutt Air Force Base
kept the Omaha area in fear for three months. Joubert was caught after
he tried unsuccessfully to abduct a preschool teacher, who then noted
his car’s license plate number. He confessed later that day.

Joubert said he made one boy strip and lie in the snow as he slashed
and strangled him. He also described how Danny begged for his life,
promising not to turn Joubert in for stabbing him if he took the boy to
a hospital. .

"I stabbed him a couple more times,” Joubert said.

Joubert’s lawyers gave:-up their legal battle shortly after the U.S.
Supreme Court refused two requests to delay the execution so that
Joubert could argue whether the electric chair was cruel and unusual
punishment or whether Nebraska‘s pardon’s system was unfair.

Nebraska is one of Six states that use only the electric chair for
executions.


JOUBERT, John J., white, tethatinjectien, NESP (Douglas Co.), July 17, 1996.

JOUBERT, John, white, Douglas Co.-”On 8/22/1982, a young boy, 11-year-old Richard
Stetson, was abducted and murdered. His body was found near a bridge in Portland, Maine. In
the early morning hours of 9/18/1993, 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle was delivering papers on his
route in Omaha, Neb., when he was abducted. John J. Joubert, an airman at nearby Offutt Air
Force Base, kidnapped, bound, stabbed and left the boy’s body in a ditch. On 12/2/1983, joubhert
kidnapped ansother boy, 12-year-old Christopher Paul Walden, who was walking alone on his
way to school in Faulkland Heights, Neb. Joubert strangled and stabbed Walden after ordering
him to strip down to his underwear. Joubert, a former Boy Scouts troop leader, was convicted of
killing the two Nebraska boys and he is accused of the Stetson killing.”-Death Row, 1996,

V. 6, page 180.

-’Confessed child killer John Joubert should die in the electric chair June 28, the state
Supreme Court said.”-USA Today, 5/17/1996.

“Lincoln-Lawyer Mark Weber, who represents condemned killer John Joubert, said
appeals could delay Joubert’s scheduled June 28 date in the electric chair for killing 2 boys in
*83.”-USA Today, 5/23/1996.

_ “Qmaha-Rallies against the death penalty are Sunday to protest the scheduled June 28
execution of child-killer John Joubert.”-U/SA Today, 6/21/1996.

“Lincoln-Child killer John Jourbert sought commutation of his death sentence, telling

pardons board members that, unlike him, they’re not killers. He faces electrocution Friday.”-

USA Today, 6/25/1996.

“Lincoln-The state Pardons Board refuswed to hear John Joubert’s clemency plea.
Joubert, 32, confessed to the ‘83 stabbing of two teens. He is to die Friday.”-USA Today,
6/27/1996, |

“Lincoln-The U. S. Supreme Court stayed the execution of confessed child killer John
Joubert, who was to be executed today.”-USA Today, 6/28/1996.

“Lincoln-’July 17 is the new execution date for confessed child killer John Joubert.. The
U. S. Supreme Court gave him a reprieve hours before his scheduled June 28 execution, but has
refused his appeals.”-USA Today, 7/18/1996.


Joubert
clemency

rejected

Nebraska board
refuses to hear case

By Ed Howard
The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. — The state par- :
dons board refused Wednesday to &

even hear John Joubert’s plea for
clemency. The Maine native, who
confessed to stabbing two little
boys who begged for their lives, is
scheduled to be executed Friday.

While Joubert asked the board to
save him from a Friday. appoint-
ment with the electric chair, two
state courts and a federal court re-
jected his attempts to delay the
execution.

The 32-year-old’s remaining
hope for staying alive was in a re-
quest that the U.S. Supreme Court
delay the execution and consider
his case.

Joubert was sentenced to die for
the 1983 murders of 13-year-old
Danny Jo Eberle and 12-year-old
Christopher Walden, both of Sarpy
County. The former airman was
based near Omaha when the boys
disappeared. After his Nebraska
conviction, Joubert was tried and
convicted of killing 11-year-old
Richard Stetson in 1982 in Port-
land, Maine, a state without the
death penalty.

In his confession, Joubert de-
scribed how Eberle and Walden
cried and pleaded for their lives as
he slashed and stabbed them.

U.S. District Judge William
Cambridge in Omaha rejected ar-
guments that Joubert could not re-
ceive .a fair hearing before the
pardons board because its

)
i

John Joubert

members had made comments in-;
dicating they had prejudged his
case. The judge said there is no
fundamental] right to mercy.

The three pardons board
members — Gov. Ben Nelson, At-
torney General Don Stenberg and
Secretary of State Scott Moore —
unanimously rejected Joubert’s re-
quest for a clemency hearing and
denied his petition to spare his life.

Moore visited Joubert at the
state prison Wednesday for about
five minutes. He said Joubert,
asked some questions about the
clemency process and then asked:
‘‘Am I supposed to beg now?”’

The pardons board’s action
cleared the way for Joubert’s exe-
cution as early as 12:01 a.m. CDT
Friday unless a court intervenes. *

Joubert has asked the U.S. Su-.
preme Court to stay his execution:
and review his case. i

On Wednesday, Sarpy County:
District Judge Ronald Reagan re-.
jected Joubert’s arguments that
the electric chair was unconstitu-'
tional cruel and unusual punish-
ment. The judge said Joubert did
not raise any new arguments that
he could not have raised in earlier
appeals.

G/9719G -

Bangor Daily News

‘

(MARE?
- .

a al

‘State to F ight Overturning

Of Joubert’s Sentences

Continued from Page 1
Cambridge to reconsider several issues,

including that Joubert had ineffective

attorneys and that the death penalty is
enforced only in some Nebraska counties
but not others, -}
Cambridge ruled that a 1991 decision
by the 8th Circuit Court in another
Nebraska death penalty case had''a
bearing on the Joubert case. The 199]
decision ordered the resentencing of
Dean Moore, who was convicted

Carey
of killing two Omaha taxi drivers in.
1979,

The decision revolved around the ag-

ruled that Moore should be resentenced.

The 8th Circuit judges upheld an;
earlier decision in the Moore case by U.S.

District Judge Warren Urbom of Lin-
coln. ; vee

In the Joubert case, a three-judge
panel in Sarpy County found thai “ex.

ceptional depravity” in the Walden and -
“Eberle killings was an apgravating cir-
¢

cumstance that helped t

m decidé to
sentence Joubert to death.

Mike Wellman, now an assistant U.S.

attorney. in Omaha, was chief deputy
Sarpy County attomey, in 1984 and
prosecuted the Joubert case,

Wellman said Tuesday that intellec-
tually, he understands Cambridge's deci-
sion. But emotionally, he said, he is
disappointed and frustrated by the news.

“I'm real disappointed for the fami-
lies, the Eberles and the Waldens,”
Wellman said. “The survivors of victims
like these two murders deserve some
better finality to this death sentence than
the system delivers.

- Tesentencing, Stenberg :
* would bring a much quicker end to the

"Stance called “excep

“It's frustrating, too, from the per-
spective that 10 years ago I crossed every
t, 1 dotted every i to make sure that
nothing was done in error by myself, by’
the defense team or by the court. And I
think we succeeded in crossing every t
and dotting every i at that time. Then
decisions like the Carey Dean Moore.
case come along and essentially tell you it
doesn’t matter how ci you are;
somebody somewhere is going to find
something wrong with what you did.”

‘An appeal is preferable to Seeking a
said, because it

Frat aeatnd mitigating circumstances _70ubert case, again sentenced to death,”
that judges look at in deciding whether to ” Stenberg said, “it would begin, again, a
oe the death penalty. ~ Process which has not yet been complet-
Part of the statute looks at whether a ed and has already taken 10 years.”
murder “manifested exceptional DTN ell th etnies succeeds, Joubert’.
ity by ordinary standards of morality could be Se leery a year, Sten-
and intelligence.” bere said. 2 Sage ged
In the Moore case, the Circuit Court of “The state has 30 days in which to file :
Appeals ruled that the term “exceptional : 4° appeal, Stenberg said. If it loses both .
depravity” as applied in Moore's case with the Court of A and the .
Was vague. In a 2-1 vote, the majority - Supreme Court, a y deadline for:

Seeking re-sentencing would begi Sear
‘Stenberg said the crux of the state's
Case would be to convince the 8th Circuit;
Court of Appeals that there was more.

" than one aggravating circumstance in the |
. Joubert case.

. Cambridge focused his ruling on what -
he called unconstitutionally vague lan- -
Buage related to the ageravating circum-
tional depravity.”
Stenberg said Joubert’s death sentence
also was Tass on a finding that the
crimes were “heinous, atrocious and
cruel.”

“Our principal argument is that Jou-
bert was found to have aggravating
circumstances on both prongs,” Sten-
berg said. ;

Assistant Attorney General J. Kirk
Brown said the Moore’ case may even-

- tually be the vehicle for firmin up
’ Nebraska's use of the “exceptional de-

pravity” circumstance for Justifying the

death penalty.

- Remember
‘Ruling Reopens

Old W

- BY RANDY TUCKER -
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A federal judge's decision Tuesday”
_ tO overtum the death: sentence 2 Ser
convicted child-killer John Joubert _ oy

has reopened a dark chapter in Sarpy
County history that many people said
should have been closed years ago.
Mike Wellman, a former
County attomey who as chief deputy
County attorney prosecuted Joubert,

bridge's decision will open old wounds

for many people, especially the vic-°.

tims’ parents. on
“The survivors -of the victims: in

these cases deserve a lot more finali- _

. ty.” Wellman said. “It’s sad that they
have to revisit this.” ee

Joubert was convicted of murder in

1984 for the abductions and ary

* deaths of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, an

Christopher Paul Walden, 12. Joubert
was later convicted in the murder of a
Portland, Maine, boy a year earlier,
Nebraska permitted Joubert to be
returned to Maine in 1990 to Stand
trial, provided that he be retumed to
Nebraska afterward to face execution.
Joubert was tried and convicted in
Maine and sentenced to life. Maine

has no death penalty. a
~~ Joubert retumed to Nebraska’ in:

1991 and filed the federal appeal that
eventually led to Cambridge's ruling.
Before Joubert was arrested, Sarpy

founds jf

Danny Joe

Y . Walden Eberle

. County residents experienced months
_ Said U.S. District Judge William Cam. : Ch

of fear and anxiety that began when
the body of Joubert’s first victim,
Danny Eberle, was found on a country

. Toad about two miles south of Bellevue .

in September 1983.

“After the death of the Eberle boy,
the public became very guarded with
their kids, but there was not a feeling,
necessarily, that there was a stalker
loose in the community,” Wellman
said.

Joubert's second victim, Paul Wal-

den, was found by hunters in a wild

plum grove in the Portal area south-
west of LaVista.

“The community became extremely
anxious. ... They knew that there was
a child-killer loose in our midst,”
Wellman said.

Wellman said he will never forget
the sight of cars lined up for blocks
Outside preschools and element
schools driven by parents who drove
their kids to school and picked them
up when school was out.

ng the Crime

“People were not letting their kids
walk to school anymore,” Wellman

: " said. “We were certainly a community
; _ being held hostage.”

__ Bellevue Mayor Inez Boyd said she
Could see the tension in the faces of
county residents. F

“Basically, what you saw was a lot
of apprehension with parents. ... You
pe didn’t know who it was” doing the

.. RS a
Mayor Boyd said children also were
afraid. ~

“People don't like to frighten their

children unnecessarily, but yet, at the
Same time, that was Something that
parents took seriously,” she said.
. Sarpy County Sheriff Pat Thomas,
who helped investigate the Joubert
killings, said he was shocked and
frustrated by Cambridge's rulin

“A lot of the people I've talked to
about this think the higher-urs are not
listening to the common, ordinary
man,” Thomas said. “It seems like our
Opinions aren't important anymore.”

Thomas said he would like to see the
State seek the death penalty against
Joubert again.

That view also is shared by Well-
man, who said he was against the
death pomety until he saw the bodies
of the Walden and Eberle boys.

“There's nothing I've ever seen that
even comes close to this case,” Well-
man said. “He (Joubert) grabbed two
totally innocent boys off the Street,
held them hostage and tortured them
Just for sport.

“If there's any person on death row
in Nebraska that deserves the death
penalty, it’s John Joubert.”


‘The Joubert Case

“MUS. District Judge William Cam-

sentence of John Joubert, convicted
of the 1983 slayings of two Sarpy.
- County boys, but left open the possi-

tencedtodeath: ~-

Ing his sentencing in Sarpy County

District Court, Saying that the appli-.
Cation of Nebraska's death-sentence
Statute was unconstitutionally vague
in Joubert's case. — ae: ,
@ The Cambridge ruling was based ©
on 4.1991 decision by the 8th U.S.

_ Circuit Court of Appeals ordering the
resentencing of Carey Dean Moore

' Court of Appeals ruled that the term

: Moore's case was vague. « -.

. M@ Judges who sentenced Joubert in.
1984 ruled that “exceptional deprav-

__ ity!’ was an aggravating circum-
stanze that helned them dscide on

the death penalty. _.

bridge Tuesday overturned the death -

_ bility that Joubert can again be sen- _

@ Cambridge ruled that Joubert was -
~ denied his Constitutional rights dur-

"In Nebraska. In that case, the Circuit: .

“exceptional depravity” as applied in 3

B. STATE PENITENTIARY

DEATH PENALTY: John Joubert
was sentenced to death in 1984, .

Z5¢
OUR 130TH YEAR
48 PAGES

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AN INDEPENDENT
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State Will Appeal

Decision on Joubert

BY JOY POWELL
and BILL HORD
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

The Nebraska Attomey General's Of-
fice plans to appeal a federal judge’s
decision that overturned John Joubert’s
two death sentences:

Joubert, 31, has been on death row at
the State Penitentiary in Lincoln for the
1983 Sarpy County slayings of two boys.

U.S. District Court Judge William
Cambridge of Omaha issued a ruling

- Tuesday that said Joubert was denied his

constitutional rights because he was
sentenced under a part of the Nebraska
capital punishment statute that has been
found, in another death-penalty case, to
be unconstitutionally vague.

“The court finds that in the Joubert
case, the death sentences have been
‘infected’ by an unconstitutionally vague
factor,” Cambridge wrote.

The judge ordered that Joubert's death
sentences be reduced to life impnison-
ment unless the state begins resentencing
Proceedings within 60 days.

Prosecutors in the Attomey General's
Office plan to appeal Cambndge's deci-
sion to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. Their other choice would be to
begin resentencing proceedings in Sarpy
County District Court.

Saying that Nehraskans would be
“justifiably angry” with the court's deci-
sion, Attomey General Don Stenberg
vowed at a Lincoln press conference to

pursue the case until the death sentence
is carmed out.

“We will appeal to the 8th Circuit
Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme
Court if necessary,” Stenberg said.

Joubert pleaded guilty to charges of
first-degree murder in ‘the kallings of
Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and Chnstopher
Paul Walden, 12. Joubert was sentenced
to death by a three-judge panel Oct. 9,
1984,

Joubert’s attomey, Mark A. Weber,
said Joubert was pleased to hear about
the court’s ruling but concerned that the
judge did not find cther Coasutuucnal
arguments to have merit.

Weber said he will try to convince

Please tum to Page 2, Col. I

\

Earliest execution would be late July

Governor slams U.S. high court

BY BUTCH MABIN Lincoln Journal Star, 6-29-44

Prison officials moved John Joubert from the infirmary back to his death row cell at the Nebraska State
Penitentiary Friday while Gov. Ben Nelson criticized the "judicial chaos" he said could postpone the child
killer's execution for several months.

Joubert, 32, was less than seven hours away from death when the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday evening
stayed his execution for the murder of two Sarpy County boys.

Attorneys for Joubert and the state received word from the Supreme Court Friday morning that the stay
on his death would remain at least until Monday.

Because the state's death warrant to kill Joubert expired at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Nebraska officials will have
to get a new execution date from the state Supreme Court — a process that could take anywhere from
three or four weeks to several months — once the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the stay.

Charles Hohenstein, administrative assistant to Warden Frank Hopkins, said prison officials ended the
lockdown that was implemented Thursday in anticipation of the execution. Officials were to move
Joubert from the prison hospital where he had been on death watch to his cell on death row Friday
afternoon.

"Everything is easing back to normal," Hohenstein said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Nelson in a news conference Friday criticized the U. S. Supreme Court for not lifting
the stay on Joubert before the death warrant expired.

"I cannot today justify what has happened at the Supreme Court level," Nelson said.

"My worst fear Thursday was that they would do what they did today. There's no reason why they
couldn't have decided."

He said the delay in lifting the stay could postpone the execution for months, even years, especially if
Joubert's attommeys begin a new round of appeals.

Mark Weber, one of Joubert's lawyers, did not return phone calls Friday. However, he told Associated
Press Friday morning that he did not know what the delay would mean, other than that the state would
need to get a mew execution date.

Nelson said the high court inexplicably postponed the decision even though they had an entire afternoon
to rule on the stay.

"There's still half a day left. No wonder the public is puzzled, frustrated, cynical at (the judicial system),”
he said.

Nelson called the lack of action by the high court "judicial chaos” and "arrogance."

Assistant Attorney General J. Kirk Brown said a clerk with the U.S. Supreme Court told his office Friday
that the stay would be lifted no sooner than Monday.

Once the stay is dissolved, Brown said, Attorney General Don Stenberg can begin steps toward getting a
new execution date for Joubert.

Brown said Stenberg first would have to get letters of certification from the federal district and appeals
courts and the U.S. Supreme Court that Joubert has no appeals pending in those courts.

The certifications then would be filed with the state Supreme Court along with a motion asking the court
to set an execution date, Brown said.

Brown said the new execution could be set as early as the end of July, but he added the state Supreme
Court could set the execution any time it wanted.

He said he was puzzled by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to not lift the stay Friday. "There's no
reason that I know of,” he said.

Attomeys for the state and Joubert received word of the stay at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The high
court ordered the stay while it decided an appeal from Georgia death row prisoner Ellis Wayne Felker.

Felker had argued that a law passed by Congress in May placed unconstitutional limits on the number of
appeals death row inmates can bring in federal court challenging criminal proceedings in state courts.

In a unanimous decision Friday, the Supreme Court upheld the law but said inmates still can file an
unlimited number of direct appeals to the high court.

Brown said lifting the stay on Joubert should have been a simple matter for the court after the Felker
ruling.

He said the appeal Joubert's attorneys filed that led to the stay was based solely on arguments similar to
Felker’s. "I don't know what it is they have to consider,” he said.

Lincoln attomey Lyle Koenig, one of the attorneys who filed the appeal, was unavailable Friday.
®


-but no Danny.

Eberle was convinced that his usually

conscientious son had not voluntarily —
abandoned his bicycle and newspapers,

so he contacted the Bellevue police.

It was then that the reign of terror
among parents in the eastern section of
Nebraska began and a manhunt started
that hadn’t been equalled since the

search for killer Charles Starkweather

in the year of 1958. -

Bellevue Police Chief Warren Robin-
son immediately recognized the danger-
ous implications of the situation. He
treated it as a possible abduction as
soon as the: father made his report.
Eberle said Danny was about 5-feet-2
inches. in height, weighed about 100

pounds, had blond hair and blue eyes-

with a scar on his left cheek.

He said Danny was wearing blue cor-
duroy pants, a light blue long-sleeved
denim shirt and dark blue tennis shoes.

Eberle said his son would never volun- -

tarily have left his bicyle and walked
away without finishing his route.

‘‘He was the type of kid who was
always fiddling and working on things,
and he was proud of that bike,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve never had a problem with him,
and I’m certain he didn’t leave by his
own choice. But Danny is so trusting—I
guess that’s one of his faults. If someone
asked him a question, he would probably
go over to the car to answer him.”’

No trace of the boy had been found by
Monday morning. John Evans, assistant
agent in charge of the Jowa-Nebraska
FBI headquarters in Omaha, said the
bureau was treating the’ disappearance
‘‘as a crime of abduction.’’

He said 20 FBI agents were assisting
the Bellevue police and the Sarpy Coun-
ty Sheriff's Office in the search. Many
agents, he explained, were working out
of state checking stops along the high-
way.

From the outset, the case of the miss-
ing paper boy seemed to grip the hearts
of all those who heard and read about it,
and a feeling of outrage swept through
the state. A reward fund was established
with the Omaha World-Herald starting it
off with a contribution of $10,000.

Agent Evans said the investigation
had become a three-pronged effort with

investigators retracing Danny’s steps,
visiting his friends and acquaintances
and following up telephone leads.

The street where Danny was deliver-
ing his papers is a tree-lined shady one,
typical of the residential areas in the old-
er section of Bellevue. The block where
his bike and papers were found has two

Search party for Danny included 20 FBI agents and volunteers w
brush and checked rest stops along the highway trying to retrace Danny’

4s Z 2 4
ho tracked through
s steps.

churches and is only a block from where
he picked up his papers.

Chief Robinson said the area was sel-
dom frequented by casual traffic, and
strangers were seldom seen in the area.

Monday and Tuesday passed with
lawmen running down scores of tips.
Known sex deviates with police records

33


in Omaha and other Nebraska cities were
questioned. Despite their efforts, the in-
vestigators told reporters they had not
come up with a single solid lead.

At 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Septem-
ber Ist, three days after Danny Joe
Eberle had vanished, the biggest search
in Sarpy County history was launched. A
hundred lawmen from 21 agencies and
30 men from the Offutt Air Force Base
took part, covering an area of nine square
miles.

The investigators divided the search
area, which extended along the Missouri
River from the Platte River north of the
Fontenelle Forest and as far as Hancock
Street in Bellevue. The searchers were
divided into 10 teams.

The hunt was directed and coordinated
by Lieutenant Gerald Groves, a search
specialist from the Sioux City, lowa
Police Department. A helicopter from
the Nebraska State Patrol, an airplane
provided by the FBI and a boat manned
by several deputy sheriffs also parti-

\ Exe 4 Pw sae
ApS Ph
“AER LE OY.

cipated in the all-out effort.

The search brought quick results.
About 80 minutes after it started, John
Kolterman, police chief at Wahoo, Ne-
braska, suddenly halted in his walk along

.the Iske Park roadway, where he had
been checking the ditches and weeds on
either side, and shouted to his com-
panions.

The search for Danny Joe Eberle was
over!

There in the field, some distance from
the road, was a pathetic, partially
clothed, small body, thinly camouflaged
by weeds. For a moment, Kolterman
and his fellow searchers stared in shock-
ed silence. Then, careful not to disturb
the scene, they relayed their news to the
command post.

The site where the body was found is a
little more than two miles from the Offutt
Air Force Base where the search started.
Saunders County Sheriff Ron Poskochil,
who was with Kolterman, recalled that
several-cars and trucks had passed the

searchers along the road but said he
doubted drivers could see the body as
they passed.

‘*You would probably have to be on
foot to see it,’’ he explained.

Soon the*site was swarming with in-
vestigators. Because the land on which
the body was found is outside the city,
responsibility for investigating the case
shifted from the police to Sarpy County
Sheriff Pat Thomas.

More than 20 investigators spent more
than four hours at the scene collecting
and preserving evidence after the body
was taken for an immediate autopsy.
The clothes found answered the de-
scription of those Danny was known to
be wearing at the time of his dis-
appearance. Included in the evidence
picked up and tagged by officers were
two empty beer bottles and part of a
Saturday World-Herald found about 90
yards west of the body. Newspaper offi-
cials said copies of the previous day’s
papers often are used to shield the bottom

¥£ Bee
FBI sketc!
the comp
had been r

Slayin
Age: 18 |
Comple»
Race: W!
Height: 5
Weight:

Hair: Da:
Eyes: Br:

FBI sketch was +

of bundles droppe

The agonizing
family ended wher
identified the bod
son. During th
certainty, the fam
from the public b\
city officials, inves
ly’s parish priest |
search.

Officials were t
results of the autop
hard-pressing rey
death had resulte

ee

Hunters shot down a pheasant in this copse of plum ‘trees and hurried into the desolate spot to retrieve their bird.
But, they recoiled in horror when they spotted the body of Christopher Walden (inset) who lay on the frozen ground.

34

ad but said-he vA

see the body as

y have to be on
ained.

arming with in-
e land on which
outside the city,
ligating the case
to Sarpy County

zators spent more |

scene collecting
ce after the body
nediate autopsy.
iswered the de-
ny was known to
ime of his dis-
in the evidence
by officers were
»s and part of a
i found about 90
Newspaper offi-
ie previous day’s
) shield the bottom

=
~

>» their bird.

zen ground.

e oh

had been running.

Age: 18 to 25
Race: White

Hair: Dark

Eyes: Brown

FBI sketch of suspect ... This is
the composite that news media |

Slayings Suspect

Complexion: Dark coloring

Height: 5-foot-8 to 5-toot-1 0
Weight: About 160 pounds

‘Offutt.

Age: 20

John J. Joubert is native of Port- '
land, Maine, ... He is stationed at

Joubert’s Profile

Complexion: Light
Race: White

Height: 5-foot-6
Weight: 135 pounds
: Hair: Brown

Eyes: Biue

FBI sketch was not circulated at first because police felt It would frighten the abductor into killing his victim.

of bundles dropped off for the carriers.

The agonizing vigil of the Eberle
family ended when the grieving father
identified the body as that of his missing
son. During the three days of un-
certainty, the family had been shielded
from the public by police. Only some
city officials, investigators and the fami-
ly’s parish priest had visited during the
search.

Officials were tight-lipped about the
results of the autopsy that afternoon, but
hard-pressing reporters learned that
death had resulted from multiple stab

\

wounds, and it appeared the boy’s feet
had been bound.

Sheriff Thomas said several items
found at the scene had been sent for ex-
amination to the FBI laboratories in
Washington.

On Thursday, Bellevue was a city of
mourning. The flags on the city build-
ings were at half staff, and the flag out-
side Junior Mission High School across
the street from City Hall, where Danny
had attended classes, also was lowered.

The emotional shock waves resulting
from. the brutal slaying of the well-liked

youngster permeated the city. The sad-
ness was accompanied by concern and
outrage.

Investigators said there was a strong
possibility that the 13-year-old news-
paper carrier had not been killed at the
site where the body was found. Little
blood had been found there and the law-
men speculated that it might have been
hastily disposed of because the body had
been so close to the road.

Police Chief Robinson said teams
were checking empty buildings and re-
mote areas of Bellevue and Sarpy Coun-

35

ty for any clues that might indicate! a
second crime scene.

Grimly, the investigators worked
countless hours in an effort to come up
with a suspect, conscious of the growing
concern of parents in the area for the
safety of their children. Hundreds of tips
were run down and scores of persons
interrogated but the days and weeks
passed without a solid development.

And then, on December 2nd, 12-year-
old Christopher Hall Walden, the only
child of an Air Force lieutenant colonel,
left his Sarpy County home at 8:20.a.m.
to walk to the Pawnee Elementary
School 13 blocks away.

He never got there.

Christopher’s disappearance was not
noticed until his parents became alarmed
when he failed to réturn home at the
usual time. Apparently, the school au-
thorities believed he was legitimately ab-
sent on that fateful Friday, and his par-
ents naturally thought their son was
spending the day in school.

Once again an intensive investigation
was launched, using the same wide-
spread enforcement machinery that was
still in operation on the Eberle boy’s
murder.

Over the weekend, the disappearance
of the sixth grader was the banner line
story of Nebraska’s newspapers and
was the leadoff news of the television

Cars that led police to murder suspect. The Nova on the right was used in both the Walden and Eberle abductions.

36

and radio broadcasts.
Parents in Sarpy County homes in

neighboring counties, and school offi-
cials for miles around discussed plans for
safeguarding pupils during the coming
week. In the meantime, the hard-pressed
lawmen worked around the clock over
the weekend with no trace of the
vanished youngster.

‘Then, at about 5:00 p.m., as the win-
ter dusk closed in, two men were hunt-
ing along some, railroad tracks east of
Cornhusker Road when one of them fired
at a pheasant on the wing. The bird fell in
a copse of small plum trees about 75
yards from the road.

Congratulating themselves on the
good shot, the hunters hurried into the
trees to retrieve their bird. Suddenly,
they halted and recoiled in horror. There,
on’ the frozen ground was the partially
clothed body of a small boy. Without
disturbing the scene, the hunters, shaken
by what they had seen, notified authorit-
ies.

There was little doubt in the minds of
the score of investigators about the
identity of the body as they rushed to the

scene and their fears were confirmed.
The disappearance of Christopher Wal-
den had been solved.

Law enforcement officers would not
discuss in detail the condition of the
body, but one of them said, ‘‘It was just

Bi

’

like the other one,’’ meaning the body
was only partly clothed and the boy had
died of multiple stab wounds.

Chief Robinson, asked if he thought
the same person had murdered both
boys, replied: ‘‘There’s always doubt,
but as a human being I think so.”’

The investigators at the scene were
hampered by the freezing temperature,
the blowing snow, darkness and the ter-
rain. The area was roped off and a lighted
line was run from the crime unit truck on

the road to the scene 75 yards away and
was used by the officers to avoid dama-

ging any physical evidence.

In addition to the two tracks in the
snow made by the hunters, the in-
vestigators found two other sets entering
the grove of trees from the railroad
tracks. Only one set of tracks emerged
from the scene, causing lawmen to con-
jecture Christopher had probably been
forced by the killer to walk to the place
where he died.

Chuck Wiley, an FBI agent, said the
killer ‘‘probably was a single individual
and that it might be someone who
doesn’t have a criminal record.”’

On the next day, Tuesday, a compos-
ite picture of a man the authorities said
might be a suspect in the Christopher
Walden slaying was released. The offic-
ers would not discuss a reported eyewit-
ness description of the abduction other

*
as *

than to
somewhe!
followed t
witnesses
night afte:
appearan
was drav

The of{
a white ma
dark comp!
feet-10 in
ing a dark
jacket whe

Asked »
from Satt
covered i
Wiley ex;
have force

“We fe!
chance he
released,’

Both Th
they felt t!
leased, it
abductor

Regard:
witnesses
not seen {
He said th
thing vic
cause ther
bit they
they lear

The }
with trait
the comn
Thursday
al.and bet
Wiley sai
additiona|
bringing ti

Chief R:
force wor)
case now
officers \
combined
viction of tt

Thirty-t\
helping tt
and scores
Omaha po!
dents volu
hoped wou!
ers.

In addi
vestigative :
lawmen we
covered str
braska wa:
cember in |

A pall
usually ch
season as |
more cor

rerican workingmen
r & cénts a burhel
lost to this

overnment, and
make the loan.
V¥ PRICE.
: advertised and a
follare subscribed at
“‘-h as 32 per
igmen War,
€ date: ‘Give
ai. own terme.
ig.’ And during all
n the statute books
free coinage of sli-
to 1, but no protec-
‘eform measure was
of 1867, with all its
when in 1861 Abra-
reins of government
carury and a ruined
ariff was again en-
ew vigor, it brougnt
ajeed to carry on the
at was brought to a
he country was left
rating  $2,600,009,000.
ff we saw that debt
re@ched $840,009,009,
yn of President Har-
infshed nearly $300,-
, $11,006,000 annual
1 Mr. Cleveland wae
ople were employed
rosperous, With his
‘tion war dethroned.
“ult? We have seen
-nment revenues. We
waring debt Increase
expensed of the gov-
un the atfhual Intesest
000, “We have seen
indreds ‘of thotisands
hrown ‘fitd idleness.
rying for work with
pair, and compelled
he bread of charity.
e repeal of the reci-
» give us an Increased
tuffs and meats, and
» decreased consumn-
lespread idleness, we
every product of the
iated In value. And
this we are now told
not to the tariff, but
We cannot forget that
the same money con-
tariff! we were pros-
that If a policy is
1,° “*e@ people em-
» | wage earners
ey we may look
ve, .-.. we are given
he tariff question is
» {deal condition, that
ctory.
MORE EVIL.
‘ink that a settlement
n by the- same party
sults would be satis-

g

iat more have we to

with what persistency
the republican *plat-

s advocate ar a ‘gold-
same assumption of
mmedan refers to the
and with equally as
‘publican platform de-
ent gold standard be
aternational agreement
of silver can be per-
interpretation:
>, gold, paper or silver,
he same value, and the
te shall be gold, ar it
ig the most prosperous
I cannot under;
objection can be urged
certainly do not want
to be worth less than

one

life.

he free coinage discus
o insist that silver wil
with gold, so tha

e the free silver man’s

the free and unlimited
der such conditions as
-—p what money we have

ianent benefit of all ad
n prudence go further

g to adopt the converse
*.

» me is that 1 do not,

of allowing the min
ece of silver worth fift
and have it stamped

believe it to be fraught
unger and If carried out
: serious to every. Inter-

nation
required to suppress
t left the country #0
ent was rent to Eu-
00 to pay the run-
he
1 enough confidence

whatever margin reme
crnment. This was not and Is not satis-
factory to the mine owner; he wants the
freedom of the mint; he wants the privi-
lege of having his plece of rilver stamped
a dollar, though the judgment of the world
says it is worth but Su cents. It Is a
demand without a paralicl in history and the
very suggestion of its success will be
watched for with anxiety and fear. Very
respectfully, A. B. CADY."”
—
CHIEFS RBACH THE
On the Way to the Coevention at Salt
Lakercity.
There was a crowd at the depot yesterday
morning to eee the fre <hiefs’ train. “Spud”
Farish did the honors tn behalf of the Omaha
department, and about the first -man he
struck was Chief McFall from Roanoke, Va.,
"Spud‘s ° old home,
The train, which consisted of one bag-
gage, one smoker, one diner, and seven
sicepers, came in over the Chicazo, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul to a echedule dot, hav-
ing left Chicago ct 6 o'clock Thursday even-
ing, arriving here at 8:06. It came in two
sections, the fire bosses from the many differ-
ent eastern cities oceupying the first sec-
tion. There were just 161 of the tourists,
after being joined here by Chief Redell and
Truck Driver M. E. Gilbert of the local
department, Chief Smith of South Omaha,
Captains Bates and Sanderson of Council
Bluffs and Chief Kellogg of Sioux City.
The big party comprised one of the largest
tranrcontinental excursjons that has passed
through Omaha in many many moons,
The train pulled ont at 8:20 over the
Union Pacific, with the famous Colonel
Sam Hutchison, traveling passenger agent.
in charge, who during the layover here,
with the efficient aid of City Ticket Agent

FIRE crry,

Alex Cassius Dunn, succeeded in getting
enough ice on board to cool at ijeast c
battalion of fevered brows. The train

had to be run in two sections, owing to extra
equipment, and notwithstanding ample ac-
commodations were supposed to have been
made at Chicago, an extra Pullman was
hooked on here, and it is quite likely more
will have to be added before Salt Lake Is
reached.

The annual convention of fire chiefs con-
venes at the Utah metropolis next Monday.
and the train bearing the country's most
potable characters in this line will reach
that city at 3.10 tomorrow afternoon. Ke-

turning, the train will leave Salt Lake,
August 14, 7.49 p. m.; arrive Glenwood,
August 15, 8:11 a. m.;_ arrive Colorada

Springs, August 15, 6:54 p. m.; teave Colorado
Springs, August 16, 6:54 p. m.: arrive Denver,
August 16, 9:25 p. m.; leave Denver, August
18, 10:30 p. m.; arrive Omaha, August 1%.
4:45 p. m,: leave Qmaha, August 19, 6:30 p.
m.; arrive Chicago, August 20, 9:25 a. m.
en

IN THE MOUSE

NOTHING TO EAT.
Pitifal Tale Told to the Pollee by an
Omaha Woman,

An extreme case of destitution and de-
pravity was brought to the notice of the
police yesterday in the family of James
Horne, living in a humble little dwelling at
418 South Seventeenth street. Mrs. Horne
was first known to the police about a month

ago when she was taken into custody one
night for soliciting upon the street. When
arraigned before Judge Gordon she told a
pitiful story in which she said she was the
mother of a child still in arms and that she
had been forced hy poverty to such methods
of procuring a living. Upon these state-

ments-—Jtdge Go ismissed the case
and the woman depart declaring. that
she would sin no more. .

Yesterday the woman, em clated, with
’ semblance of her former self. ap-
d to Matron Bennett for fpod. She tes-
aten nothing for three
e had in the
all quantities

»

1
t

r, brutally told his

btain the materials
me manner In which
‘attempted to do. Upon
struck her repeatedly in
the fate; ed her wile nanres and left
the house in a rage. There was nothing
left for the womafi to do except to steal or
apply to the ¢ity authorities, and she chose
the latter course.

Matron Bennett vjsited the home of Mre.
Horne and found the eondition of things as
represented. There was not a particle of
provisions In the house, and it was meagerly

°
4
eq

y
a

The commercial value] furnished with a few odd pleces of fur-
te the composition | niture. In company with Mrs. Bennett the
re ly one-half the} woman visited the county commissioners
o on its face. The | and afterward went to ‘the supply depot,

Wis ove False its value
Because ‘the coin rests
value, it is not redeem-
rchangeable, the govern-
its
ll be determined by the
‘oughout the world. Do)

responsibility and

asa

where she was provided with a goodly store
of edibles in the form of flour. meat and
vegetables, sufficient to. last a fortnight. An
effort will be made «by Mrs. Bennett,
through some charitable people of the city,
to procure additional supplies for the des-
titute womaa.

healthy man.
Hoover came out from hie cell on the
upper tier and faced the north window, the
light streaming In on his face and showing
there not the faintest sign of fear. The
sheriff! stood over close to the window and
siowly read the death warrant, the final
deerce of the supreme court in the case.
Hoover kept his eyes intently on the official,
who was charged with the solemn duty of
taking his life, standing’ firm, with his head
bent slightly backward.
: .MARCH TO THE GALLOWS.
As he stood there close to Sheriff Me-
Donald, who ts an unusually large and well-
built man, Hoover appeared insignificantly
small. A man of short stature, he seemed
smaller than ever before. He was dressed
in a suit of black clothes that bad been
made for the occasion. They were of light
weight. The coat was of a sack cut and
was held together with the top button alone.
In his buttonkole there was a beautiful
white rose, with a single leaf back of it.
His linen was of spotless white, and a neat
black tle was worn at the neck.
Sheriff McDonald read the deerce of the
state's highest judicial tribunal. Before he
had finished a half dozeo words he stopped
and gave a faint cough. From then on he
read with a hesitancy that indicated his act
was the most disagreeable he had ever been
called upon to perform. Immediately after
the reading of the official document, the
little proceselon started on its march to the
then

gallows. A deputy was in the lead,
came the sheriff. followed by Hoover, with
his clergymen, Drs. Lee and Mercer and

representatives of the press.

With a slow tread the little party de
sceendcd the fron etairs, every fcotfall echoing
throughout the dim fall. Through the lower
main cell and then through the first floor
corridor, past, the office, and finally through
the kitchen, tho procession advanced to the
scaffold. Not for a moment did the man
who was condemned to give up his life in-
terrupt the awful march. While others
marched along with bowed heads and with
every indication of nervousness, Hoover
walked with a firmness that could not es-
cape attention.

CONFESSION BY HOOVER.

The crowd of officials and physielans in
the enclosed space fell back as the party
came out from the jail. There
ascended to the scaffold with Hoover
Sheriff McDonald, Deputies Lewis, Stryker
and Shand, Revs. J. M. Wilson and C. W.
Savidge and Attorney Powers. The at-
torney made 4 talk that appeared to many
unnecessarily long, if not altogether In-
opportune, carefully rehearsing the legal
status of the'case and announcing that he
had done all tn his power to save the life
of his client. He then read the following
letter written by the condemned man:
OMAHA, Aug. 6, 18%.—On the day T took
the life of my friend und brother-in-law,
Samuel DuBois, I was drunk. Most of the
events of that afternoon are a blank to me
and what I remember appears Hke a dream,
I know no more about It. It was not my
conscious and intentional act. .

I say this believing I have but one day
more to live, :

My death must be laid at the door of In-
temperance. To owas crazed by drink and I
killed my friend. [made my sister tt widow
and took from his children, whom _ I love,
their natural protector. [I hope God_iias
forgiven me. CLAUDE H. HOOVER.

Witness; ,

CHARLES W. SAVIDGE,

M. Cc. AICHESON. °

He was followed by Hoover. He addressed
the curious auditors as ‘friends’ and said
that he was firmly convinced that he should
be taken to his heavenly home. He stated
that he had no malice and bore no ill-will
toward any one. “God bless you all. I
am ready,’ were his last words. Rev. J.
M. Wilson then offered a- fervent prayer.
asking God to have mercy on the soul of
the man who was about to die. Continuing.
he prayed that, ‘while we must execute civil
laws we have no jurisdiction over divine
law. Wethank Thee, our Heavenly Father,
that Thou canst save all those that come
unto Thee. We would pray especially that
Thou wouldst comfort the mother and the
sister in their deep distress. May we all
take warning from this to: avold that terri-
ble habit of intemperance.” Then with
the regular benediction of the Presbyterian
church he brought the religious services to
a close

The sheriff stepped forward and adjusted
the black cap. It fitted well and was
placed over Hoover's head without any
blundering or delay. Just before the cap
was drawn over his head the deputies tied
the straps about his ankles and about hie
knees. He talked in a low tone to the
sheriff. When the cap was drawn
over his head it fell partly over his shoul-
ders. but on the left side the front part was
drooped back somewhat, allowing the one
flower that adorned his coat lapel to stand
out in beautiful contrast with the somber
black that was all about it. .

SPRINGING THE DROP.

It was exactly thirty-seven minutes after

11 o'clock when the electric buttons were

pressed and the task. was. done.

auy of there. around hii bee wan
nervous and the pulsations of his heart
were as regular as found in the case of any

| Thursday evening Rev. Wilson called at the

jail rhortly after 7 o'clock and was at once
admitted to Hoover's cell, Hoover had just
finished a hearty supper of pork chops,
witermelon and a, giass of milk. From 7
until & o'clock the two prayed and sang, and
conversed on things spiritual, At 9 o'clock
Rev. Savidge called and remained
until 1:45 o'clock yesterday morn-
Ing. Most of the time was spent in
singing the hyms that were dearest to
Hoover, and in prayer. From: the early
morning hour at which the religious adviser
tonk leave of hia.charge for the night,
Hoover talked with the death watch until
about half an hoor after the clock had
struck 2. Hoover soon went to sleep and
slept soundly until 6 o'clock yesterday morn-

ing. He woke up, but not with any
sudden start or with any indica-
tion that any thought or bad

dream was troubling him. Hie exchanged a
few words with his watcher and rolled off
to sleep once more. This ‘time It was to
sleep until daylight. Thé .wun had risen
and was gently peering in the single win-
dow of the solitary cell when Hoover arose.
It lacked about fifteen minutes of 7, and
by the time the hour was reached break-
fast was served, Hoover did not cat as
though he was going to meet his final doom
within the next few hours. He disposed
of a goodty portion of a fine steak, musk
melon and other fruit, and ate heartily and
as though he enjoyed It. After finishing
his breakfast he chatted with the watches
until &:30, when his attorneys put in thelr
appearance. They asked if there was any-
thing further that they could do, and re-
ceiving a negative reply, expressed the
wish that their services had been sratia-
factory to Heover. The latter sald ‘‘Yer,”
and told them that everything was all right.

The attorneys were soon followed by the
clergymen, who have been incessant in
their attendance upon the condemned man.
Both ministers prayed fervently and length-
fly for the salva.ion of the man’s saul, and
then Hoover joined them, praying in a firm,
though quiet tone, that his Creator would
receive his soul and comfort the afflicted
members of his family.

Hoover shook hands with his watchers as
he went away, and thanked them again and
again for thelr kindnesses to him during
his rolitary confinement. He gave Deputy
Shand a little fotder in which had been
written two selections from the bible, and

asked that It be given Mrs. Shand. It had
been sent him by his little niece, There
was also In his room a small diary. In it

he had kept count on the days that he had
to live. August 7 was checked off some
time ago. He marked off yesterday during
the services last night.

OUTSIDE THE STOCKADE.

The morbidly curious began to gather In
the {immediate vicinity of the court house
at an early hour. By 9 o’clock there were
several hundred men and_ boys, with an
occasional woman mixed in the crowd, at
the corners of Seventeenth and Harney, and
Eighteenth and Harney streets. A few
venturesome persons had climbed to the
roofs of adjoining buildings, but ft is doubt-
ful if they were repaid for their trouble as
the gallows was so situated that It was

save within the enclosure. By 10 ofleock
the crowd bad doubled its size, but it ap-
proached no nearer the jall.

The police arrangements were excellent,
as were all the details of the execution.
Chief Sigwart had twelve: men: stationed
around the court house square, and no
group of persons was allowed to gather
there. On the court house lawn several
more officers, under Captain Haze and Ser-
geant ler ,were on hand to keep the curious
ones away. Twenty more officers were held
In reserve at the police station should
their services be r7quired, but such was ‘not
the case. Shortly before nocn, when it
was known that Hoover had been hanged,
another great crowd gathered about the
undertaking establishment of M. O. Maul,
where it was expected the remains would
be received. But as the body was not
taken to that place at all, those who had
waited there for several hours found but
little reward for their time spent there.

caer anaes
WHAT HOOVER WAS HANGED FOR,
Killed Hin Brother-in-Law, Sam Du-
Boia, on December 13, Tk.

Claude H. Hoover shot and killed his
brother-in-law, Sam DuBois, about 6 o'clock
on the evening of Friday, December 13, 1895.
The crime was committed in a little shoe
shop at 418 South Thirteenth street. Hoover
was talking about some difficulty he had had
with his brother-in-law. and toward the end
of the conversation he sald:

“rT wish he was here now.
a quarter if he was.”

As if ip answer to the summons the
figure of DuBois appeared in the doorway In
a few moments. He entered the shop and
walked to a spot within two feet of Hoover.

I would give

(Continued om Page Ten.)

7

almost impossible to see it from any point»

ASG, Or Be Fe ame
accomplished wonders. Th
Illinois, Indiana and Ohio
astonished. They confessed th:
had the vagucat comprehension
magnitudé or agricultural res:
in fact, the whole state looks
dise, with its limitless oceat
grain, ite broad hay flelds, be
and heavy verdure. The cour
day as fresh as It usually ¢
There are no reared corn fleld
prairie land; all Is one mig
green,
“Many people joined us al
and accompanied us for a day
Into the spirit of the project
at Hastings Governor Holcon
nice speech. In fact, they tr
potentates all along the line.”
prt se aah

Tips for Sportsr
The passenger department
Pacific has just Issued two
umes of extraordinary inter
The first is a neat 100-page
“Outdoor Sports and Pastime
berides much valuable Infor
vised and corrected rules f
all kinds, including .base }
cricket, croquet, curling, fo
hotkey, lacross, tennis, polo, ¢
and so on and so forth, dov
whole sporting gamute
The second volume ts a ha
trated thirty-two-page pamph'
Club Rules and the Revised
the Western States and Te
contains the American Shootl
rules in full and the London
together with much instruct
ence to target shooting, live
guna, boats, fishing parapne:
shot, canoes and dogs.
All the game laws of the
and territories are given, ¢
date, with additional matte
the character of the country c
territory, the best hunting
fish and game to be found.

Heels Over Head 1
A busy institution is th
partment of the Fremont,
sourt Valley these hot sum
eral Passenger Agent Buc
with his chief alde, Jim Mu
of clerks, are busy prepari
coming state fair. A few
state fair literature, show
tising pamphlets are to be
and addressed. Mr, Munn ¢t
will spare neither labor or
endeavor to make the fair
most profitable gathering tl
known.

Fort Crook St
H. G. Clark, general supe:
Missour! Pacific, St. Louts,
the purpose of establish!
Fort Crook, and will, in al
fore he leaves, appoint a:
same, The understanding
souri Pacific Intends to gi
station building, on the
architecture, one that wi
ornament to the place.

Sxporition Directors
The regular Friday meet
of directors of the expositio:
terday afternoon was devote
business. A full mreting «
will be held at the Com
night, at which a full
expected from all departm¢

Rallway Notes and

Howard E. Long, the ¢
city passenger agent of
floated in yesterday.

General Passenger Agent
been In Portland for some
the city today.

Mr. Clinton Franklin of
Agent Lane's department t
a summer outing in the mo

L. F. Cochroft, general
of the Oceanic Steamshi
Francisco, Is In town for a

Conductor Harry Hopktr
the fire chiefs’ excursion
through this city via the
Union Pacific yesterday m
North Platte.

Frank Hummell, chief c

the Union Pacific's e@
Denver, returned to his
morning. Mr. Hummell b
a sad errand, the burial o

William Washington §
cusine of the whole Pull
years, and the most pop
catercr in the country tods
having returned from a tl
to the Sandwich Islands.

George Clayton, genere
Wabash. with his son left y
for a trip /to the coast.
make a hasty tour of A
turning. ealling for Sitka
Queen, Aypigust 20. :

of

sin tn eager te attic gee te A



i. fm e
wrod

Rare


gowns inade simple. | the obstinacy oe ane Beewe, eee sve
pure white. Orleanists.
ta of domestic selenece Extract of cloves transforms the milk of
these of England and, honest thought Into the vrankest polson.
all of housekeeping I3| How true! Did not Roulangism adopt the
nd no diploma is issued | red carnation as its symbol?

bee te Oe oe This Kasence of bergamot changes the frivolous
a | n Germany | spirit. into the profound and meditative
an ole. thinker, while vervain has the merit of

ony : cry of — pale inatilling artistic ideas. Hut the king
‘ iw" protnerie ae . ie among perfumes fs, without doubt, amber-
ig ee sg obiek ‘orth are gris, Refore ambergris all bow, for It Is
te wawagays as in the the “divine esseuce on which alone genius

aap may be nurtured, The one thing tmportant

- ows so into the to be known Is the particular dose of am-"
in it becomes a1) 5 is that gave birth to this ti {
‘ nature.’ Chil- yergris that & birth most Iingenl-
ice a decided Hking for | Us *y8tem-
few drops 3 -
a : op of listerine Cotillons seem to Be dying out In London
with which the teeth ‘ :
ballrooms, says an English writer. So many
mouth rinsed.
hosteases found the crowd that stayed to lonk

, o] -

5 nee heen, po on and obstructed the rooms intolerabie,
life as simple and ap- while the present habtt/of girls only dancing
as that we see today in with the people they are tntroduced to makes
ge,” writes Emma As- the cotillon itself a dull affair. Abroad the
, article on “The Home eatillon enables girls to dance with any one
Joan of Are.” in July they like and to score small triumpha In
d. ‘She arose with the | vanity, as the most admired and most sought
or sister made the fire, after, introducing thus an element of excite-
across the grass to the ment into the ordinary dance, Here, how-
assisted in the prepara- ever, the spifit of the cotillon ts not under-

and it is rapidly falling into de-

‘akfast. Noonday found stood,
vr ig the peasant homme euetude. Por contra the large houser hav?

anYong old and young, opened their doors this season, balls have
tre it. With the other been or will be given at Lansdowne house,
ie horses to water, and at Lady Derby's, at the duchess of Bue-
lrove the flocks and the cleuch’s and by vartous other hostesses who
to a common pasturage | hitherto have stood supinely by and allowed
wsttoward Neufchateau. the millionaires to usurp all the honors of

of 13 Joan saw her first ; hospitality. :
neadows pear her home } ——
older, appeared to her Mra. Stowe had not visited Furope since

heard of

‘me of her stories Base? | 1859, and very little bad been
in

« of the volces at last | her since her attack upon Lord Byron
er, who was naturally | 1X69, which irreparably damaged her repu-
and angry, not only to | tation. Mre. Stowe made one of the great-
eo daughter was becom- | est of literary successes with “Uncle Tom's
ock of the village, but | Cabin,” but she profited but little by the
ips she was losing her | achievement. According to the London
ain manner he reproved | Truth ber visit: to England in 1853 was a
ention to the presump- | blaze of triumph. but she offended many of
1B In urging her ability | her Knropean friends by the revelations
——, armies. He land comments In her “Sunny Memories of
ft al ae Foreign Lands," published in 1854. whieh
14 not cease her foolish Macaulay abused as “a mighty foolish and
- to the brook and drown impertinent book.” It ts, however, a work
‘ands. Hardly knowing which ean still be Jooked through with
to cambat the subtle considerable entertainment.

: bal Mrs, Stow” pald a second visit to England |
cqued to be surrounding |; ers ' t a oe
‘termined to marry her ! in i> ald © the trip war a disappointment, |

) and“most_of her quondam friends in London H

Ty ignormRher existence, regarding her |
obsolety and played out. Her melancholy
tatement ts made that/|/ nd nyfrtiftying experiences during the visit
eri meke up" their| //Causy ulay |to Indite some weighty
hd as carefully as sin rks in }his ary upon the subject of
tons.

Jo *rwood's remark |\ i
\ “There / onok ng more pittable than an |

men of the village, but
end to his hopes in that \u

resting. ‘I know of but
x in the best soctety,” s-lion or lioness. London, 1 have often |
ught, is Ti the sorceress In the ‘Ara- |

terview once, “who use t
are abhorred by those bial Nichts-“who, by some mysterious law,
ind are detested -in every jean Jove’ the. xame object only forty days.

of those who aspire to’ During forty days she is all fondness. A&8

_ DEBATE...

BLTWEEN

LIAM), BRYAN,
EDWARD. ROSEWATER

iil stenographic report of the, discussion 0
question, which took place at. Creighton
>r, Omaha, May 35,°1896, was printed in
‘ee after correction of ty ographical errors by
{ the principals in the debate.
RO eee

Copies May Still Be Had.

es & & Price 5 Cents.

Vin. ot apply to the Bee Business Office.

vd
w

,

NPR, OP TOR, eee, ee es ee ft
plorer, had sixty proposals of marriage |
one day while In the Dark Continent. This
extraordinary event occurred] when she was
being entertained by one of the Zulu chiefs,
Mra. Sheldon was given the hame of Bebe
Bwana by an African sultan whom she
visited. :

—-—

HOOVER PAYS THE PENALTY

——

(Continued from Page Nine.)
Hoover sprang to his feet, and drawing @
revolver, he eried:

“Tr have you now where I want you,” con-
cluding with a curse.

He fired twice. DuBois, a physical efant,
et once grappled with his smatier assailant,
Hie took away the revolver and then dragged
HMoover into a drug store next door, There
he turned him over to some men standing
by with the remark, “He has shot me. Oh!
my poor wife and children.”

DuBois walked to the rear of the store
unassisted and awaited the arrival of phy:
sicions. He was found to be fatally shot,
and was rerfioved to the Presbyterian hospl-
tal. He lngered until the following day
and then expired.

Hoover was arrested immediately after
the shooting. It was said he was Intoxi-
cated. The burden of his guilt did not bear
heavily upon him until he had sobered up,
if he was drunk, and after he learned that
his victim could not live. While DuBois
was grappling With him he exclaimed sev-
eral times, ‘I told you 1 would kill you.”

TRIAL A RECORD BREAKER,

The two men were aupposed generally to
be on good terms, especially as Hoover lived
at DuHois’ house, but it developed In the
trial that they had- been divided over
Hoover's treatment of a 16-year-old half-
sister, Kate Brophy. Hoover objected to her
intimacy with another girl. ©n the after-
noon of the murder Hoover was again re-
monstrating with the girl regarding the
obnoxious acquaintanceship in DuBots’ ofice
at Thirteenth and Howard streets; “when
Deattois entered, The twoomnen quarreled, and
the upshot was that DuBois discharged
Hoover, who had been working for him, and
paid him his wages.

The trial furnished a record-breaker in
the fact that only two weeks elapsed from
the time the murder was commitied until
Hoover was convicted of murder in the first
degree, It was begun on Thursday, lecem-
ber 26, at 2 o'clock Ino the afternoon, and
was completed Saturday morning at 10:30
o'clock Karly Saturday evenhas the jury
reached its verdict. The hearing covered
thirty-six hours, but the actual titne con-
gumed was only fourteen hours, and of this
but five hours and a half were occupled
with the introduction of testimony.

After the verdict was received the attore
neys for the condemned man at onee began
proceedings for a new trial, alleging that
they were burried to trial, and ate alleg-
ing numerous errors: on the part of Judge
Seott, who at that time was upen the erlm-
inal bench, fhe supreme court overruled
the motion for a new trial, and then an
appeal was made to the governor, The ree
sult of the Jatter effort is found dn the re-
cent decision of the governor,

There are not a few who believe that
Hoover's trial was unfortunate for him in
point of time. During the same session of
court in which It occurred noe Jess than
eight men besides himself had been are
ralgned for murder In the first degree, Six
cases were on. the docket. It is beljeved
that the prevalence of the crime had much
to do with the verdiet of the jurymen,

The murdered man, Sam DuBois, was well
known Jn the city. He was a politician in
the First ward, had been a policeman, and
at the time of his death was councilmane
elect from his ward.

ae

HIS ORIGINAL IDEA.

Snagmenta nm Practient Rearrangement
of the CUnlenduar.

“T don't see why they Ajdn't regulate
things differently,” said the positive man
to the Washinkton Star. “These people who
fixed up the calendar made a mighty poor

job of It, it seems to me.”
“you couldn t make any difference In the

weather.”

“T couldn't? That shows just how thought-
leas the world ix. There's about one man
in 200 who really has ideas, and the other 199
generally put tn most of thelr time making
fun of him, They Jet the short months Iike
February7and November and April come in
cool weather, when we could stand the
temperature. Why didn't they put ‘em all
in a bunch in suinmer tine, so that we
could get through with it? Here we are,
compelled to drag along with the longest
months and the longest days and the hottest
weather at the same time. No wonder 80
many people get disgusted with the way

SN Oa Gab ‘ate PG
SIBERIA BAP SB

things are rup!’”

ig inrode alae i)
~ th Perse BAe 3 v.
oe we. on“ ee  antiel
« wg 7. pies asst, 4
'
ff
ee

~

RG wane 4

- TTT. ta es ence tT es Te

*, exeert

tigated is th

Seater

“yam Gets, public
on Ymports ant

acta. «

Geld certifica:
gpetiema!l bank 1
tut beth cleanser
atie for all pt

eongrens April
The cold unk
eontaine TRF 4
fine Gold te)
of $2.50, BH. $1!
quarter eagle
Gouble everien
The total ct
of the Tnited
IRM. is $1.614
grated that 55

at the mints ¢
apprared frem
&
The sitver t
teins S1%% ers
The amount ¢
IT71% erates.
copper alicr. ”
firrt authorir:
Ite wetrht wi
tote) amerrt
FK.ONLLRS. an?
to June 3.
coinage retin
the art of 17!
of YRIT it we
gooniv caltied
Tatio
Of the $0
coined since
beta in the
#14.062, art
wry wee FT
the sworn
sued acrbeet
eilver Sotter
commerce! +
Jwne BB IR?
moereial valor
Jar on that 4

The first
the poveram
authorized b:
, gtet 5. 146.
'‘@emnpd py

able on Oem

treasuries. =
peblic cves.
trea te reise
time within
guste ves i
The amon

was FS" POD 6

Ne Nw was

err 1% 1k

amounting
were paid fr

Gemption ac

pobtie cues

wented thelr

All other
precisted in
gumrtion of

Tetrnary 2°

etitution of

ef the deme

=————

{ * * ier Bes oi . A “7 et he : ‘
ony ' Ae zoe ha,. fts ‘and viens.

i oo a ity: Continued cloudy ». abhy
z ; : showers, slight change in temperature:
tonight. sie

: QO For Friday: semper- |

ature,’ RSE

——
A, NEBRASKA, TH

URSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1896. |

/HOLCOMB BY ACCLAMATIO

Nebraska's Governor Is Renomi-
nated by the Populists at
Hastings.
eee
John C. Harris of Nemaha County Gets
the Cnanimous Indorsement for
Second Place.
Se
Democrats Withdraw Their Request for Repre-
sentation on the State Ticket—Equal
Division of Electors Favored,
Governor...., ees ec s SILAS A, HOLCOMR
Lieutenant Governor. .JAM ES E. HARRIS
Secretary of State W. F. PORTER
Auditor » CORNELL

Levee. BO MBSERVE
me Court..............

Fete wie ose ain ek siglo 5c » 8. KIRKPATRICK
Superintendent..........., RL JACKSON
Land Commissioner.......... » Vv. WOLFE

Special Dispatch to the World-Herald.
Hastings, Neb., Aug. 5.—The popuilst

convention was called to order by
Chairman Edgerton. He introduced
the Rey. Mr. Isham of this city, who

Opened the session with an
prayer,

Mayor Evans extended a cordial w
come to those

appropriate

cl-
present and hoped the
labor of the convention would result in
Bood to the state and nation. He
eulogized Governor Holcomb and his ad-
ministration. Hon. W. A. Poynter of

Boone county responded to the mayor's
welcome,

Hon. A. H.Weir of L
mously chosen
and F. E. Eager
retary with tw

incoIn was unanl-
temporary chairman
elected tempurary sec-
oO assistants. Nearly
every county in the state was repre-
sented and there being no contests those
having credentials were seated without
referring the matter toa committee.
After appointing committees on per-
manent organization and order of busi-
ness the convention took & recess until
1 o'clock.

COMMITTEE ON ELECTORS.

On the assembling of the convention
this afternoon, and after the committee
on rules and order of business had re-
ported, Captain P, H, Barry offered the
following:
“Resolved, That the matter of select-
ing presidential electors be referred to
the executive committee of thé state
central committee under such instruc-
tions as shall be contained in the reso-
hoe to be adopted by this conven-
tlon.”

Porter of Merrick objected to leaving
80 Important a matter to so small a
committee and moved to amend by sub-
stituting the central committee for the
executive committee. The amendment
was accepted and, aftepgome warm dis-
cussion, the resolution was adopted.
Proceeding with the regular order of
business, Governor Holcomb was nomi-
nated by acclamation, under suspension
of the rules. While the committee was
out to notify Governor Holcomb of his
nomination the convention was favored
by a couple o humoroys songs by some.
Hastings ladies, after which the fulew
Were again suspended and James E.Har
ris of Nemaha county was nominated
by acclamation for Neutenant governor.
Governor Holcomb was brought In and
‘spoke for half an hour, telling of the
‘efforts he had made to invest the state
achool funds, the opposition he had met,
of the penitentiary troubles, and say-
ings he had effected In running those
state institutions where officers were ap-
pointed by him,

CONFER WITH DEMOCRATS,
Upon the coyvention being informed
that a committee from the state demo-
cratic central committee was In the city
asking for a conference with a like com-
mittee from the convention, it was
moved that a committee of fourteen be
appointed and that further business be
suspended until the committee reported
and report was acted upon, An adjourn-
ment wad taken until 9 o'clock p.m.

The convention reconvened at: 9:30.
The committee appointed to confer with
a committee from the democrats re-
ported that the democrats asked that
the nomination of candidates for treas-
urer and attorney general be left vacant.
The committee reported without recom-
mendation. a

a
»
3
=
a
2
cy
Py
4

For commi
bulldings th H,
Waldron of Adams, A. M. Walling of
Butte county, Frank Hibbard of Doug-
las, J. V. Wolfe of Lancaster.

J. V. Wolfe of Lincoln was nominated
for land commissioner,

Or motion of Porter of Merrick, the

that the state central
empowered to fill any va-
may occur upon the ticket.

———.
RUSHING IT ALONG.

Wisconatn Republicans Lose No Time
in Preliminary Routine,
Millwaukee, Wis., Aug. 6.—Exposition
hall was well crowded when Chairman
Griffin at 10:15 o'clock called the repub-
lican_ state convention to order. No
time was lost in Preliminaries and the
seconding speeches for candidates were
taken up where they were left off when
the convention adjourned last night.
The first sceconding speech this morn-
ing was made by Theodore Zillmer of
the Fourth district, for Lafollette, and
he wag followed by Judge Reed of Ap-

committee be
cancy which

pleton with a glowing eulogy on
Baensch.,

Henry Sanford of Calumet county
also seconded the nomination of

Baensch, and Scofield
C. R. Boardman of Os
Following this addre
of Mondovi

was seconded by
kash,

ss, W. L. Hansen
seconded the nomination of

Bradford. Ex-Lieutenant Governor
Fifield of Ashland made a ringing speech
for Scofield, Congressman Minor of

Sturgeon Bay seconded the nomination
of Scofield. George P. Rossman of Ash-
land seconded the nomination of Lafol-
ette. Judge Clason of Oconto also sec-
onded Scofield and E. G. Mills closed the
seconding speeches for Lafolette.

The roll call of counties war then or-

dered for the first ballot. The first
ballot resulted as follows:

Lafolette, 261%: Scofield, 249%;
Baensch, §3: Eliott, 48%; Bradford, 31;
Estabrook, 6.

Second ballot, no chofce: Lofolette,

258; Scofeld, 26814; Raensch, 86
31; Bradford, 30; Estabrook, 6.
Fourth Ballot—-Scoficld, 3151.3 Lafol-
ette, 250; Baensch, 9444; Eliott, 9; Brad-
ford, 8: Estabrook, 3.

——_
GOD MEN ASSEMBLING,

‘Sound Money”? Democrata are Slow.
ly Gathering —Cleveland Is Silent,
Indianapolis, Ind., Aug. 6.—The dele-
gates to Friday's conference of the pro-
visional national committee of the gold
democrats began arriving today. The
first to reach the city were M. L. Craw-
ford of Dallas, Tex., and J. P. Smith of
Tort Worth, Tex. The Texas delegates
had little to say of the proposed confer-
ence, but from their utterances, it may
be said that they are not entirely in
favor of a gold convention.

The Pennsylvania delegation arrived
shortly. after noon. Congressman By-
hum says that more than thirty states
will be represented. Word was received
this morning to the effect that New Jer-

%; Elliott,

ing of the fact that not one word had
been received from President Cleveland,
who {gs put down ar favoring the nomi-
nation of a gold ticket. It was expected
that he would, at ledat, indirectly, en-
courage the ¢onference, and his silence
{a not looked upon with favor by many.

SMOOTH SAILING IN MISSOURI,

Work of the Democratic Convention |!
Is Marked by Harmony,

hall of representatives when Chairman
Peer's gavel reassembled the democratic
state convention at 9:26 o'clock this
morning.

On the balloting for state auditor, J.
M. Setbert, the present incumbent, was
renomIinated hy a vote of 336% to J. K.
Brown's 138, and F, Kaltmeyer’s 6214.
The nomination, was made unanimous.
On motion Frank Pitts of Monroe coun-
ty was nominated for treasurer by ac-
clamation, ee :
E. C. Crowe was nominated for at-
torney general. . This ts regarded as a

news would cause a crowd ¢
either here or

HANNA'S NEIGHB

Attorney Acheson Hold
Confi ‘ence Until His Client.
Has Been Hung.

morrow Going on at the County
Jail Grounds, .

Morgan Taken to | Lincoln to Afford Ne
Temptation to Hot-Heads to Try to
Form a Lynching Party,

Claude Ht, Hoover, who ts to dle ton,
morrow on the eeaffold, for the murder
of his brother-in-law, fam DuRols, te
epending the last day before his execu’
tion In prayer and reading of the bible,
Rey. J. M. Wilson returned to

the work of erecte
delayed

the wires and oth
arranged until late
test of the scaffol
o'clock,

ment of death.
erected under the supe
ski, its bullder, and

tinction of having!
every one of the 4 ay
been used In the eastern half of the °*
state during the Part twenty years,
Every plece was found to fit perfectly
to Its place, and but Ittle difficulty was
experienced in. putting the grim looking
structure together,
Sherif McDonald has been overrun
with applications for cards of admiye =.
sion, and as he has reached the limt ale
lowed by law, he says he will make hime
felf acarce this afternoon to be out of
the way of applicants. TiSge
All the details for the executidn havea .
been arranged, and to avold any error, -.
have been written down for the instruc.”
tlon and reference of those who are ta
take an active part in the execution,
M. C. Acheso
neys, say
the execution unless Ho

eing
rvision of Rudove.
who has the aise:
constructed almost
caffolds which have

ness the exe-
t he does not think *Ate
torney Powers will be present, a 2

MORGAN TAKEN TO LINCOLN, * -
-AB a precautionary me

Rey will not senda delegation, but Mr. |a repetition of the Smith

Bynum !s assured that-any action which | time of the hanging of Fd

the conference may;take w. McDonald and Deputy .§ f

isupport Of the. gold Orthia te, | took George W, Morgaty, nvictad
There was much discussidn'this morn- | murderer of little Ida Gaskili, to th

penitentiary at Lincoln, leaving on the,

2:55 p. m. fast mail of the Burlington &
Missourt yesterday afte
moval of Morgan was so quiet t
over three persons witnessed
parture from th
though the usu
there at train
was manifes
Morgan,

shackled.
QMorgan exprensed himself as deeming

The ree.
hat no
the dee.

rnoon,

c jail, and at th
al number of péo Ww Roe
time, but little interes¢,
ted further than gaping at

whose hands and feet were:

Jefferson City, Mo., Aug. 6.—The tem- coin, as he did not anticipate any visle:
perature was near to the 100 mark in the | tation at the jail after Hoover's execue
1 | tion. The sheriff recety

in Lincoln. . ee

2

‘7 ie :
OR.

~

4 : Sos
TALKING = of the board), ang their
graduates refused — €eetificates to
Practice in Iowa. At a former meet-
ing of the board the sraduates asked for
certificates and the question was passed
.De ever, some of the board evidently think-
x Ing the college course not ap to the
ive standard required by the board:
In resnonse to inquiries, tt fs an-
nounced that Mr. Bryan, on his way to
y Having | New York city, will arrive in Omaha to-
st to morrow afternoon at 4 o'clock, at the
unton depot, over the Rock Island road.
The train will not leave here for the east
till 4:50. .
‘cepting a ZOF'S LAST SLIDE,
bent Raltimore, Md., Aug. 6.—Mlle, Zoe,
Ad 4 who has been for the last week doing her
daring “slide for life” at Curtis bay,
was drowned there yesterday, Mile.
Zoe's act was to slide by her teeth across
ex-City | a cable stretched from a tower on one
‘oth the | side of the river to the Other. She had
present, | Fone 150 yards when‘ the tower collapsed
ne aay and Mlle. Zoe became entangled in the
heavy cable. Mile. Zoe's real name waa
"tl Lem- | vranecia Thurman, and her home Har-
ttorney rowsburg, N. Y. She had been doing the
meeting | slide for ten years,
numittee |”
Barker, In response to Inquirfes, {t ts an-
ttorney nounced that Mr. Bryan, on his Way to
ttorney | New york city, will arrive in Omaha to-
ae morrow afternoon at 4 o'clock, at the
Le they union depot, over the Rock Island road,
in the | The train will not leave here for the east
n,pro- | till 4:59,
te the CHRISTIAN ENDEAVORERS,
put a The Endeavorers of the city rally at
One | the First Presbyterian church tonight
of the | at 8 From 500 to 700 represen-
-eting, | tatives of the varlous. societies of the
beara city are axpected to be Present and
After | listen to reports of the &reat interna-
roug tlonal Christian convention.
wi The Omaha City union has a beauti-
aor 1 silk banner, bearing appropriate
here hristian Endeavor mottoes, which will
a attl- be awarded tonight to the soclety hay-
e the Ing the largest per cent of its members
1 sub- | Present at the rally.
ee CHICAGO IS SIZZLING.
ept a Chicago, IIL, Aug. 6.—Forty-seven
‘ably | cases of heat prostration and one death
“© any were reported yesterday, and the mer-
he cury reached a higher point than even
ld be | 0M Tuesday, which up to that time held
Hare the record for the year. Surface ther-
y de- | Mometers at 6 p. m recorded 102, Re-
ports from cities and towns In Illinois,
‘ance | Indiana and {Weconalm show a tempera-
the | ture ranging from 93 to 102 degrees,
oat WAITING FOR MOOJLE BROTHERS,
igate Chicago, Il., Aug, 6.—The opening of
and | the stock exchange fs still waiting on the
ae Moore Bros. and the report of the sub-
’ per | COMmittee of the governing body as to
the | the condition of the Diamond Match
ad- | Propertics held by the suspended firm.
are | The governing committee will meet at
sunt | 2 o'clock today to receive any report
lin- | Which the sub-committee may have to
\oks | Present. : :
see KIDNAPED HY "CRAMPS,
hem Earl Baxter of May an, Kas., left
Nice. | home in company wifi another boy
Ba several days ago, the latter returning
“be later, saying that Earl had been kid-
nse | naped by a gang of tramps. Fears are
ath. [| entertained that the tramps have been
. It } abusing the boy. Young Baxter °- de-
usi- | scribed as 15 years old, rather large for
+ | his age, weighs 130 pounds and of dark
) to | complexion, :
1 to
of BOILED DOWN, re
rer Herman L. Fabry was asphyxiated by
N& | Bas at his home tn San Francisco, Cal.
Mrs. A. Johnson wag fatally burned
the | py a lamp explosion at South Moline,
Ii.
Iph, aged 10, son of Editor Shoup
e Tribune at Jefferson City, Mo.,
a drowned. 1
= Mamle Murphy sulcided after a dis-
pute with her sister over cooking at
elr | Muncie, Ind, :
of Mrs. Cecella Hemmeth, who was badly
Ar, | burned at St. Louls, has succumbed to
ch | her injuries, :
10 The hot winds of the last two days
-| have done great damage to corn in
i Southwest Kansas,
of At Salt Lake City Bob Thompson, the
n- | Prize fighter, was held in bonds of $2.500
- | On the charge of killing Carter.
Ernest Kohl, a clerk, fell into the
sellevrts. mn oo § “A .

After an hour's discussion
Smyth, chairman of the democratic

irre sae es

personal triumph for Colonel Bi
Phelna ia

abe Tm


ov,



nn

41
Ra)

ELEVENTH YEAR.

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1896

-—TWELVE PAGES.

TAPIATED

The Murder of DuBois Atoned
by ‘the Extinguishment
of Hoover's Life.

.

He Killed His Brother-in-Law
jn 'a Drunken Rage and the
Law Took a Life for a Life.

The Condemned Man Felt He Had
Made His Peace With His
Yuker and Wasa Calm.

He Hal Als# Obtained Forgiveness
of the Widow and Children of

His Victim.

His Hope Had Been Eventually to Obtain
Literty and Devote His Free Years
to Their Aid.

But the Jury Said “Hang Him” and the
Governcr Did Not Find Reason
to Interfere.

——

He Gave Out a Statement That He Was Intoxi-
cated and His Mind
a Blank,

_——__.

Claude HW. Weover has explated, upon
the scaffold, the crime of the murder,
found by the jury befove which he was
‘ned as “deliberate, mallclous and pre-
veditated,” in taking the Ife of his
brother-in-law, Councilman-elect Sam
DuBois.”

Hardly had the rumble of business in
the streets of the city « ommenced today
before the preparations which were
result in the taking-of human life bay
Punishoe nt were commenced, The force
{the fail, weary with a night's watch-
hg for none of them we re allowod or

‘Ven had the with the
Prespect Which awahing would bring to

ZB

thesipe

to sh Th

ing his head, he glanced his eyes quickly
about him. : ;

At the conclusion of the reading of tha
death warrant the minister was allowed
all time requested by him in which to
perform the duttes devolving upon him
in the last moments of a dying man. His
few words were earnestly directed to
wards making those whose minds might
dwell in the same paths as those which
caused Hoover his disgrace and death,
trend to a better condition and to take
themselves out of paths of gullt. His
prayer was a powerful appeal to the Al-
mighty for forgiveness of the crime of
Hoover, that the condemnation of a just
God might not fall upon him as that of
man had done.

As the time for the final scene ap-
proached, a stir in the hall of the jail
signified that the spectators were quiet-
ly taking up their positions for a favor-
able view. In a few moments the stil]-
ness in the jail became profound, and of
that gruesome nature that causes the
strongest nerved man to shrink and
shudder.

The prisoners confined in the east
wing and central coridor of the jail had
all, as goon as they had breakfasted,
been put into their cells in the east wing
and their doors locked, and the inter-
vening door between the wing and the
corridor closed. The prisoners in the
cages had Ikewise been placed in their
cells and the windows facing the scaf-
fold covered with curtains preventing
a@ sight of the execution.

The doors along the line of the march
to death had all been left open so that
no clanging of their steel broke the
stillness of the march.

The march was begun, Sheriff McDon-
ald In the lead, with Hoover lightly sup-
ported and walking in the midst of his
jailers, closely followed by the minister.
The descent of the narrow stairs was
made without confusion, and the com-
pany passed through the open doors to
the south hall of the jail building, and
thence through the kitchen to the jail
yard.

Attorney James A. Powers, who had
also ascended the scaffold, approached
the steps and addressed those assem-
bled to witness the execution. He spoke
of the history of the case and then reai
a@ statement written by Hoover as his
dying statement. Hoover closely
Watched Powers, seemingly curious ut
his surroundings.

At the close of Powers’ speech, Hoover
spoke. His tone was so low that only
those on, or immediately near, the scaf-
fold could hear him. He said that his
death could be attributed to drink and
that he died without feeling against any
and in the faith that God wonld prater+

To his attorneys Hoover said that he
knew that they had done all they could

for him and thanked them for their
services.

A THOUSAND. SPECTATORS OUT-
SIDE.

As early as 8 o'clock a crowd began to
gather in groups about the court house
square and at 9 o’clock Captain Haze
with fifteen policemen surrounded the
block. Men, women and children to the
number of 1,000 had congregated at 10
o'clock on the south side of Harney
street and as far east as the east side
of Seventeenth street. The roof of the
buildings Surrounding the court house
square were covered with men with

strained necks trying to geta peep at
the hanging.

The sheriff had concluded not to put

@ Canvass roof on the enclosure, as its
walls were high.

The hanging was witnessed from the
city hall tower by Councilmen Bingham
and Ement, Insnector Harte, Superin-
tendent Mathicssen and half a dozen
others. When it was noticed from the
Street below there was a small rush -for
admittance, which was denied to all ex-
cept city officials or employes. An ex-
cellent view was obtained.

HOOVER’S STATEMENT.
The Statement Given by Hoover for
Publication Was This:

Omaha, August 6, 1896.—On the day I
took the life of my friend and brother-
in-law, Samuel DuBois, I was drunk.
Most of the events of that afternoon
are a blank to ms, and what I remember
appears like a dream. I know no more
about it. It was nct my conscious and
intentional act. I Say this, believing I
have but cne day more to live.

My death must be laid at the door of
intemperance. I was crazed by drink,
and I killed my friend. IX made my sister
a widow, and took from his children,
whom If love, their natural protector.

I hope God has forgiven me.

(Signed.) CLAUDE H. HOOVER.
Witness:

CHARLES W. SAVIDGE,

M. C. ACHESON.

+

HOOVER’S DESIRE TO MAKE AMENDS.

He Had Hoped to be Able in Time to
Ald the Children,

Hoover, who was regarded, to use
their phrase, as “ornery” by other pris-
oners in the jail when taken there,
changed his disposition later. Since he

has felt that he has made his peace with
his maker he has been regarded at the

Was going to use it. te} bois. The
friend took away the wevodrar and told

Hoover he had better BS home and get
sobered. - Hoover at that time was some-
what under the influence ag Mquor.
Aside from this the evidence of the
state showed that Hoover immediately
after went to a Douglas street pawn-
broker and purchased a revolver. About
5:30 o'clock Hooyer dropped into Saal-
fletd’s shoe shop, sat -Gowyiiand talked
with the Saalfields. *-About 6 o'clock
Dubois walked in, but, ea hardly
stepped inside of the door re Hoover
arose and shouting, “Now I've got you,
you —— ——.,.” he fired twp shots into
Dubois’ body. The Saalfi@ds jumped
out of the rear window, making no at-
tempt to arrest Hoover trom doing
further damage. Dubois Brabbed both
of Hoovers hands and cried, “You
coward, why did you shoot me?’ Being

. -

DUBO!TS.
(From a photograph taken when he was
on the police force.)

a& powerful man, Dubois dragged Hoover
out of the shon and to a neighboring
drug store, not making~the slightest
effort to revenge himself upon his mur-
derer.

Hoover was taken in charge immedi-
ately by witnesses until an officer ar-
rived. Dubois was removed to the Pres-
byterfan hospital, where he died the
next afternoon at 3 o'clock,

SHERIFF M’OONALD SHRANK FROMIT.

le Felt Almost as Bad as the Chief
Figure in the £x*cution.

Sheriff McDonald, who has a big heart
and tender sensibilities, felt, as it was
put, almost as badly a® did the chief
figure in the drama of tWe scaffold him-
self when it was announced that the
hanging could not be avoided. Feeling
that he had no alternitive, the sheriff

with the per He of
have been frequent visit-

er his conviction
until the day before execution.

When he received word that the gov-
ernor had refused to commute his sen-
tence, although the shock was great, as
it was unexpected, yet he said he was
Prepared through the comforts of re-
ligion, to meet his fate. He became more
earnest in his expressions of belief in
the Christian faith as

rapidly and as rapidly brought near the

to the time of his

would meet his fate almost without
flinching.

—___.
ATTORNEY POWERS’ SPEECH,

Heovre %} Previous Good Character
—Dies With 111-Will to None,

The address made by Attorney Pow-
ers was this:

“I am called upon to perform the last
professional duty to my client, Claude
Hoover. It is the most painful duty I
was ever called upon to perform. No
true lawyer can witness the extremity
of the law meted out to his client with-

out feelings of deep emotion. I am con-
scious of having presented this case
from its inception until the present time
with the greatest care, and of having
done all in my power to establish the
fact before the courts and governor that
Claude Hoover was not guilty of first
degree murder and not legally responsi-
ble for that degree of crime. I have met
with defeat in establishing that propo-
sition of law. I fought it with all the
zeal of which I was capable and was
assisted by able co-counsel. :

“I have no criticism to make of any-
one,connected with this case. It has
been fully established, and admitted
by the governor, that Claude Hoover's
good character was proven before him
up to the time of this most unfortunate
occurrence. It is his first and last
crime. Claude Hoover was raised in a
Christian home. He had a praying
mother. He is a child of the covenant
and will go bravely and fearlessly to his
end. He leaves the world with ill-will
toward none. I, as his attorney, ask
that the mantle of charity and forgive-
ness be extended to him in this his last
hour upon earth, and that the sym-
pathy of the community go out to his
stricken mother and sisters.”

SO mmm meg teem 8

Leighton is a
county and has a population of 14!
e train ed was a freigh:

erinten@ent Gilmore
last night and has not returned.
Superintendent Fox later said |

charge of the freight train, whic

sisted of eighteen cars containi:
and fruit. =

Harry Fox, superintendent «
Rock Island at Des Moines, is in th
His information early this mornin
to the effect that the wrecked trai
a freight, and the accident was <
by an axle br2aking on one of the
that no one was killed and that
Cars were in the ditch.

SWIFT’ BIG FIR}

Explosion in the Kansas City Pa
Plant Costa $125,000—One ]
Killed, Several Injured.

Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 7.—An |
sion from some unknown cause |
packing plant of Swift & Co. here
night, resulted in the death of
man, the injury of four others, p
bly fatally, and in the fire whic!
lowed $125,000 in property was
stroyed.

The killed

THOMAS HOBLOWITZ, wate!
buried under a pile of meat and cren

The injured: :

Harvey Biddleman, fireman, K
City, Kas., bruised and injured inter

A. T. Barkley, helper in smoke }
badly burned about face and hands; «
tion sertous.

John Joss, another helper.

Steve Reynolds,

Harry Creasey.

A. Forsinger, all watchmen, were b
about the faces and hands. e

The fire started in the smoke |
at midnight, which was put out b
department in the plant. A few mi
later an unaccountable explosion !
same house occurred, and the but
was immediately enveloped in -fis
After a hard fight the fire was g
under control at 3 o'clock, but not
the building wherein the explosio
curred, valued at $50,000, and
therein, worth $75,000, had been
sumed.

_ VENNER ENJOIN:

He Seeks to Prevent Water ¥
Bondholders From Taking


»nt remained
xd about the

e ground, in-
in his jacket
shlight which
alked to the
lled open the
ill switch. A
cked the en-
npson glanced
2ral unopened
pers and the
which Kettle-
tioned in his

.e table to one
to the kitchen
s slightly ajar.
ied for a wall
pped inside the
en he stopped,
izarre sight be-

of 53-year-old
lay face down
It needed but a
or Thompson to
she had been
th.

arent, too, that
ed quickly. Un-
igns etched in
inoleum floor in-
ad tried to crawl
room. A crim-
ended from the

“Go ahead,” Mosseau told his men

as every exit of the house was

covered. “You know what to do”

kitchen table in the center of the room
to the body which lay about six feet to
one side and, near an inner wall. The
woman’s arms were stretched at full
length above her head, her hands and
fingers curved, and it seemed as though
she had tried to claw her way across the
polished floor. i

Thompson circled the table slowly,

careful not to touch. anything. There

was an overturned chair beside the table,
its backrest and seat spotted with blood.
The white oilcloth on the table had also
been spattered and there were several
spots on the starched window curtains
about four feet from the table.

Thompson made a hurried search of
the other rooms in the huge house for
some sign of his father-in-law, but with-
out success. He was convinced that
John Stollar, too, was dead for the sixty-
year-old rancher and his wife. had been
inseparable, and anyone who had at-
tempted to harm her would have had to
dispose of Stollar first.

Thompson hurried into the yard and
made a quick examination of the out-
buildings. The garage doors were open,
the car gone. There was no sign of
Stollar either in the big barn, in the two
small sheds near the barn or in the
bunkhouse on the opposite side of the
yard.

Thompson walked slowly back to his
car. He stood for a while and studied
the deserted yard again, finally started
the car motor and headed for a neigh-

boring ranch to telephone the sheriff.

F, L. Green, sheriff of Sheridan Coun-
ty, was at his home in Rushville, thirty-
five miles north of the Stollar ranch
when he received Thompson’s call.

“Grace was clubbed to death and it’s
certain we'll find John is dead too,”
Thompson said. ‘Whoever did it prob-
ably forced him to drive away from the
ranch.”

“Could be,” Green agreed. “Tl get
my deputy and the county attorney and
start for the ranch. You get back over
there and see that no one disturbs any-
thing in the house or the yard. You're
talking on a party line and the news will
spread fast.” :

An hour later, Green, Deputy Sheriff
Wendall Hills and County Attorney
Lloyd Jordan arrived at the Bar-S.
Thompson and several neighbors of the
Stollars were gathered about cars parked
near the mail-box. “No one has gone
into the house,’ Thompson reported, “but
we found John’s body in the machine
shed.”

“Bow was he killed?” Green asked.

“we don’t know,” Thompson replied.
“The body is under a lot of junk and we
didn’t move any of it.”

He led the way to a small building at
one side of the rancff*yard and explained
that he had not included this in his first
search of the yard since it was off to one
side and he was convinced Stollar had
been forced to leave the ranch.

In the concentrated light of half-a-

dozen flashlights held by grim-faced
neighbors of Stollar, the sheriff and his
associates entered the shed and tossed
aside pieces of lumber, musty, rotting
grain sacks and finally a huge sheet of
galvanized tin.

Stollar lay face up, his feet close to-
gether, arms extended at full length
above his head. He was fully clothed
even to short leather gloves on his hands.
His face was partially hidden by the
brim of his Stetson hat which was pulled
far forward.

As Green and Jordan bent over the
body, the sheriff pointed to twin
scratches in the earth which began at
the heels of the dead man’s boots and
extended to the door. “He was killed
some place else and dragged in here head
first,” Green commented. “We can pick
up that trail a little later.”

When the body was lifted and turned

slightly, the cause of death was revealed.
He had been struck a single blow on the
back of the head by a heavy, sharp-edged
weapon. The assassin had caught his
victim off guard, got behind him and
struck once. The murder weapon had
penetrated the brain cavity and Green
was certain death had been instan-
taneous.

The pockets in Stollar’s trousers had
been turned inside out. Green called at-
tention to this and commented that rob-
bery might have been the motive.

“That makes sense,” Thompson nod-
ded. “John usually had a couple of

43

44

hundred dollars in his wallet. But it
doesn’t explain why Grace was beaten
to death.”

“To keep her quiet,” Green replied.
“Whoever did this knew that she and
John were the only persons on the ranch
and she might stop the getaway. She
could use a‘gun as well as the average
man and I’ll bet there are a couple of
guns within easy reach in the house.”

“Yes—a rifle and a shotgun,” Thomp-
son replied.

Green was puzzled by the fact that
Stollar had apparently been caught off
guard. The fact-that he was wearing
gloves indicated that he had been busy
at some chore about the ranch, and had
momentarily turned his back to the at-
tacker. Possibly it was someone he
knew and trusted.

County Attorney Jordan, who under
Nebraska law also served as coroner,
signaled to the ambulance men and told
them to remove the rancher’s body. He
suggested that the area about the ma-
chine shed be cleared of spectators pend-
ing a more thorough search. ‘We only

need to wait a couple of hours for day- .

light and if we blunder around in the
dark we may obliterate some valuable
clues,” he told Green.

“We've got plenty to do at the house,”
Green replied. ‘“Let’s get up there.”

Mrs. Stollar had apparently been
seated at the kitchen table and facing
the door when the attacker entered. Two
quick strides and he had been beside
the table where he had struck the first
blow, which crushed the left side of her
face and knocked.-her to the floor. She
had apparently had no time to get to her
feet or to defend herself and once she
was on the floor she was struck again
and again.

There was a pan of green beans and
a kitchen knife at one side of the table.
A writing tablet, two envelopes, a bottle
of ink and a pen were in the center and
the relative location of the articles sug-
gested she had intended to write two
letters before she prepared the beans for
the kettle.

“She wanted to get those letters to the
mail-box before Kettleman got here,”
Deputy Sheriff Hills commented. “That
means she was killed some time before
noon.”

“Tf we can find out on what day she:

was killed it will help,’ Green added.
The sheriff and the county attorney
studied the wounds on Mrs. Stollar’s
head for several moments. They de-
cided that since she faced the door and
only the left side of her face and head
had been crushed, the attacker had held

the murder weapon in his right hand..

Once again Jordan nodded to the am-
bulance men and after the body of Mrs.
Stollar had been taken from the-room,
the officials began an examination of
the remainder of the house. Apparently
none of the other rooms had been en-
tered. Everything was in order. Mrs.
Stollar’s jewelcase, which contained sev-
eral hundred dollars’ worth gf jewelry,

-was in a dresser drawer and her purse

lay on the buffet in the dining-room only

Reconstructing crime, police learned that John Stollar had been felled at

spot above (marked by arrow) and his body moved to machine shed (see op-
posite page). “That makes sense,” victim’s son-in-law had-said when told Stol-
lar’s pockets were empty. “But it doesn’t explain why Grace was murdered”

fifteen feet from where her body -was
found. It contained nearly fifty dollars
in currency and silver. :

Sheriff Green was puzzled by this de-
velopment. If robbery were the motive
why had the killer taken only, John
Stollar’s wallet. Obviously he must have
known the rancher and his wife were
the only persons on the ranch and once
they were out of the way he had had
plenty of time to search for other valu-
ables. Something must have happened,
Green decided, to make him forego this
valuable loot and speed away in the
Stollar car.

It was nearly two o’clock on Sunday
morning when the ambulance contain-
ing the bodies of John and Grace Stollar
left the Bar-S ranch for the mortuary
in Alliance, Nebraska, and the officials
began to question friends and neighbors
of the murder victims.

While the sheriff and county attorney
were busy with ‘this phase of the inves-
tigation, Deputy Sheriff Hills drove to
Alliance to make a police radio broad-
cast alerting highway patrolmen, city
police and sheriffs in three states. They
were warned to be on the lookout for
the Stollar car, a black Chevrolet coupe
with 1947 license plates 61-641 and were
told that the driver, suspected of a
double murder, was probably armed
and dangerous.

After he had arranged for repeated
police broadcasts, Hills contacted com-
mercial radio stations and newscasters
were instructed to ask all listeners to

watch for the car and to report any in-

formation they felt might aid the

authorities.

Finally he routed Gart Kettleman, the
mailman, out of bed to get his story. Ket-
tleman said he usually stopped at the
Bar-S about noon and on Wednesday he
had seen the car in the garage and left
some mail in the box. Next day he got
to the ranch shortly after twelve o’clock.
He had a package of fresh meat which
had been sent to the ranch by an Al-
liance market, as well as several letters
and a newspaper and, when there was
no response to repeated horn blasts, he
went to the house, put the mail and meat
on a small table on the back porch and
then pulled the table over in front of
the kitchen door.

He noticed that the kitchen door was
partially open but he did not look into
the room since he was certain there was
no one at home and he was in a hurry
to get back to Alliance. He assumed that
the Stollars were on an inspection tour
of the windmills and water holes and

_ would return during the afternoon.

On Friday he had a paper for them
and as he passed the ranch he noted that
the garage was empty and it seemed
strange that the couple should be away
again during the noon hour.

Saturday he had more mail and a
package and once again he went to the
house. When he saw that the mail he
had left previously was unopened and
noticed the package of meat, he realized
something was wrong and wasted no

Pointing t:
from victi:
(above),

ean pick vu

time gettin
ing the Sto
son.

“T finishe
Hills, “anc
whether th
since Wedr
luck.”

“But you
Wednesday

“TI didn’t
plied, “but
taken from
garage and
a line back
there on T
were alive

ee OE NRE Ze


. felled at
d (see op-
1 told Stol-

nurdered”

ort any in-
t aid the

‘tleman, the

story. Ket-
yped at the
2dnesday he
ige and left
day he got
alve o’clock.
meat which
. by an Al-
veral letters
1 there was
n blasts, he
ail and meat
< porch and
in front of

2n door was
ot look into
in there was
; in a hurry
issumed that
pection tour
r holes and
rnoon.

er for them
1e noted that
i it seemed
ald be away

mail and a
went to the
the mail he
1opened and
, he realized

. wasted no

Pointing to twin scratches on floor
from victim’s heels to door of shed
(above), Green commented, “We
can pick up that trail a little later”

time getting back to Alliance and call-
ing the Stollars’ daughter, Mrs. Thomp-
son.

“T finished my route,” Kettleman told
Hills, “and asked all the neighbors
whether they had seen John or Grace
since Wednesday but I didn’t have any
luck.”

“But you’re sure they were alive on
Wednesday?” Hills asked.

“T didn’t see them,’ Kettleman re-
plied, ‘but the mail I left for them was
taken from the box, their car was in the
garage and there was some washing on
a line back of the house and it wasn’t
there on Thursday. I would say they
were alive on Wednesday.”

Back at the Bar-S ranch Sheriff Green
was convinced that the double murder
had been done by one man, and realized
it would not be easy to pick up his trail
in that vast, sparsely inhabited area.

The wheat harvest in both Nebraska
and South Dakota was under way and
scores of itinerant workers were on the
move. Some cut across the sandhills
from the Panhandle region along the
Kansas border into South Dakota while
others decided they had enough of grain
harvesting and went to work for the
ranchers putting up hay, They traveled
from ranch to ranch and little attention
was paid to them. d

In recent weeks there had been scat-
tered reports that cattle rustlers were
operating again and John Stollar had
told one of his neighbors he was certain
several head of his Shorthorn steers had
been stolen. There was the possibility
that one of the thieves knew the Stol-
lars were alone on the ranch and if they
were out of the way, the huge Bar-S
herd could be stolen without difficulty.

Thompson told the officials that Mrs. -

Stollar called her daughter from Al-
liance on Tuesday afternoon. She and
John went to town to do some shopping
and to take in the hired man, who had
quit his job so he could follow the wheat
harvest into South and North Dakota
and get some of the high wages being
paid to harvest hands.

“Stollar was plenty worried about
losing his help,” Thompson asserted. “It
was almost impossible to find another
man and he was about ready to start
cutting hay. Without the hay for winter
feed he’d be in a bad way.”

“What about the fellow who quit his
job?” the sheriff asked. “Had he worked
here long or was he another ‘floater’?”

“Joe Warren has been with the Bar-S
for several months and was a good all-
around ranch hand,” Thompson replied.
“Fe’s from Allen, South Dakota, and
his folks live on a farm just outside of
town.”

Neighbors confirmed Thompson’s esti-
mate of Warren and two men said they
had talked with Stollar in Alliance late
Tuesday afternoon and at that time he
had not located anyone to take Warren’s
place. Green also learned that the mur-

der victims wer: seen on Wednesday
afternoon 4nd e\ 2ning as they made an
inspection trip t the wiridmills, water
tanks and grazin; herds on the Bar-S.
This informati n, when coupled with
that which Dep ty Hills had obtained

from the mailme 1, enabled Green to fix

tentatively the time-of the double mur-
der as shortly bc fore noon on Thursday,
morning. ‘“We’re about seventy-two

‘hours behind the killer,” he commented.

“With that Chev olet coupe and a couple
of hundred doll: rs he’s probably put a
lot of miles be ween himself and the
ranch.”

Joe Warren wis quickly located at his
parents’ home, ‘nd it was immediately
apparent to the South Dakota officers
who questioned him for Sheriff Green
that Warren had no knowledge of the
tragedy at the Bar-S. He was able to
account for every moment of his time
from Tuesday afternoon until Sunday
morning and a swift check with respon-
sible parties corroborated his statements.

“John said he could get a man to take
my place for a couple of months,” War-
ren told the officers. ‘“I hated to pass up
ten dollars a day in the harvest fields
and I promised him I’d come back for
the fall round-up. I know he talked with
a couple of floaters who got off the Bur-
lington train from the east Tuesday
afternoon but I don’t know whether he
hired either of them.”

Warren addec that during the several
months he was at the Bar-S, he never
saw Stollar lose his temper or quarrel
with any of his neighbors nor had he
heard of any trouble between the rancher
and previous «:nployees.

Stollar had mn ade several counts of his
herd during the summer and was certain
that some were missing. Whether these
had been stolen by rustlers operating
with trucks or were victims of predatory
animals had never been established but
the Stollars spent several nights on the
range guarding the herd and watching
for thieves.

“We found truck tracks near some of

the water tanks,’ Warren declared.

“That’s the routine those truck rustlers
follow. They wait at watering places
and when the steers begin to move in
to drink, it (Continued on page 82)

“]°]] beat the chair,” the murderer muttered when
sentence was passed upon him in the Sheridan County
courthouse (above). His crafty plot was checkmated

“You're talking on a party line and the news will
spread fast,” warned Sheriff Green from his home
in Rushville (above), when notified of the crimes

45


en |

oe

LrnON

BhLAK 9

Decemb

Timothy, NA,
er 1, 1948

42

Houble Mur

at the Bar-S Vb

By Judge Ernest L. Reeker |

Juvenile Court, Madison County, Nebraska

“What a vicious killer he must be!” exclaimed the
sheriff. ““Turned loose from prison on Monday and he

murdered two fine, law-abiding people on Thursday!”

Nidomee after ten o’clock Saturday
night, July 26th, 1947, a speeding car
threaded its way along narrow, twisting
roads and dimly visible trails in the vast
sandhill cattle country of western Ne-
braska.

For nearly three hours Gale Thomp-
son, young well-to-do rancher, had raced
northward from his own place on the
southern fringe of the hills toward the
huge Bar-S ranch, 100 miles
distant, which belonged to his
wife’s parents, John and Grace
Stollar.

There was something wrong
at the Bar-S. Late that after-
noon, Thompson’s wife had re-
ceived a long distance call
from Gart Kettleman, R.F.D.
mailman, whose route included
the Stollar ranch. He told
her the Bar-S was deserted,
doors and windows in the big
white house were open, mail
delivered Thursday and Fri-
day was uncollected and a
package of meat he had put
on the back porch on Thurs-
day had spoiled.

“There are some cattle and
horses in the corral and they
need feed and water,” Kettle-
man concluded. “I haven’t
seen anyone around the place
since Wednesday.”

“Gale will leave for the
ranch as soon as he comes in

elec,

it will help,”

NESP (Sheridan)

be
CT

from the field,’ Mrs. Thompson: had
prgmised. “He’s got a crew putting up
ha and they’ll finish about six
o’clock.” ;

Now; hours later, Thompson was near
the Bar-S headquarters. The headlights
of his car were centered on the house and
the closely grouped outbuildings were
plainly visible. He braked to a stop be-
side the mail-box about fifty yards from

Clues at the Bar-S ranchhouse (above) were few.
we can find out on. what day Mrs. Stollar was killed
said Sheriff Green on examining scene

, ee ee

te

the house and for a moment remained
in the car while he glanced about the
well-kept ranch yard.

Finally he stepped to the ground, in-
stinctively felt for the gun in his jacket
pocket and picked up a flashlight which

lay on the seat. He walked to the
glassed-in back porch, pulled open the
door and reached for a wall switch. A
small table partially blocked the en-
trance and Thompson glanced
quickly at several unopened
letters, newspapers and the
package of meat which Kettle-
man had mentioned in his
telephone call.

He shoved the table to one
side and went to the kitchen
door which was slightly ajar.
Again he reached for a wall
switch, and stepped inside the
big room. Then he stopped,
stared at the bizarre sight be-
fore him.

The body of 53-year-old
Grace Stollar lay face down
on the floor. It needed but a
single glance for Thompson to
realize that she had been
beaten to death.

It was apparent, too, that
she had not died quickly. Un-
mistakable signs etched in
blood on the linoleum floor in-
“Ht dicated she had tried to crawl
into another room. A crim-
son trail extended from the

kitchen
to the |
one sid
woman
length
fingers
she hac
polishe

Thon

careful

was an
its bac}
The wi
been s
spots o
about f
Thor
the otk
some si
out su
John S
year-ol
insepar
tempte
dispose
Thor
made
buildin
the ca
Stollar
small
bunkh:
yard.
Tho:
car. |
the de
the ca


a

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of storms Saturday. Winds 8-16
mph tonight, Saturday 15-25
mph. Low tonight 74. High
Saturday 89.

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OMAHA, NEBRASKA OUR 131ST YEAR

Washington (AP) — In a ruling
expected to the pace of execu-
tions, the Supreme Court Friday
upheld a key part of a law that
restricts federal appeals by death-row
inmates and other state prisoners.

But the court, voting unanimously
in a Georgia death-row inmate’s case,
ruled that Congress failed to achieve
its goal of trying to limit state prison-
ers to one appeal in federal court.

The ruling should quickly end what
has amounted to a moratorium on
executions in effect across the nation
- since early May, when the court
agreed to study the case. Only two
inmates have been put to death since
then, and both men chose to call off
their appeals.

Tough-on-crime politics and frus-
tration with the speed of executions

Court Ruling Limits
Death-Row Appeals

| The Supreme Court strikes down a

federal law aimed at restricting
children’s exposure to indecent
programs on some cable television
channels. Page 9,

METROPOLITAN EDITION 48 PAGES

Joubert Execution Stalled

For At Least Six Weeks

sparked Congress to pass the law and
President Clinton A sign it. And
similar sentiments may explain why
the nation’s highest court put the case
on a fast track last month.

Today, the justices said, state pris-
on inmates still are free to file any
number of appeals directly with the
Supreme Court.

ut to show how perilous that

route can be, the justices acted with

unusual speed in the Georgia case

and rejected convicted murderer Ellis
Wayne Felker’s appeal.

rgia Attorney General Michael

Please turn to Page 2, Col. 1

BY LESLIE BOELLSTORFF
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Lincoln — John Joubert’s execution is
off for at least six to eight weeks, state
officials said Friday.

About 10:30 a.m. Friday, the US.

Supreme Court announced it would not.

make a decision until Monday on Jou-
bert’s pending request to take his latest
appeal. Ee

The ruling meant that Joubert’s execu-
tion could not be carried out before his
death warrant expired at 11:59 p.m.
Friday. The warrant, issued by the Ne-
braska Supreme Court, had authorized

_ Santees Defy

Order, Open
Casino Again

Tribe Cites Need
For Jobs, Money

BY ROBERT DORR
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

_ Defying federal authorities, the Santee
Sioux Tribe — saying it was driven by
desperation for the jobs and money that
a gambling casino brings — reopened its
casino in northeast Nebraska at noon
Friday.

“The house is full,” casino manager
Thelma Thomas said from Santee a few

Minutes after the casino opened its
doors.

|

penitentiary officials to carry out the

execution between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59
p-m. Friday.

Joubert, 32, had been scheduled to go
to the electric chair for the 1983 murders
of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and Chris-
topher Walden, 12, in Sarpy County.

Joubert’s attorney, Mark Weber of
Omaha, said Friday’s delay warranted
only about a “three-quarters sigh of
relief.”

“It’s obviously not over,” he said.
“We've got a little more time for John,
but it’s obviously not over.”

Weber said prison officials told him
that Joubert will be removed from death
watch in the hospital area of the Nebras-
ka State Penitentiary and returned to his

cell on death row.

State officials reacted with disappoint-
ment.

Gov. Nelson said there appeared to be
no good reason for the court to delay its
decision until Monday.

“If it can decide Monday, why can’t it
decide today?” he said. “The way I see it,
there’s still half a day left on Friday.
There is in state government.

“This is about as good an example of
judicial chaos as you could see. I don’t
think there’s anyone in this process who
thinks that this won’t eventually end in
an execution.”

Nelson said the Supreme Court had

become arrogant. “They’re unapproach- |

able, they’re unreachable and they come
out with unreasonable decisions like they
have today,” Nelson said.

Attorney General Don Stenberg said
he hoped the execution could be carried
out yet this summer, even though he
predicted it would be delayed a mini-
mum of six to eight weeks.

Even if the U.S. Supreme Court rules
against Joubert Monday, it will take at
least a week to complete the paperwork
necessary to go back to the Nebraska
Supreme Court with a new request for a
death warrant, Stenberg said.

The State Supreme Court promptly
answered the last time Stenberg’s office

Please turn to Page 2, Col. 2

Ex-White House ASS
Won’t Talk to Senate


oan ei ae eh siseude . Ree te i aps "

7) 0VOUA | 7

1983 Days of Terror,

Pain Remembered

Continued from Page 1
haps a kidna’
where. The
levue Mayor Joe Baldwin started a
reward fund that swelled to more than
$56,000.

During the three-day search for
Danny Joe, there was only one person
who knew for certain that he was dead.

Joubert had kidnapped Danny Joe,
driving him to a rural area about two
miles south of Offutt. When Joubert
plunged the knife into the boy’s back
the first time, he held it there as Danny
Joe asked if he was going to die.
Joubert said yes.

“I_ know this sounds ridiculously
cold,” Joubert confessed later, “but I
went to McDonald’s with blood all
over my hand, went into the men’s
washroom and washed my ‘hands. I

then ordered breakfast and ate it. After-

ward I went home, fell into bed and slept
soundly.”

Within a day or two of the disap-

pearance, hundreds of missing-person.
posters were displayed throughout the

Bellevue and Omaha areas. mey showed °

the smiling blond boy above the words

“Can you help?”

“Before Danny was found,” Joubert
recalled, “they had his picture posted
in my barracks.” That gave Joubert an
eerie feeling, he said.

The day after he murdered Danny
Joe, Joubert drove back to the scene —
a weedy ditch surrounded by corm-
fields. “I just had to convince myself
that I had actually done it,” Joubert
recalled. “In my head, I knew I had. I
Just had to see it.”

Joubert, an assistant Boy Scout lead-
€r, went to a Scout meeting later in the
day after killing Danny. In the days
that followed, the nine Scouts in his
troop, No. 499, spoke about how afraid
they were because of the killing. Of
course, Joubert said, he knew they
weren’t in any danger. He would never
kill anyone he knew, only strangers
whom he treated as objects, Joubert
said.

__ While Joubert slept peacefully, Danny

t was holding him some- |
orld-Herald and then-Bel- _

Joubert Developments

sentative filed a request Monday
asking the Nebraska Board of
Pardons to commute Joubert’s
death sentence so he can be the
subject of psychological studies.
The hearing request will be taken
up during the board’s meeting
Wednesday.

@ If the Pardons Board chooses
not to grant Joubert a hearing, his
execution would be carried out
shortly after midnight Thursday
— barring last-minute court inter-
vention.

@ The Nebraska chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union
filed a challenge Monday in Sarpy
County District Court against the
constitutionality of the electric
chair as a mode of execution.
Lawyers asked the Nebraska Su-
preme Court on Monday to post-
pone Joubert’s execution until
the-appeal can be heard.

@ Joubert's attorneys filed an ap-
peal of his conviction and sen-
tence in federal courtin Lincoin
as well as a federal civil rights

suit arguing that the electric chair
is cruel and unusual punishment.
Arequest for a stay with the U.S.
Supreme Courtis pending.

ly folded clothing lay near his body,
covered by a light blanket of snow.

“It was terrible, absolutely terrible,”
recalled Sheriff Thomas. “We all felt
this person would strike again but were
hoping he would not. You search your
soul to find what we could have done to
prevent it, what we missed.”

_ As the days passed in late 1983,
investigators developed emergency plans
to shut down the entire metropolitan
area with roadblocks if another child was
kidnapped. By January 1984, investiga-
tors had questioned more than 5,000
people and reviewed more than 9,000

reports.

@ John Joubert's personal repre- |

OMAHAWORLD-HERALD Tuesday, June 25, 1996

As Execution Nears, Death Penalty Viewpoints Aired

Members of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty protest Monday in front Wright o
of the Governor’s Mansion in Lincoln as the State of Nebraska prepared for the views in fa
scheduled Friday execution of triple child murderer John Joubert. Christine on the sidewalk.

f Lincoln, with her back to the camera, spoke to the protesters about her
vor of the death penalty while her daughter, Caitlin Madden, 5, played

JEFFREY Z. CARNEY/THE WORLD-HERALD

Woman Who Fled Joubert Says God Was With Her

BY JOY POWELL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

More than 12 years after she escaped
from serial killer John Joubert, Barbara
Weaver says she has no doubt that God
was working through her.

Mrs. Weaver, now 49, fended off an
attack by Joubert and escaped Jan. 11,
1984. She memorized his license plate,
setting off a chain of events that led
to his arrest.

“I know I was being protected, that
angels were surrounding me,” said Mrs.
Weaver, who lives in Sarpy County. “I
was the vehicle. The Lord was using me.”

Joubert, 32, is scheduled for electrocu-
tion Friday in Lincoln for killing two
Sarpy County boys, Danny Joe Eberle,
13, and Christopher Walden, 12, in 1983.
He also was convicted in Portland,
Maine, for killing 11-year-old Ricky
Stetson in 1982.

“Tt saddens me to think that any life is

taken away, because life is such a gift,”
she said. “But then I stop and think

about the lives that he did take. It upsets
me that those three little boys never had a
chance to live and have all the joys of
growing up.”

Her own son and daughter were in
elementary school in late 1983, when the
child killings shook the community.
Every day for months, Mrs. Weaver and
her children prayed at breakfast, lunch
and dinner, and even at bus stops, that
police would catch the killer.

When she arose at 5:30 a.m. Jan. 11,
1984, Mrs. Weaver felt compelled to
offer a prayer she had never said before.
“J asked the Lord to use me that day in a
special way to glorify and serve Him.”

Later that frigid morning, Mrs. Weav-
er went to her job as a preschool director
at Aldersgate United Methodist Church
in Bellevue. At 8:20 a.m., as she was
preparing lessons for her 22 charges who
were soon to arrive, she looked out a
window and saw a slender young man.

He was in a car parked on a concrete
patio next to the preschool.

The man was staring at her. When she

looked up, the man drove away. Mo-
ments later, he returned and again stared
at her. Mrs. Weaver became nervous.

“Something told me it was him (the
killer),” she said.

Mrs. Weaver silently repeated the
man’s license plate. She grabbed her keys
and coat so that she could run to her car.
The man drove away. He circled the
church, pulled up in front and parked.

He walked to the unlocked preschool
door, where Mrs. Weaver was now
standing, heart pounding, She opened it,

fearing she would be trapped inside. _
“May I help you?” Mrs. Weaver
asked.

The man asked for directions. She
answered, her hands pointing which way
he should drive. The man acted as if he
did not understand.

At 5-foot-5 and 117 pounds, Mrs.

Weaver stood eye-to-eye with Joubert, .

who was 5-foot-6 and 135 pounds.
Suddenly the man shoved her shoul-
der. “Get in there or I’m going to kill
you!” he growled.
Mrs. Weaver pushed him and darted

by. As she ran down the street, she fell,
cut her hands on ice, got up. The sound
of a car came from behind.

“Oh, dear God. He’s following me!”
she thought. “He’s going to run over
me!” ;

Joubert, however, was just as fright-
ened as she. As he droye off, Mrs.
Weaver ran and burst into a pastor’s
home, a block from the church, and
rattled off the license-plate number:
59-L5154. They called police.

In a recent prison interview, Joubert
said he intended to simply rob Mrs.
Weaver to get money for car repairs.
Court papers show, however, that he
admitted he planned to kill Mrs. Weaver
to prove that he could murder an adult.
He had a knife up his sleeve and surgical
tape and rope with him.

To this day, Mrs. Weaver remains
frightened of Joubert.

“There hasn’t been a day in the last
12% years,” she said, “that I haven’t
thought about him, what he did to me,
what he did to the boys.”

Uttnanaan «hn ane. Mhatnsnt i 41 F&F

a es

TR

at Elmwood Park continued. |
a tranquil evening sky, loo
shrugged and stayed put. -

As the sirens wailed, an h
lib crack about the sirens in
the audience suggested they:
had failed to go off two 1h
funnel cloud reportedly Ff
western Douglas County.

That’s the problem. Me

nado warning system is bec
Tt wasn’t just the Shakel

unmoved. There was hard! day after killing Danny, in the dave
over the sirens among the that followed, the nine Scouts in he
who filled the Old Market troop, No. 499, spoke about how afraid
become an Omaha variati¢ they were because |
Who Cried Wolf.” | Course, Joubert said, he knew th
» lic attitude | Weren't in any danger. He would never
a ee kill anyone he knew, only. stran
warning, system has not _ whom ‘he
glitches in the civil-defen} said.
Duringastormy Thuy

p.m., a spotter thought ©

otto etn

tne smuing blond boy above the words

“Can you help?”

“Before Danny was found,” Joubert

Tota reese sar apm

peal of his conviction and sen-
tence in federal court in Lincoin
as well as a federal civil rights
suit arguing that the electric chair
is cruel and unusual punishment,
Arequest for a stay with the U.S.
Supreme Courtis pending. |

Joe, Joubert drove back to the scene a Sa

cers from 2

from 22 agencies, nabonsann
Offutt and volunteers who were assem-
bling in Bellevue. A boat, airplane and
helicopter were to be used in the most
intensive search for a person in the
state’s 116-year history. aad Mgt
The teams fanned out, TevIne wisst
from the Missouri River. They formed
a human chain stretching from Fon-
tenelle Forest south to the Platte River.
Kolterman was 20 minutes into his
search when he spotted the small body.
The boy was sprawled face down in a
nest of tall marsh grass. He was clad in
only his underwear, his feet. and hands

bound with rope. A thick strip of dirty -

surgical tape was ling «from his
mouth. The nape of hie ‘neck was
slashed, his body covered with wounds.

Kolterman, who had lost his 16-year-
old son in a traffic accident seven
weeks earlier, was again numbed by
shock and sadness as he sealed the
area.

“I saw him tied up in his undetshorts
and all taped up so he couldn’t move or
st Kolterman recalled. “It was sad
at he went through before he met his
fate, because he suffered. You could
tell there was anger in everybody when
they saw the poor little boy.’
ags in Bellevue flew at half-staff
the next day. Mayor Baldwin, who
wept upon hearing news of the murder,
declared an official day of mourning.
He turned over the facilities at City
Hall and the Police Department to the
task force.

Officers set up a bank of phones to
handle tips coming over a hot line.
Investigators began interviewing all
known sexual deviates in the area — a
number that eventually topped 2,800.

Police and deputies went to schools,
warning children to fight and scream if
anyone tried to abduct them. Newspa-

per and news media reports warned
parents to watch their children,
An FBI ex on murderers, Robert

Ressler, flew in from the FBI Academy
in Quantico, Va. He developed a pro-
file of the killer: a white man in his late
teens or early 20s, unemployed or a
manual laborer without higher educa-
tion. The killer had long-standing sex-
ual problems and deviancy and read
pornography, Ressler surmised.

Ressler predicted the killer would
strike with increasing frequency, with
the next murder before Christmas.

“We just knew he would,” FBI Agent
Evans said. “There wasn’t any guesswork
about it.”

On Dec. 2, 1983, Joubert’s alarm

clock roused him early. He had murder’

on his mind. Joubert spotted a blond
boy — Christopher — walking toward
Pawnee Elementary School.

Three days later, pheasant hunters
found Christopher’s frozen body in a
plum grove near 108th Street and Giles
Road. His throat had been cut and he,
too, suffered multiple stabbing and
slashings. His blue backpack and neat-

people an
Sey tet:

multicolored fibers
searched the world for simil:
had not found the mani
Joubert said he carefully trek
the reset in his mind while
bating.
like to kill someone but never expe:
enced any feelings while killin Toe
bert said.

.“I had no idea what it would be

tur-

like,” he said. “Not even after the first |

one, I really didn’t know.”

Joubert said he felt detached and
lost all sense of time when murdering.

“It’s almost like I wasn’t there,” he
said, “I was performing mechanically.”

He. was caught after threatening to
kill a woman at a church preschool on
Jan. 11, 1984. The woman, Barbara
Weaver, escaped. She memorized the

license plate of a rental car that Joubert

was driving.

Sanderson, the former sheriff's cap-
tain, and FBI Agent Chuck Kempf
learned that the rental car was being
used by a man who also owned a tan
Chevy Nova. The investigators went to
— Joubert at utt. He was
sleeping when they arrived.

At first, Joubert said, he did not
realize that he was suspected of the
child killings. He consented to a search
of his quarters and his rental car.

The most important evidence was in
Joubert’s duffel b

le mastur-
e wanted to know what it felt

-

“In there, we a a piece of the ,
rope that we had looked for all over the +

world,” Sanderson said. “ heart
started jumping out of my chest be-
cause there was no question. We had
the killer.”

The investigators also found a knife,
surgical tape and more rope in the
rental car that Joubert was using while
his Nova was being repaired.

At the Bellevue Police Station, Jou-
bert sat with his hands clasped in his
lap and calmly described how he killed
the boys. He spoke in a calm, unemo-
tional voice, investigators said.

Kempf, who was with Joubert for —

about 14 hours after the arrest, said the
airman never showed remorse.

“There wasn’t one bit of sorrow or
sadness,” Kempf said. “He had killed
two boys and didn’t shed a tear.”

In prison interviews, Joubert ex-
P' remorse for his crimes.

He also said that capital. punishment
is just as cold and premeditated as any

~-murder that put anyone on death row.

Kolterman, the Wahoo police chief,
said Joubert’s death will be less painful
than what the boys suffered. And, Kol-
terman said, Joubert can now think

about his own imminent death, the way _

the boys had to think about theirs.


83 Child Slayings Se

Pte

MURDER SCENE: Sarpy County Sheriff Pat Thomas, left, and Capt. Jeff Davis in the rural area where the body of Danny Joe Eberle was found.

rred Community

- Days of Terror, Pain Recalled as Joubert Execution Date Nears

BY JOY POWELL
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

It was 116 days that forever changed
countless lives.

One of the most intensive investiga-
tions in Nebraska’s history began Sept.
18, 1983, when John Joubert kid-
napped and murdered a World-Herald
newspaper carrier, Danny Joe Eberle.

Despite the efforts of a multiagency
task force working nearly around the
clock, Joubert evaded detection and
murdered another boy, Christopher
Walden, 75 days later.

The investigation involving up to
200 officers culminated with the arrest
Jan. 11, 1984, of Joubert, an airman at
Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.

He is condemned to die by electrocu-
tion Friday at the Nebraska State Peni-
tentiary, four days before his 33rd
birthday. Joubert has been on death
row for 12 years.

Some say that justice will be served
by Joubert’s execution and that it will
close a long and harrowing chapter in
Bellevue’s history. Others, such as
Sarpy County Sheriffs Capt. Jeff
Davis, say that society can exact the
ultimate penalty, but it will never be
enough.

“A lot of people will think once
Joubert’s executed, there will be jus-

LSI tall ih AM IONS MOOR

tice,” Davis said. “But there’s no
justice for what those kids’ final
thoughts were and for the thoughts and
helplessness that their parents have
felt.

“A lot of people are banking on this
execution to fill a void, and it’s not
going to. You can’t put all your feelings
in that chair and believe they’re going
to go away with Joubert. They won't.”

Many who lived in the Bellevue-
Omaha area were traumatized by the
child killings. For nearly four months,
most children were not allowed to go
anywhere alone. :

Danny Joe, 13, and Christopher, 12,
both of Sarpy County, were alone
when they were kidnapped.

“It blew apart our lives,” said Chris-
topher’s mother, Susan.

Riathesy had to change,” Mrs.
Walden said last week from Virginia,
where she and her husband, Steve,
moved after the killing. ‘Routines
changed. Chris had been a focus for
me. The family was my job, and all of a
sudden, I wasn’t a mother anymore.”

Law enforcement officers said they
will never forget the frustration of
those days. .

“There are scars left on all of us from
dealing with something so heinous as
this was,” said Jim Sanderson, a former
Sarpy County sheriff's captain who

coordinated the task force. “I think
they will always be there.”

After his arrest in January 1984, Jou-
bert confessed to killing Danny Joe
and Christopher while carrying out
sadistic fantasies.

On Oct. 9, 1984, a three-judge panel
of Sarpy County District Court judges
sentenced Joubert to death. His fate
now rests with the U.S. Supreme
Court, which could issue a stay and
overturn his sentence, or with the
Nebraska Board of Pardons, which
could commute his sentence.

Joubert has also received a life-with-
out-parole sentence for killing 1 1-year-
old Richard Stetson of Portland,
Maine, in 1982. Authorities linked
Joubert to that murder after his arrest
in Nebraska.

“I was disgusted with myself, with
the thoughts and with the acts,” Jou-
bert said in a prison interview. “I
didn’t want to do it anymore, but
eventually it reached the point where
stopping was impossible.”

It was clear from the start that some-
thing terrible had happened to Danny
Joe.

_ The newspaper carrier vanished
after delivering three papers before
daybreak on a warm Sunday. His
bicycle, with a sack of newspapers over
the handlebar, was found in front of a

RE sh th Len ag

JEFF BEIERMANN/THE WORLD-HERALD

POLICE SKETCH: A copy hung in
John Joubert’s barracks.

house on his route.
At 9:05 a.m. that Sunday, Danny
Joe’s father, Len, called police.
Until Danny Joe’s body was
found, many speculated that per-
Please turn to Page 9, Col. 1

n

J

High Court wo

Associated Press

ui. gcaes
# & es

¥ ~ OMAHA, Neb. - John J. Joubert,

convicted of killing two boys in

Nebraska and one in Maine, lost a

‘| U.S.Supreme Court appeal Monday,
_ 84 and Nebraska's attorney general
predicted he. would be returned.to....

|| that state to face the death penalty

| (| 2 The justices on the nation’s high :

court let-stand-rulings that Joubert
received a fair trial and a proper

“sentence.
= Jo q
+ where he was convicted last
_ murdering Richard Stetson, 11, of
Portland in 1982. Joubert was sen-
_ tenced to life in prison in that case, *

‘of

but has been condemned to die for
_- Joubert has been trying

being returned to Nebraska to face
the death penalty under an agree-
ment between Nebraska and Maine.

avoid

a ~*~ Maine has no death penalty.
ert is in prison in« Maine, penalty

Nebraska Attorney General Don

Stenberg said he was pleased with

the decision by the U.S. Supreme

_Court.

“He said he is periodically in touch
with Maine Attorney General

»~Michael Carpenter,-who reports that ©

the case is progressing well there.

“T'm fairly confident that we will, in
due course, have him (Joubert)
back,” Stenberg said.

- request

But once Joubert returns to
Nebraska, he can make another
appeal to the U.S. District Court to
a review of alleged errors
that may have been made ih state
court proceedings, Stenberg said.

“I was in Washington last week
when (President) Bush announced

his anti-crime package, and one of

those proposals would limit federal
court proceedings in these capital
punishment cases,” Stenberg said.

n-t-hear convicted _killer’s appeal

“Right now, there’s essentially an
endless progression of these cases in
federal courts.

“1 think the people are losing
confidence in our system,” Stenberg
said. “We need federal reforms so
that the system can work.”

Sarpy County Attorney Mike Well--
man said he expected the federal
justices to let stand rulings that
Joubert received a fair trial and a
proper sentence.

: Se PORTLAND CAAWE) PRESS HERALD TUES. 3-9-%

(NEBRASKA

@maha dAorld-Herald

Tuesday, March 10, 1992 9

High Court Denies Joubert for 3rd Time

By James Ivey
Worid-Heraid Staff Writer

John J. Joubert, who is trying to
avoid Nebraska’s electric chair for the
murder of two Sarpy County youths,
lost another round Monday in the U.S.
Supreme Court.

For the third time, the justices re-

fused to review the conviction and’

sentence of Joubert for the 1983 killings
of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and: Chnis-
topher Paul Walden, 12. A court spokes-
woman -said the denial was made
without comment.

Joubert’s case probably will move
now to U. S. District Court here or to the
Nebraska Supreme Court. Joubert has
petitions pending in both courts.
Joubert, 28, had been sentenced to die

Be

last July 10, but U.S. District Judge
William Cambridge stayed the execu-
tion when Joubert filed a petition in his
court.

In that habeas corpus action, Joubert
maintained that there were 28 errors in
his guilty plea on July 3, 1984, and his
death sentence three months later.

Joubert, who was acting as his own
attorney, asked Cambridge to appoint
Omaha lawyer J. Joseph McQuillan,
who has represented him before, as his
attorney.

Joubert, acting again as his own

' attorney, had asked the U.S. Supreme

Court to set aside his guilty plea.

rages held up action in his
court, pending a decision by the high
court. He said similar issues were
raised in each action.

Monday’s denial was Joubert’s third
loss before the U.S. Supreme Court. On
Oct. 13, 1987, the court refused to hear
Joubert’s original appeal.

On March 18, 1991, the court refused
to hear Joubert’s claim under Nebraska
post-conviction laws that he had inef-
fective counsel at the time of the plea
and sentencing. That was an appeal! of
denials by both Sarpy County District
Court Judge Ronald Reagan and the
Nebraska Supreme Court.

His petition in Judge Cambridge’s
court is Joubert’s first effort at the
federal district court level.

Eberle was abducted in September
1983 and Walden in December 1983. In
each case, the strangled and stabbed
body was found three days later.

Joubert was arrested after an inci-

dent involving a confrontation with a
woman in a church day care center in
January 1984 and confessed to both

- killings.

He was an airman at Offutt Air Force
Base at the time. Similarities of the
Eberle-Walden murders to a slaying in
Portland, Maine, in August 1982 drew
the attention of authorities there.

The Maine victim, Richard Stetson,
11, also was stabbed and strangled, and
his body bore bite marks. Bite marks
also were detected on the Eberle boy’s
body.

Portiand is Joubert’s hometown.
Stetson was killed a few weeks before
Joubert joined the Air Force.

Joubert was convicted of the Stetson
murder and has received a life sen-
tence. Maine does not have the death

penalty.

The Maine Supreme Court last month
refused to set aside that conviction.
Jens Bergen, who served as Joubert’s
attomey in Maine, said Monday in a
telephone interview that there are no
other court matters in the Stetson
case.

Last year, in a second post-conviction
petition before Judge Reagan, Joubert
Maintained that because he pleaded
guilty he should have been given a
sentence less than the maximum.

Reagan, noting that several other
charges against Joubert had been
dropped, said the defendant had re
ceived benefits of his guilty plea and
again refused to set aside the conviction
and sentence. Joubert has appealed
that to the state court.


Joubest baum Ribraska

to face July 10 execution

@ The Nebraska attorney
general says Joubert still
can file federal court
proceedings on appeal.

Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. — Convicted
murderer John J. Joubert arrived in

Nebraska Monday to face the eiec- |

tric chair for killing two boys here in
1983.

Joubert, also convicted of murder
in Maine, arrived in handcuffs at the
Lincoln Municipal Airport, escorted
by three police officers from
Portland.

He was taken to the airport
authority building, where Nebraska
authorities took custody of him.

“Mr. Joubert is going to the state
penitentiary,” said Nebraska Attor-
ney General Don Stenberg. “A July
10 execution date has been set. He
still can file federal court proceed-
ings on appeal and presumably he
will file them before July 10.”

A Portland native, Joubert, 27,
was first sentenced to die in
Nebraska for killing Christopher
Walden, 12, and Danny Joe Eberle,
13, in 1983 while he was stationed at
Offutt Air Force Base.

Under an agreement between the
governors of Maine and Nebraska,
Joubert was returned to Maine last
year to stand trial in the stabbing
and strangling of 11-year-old
Richard Stetson of Portland in
1982.

Joubert was convicted and sen-
tenced to life in prison in Maine in
January. Under the agreement, he
was to. be returned to Nebraska
within 10 days of his sentencing.

OWE Ed! Be os ES eile
a : “We tt :

CLS Assodated Press
A Nebraska officer takes John
Joubert through the airport
Monday in Lincoln, Neb. i

Joubert fought in court to remain
in Maine, which has no death pen-
alty, arguing that he was innocent
and deserved a chance to overturn
his conviction on appeal.

He succeeded in delaying his
return, but not preventing it. On
Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court
refused to block the convicted mur-
derer’s return to Nebraska and
Maine authorities began making
preparations to move him.

“I was always confident that he
would be brought back and that no
court would interfere with the

“MAINE/NE

governors’ agreement,” said Sarpy
County Attorney Michael Wellman,
who prosecuted Joubert in
Nebraska.

Maine Corrections Commissioner
Donald Allen said Joubert left the
Portland International Jetport at 7
a.m., accompanied by three Port-

_:land police officers. _
Allen said Joubert was trans- |
ferred from the Maine State Prison !

in Thomaston at 4 p.m. Sunday and
taken to the Maine Correctional
Center in South Windham to be.
closer to the Portland airport.

The corrections chief said.
security was tight during Joubert’s
trip back to Nebraska. “He’s under
death sentence. ... When you have
somebody in that kind of situation,
they’re considered maximum
security.”

Harold Clarke, Nebraska Depart-
ment of Correctional Services direc-
tor, said Joubert would be readmit-
ted to the prison in Lincoln and
placed back on death row.

Stuart W. Tisdale Jr., Joubert’s
attorney in Portland, said he had
hoped his client would be able to
Stay in Maine long enough for the
Nebraska Legislature to approve a
pending bill that would abolish the
death penalty.

“I thought what we were asking
for was a reasonable, sustainable
conclusion,” Tisdale said. “I’m dis-
appointed because if he had been
allowed to stay here and appeal his
conviction, the additional time may

|

have been enough for the death -

penalty to be abolished in the state
of Nebraska.”

The Nebraska Supreme Court
last week set a July 10 execution
date for Joubert, one of 11 people on
Nebraska’s death row.


A

|

|

(pute ye,

LL ve Pes
[

Electric chair crue]
contends child kille

John Joubert wants Nebraska Supreme C

By Ed Howard
The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. — A Maine
man admitted that two boys
pleaded for mercy before he
Stabbed them to death. Now, John
Joubert wants a judge to block his
execution and rule that death in
the electric chair is unconstitu-
tionally cruel and unusual Punish-
ment.

Joubert asked the Nebraska
Supreme Court to delay the execu-
tion scheduled for Friday while
the Sarpy County District Court
reviews Joubert’s argument.

Joubert, 32, was sentenced to
die for the 1983 murders of 13-
year-old Danny Jo Eberle and 12-
year-old Christopher Walden, both
of Sarpy County. The former air-
man was based near Omaha when

the two Nebraska boys disap-
peared.

Joubert also was convicted of
killing 11-year-old Richard Stetson
in 1982 in Port- ee
land. Maine has *, 4
no death penalty.

In appeals
filed late Monday
and supported by
the American
Civil Liberties a
Union, Joubert
argues that the §
electric chair js
“brutal and ar- |
cane.”

“Tt is common
knowledge that if the State insists
upon putting (Joubert) to death,
less torturous means are avail-
able to do so,” said the appeal
filed in Sarpy County by attorney

Joubert

—f ) f) YP 7) AL
V2, 2 MCLQA€4 ri a Vie
WE “ C AZ 4 /

punishment,
r from Maine

ourt to block his execution Friday

Lyle Koenig of Lincoln.

The _ state Supreme Court
requested seven copies of a state-
ment by Paula Belford Hutchin-
son, an attorney who represented
Harold LaMont Otey and wit-
nessed his execution in 1994, the
first execution in Nebraska in 35
years. Her statement was part of
Joubert’s appeal in Sarpy County
and the request for a stay from
the state Supreme Court.

Hutchinson joined Koenig at a
news conference Tuesday during
Which they said evidence shows
electrocution is torturous. Koenig
distributed pictures of injuries
suffered by prisoners who have
been electrocuted and cited cases
where “electrocutions have been
botched.”

Joubert’s lawyers and death-

See Joubert, B2, Col 1

A
[Phils | C/AYMEGE
I PAY

associated with his Boy Scout activities.

Judge Campbell, Sarpy County Attor-
ney Pat Kelly and Mayor Joe Baldwin
came to the police station, and, at 10:50
p.m., a press conference was held to
announce that Joubert had been arrested
in connection with the slayings.

Asked if additional suspects were be-
ing sought, Thomas replied: *‘No, no
second suspect.”’

When asked what Joubert had said
during the questioning, the sheriff re-
fused to comment. Later Joubert was,
taken to the Sarpy County Jail in Papill-
ion to be held overnight without bail.

On Thursday afternoon, Joubert was
arraigned in Sarpy County Court on two
counts of first-degree murder, kidnapp-.
ing and using a knife to commit a felony
in connection with the slaying of the two
boys. Judge Campbell set bail at $10
million, citing Joubert’s lack of local
family ties and the seriousness of the
charges.

Although authorities would not reveal
what had been learned during the long
interrogation of the suspect, experienced
observers were convinced that Joubert
had confessed, making it no longer

necessary for the lawmen to seek other’

suspects.
The arrest of the 20-year-old suspect
from Portland, Maine shocked those

who had worked with him at Offutt and ’

the people of the town who had known
him through his work with the Boy
Scouts. The master sergeant, under
whom Joubert worked at the base, de-
scribed the suspect as an apparently
‘normal, average person you would
meet on the street or sit next to on the
bus. He seemed just like you or me—I
wouldn’t consider him a loner, but he is a
quiet man.”’

The 5-foot-5, 135-pound suspect, au-
thorities learned, had no previous crimi-
nal record, was a high school graduate
and had one year of college before enter-
ing the Air Force in Portland on Decem-
ber 6, 1982.

With the arrest and charging of
Joubert, the long-besieged parents of

Sarpy County breathed a collective sigh’

of relief as their children could again go
off to school without fear. And lawmen
started to total up an investigative bill
that was expected to reach $500,000.
On February 2nd, Joubert waived a
preliminary hearing and was ordered to
stand trial in District Court. Because of
meager amounts of information released
about the positive evidence the authorit-
- ies were holding on Joubert, there were
some doubts in the public mind that the
right man had been caught.

$2:

And in the months that followed, the
case was seldom out of the news. Sarpy
County Public Defender James Miller
made several appearances before the
judge scheduled to preside at the tri-
al—a judge with the same name as the
president of the United States—Ronald
Reagan.

Miller moved to suppress testimony of
identification witnesses and asked for a
change of venue, charging that, be-
cause of the intense news coverage,
it would be impossible to select an im-
partial jury in Sarpy County. He also
requested, and was denied, separate
trials on the two murders.

On tone Ist, Miller’ announced that
insanity would not be the defense when
Joubert went on trial July 9th, indicat-
ing that three psychiatric\ examinations
taken by the suspect had proven he knew
what he was doing and was responsible
for his actions at the time of the brutal
slayings.

And then after all the legal maneuver-
ing, Defense Attorney Miller, on July
3rd, pulled a stunner. Only six days be-
fore Joubert was scheduled to go to tfial,
he pleaded him guilty to two counts of
first-degree murder.

“‘It_was our only option based. on a

number of statements he made,”’ Miller
said in explaining his decision.
By pleading guilty and saving Sarpy

County the cost of a trial, Miller ex- .

plained, Joubert wants to show his re-
morse and be spared from a death sent-
ence. Miller said he had counseled
Joubert against a guilty plea until re-
cently.

“TY think John would have leaded
guilty January 12th (the ‘day after his
arrest),’” Miller said. “Thad a duty as his
counsel to explore all possibilities.””

Referring to ine thre en ex-

aminations in which it was determined
Joubert was legally sane and able to par-
ticipate in his own defense, Miller said
the lack of being able to make the insan-
ity plea would have made a courtroom
defense of Joubert extremely difficult.
But, he said, the confession created an
even more severe problem.

In his January 11th statement to a dep-
uty sheriff, a Bellevue policeman and an
FBI agent, Joubert admitted that he kil-
led the two boys and twice said he was
afraid he might kill again.

Bellevue Police Chief Don Carlson
asked Joubert if he thought he might kill
other boys.

“If I wasn’t picked up today; yes,
I’m glad I was picked up today,’’ Joubert
said in his confession.

Before he accepted the guilty pleas to
the murders, District Judge Reagan
warned Joubert that the pleas could not
be withdrawn, calling it the ‘‘final act.’
Joubert indicated he understood that.

‘*You are now adjudged guilty,’’
Judge Reagan declared.

In exchange for the guilty pleas to the
murders, the prosecution agreed to drop
both the knife and kidnapping charges.
Sarpy County Attorney Michael Well-,

_man said that Joubert was given no
promise of leniency in return for the guil-
ty pleas.

Joubert, wearing jail-issued orange
coveralls and white slippers, remained
apparently very calm and motionless
throughout the hearing except when
Wellman recounted details of the. kil-
lings. At that time he briefly lowered his
head against his right hand.

Although Miller said his client was
remorseful about the slayings, Sheriff
Thomas said he wasn’t so sure.

‘‘He doesn’t appear to me to have
changed, > Thomas stated. ‘‘He seems
passive. He doesn’t appear all that
remorseful to me. He seems normal, like
pass the butter.”’

The public was shocked when it got its

- first actual account of how the brutal:

murders were committed as excerpts of
the statement Joubert had given on the
night of January 11th were released. The
tape-recorded statement was made with
Lieutenant Sanderson, Bellevue Police
Captain Don Carlson and FBI Agent
Charles W. Kempf doing the question-
ing.

Stet related how he stalked the two
boys in the same manner, forcing them
into his car with the threat of death, using
his knife as the weapon. It was still dark
on that Sunday morning in September of
1983. when he encountered Danny Joe
Eberle. In a blood-chilling calm manner,

BULL! THA’

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THING OVER AND OVES

TIME FOR 4

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HAD IT! TIME FOR A (

BUT HOW?
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fast buck. Guess wha!
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those stinking, lousy
across?

TAKE ALO

. Envelope Stutting
. Chain Letter Rac
Doof*to-Door Seilir
. Lotteries (Fat char
Becoming an Age:
Hosting Parties

. Correcting Studer
. Be Your Own Pub
. Betting the Horse

Winning at Bingc

and the list goes or

GUESS WH

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phrase that got my wi
you've always though
believe my ears whe
but when it hit—IT
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HOW TRUE!
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In late 1983, | put it t

discover the greatest ©
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bringing in the bucks
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GET THIS!

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many crowd the field
does this all mean? 7!

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Sure you can. But it’s
portunity to have FIN
research into it. Hour:
of this GOLDEN MONE

**You can count th
you tell the boss t

town to take a job in a mine in Chetwynd,
north of Clearwater.

On November 19, 1983, RCMP offic-
ers drove to Chetwynd. They located
Shearing in a small house he had rented
near the mine. The officers presented the
search warrant and told Shearing that he
was under suspicion of being a killer.

The officers were taken by complete
surprise when Shearing suddenly blurted
out a confession that he had killed the
Johnson and Bentley families.

Shearing was taken to Kamloops were
he reiterated the confession on
videotape. He then voluntarily went with
the officers to show them where and how,
the slayings had taken place and how he
disposed of the bodies and the vehicles.

Shearing maintained that he was alone
and no one else was involved in the
murders. He said the killings had not
been motivated by robbing the victims
and that he did not know why he had
killed them. He said he had kept some of
the things he had taken and sold others.

‘It was in the evening, and they were
around a campfire,’’ Shearing said. ‘‘I
killed them with a .22-caliber rifle I had.
I dropped them one by one before they
even knew what was happening.”’

Shearing had yet another surprise for
the officers when he was taken before
Justice Harry McKay in the British
Columbia Supreme Court in Kamloops
on Monday, April 16, 1984.

The 75-year-old courtroom was filled
to SRO with spectators when the hulking
Shearing in shackles was brought before
the bench and asked how he pleaded to
the six charges of capital murder that had
been placed against him.

The prosecution and most of the spec-
tators had anticipated that Shearing
would enter a plea of not guilty by reason
of diminished mental capabilities.

A gasp went through the courtroom
when Shearing responded that he wished
to plead guilty to all six counts of
murder.

Asked by the court if he fully un-
derstood the gravity of his plea, Shearing
nodded and said that he was aware of it
and asked the court for mercy.

_ Justice McKay then asked the pro-
secution to play the recordings of the
confessions that Shearing had given.

Asked by the court if he had acted
alone in the murders, Shearing replied
that he had been alone. Asked why he
had killed the people, Shearing re-
sponded that he did not know. It had
been an impulse that came over him.

Justice McKay then pronounced sent-
ence. Canada does not have the death
penalty and he sentenced Shearing to six
life terms in prison. , _

A life term is normally 25 years with
the possibility of parole. The six life
sentences assured that David Shearing
would never be granted a parole. @

offsprings than preparing for the holi-
days. Meetings were held with school
officials; youngsters were encouraged
to travel in groups and to be wary of
strangers. Parents formed car pools
to transport the children to and from
school.

Christmas and NewYear’s day
passed, and investigators moved into
1984 without a solid suspect despite one
of the state’s most intensive in-
vestigations in the last quarter of a cen-
tury.

Wednesday, January 11th, began as a
typical day for the lawmen working on
the search for the killer. But, an event
was transpiring at a Bellevue preschool
that soon made the day anything but
routine.

At 8:20 a.m. when Mrs. Shelly Mor-
gan arrived at the basement of the Alder-
gate United Methodist Church to prepare
for opening the preschool, she noticed a
young man sitting in a car qutside. The
man drove away and then returned, and

50

NEBRASKA’S KILLER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37

eee

Mrs. Morgan, suspicious of his actions,
memorized the license numbers on his
car. ;

Again he drove away and, when he
returned, he came to the door and asked
instructions about how to reach a certain
place. Then, when he asked to use a
telephone and the nervous woman told
him there was none, the man’ became
angry, pushed her and threatened to kill
Hees 52

Frightened, the woman evaded the.
man and ran to the pastor’s home a block
away. When the wife of the pastor op-
ened the door, Mrs. Morgan burst into
the house, shouting: ‘‘Call the police!
Somebody just tried to kill me.”’

Terrified, but still coherent, Mrs.
Morgan told the pastor’s wife what had
happened, and the woman telephoned
Sarpy County authorities, who sped to
the pastor’s home. Mrs. Morgan told
them her story and gave the lawmen the
license number of the car the intruder had
been driving.

The officers traced the license number
to a white 1983 Chevrolet Citation own-
ed by Beardmore Chevrolet in Bellevue.
When the lawmen arrived at the car com-
pany they learned the car had been rented
on January Sth to John Joubert, an Air
Force enlisted man stationed at the Offutt
Air Force Base. They also found a tan

1979 Chevrolet Nova belonging to Jou-
bert parked on the Beardmore lot await-
ing repairs.

Obtaining a search warrant from Sar-
py County Judge Jeffrey Campbell, the
officers searched the car and apparent-
ly found some evidence which they re-
fused to discuss with reporters. That
afternoon officers were searching the
barracks in which Joubert was quartered
when an Air Force agent reached into
Joubert’s duffel bag and pulled out a
piece of rope.

Lieutenant James Sanderson, a Sarpy
County deputy sheriff who had been in
on the long wearying investigation for
nearly four months, stared hard at the
rope and then said quietly: ‘‘This is our
man.” ,

He’d seen an identical piece at the
outset of the case—on the body of Danny
Joe Eberle, a square knot used to bind his
hands and a slipknot around his legs.
Later, Sanderson was to say that he
would never forget that moment as long
as he lived.

At Offutt, the investigators also found
the Citation the suspect had been driving
while his car was being repaired and a
trailer belonging to a Boy Scout troop in
which Joubert was said to be serving as
an assistant scoutmaster. The officers
found more of the distinctive type rope
and knife under the seat of the rented

car.

At 3:40 p.m., Joubert, a seemingly
shy man of 20, who had been assigned
to Offutt the previous July, was taken
into custody at the base. The suspect was

- then taken to the police station head-

quarters in Bellevue.

Three investigators—one from the
Bellevue Police Department, one from
the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office and
one from the FBJ]—began interrogating
Joubert in a large room toward the rear of
the station. He was informed of his right
to have an attorney present but declined
to have one. The questioning after some

time was halted so that dinner for the -

officers and the suspect could be brought
in from a restaurant.

In the meantime, other investigators
fanned out over the area, investigating
aspects of the case in relation to Joubert’s
arrest. They found no evidence implicat-
ing the suspect in any wrongdoing

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Joubert gave this account:

** About the time he was getting ready
to get back on his bike, I had already put
myself in the same general area. He says
hello to me, and I said hello. When
he turned his back to me to get on his
bike, I grabbed him, put my hand over
his mouth and a knife at his throat and
said you come with me and don’t make
any sounds.”’

Q: Was it dark out at this time?

A: It was dark out.

Q: OK, continue on.

A: He came with me, He didn’t strug-
gle at that time, he just came with me.
We walked down toward the car in the
parking lot. There wasn’t anyone around
so I told him to lay down on his stomach
next to the car. When he did that, I told
him to put his hands behind his back. I
tied his hands up, told him to roll over on
to his back, tied up his feet and | put
some tape over his mouth.

Q: Was he making any noise or holler-
ing at all at this time?

A: No, he wasn’t.

Q: OK, continue on.

hadn’t done yet. He hadn’t talked, he
hadn’t shouted, but when I pulled out the
knife, he said, ‘‘Don’t, please don’t kill
me, j

Q: Where did you have the knife,
John?

A: I was wearing it on the side.

Q: In a sheath or something?

A: In a sheath.

Q: OK. ’

A: He struggled a little bit. Then I
stabbed him in the back. When I done

- that, he told me that if I would take him

to a hospital he wouldn’t say anything. I
didn’t believe him, so I stabbed him
again a couple of times. He didn’t move
or make any noise, so I assumed he was
dead and I just got in the car and left.

Q: Where did you go, John?

A: Back to my barracks and went to
sleep.

The questioning then shifted to the
murder of 12-year-old Christopher Wal-
den, who disappeared on his way to
school on the morning of December 2nd.
Joubert told how he stalked the young-
ster, walked up to him and said: ‘*Come

A: There was snow on the ground, and
it was very cold out.

Q: Was it snowing?

A: It was not snowing at the time, no.
We turned into the woods and went a
little ways, and | told him we could stop
here and that if he did everything I told
him to do, nothing would happen to him.

. | then told him to take off his clothes,

which he did, put his books down and
took his clothes off, put them on top of
his books.

Q: All of his clothes?

A: Except for his underwear.

Q: Did you tell him to leave those on?

A: Yes, I did.’Then | told him to lay
down on his back.

Q: Was there snow there where you
were doing this?

A: Yes, there was.

Q: OK.

A: He didn’t want to, so | just placed
my hands on his shoulders around his
throat, not squeezing and...

Q: Did you say not squeezing?

A: Not squeezing, not squeezing at
that time.

“I knelt on his chest and started strangling him.”

A: That’s when he was all tied up, I
went and I opened my trunk. Then I
picked him up and placed him in the
trunk and closed the top. I got in my car
and drove off.

Joubert then told of driving to the
death scene and he was told to continue.

A: OK, I opened the trunk, took the
kid out, then laid him in the ditch on the
side of the road.

Q: Did you carry him or did he walk?

A: I carried him; his feet were tied
also. I closed the lid on the trunk and
went back to the kid. I told him to roll
over on his stomach. Then I untied his
hands, told him to take off his shirt.
He was wearing two of them. He took
them both off.

Q: What kind of shirts?

A: He was wearing, uh, light over-
shirt, long sleeve, and he was wearing a
T-shirt of some sort. When he had done
that I told him to roll back over on his
stomach, and I tied his hands again. I
told him to roll on his back. I untied his
legs, took off his pants and tied his legs
back up.

‘‘During this time or during the time I
was bringing him out here, he had man-
aged to loosen the tape on his mouth, just
so he could either talk or shout, which he

54

with me and be quiet or I will kill you.”’

Q: Did he answer you back?

A: He just looked rather uncertain for
a minute, so I put my hand on his shoul-
der and he came with me. We walked
over toward the dar. When we got to the
car, I was about to have him get in but
there was another car coming up. So I
just made like we were talking outside
the car.

‘‘When that car left, I told him to
get in the car and to get on the floor in the
front passenger seat. He did so, and he
didn’t struggle and got down. As I
started up the car and began driving
off, he started crying, and I start-
ed thinking about whether or not I
should let him go.

Joubert was then questioned about the
route he took to the death scene. He told
the lawmen he halted the car on a dirt
road near some railroad tracks.

Q: OK, go ahead. »

A: I looked around and there wasn’t
anybody in the area, so I told him to get
out of the car and bring his books with
him. He did, and we started walking
down the tracks along the edge of some
woods. ‘'

Q: What was the weather condition
there at that point?

Q: OK.

A: And, uh, encouraged him to lay
down on his back. When he had done
that, I then knelt on his chest and started
strangling him.
: You knelt on his chest?

Yes. .

: With your knees?

: With my knees.

: And his back on the ground?

His back on the ground.

: On the snow?

Right. He was struggling and
looked like he was in pain so I just, I
didn’t want to see him suffering too
much, so I took out my knife and stabbed
him. I cut his stomach a couple of times
and then...

Q: Can you describe that to me, when
you cut his stomach?

A: There’s nothing to describe. I just
made some slices in his stomach.

Q: How many times did you do that?

A: I don’t know.

Q: Give me an idea or a guess.

A: Maybe three, maybe four.

Q: Any particular reason?

A: Just to be sure he was dead.

Joubert, under questioning, told how
he then drove back to his barracks and
disposed of his knife in a dumpster.

2)

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E.M. Cu nningh


ling the body
d the boy had
nds.

if he thought
urdered both
ilways doubt,
ink so.”’
e scene were
temperature,
ss and the ter-
f and a lighted
> unit truck on
rds away and
o avoid dama-

tracks in the
iters, the in-
+r sets entering
) the railroad
racks emerged
:wmen to con-
probably been
ilk to the place

agent, said the
ngle individual
someone who
record.”’

day, a compos-
authorities said
he Christopher
ised. The, offic-
eported eyewit-
ibduction other

»ductions.

Na phe Se

» abductor into killing the boy.

than to say it occurred Friday morning ~
somewhere along'the route Christopher
followed to school. Agent Wiley said the
witnesses reported the incident Friday
night after learning of the boy’s dis- _
appearance, and the composite sketch —
was drawn Saturday.

The officer said the composite was of
a white male, 18 to 25 years old with a
dark complexion, five-feet-eight to five-

_ feet-10.inches in height; he was wear- .
. ing a dark stocking cap and wool plaid
jacket when seen.

Asked why the investigators waited:
from Saturday until the body was dis-
covered to circulate the drawing, Agent
Wiley explained, ‘‘It could very well
have forced the fellow’s hand.’’

‘*We felt there was a very, very small
chance he could have escaped or been
released,’’ Thomas said.

Both Thomas and Chief Robinson said
they felt that if the sketch had been re-
leased, it might have frightened the

Regarding the incident reported by the
witnesses, Agent Wiley said the boy was
not seen to have been shoved into a car.
He said the witnesses did not see any- ,
thing violent or aggravated enough to
cause them to call the police at that time,
but they came forward Friay night when
they learned the boy was missing.

The FBI agent said that two agents

- with training in psychiatry would be at
the command post the next day and
Thursday to try to determine an emotion-
al.and behavioral picture of the killer.
Wiley said the FBI had brought in an
additional 10 agents to work on the case,
bringing the total number involved to 45. .

Chief Robinson told reporters the task
force working on the Eberle-Walden
case now totaled more than a hundred
officers working around the clock. The
combined reward for the arrest and con-
viction of the killer now totaled $48,000.

Thirty-two Omaha detectives were
helping the Sarpy County authorities,
and scores of calls were coming into the
Omaha police headquarters from resi-
dents volunteering information. they
hoped would help solve the brutal murd-
ers.

In addition to the baffling in-
vestigative aspects of the case, the weary
lawmen were fighting snow and ice-
covered ‘streets and highways as Ne-
braska was gripped in the coldest De-
cember in its history.

A pall of gloom hovered over the
usually cheerful Christmas shopping :
season as parents of small children were [ae

>

more concerned about the safety of their — .
(Continued on page 50) John Joubert, a seemingly shy young man of 20, is led into court by a sheriff's
pag officer for his arraignment on two counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping.

37


agreed to drop the kidnapping and knife
counts. But, explained Sarpy County
Attorney Michael Wellman, Joubert
was given no promises of leniency in
sentencing.

In his January 11th confession, it was
revealed, Joubert had detailed how he
had stalked both youngsters in the same
manner, forcing them into his car under
the threat of death from the knife that
he’d kept in a sheath on his side.

Joubert had explained that, after driv-
ing to the scene where Danny Joe
Eberle’s body was later found, he had,
‘‘Opened the trunk, took the kid out,
then laid him in the ditch on the side of
the road.

“TY carried him. His feet were tied
also. I closed the lid on the trunk and
went back to the kid. I told him to roll
over on his stomach. Then I untied his
hands, told him to take off his shirt. He
was wearing two of them. He took them
both off...

‘“‘When he had done that, I told him
to roll back over on his stomach, and I
tied his hands again. I told him to roll on
his back. I untied his legs, took off his
pants and tied his legs back up.

“He struggled a little bit. Then I
stabbed him in the back. When I done
that, he told me that if I would take him
to a hospital he wouldn’t say anything. I
didn’t believe him, so I stabbed him
again a couple of times. He didn’t move
or make any noise, so I assumed he was
dead and I just got in the car and left.”’

It was on the morning of December
2nd, Joubert’s confession had contin-
ued, when he had walked up to Christo-
pher Walden and said, ‘‘Come with me
and be quiet, or I will kill you....’’

‘*He just looked rather uncertain for a
minute, so I put my hand on his shoul-
der and he came with me. We walked
over towards the car. When we got to
the car, I was about to have him get in
but there was another car coming up. So
I just made like we were talking outside
the car.

“‘When that car left 1 told him to get
in the car and to get on the floor in the
front passenger seat. He did so, and he
didn’t struggle and got down. As | star-
ted up the car, and began driving off, he
started crying, and I started thinking
about whether or not | should let him
go.”’

Joubert had stated that, after driving
to a dirt road near some railroad tracks,
he had walked the little boy to the edge
of the woods. After telling the child to
take off all his clothes except for his un-
derwear, he had ordered Christopher to
lie on his back. He had then put his

52. Inside Detective

hands on the child’s shoulders and ‘‘en-
couraged him to lay down on his back.
When [Christopher] had done that, I
then knelt on his chest and started stran-
gling him....

‘He was struggling and looked like
he was in pain, so I just—I didn’t want
to see him suffering too much—so I
took my knife and stabbed him. I cut his
stomach a couple of times....”’

Joubert had then recalled how he had
driven back to his barracks and gotten
rid of the knife ina trash dumpster.

‘‘At the time,’’ Joubert recalled, ‘‘I
was scared and sorry, not half as sorry
as I am now. Went into my room after
that. It took me a half hour, but after that
I drifted off to sleep.”’

Despite intensive grilling by his inter-
rogators, Joubert steadfastly denied sex-
ually molesting either child. He insisted
that he had killed the youngsters within
90 minutes of picking them up and de-
nied taking them any place but to the
scene of their death.

A 4hree-judge panel entrusted with
deciding John J. Joubert’s fate ruled that
the young airman should pay for his
crimes with his life: Before his execu-
tion could take place, however, his
death penalty would be appealed
through the courts.

In Maine, meanwhile, the notoriety
achieved by the young Portland native
had not gone unnoticed. In February
1985, Portland Police Detective Peter F.
DeRice and Detective Lieutenant Dan-
iel R. Ross, Jr., ventured to Lincoln, Ne-
braska, to take hair samples and teeth
impressions from the condemned slayer.

“*They’re looking at him in connec-
tion with the Stetson case,’’ said Dep-
uty Maine Attorney General Fernand R.
LaRochelle. ‘‘He’s being considered
also in connection with some assaults in
the Portland area that would have pre-
ceded Stetson.’’

In a telephone interview with Maine
newsmen, Sarpy County Sheriff Patrick
Thomas said that Joubert had refused a
court order to give police the hair sam-
ples they wanted, so they had used a
search warrant to get what they came
for.

‘‘They went down to the penitentiary
and interviewed Joubert, who refused to
talk to them unless he had his attorney
there,’? Thomas said. ‘‘They got pubic
hair and hair from his head and teeth
impressions from him. I hope they have
good luck with their case. I think they
will.”’

Joubert’s public defender blasted the
Maine investigators for their actions.

‘I’m still of the opinion they have no

business talking to that man while his
appeal is pending,’’ he said. ‘‘I have
never had a situation where, during a
pending case at trial or appellate level,
law enforcement officers presumed to
talk to the client. Really, it’s unprece-
dented in my twenty years of experience
in my business.”’

The attorney added that he was ‘‘very
interested’’ in how the detectives got
their samples from his client ‘‘and if
they got something, how they got it.’”’

Other sources close to the probe said
that Portland police had found what ap-
peared to be teeth marks on Richie Stet-
son’s right calf when his body was
discovered.

Detective DeRice told reporters that a
slash mark was also found on the boy’s
right calf.

Sheriff Thomas said that a slash mark
was found on the thigh of one of the Ne-
braska victims near what appeared to be
bite marks. Early in the case, he noted,
investigators had theorized that the bite
marks had been made by a small animal.

Investigators pointed out that Joubert
had lived in Portland at the time of the
murder of Richie Stetson and had
worked at a paint shop less than a mile
from Baxter Boulevard.

DeRice’s report, it was noted, also
mentioned that marks that appeared to
have been left by fingers were also
found on Richie Stetson’s throat. Simi-
lar marks, it was noted, had been found
on the neck of one of the Nebraska
victims.

On Friday, January 10, 1986, a Cum-
berland County, Maine, grand jury,
called into special session the previous
October, indicted John J. Joubert for the
murder of Richard Stetson.

In Augusta, Assistant Attorney Gen-

‘eral Charles Ledbetter said that Maine

intended to follow through with the
prosecution of Joubert despite the death
sentences hanging over the suspect’s
head in Nebraska.

In Nebraska, Sarpy Sheriff’s Captain
Sanderson, who had gone to Maine to
testify before the grand jury, told news-
men, ‘“‘I feel good about it. When you
work hard on something like this, you
like to see the results.”’

A year and a half later, on Mondav,
July 6, 1987, as John Joubert languished
on Nebraska’s Death Row, the Nebras-
ka Supreme Court denied the former
airman’s request for a stay of execution.
However, the following day, July 7th,
United States Supreme Court Justice
Harry A. Blackman issued an indefinite
stay until the full court would be able to
review the case. ©

Hooker’s

to make the buy.

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she could go make

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house and Toni mac
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doned in a church 5

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party after dropp!
home.”’

Detective Masso
girl who had introd
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introduced her to |

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buy some coke. A:
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said. ‘‘So I introd\

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night. But then the
tacted me and wa
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ask where the car :
said the last he se
dropped him off a
thirty that morning
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off at one-thirty
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open, one fO¥- ithe current was again applied f0F |rour: ; bags

{3 é ; “ourteenth (street ane
and .operation, | thirty seconds, and at 10:20:30 Prison
character ofthe | physician Finkle pronounced King
judgment of fhe | dead, - 7 ?

Although regarded as & dangerous

fag ‘ mean disaster to the hopes of the iman, King met death cheerfully and
Eat jfarwners and. other usera of com- ! walked from the solitary cell, where
'mercial fertilizers. To hate thethe has been confined since the. mur-

“4 of Nation Is

: News Service.) _
9.—Austria’s finan-

about

‘s sald to be
Tes °

s.urA

>-war value of Aus-
; 20 cents, but it ds
nts 1,090-“ronen in
ay : ‘

sports from Prasne,
incil has appiled to
to bo prepared to
“‘stonal mandate for
the powers that
Garraain/can

>
wee 4

oe

ba consid-
St. Ger-
fats jointly.
> be taken over

~-S ret ne A?

at colapen of Aus:
“out reviston of the
y. The officials of

scted hourly, accord: !
officials today..Tho ;

'governrhent undertake and engage Jn
ithe manufacture of: fertilized “ingrd-
‘ents with politicall superintendents,
foremen and. strawborses ‘is un-
thinkabe and to undertake such a
scheme would bo unspeakable folly.”

Representatives Parker and Froth-
Ingham found fault wath the Ford
offer in their report, declalrihg that
ithe $5,000,000 he offers for the ni-
trate ‘pants, the “Waco quarry. she
Jorgas steam. plant, railroad -an‘t
transmission line is ‘grossly inadu-
‘quate.” Bagh , ;
' Mr. Ford pays no interest on the
‘$26,000,000 already spent by the
‘povernment on the Wilson dam.
‘report says, und dues not propose to
pay Interest on. Whut the United
‘States Is to sped upon the comple-

ition of that project unt! six years
In

i

i]

‘after the dam_ js in operation.
Ithat time, the government Wil pay

out $7,500,009, and will receiva back
from Mr. Ford only $1,200,000, says
the report.- ¢ ‘

‘The whole proposition,
4g a departure from

aterpower Jlegis-

‘
ement continues,
‘the policy of our Ww
tation.” 3 j"

- 8 @ ee ee ee ae ie

the;

“ the decit-y

,der of Guard Taylor, to the hospital

iobuliding.
jeated, a distance of nearly 109 yards,
‘without the assistance of gunrds who
'marched at his efde. His hands had
‘been handcuffed together and seven
i guards were stationed along tho line
‘of march as a. precautionary meas-
iure. King smiled and nodddi to reve
feral acquaintances, along,;the line of
mare. 2.0243 CS ON ae ea A
Moved Swiftly Forward. | es
At the hospital door, King turned

i .
'

jand smiled’ at the ‘small group gath-!;

i ered there, !ncluding guards and
.newspaper men, and then proceeded
‘rap{dly up tho stairs to:the smal!
northwes} corner room on the second
_floor, where the chair is located, At
‘the door 0° the chamber he stopped.
;flancing curiously at the chair for «
trecond and then’ bowing his: -hen

j}while Chaplain Thomas: A. Maxwell!

tot the state penitentiary offered a
i short proayer. He shook hands with
{Warden “Billy” Fenton, stepped far-
; ward and seated himself, Executioner
‘Currier and hia two aesistants com-

(Conotinued on Page Fourteen.) .?

|
\
t

where the death chair ts tox,

i

a4:

with na Ford coupe.
cars overturned, ~Mra.
the-ony member of ¢
.jured, .She was. tth
where her injuries +!
i The. setlin Was -forr
coupe north on
iwhen they. came tose
mentioned car, coutal:
ker, Henry Hamank:
and Will Kaltenborn.
were Paul and Harve:
tare residents of Ec

The top ef the. Beda
and the wheels of th
broken. Ao

Ivor:

Alleges Geors
. Said.He E

—_—a ans

NGTON. Jt
Woodrutf, t

|. WASHI
raentative
'4pan, . declared “fn
that, according %

\Yrom three different
Phillips, sepublican

of Georgia had -atate
to his arrest on cha:
tion with war “frit
things on the hill he
a condition “that he
tbe arrested, but that
l_end.there.” ot

e
se

'
)

}

!

Any te at on tl wk wl Tf
BBS | a Hay fibd kan sl ret
HAY SG SETIEEUTS wnoncand At

|
|

4 progr eases e.
| tori: iL nomination fron
peandidates.. Ci
fous platform,
cdwhich was opposition
+ ‘ummiuns -ralire: ud act
provisions,
7 virtual sinsidy. os?
Cilfford /Tirorne,

vont ¥

I posed: ‘tot
‘termed it
not ignore.”
tora with a
Heve their -
vote, and yet!
ervately: throw
which the president
the party,
‘A cunvass of the,
| Closed § thi serious
+ their minds: as to whether- they ean
votes to pais the | r relatives he Wishes to be present
President Harding'# (ht the execution, King-has named doling president pf tthe te Se ienin
ne and -shows  ipdirierence ta ths :Growers, in which: enipaelt he: aves. 4

oes Joubt ed
f

fertyt BM: test ieee? and
ion nivisors

Serviee.)
8, --Liespite
srelsedi DS ': . in
"See snd ‘ae Sy, = SUN
ete yo “Mun orlees 42685 a. mi ay!
keeping Stheir fw a
trietiy: off the lowa: primary pis iM
th » yesait tn that warm contest ne oun’ neta, Tst4 a ni, ‘y
dite have an early, ef ay erseayee aes sentence
additlonal -complicn =

‘ation’s les ise}
fhe” anipt
Harding
congress |

ON.

thraatene
Se Ip creating
eats for
itive program,
e cubaldy’ Milk which, Aiba: tent

has declare “d the

the adniunistr
cparticularty

‘Rroukhatt. ‘the ultri |
whe won the low ee

amy. rigned |

and its unre

ount. ata a 2 nege’€ ‘convict: Shows ty:
anti-railroad :at~ ‘Concern But Wants, Bananas

“Teaders-o8 tne Nebraska ‘aericnitaes }

tipi it i
he th t i ‘ t ta

ot aeie x.

Secpry  Watc Rel oe
“pty “Beet Data, ae
OF Si RRs
Pre | eS Mea

AND, MOON

Sun set TT p.m. -- é
> Muon rises” 6: Ope P.. mer

‘torney. who wag second in the lows fA ate d Ci t
“teontest, alse opposed. the Exch: -Cum-: ee xe
mina act and their combined strength p-) “3 £ aan igare Ss. ke
2 3 enue otal ah

approxiniates rourhiy .

the lowa repul
estern sena

-Other midw

muster. sufficient
mesure,”
Jinsistence- that it
The demvcraty, |
‘from coast, districts,
I ship sabstdy ap n “party mensure. “4

70 per cent al
tlican rentiment. - 7

pce Eastern a
Ove Kansai y
“som: andate which We onan: NoUNces “Apparatus | Perfect. ;

The midwesternors are igs

desire to vote as they. bp-}) | 7 —Warden Sets. Time.
distr: ‘
they: hesitate to: delib-
down. legistation ipon
as titular had of. Inst day on, earth: peacefully: ‘and:
has Inid such stress, 9 yp quiletly, having-no requernts other than’)
hts ‘customary supply of bananas aral
{cigarets He furnished. Allowed un
der the law to designate any. friends

he subsidy.

leaders toduy dis-
doubt exists in

despite
“must? ‘be ‘passed.
es for -n foW ]whoie proceedings.

EB. B. Currter, the Boston. execi-
toner, ardived in Lincoln at 9:30 2.) Th t Gr . a
fm. Thursday, Mu went sai aaee | e UH. Grain Growers OF as:
to the penitentiary: where he exam: | eats ‘are ‘dvatroua. of stv
‘ined the apparatus, pronouncing, it ithe “farm bloc In. congress,

nw sit oppose the

Executioner .

theny *%o }

in perfect ordc*.

pleted and the electrocution

<4 le

{Warden Fenton.

ert i. Taylor, a prison guard.

NORA

see

tim of Attempt on Fast
Passenger.’ ae

pS
(Special to The Star.)

gost son Will oh

3

i yave heen. rent: out fran Tincala wy:

Little's

ees.

ing t
''senla ties pina Uf

-geptance, eae

t Fee ieee ene?
; ake ‘inetirton of tne ely,

f theclinited: ‘States, Grau aire ans
pels WHE become ae 6 wndld:
“nited. x tutes ‘ROTATE ane thee POT ye
“Venn. ticket tn, the statins etanaes
-hily. 28 Petitions: for “Pla dia

“Omaha ‘and 2 re, pawn felyeaht tton, i
Lausfferent. part's of the wtyeten, ‘
“Tha entry Pat Mie Ahiatatson. 4
farmer. candidate, far. the tag: ihesls
follows Uhe Town: pelmary: Mfetory 5
‘Colonel. iduannatt: ‘radical: te)

Sexentative-- of eCity ay Tntenee!
‘ AYULCOMIE. has. Penco urd & be

‘mduatry: tal believe (hits aoe wim":
reealt cat be brought pbout> hers.
SAG Orn ford. <ht. CNarge Of tho.

atateotfice maintained, Viy the U. =

: Grain Citowera fn oT fncofs, cont lrgia 4

the’ report ws tO ‘Gusta feon's canes

cies. ae va
: “Yes, the petition Tala he have’ re

Te a

J out,” and - Ore now debi pare.

nround for, stenersk, hase Wd yitdteat

duinen B. King. Sateen to Tale in.
the electric chur “Mriday, : apent “his eencrally Anderntood ‘Bye Mr. Gute ft

Al} arrangements have ee com-
will mate aie a suffichent follows ‘ue Ne:

fake piace sometime Letween 10 a. | braska to make 2 senators} | andi
om. and 4 p.m. Friday, according to. :

| King Was convicted uf Killing Rob-

‘Another Is the enactinent of. B. Luks
i a atop so-called, “hratn: gumblin >
tey the Chicago: bgard of trade eta fi

Si capes CITY, June R.—An-
ene ianelAy nicht

son’s friends. that, hes will aeeeht. W a
dike the race. Wo expect to” Noise
yinate Aim fii thet primary. “Bnd. et Ve
him. tn: November-“. ees

5 Gustafson’ re “geriatorint “end fa
will doubttoss * mean hip retirem

a salary of $12,000 per year.
Strengthens ‘F%eri. Bloc.

funtion and: other agricultural Lites
mdlien lisse.

whic

5 sega alreudy become’ A pptentlay far?
Sor Ine national. Tegialtion. « Thes

: date ‘nupported | hy pels extremity

formildble. 9:
/ Repeat of. the Each: ine mie P

“shad law. which vests exclusive col
“trol of rites in the Interstate Com-f
iireree commission,  Xud in effpct,
_tguara tees. the carriers “such “re
Veonable” earnings as that body fin

a tthoy are entitled. to, Is one of the

Eoin ob frets, sought. 5 ya

rs

‘other large epeculutive ° century, wes 38)
4 Capper law on ‘this subject Was t2-
wntty held - Junconstituttonat by th

Slow Freight Train | are Vice the federal supreme ‘court, but ey
tll |

ijl has. been introduced and w
pressed by. ane: Peet baa a for be a

[| wegen 3!

‘|princess Mary aot
‘Sets. Fashion: at:

Hyer
ast “


ne fon Dem hg & See Bw a as Oe

mance ARENAS
; 2 qa
t
i. 4 4
My ree 4 ?
rie BISeaee se
. ie Ve Lt i SEE -,
se UP}: : - ~ ¢ er
ha ert iE rT rn
4 as Pe ugAR eu
re Poe God ebs t FU Re be fa
Fat BiG AUR Naat
4 $ ; ye 2
sshd Ua tdiho Big PUY CurTL ,

\

| - Voiced in‘ Recommenca-.
|

kat gs
2 ifalo and: Three Separate aah
acoin Ete... ec
2084 -« tions Mace on Friday. - |oon
AVIA Ee ms rh te
‘ered to EN-| Majority Endorses. Proposal
cDects 0 With: Gorgas Steam Plant.
neNSe Asli Net Included. - a
nO int toa tree-for- |
ae Re . Hq Rasotiated . Vrees..o: rf
half q dozen repuP WASHINGTON, Sune §—Three |

Sixth congressional
anxious to fill the,
Kinkald.. Two new ,
‘sight, ons being '
OU. Hostetler of!

\separate reports eting. forth = rec: |

‘ommendat: ons fo
grefa With respect tu private dev clop- 5
other Ww. E. Glynn ment of the government's $106. 009 009090 !
wyer,” ; | power and nitrate projects at Muscie

ate D. M. Amsberry Shoals, Aluw., were mace to the house
ind Robert G. SIM- today by members of the military’

Scottsblu(f, are al- i Pe
le A. R. Humphrey reommittce,
vho now holds a job} Acting
a} Mbrary at Wash- | Htinots who draf
ready to ‘fle. ! port. declared at
by means ex- idocument that the

se.
¥
t

Chairman ‘McKenzie of

che outset of that

tn proportion to {ta projects to be sold.

y other section of | Concurrence in the majority report,
‘atedly there will bes except for the reference to the Gore
gas plant, is voiced .in one of tho
‘mo, Secretary Ams-!minority vpinions ‘presented by Rep-
hrey a telegram des resentative Wright, Gemocrat.
| of them should not gia; and supported by
ad sugresting that 4 ‘tive James, republican, ‘Michigan,
4 looking. toward the ‘and the remaining cemocratic mem-

euyed the other, n0 aSibers, They «sk full corm iplance BY
the vote In Custer!the house With all propositions of

Amsberry ithe Ford proposal and point out tne
r to this sammy! i pellet that if congresq ehminates
{Gorgas unit, it wold defeat
j + ord offer. '
| In a third report submited by Rep-
resentative Purker, rej.ubican,

tis time,

tae

- clirewlat r4 Aor
county, :/pre-

‘Yrothirsisarm,:; republican, Massachu-
etta, the opinion is ndverse to tho
eceptance of Mir. Ford's offer unloss
hit fs modifiedsin other sections than
aby dealing with Gorgar.

lonly. Gimmona in!” Provides for Leasing. ©

from the west. the} In the event Mr. Ford declined to
or: favorabla to neres to the modifications proposed,

ee ee

‘ics n the east part

“action by cone!

{minutes
yf! ed in the court mandate.

ted the majority re- |
itween 19 and 4

Lord proposal wis*

ony
possible candfdates. the only one found, “Worthy of serin |
-atx counties in the ,ous consideration” and asks, its avo;
rict, and thirty-two cept ance by the 9 bouse provided, |
it been heard from. however, that the Gorgas steam
ct has more ambt!- plant: be not included among the

r Geor- }
Representa: |

“ne,

New|
‘Jersey. and signea by Ltepresentative ;

i i} : } :
+ cake } ‘
ae oe : kd i a - ise we u ce
3 'Color nfed Pr isoner convicted

“Of. Killing’ Gua rd Revert

Taylor. Is Ele ctrocute

id

the. -Penitentia lary hele
Morni ing. RE See S
col IDENINED. i MARS WES tt

10. HIS-DE! AL
“at!

Cal

Execution’ ETook: Place’
10:05, Within Few Minut
After Initial. Hour Named
Court: Mandate.

James LB. King. negro Rectan whod :
killed Prison Guard Robert. L.. Tay-i*

‘Jor in May,

re’

Ad

wf,

electrie chair atthe Nebraska. State; wisok found.

Pine wa Friday morning.
King was strapped in the ‘chalt-! nemoc critic ‘state  comni
est corner of the: ry,

Yocated im Une northw
Lace ntent Duilding, nat 10:06—Just ‘six
after the initial hour apect-

date fixed the. t(me for execution be-
o'clock.
‘Ri

*®

The man} !

“poe = .

t= rst: lams os
Mito awe ead ¢
“pe fing Pre
ott ‘be OV
eed Lt ri a
8 t Bi ny
i nists
fe « aabkibs

A ‘democrats
tha state
es, th e “Hin dertburc line co

ty Odys Is propoasd SHA ¢
in; the ‘officy cf
isa ters’ petition fror 10°
malled to the

“yohe Renate.
Mr. Koni, frem Dodge on

1921, was executed the! 4 heuds: the -petition, -

-t 33) rnes, -

i
*ulfferent times. 0.4

Executfoner | aan has oeet, Cone ie
- ’ at ~ .
R. Currier, fiashed the current “en, eae int fOr she sty tent

a ee been forward sd” Up
: “yp the only cauathdate for.
rover {2

{

os Ix.

Yeressive ticket

Ta yoters, petition se ni

‘Jatlates have
{papers to ‘the secretar
‘their friends have doncg

Hickman Nn.

WHR unterstaod t0.:

“‘*ohL: af Wah
yomber of
tno the

“Spat aS

‘eonate:

state etre:

recretat y
Wilson, wh
y3 a8 party

Vallaco” H.

“Mayor James ty, halvine

th name x
foruter > hahafys

both ef ¥
"

“Mortarit’
‘the. st: ate:

“senate

é

No. acceptance rhe

Gemocratic
C. Koudsen of Genes
aan office

the

j Med for the

Harrop Named’ Yor
Roy Moo Harrep, of ¢
hee

vtndidate for railway <«
Me a good chance tos:
tun for-ccoogrehs.. anate)
is presented for the

la

Jhe filing {66 has she
‘ony. Harrop’s ageeptiu
Tho complete’ is mom Tia
Inney candids we.s: ‘
The following.
sent:

ice
the

Penrere 222, Romig

publican for the house,
> ae ‘Campveil, ae
for ‘state Benet, ae

sEnrlo Hillard, {oe
for des Rab Sach" dystric


ae

-"
sae

Zs
+?
aarinc
aia Yes een
Wee ¢
SENT LOTT 9 LIQELZT? O
ee ae ee ee er

‘al to The Stat.)
3 . Juna

Lee ratwcs
: Epworth league con:
> here Tuesday anc Wed-
: the Columbus
of the church threw open
to enterialn
pienie sup
.t. the park
“he-conventien .clesed with
+g lecture. by Dr. Louls Als

9.—Closa ‘to
were prosent

district.
the dele-

per Was piven
on Tuerday

neg Join in|
Outdoor

eclal to Thu Star.)
Ch ks
ents hava been
vides for culdoor mectings
churches !
enings during the summer,
be held on
Methodtat

aking his turn

C

Ww

ervices

June %—
completed

Neb.,

combined on
the lawn: of
church, . each
preanching.

wee oe ee eee ee

MOT

=
; a
1h28

YT
|

af oe

iu
iz

—

~
rn apant

~4 Fb GOk

og »
‘ nj
~o eal

an

Wee

-
to
a «}

Ld

na
a
|

|

House
1—Other Mem

mily Escape.

\.

(?

AMIE

rl

ie
Hutson and

‘3 “Hutson, 36, Are
ly Burned.

Is De-
ber

jnumernble clgarets.

pleted the work of strapping Hing in.
Preparations at the penitentiary
mored swittly forward Friday mora-
ing.-Iexecutianer Currier arrived at
the prison shortly. before 9 o'clock
and rave the machine a preliminary
test. He pronounced it working per-
fectly. . Pe awe ak
In’ the solitary where -King had
been confined, the special watch was
in charge. Deputy Warden Dan Kay-
anaugh azsisted King. to .dress—the
condemned man being given a black
suit, soft striped shirt end new black
shoes, King ate @ hearty breakfast
of steak, exc. French. fried potatoes,
‘bread and coffee. its eee tetas
Ay Talks With, Attorney. 9-0":
King had risen éhrly -and = after

+ breakfast spent-the intervening time

in reading the Bitle and-smoking in-

Shortly after 9 o'clock Attorney
Richard Stout, who had been named
by the court to represent King tn his
trial. and subsequent hearing {n the
supreme court, arrived and was taken
linmedjately to the prisoner's cell,
| King talked casuaily with his at-
‘torney, assuring Mr. Stout that he
was resigned to his fate and was un-
afraid, He said that he had spent
the. evening reading the Bible and
emoking. He enjoyed a good night's
rest, he said, sleeping about six
hours. King told Mr. Stout that he
was just a bit curious about the
hereafter. ‘

While the prisoner waa talking with
his attorney, Warden Fénton and a
group of newspaper men-arrived and
the warden read the death warrant at
9:30. King maintained a sharp inter-
est for a short time but lost hoart In
the legal phraseology of the warrant
and turned partially away. In tho cell
next to King, Convict Nichols, also
under the death sentence for the
murder of his sweetheart, listened In-
tently to the reading of tho warrant,
5 Heard Twenty-third Psalm.

Prison Physician Finkle arrived
shortly after, nuccompanied by Chap-
Jain Maxwell. and ‘Rev, O.. J. Burk-
hart of Omaha, a. colored minister.
Chaplain Maxwell read the Twenty-,
thitad Psalm, which King had re-
quested, and offered a short prayer.,
Rov. Burkhart also offered o short
prayer. i

While Dr. Finkle prepared King fot
the chair, the condemned man Soked
with his attendants. The-death march
won started at 9:67, errs e,
_-King told newspaper mon that he
ala ie tn Narth Coratina andownra

>

{udruly

5
2 I
i
wt mm ‘a ~
ha §R iB :
S ghbdyre att :
- 5 ers tof:
} eZ m™ 2 oa SF 5 = ¢ ;
{ gabe fi 3 } - wattle. s
of Fay bd Ragte = Third Man In Chair. ;
of Ned as wb dh & 88 James Bo. Kine ving o third roAn
te re Le : y-qto pay -the death pe ‘in Ne
Se Sae~ . reneten’ :
ww” (Continued fréwn Parse One) _ braska since the In: “fon of. the
7 electric ‘chair tn place of . the fal-

lows. . The death chamber with {ts

roughly made chair had teen unuzed

since December, --1920, when Alson Vy

Cole and: Vincent Grammen Were put

to death there for the murder j
Grammer's mother-!n-law in Howird
county ‘In ‘1917. +26: , Pe

a» @
of

- King: was convicted ~ of stabbing |.

Robert.L,. Taylor, a. prison guard, to |
Ceath onthe eventag oN Maye,
1921.-> ‘Taylor. * dled. ‘within. a vhalft
hour and a search of the prion cells
revealed a. bloody, knife made froma
tile, hidden in ‘a- broom in... Kjng’a
cell). Blood spotavun his 2£hoes. and

the knowledge that he had previous: |”

ly threatened. Taylor and had been
punished for his threats, fixed. the
erlme‘on. King. Soe a te ee
The deputy warden ahd doputy
county attorney later drew a -con>
fession from King. whick the latter
signed on May 13 at the court house
at his preliminary hearing. He was
convicted In the Lancaster district
court of first degree murder and tho
supreme .court-upheld this decision
and refused to-review the case. aA
second time. stig
At tho ttme of the murder, King
Was serving an indeterminate sen-
tence for burglary. He had been an
prisoner and had several
t!vnos’ been reported by Taylor for
b Zach of discipline. Ile had served
sdveral periods in the solitary cell
house as a result and~ hated Tay-
lor as a consequence. :
On the afternoon preceeding the
murder of Taylor, the guard and
King had an argument at the cell
door of the Intterover a comb which
King cluimed Taylor’ had ,takon
from him. As Taylor moyed away.
King sald, “Well you will bear from
me.” ge Sih 4
As the prisoners were marching
from the dining room that evening
King dropped out of the head of the
line and fell in ugaim at {ts very
end. Taylor was on oe yao
foot of n.stairway leading Ao the
setond und third tler of colls.
Details of Crime.’ .
When King, at the end of “the
marching line, reached Tayior's post,
he drew his improvised Knife -and
stabbed Taylor in the threat. Taylor
turned to escape and King stabbed
him three: times, twice in the back
and once in the arm, Taylor, partly
up -the stairway in his effort: to es-
cape, fell and rolled buck ‘to the

Sto

lower floor, King watehed him and
+$ - sere VL é .

ofA ta hte call.

'n
swe

cans oT Tt
imme ALAA

Gal

st; OFFER
“A reward. of
by Gus Hyer.
partment of

any informatic
ture of: Fred-©
ments have

that Brown i3
he has warns
lookout for his

‘

Frea Brown,

‘other chapter

Thursday nisi
in Lincoln’ in
miraculously ¢
hiny at close
Reiech. at 178
scathed thfrov
poured at him
at Twenty-firs
& posse comp
law enforcing
Friday. mornin
good a Fetaws
us State Sher:
City, “county
ficers had alnc
pursued Brow:
the city, on Fe
almost “withir
him,’ but. lu *
and he esoape
Y streets, Off
six feet of hi:
him, i
“Stick
manded. -
Brawn ran,
ten fect, belor
ner, OfXcer
fun threoS{im
failed: to’ go <
Rymer ther
fired three tl
fairly. close ta
untouched -a!
darkness, .>

fem


emother-
e hig en-

eae :
in-law of

and
rater. “He
pet and
nen. with
‘ried ‘her
struggled
> twins, 3
che house
y Tran out
nd unin-

1e3

tson, was

Forrest,
in after
He. is
Materlal
me to ac-
> hospital
hey died.
1d Wok
ther and
the hos-
Il ambu-
partment,
irm, was
he small,/
afire in
miy well

ut of the:

occurred }

ae f' 1 Lf
bo} Joued |, a Saylorg paras
The death march fy, : trad { gy effort lo ese
sit Ae Teapes fell, and rolled. back to, the
ney er mon. that hej ot fluor, . Kt Ing watelied him and
rth ina and Wes itnen walked.to hin celb 7 :
y ie ectd that he had | The knifo Was fash wn hour lates

s,areund the world since
ald th
directed that

over to the

his
Omeha medical

Letter re Fenton,

rs r1¢ rsonucrs
ing sent a letter to Warden Fen- his’ shoes: Other langarriee td.’ King's

lton anking forgiveness for repeated | the pee ah spe Sgt fa atchis
jviolations of prison rules. * va a i sdeaeaemtigeat. aaa We apa
| The letter follows: - paler atte : REZ, Se ee
|° “Saturday, June 3.—Hon. Mr, W. T. ‘ me oi ee :
Fenton, Warden: Sir..l am very glad MP ARiey | BLE M aS
and thankful for your kindness and Hi fe fos | a AEE EL BET be E eg -:
generosity in giving me those bananas hi iF caret ii i] ~ ii if iid aoa
and clrarets.' Moreover I wish to beg {#4 oa De Ba Bin oe ped ale ae way
you to. forgive me (as far as possi-{ f° = Sip Cs ae lk Si a ow ae
ble) for my past violations and. tIn- ate MOT it r it one rf {-
fringements against~, your .prison!: Hy ; Ay ft be it. tf ke AV
rules. I admit. that they are many. Tah gd iat i eayeggh eb pe
but I feel sure ff you could thoroush«.> dj tau is { =| UUitt eal
ly and accurately underatand the conse |. te cS PORE AEN ate it et cce me ede Sha. ON
dittong and circumstances which pro- > yaaa ae ' ee wD in
voked and drove mato such (appar: General . Rains | Reported ..| “

ann

ently) meanness and contemptible in-
solence In actions as wel] as words
that you would be ienlent enough to
grant. me your forgiveness, as my
last request.

“If you can and will forgive mo I

feellng grateful to you for your con-
descending gencrosity in thus forgiv-
ing. Yours very gratefully,
“JAS. B. KING, 7651."
“py. 8. Of course I cannot undo any
of the things which I have done; but
I write you thig request as a token
of my humble desire for your for-
Kiveness before 1] am clectrocuted.
Gratefully yours, “S..B. Ke
Tho VYarden'’s Answer.
’ The cele replied to King ua fol-

lows:
LANCASTER, Neb. June 4, 1922.—
Friend Jim: Iam in receipt of your

letter this Sunday morning in which
you ask my forgiveness for any and
all transgressions against the rules of
the. institution. You mazay
Jim, you are forgiven so far as any
personal matters between ,you and
myself. are concerned.

“Stn¢e you have been under our
Care we have endeavored to be fair
with you tn all matters pertaining to
discipline and other mattors. Before
this unfortunate. crimo was com-
mitted, wo treated you as we did all
others,. endeavoring always to give
each man a square deal,.and encour:

r~

;agine them to conform with tho rules

and regul lations which wero beneficial
to thom.

“In’ your particular case I have eh-
denvored to encourage you
way possible by sending you to the
road camp, where you had sunshine
and fresh alr. And in all othor mat-
ters I havo done the dost I couki to
make you pertey ro I was your friend.
You never asked. me for an intorviow
that I dia sot gladly grant. it to you.

Nover once did you. complal iIn,of oven

ne ¢e

at he had no
body

shall go to the chair next Friday:

be sure

in every.

raisted

nése ‘and conser, ¢
explain the blood. on ‘the hinlt e ‘or on

who 2aw

“All Parts of State Thurs-
wires day: Night.’

Downfall Light Here But Over
Two Inches int North-
east Counties.

,

General rains, varying from: ight

in the southeast o exremely heavy
rains in the northoast, tell over No-
braska Thursday night .and Friday

morning. Lincoln received .23 of an
inch accompanied ,by . considerable
wind while Oakdale: andivicinity: in

the northeast reported 2.32. inches.
Between these two uextremes, all sec-
tions of the east half of the state at
least had welcome rains,

The Burlington reports. one-fourth
to one-half Inch raina between Calro
and Lincoln and between Harvard
and Lincoln. Early morning reports
tt the weather bureau, show that ratn
fell ag follows:

Ashland _ .61, Broken Bow 78.
Columbus .32, Fairmont .42, Grand
IMand .22, TWartington 1.60, ° North
Loup 1.19, Oakdale 2.32, Qmaha. .18.
Sioux City .18, Telkamah .20, Platts:
mouth .32, Blair a
ne n
Pek it ay TT Wo

of i i ee :
4 t 5
at il i

Hero}

a:-

ne of * ae Tragedies!

neal DMarnsarnarn

Sn Danna

in, the:

‘$On. the :peene,
through. the

| pptithet

ae outside the indow.

HT LIGHTS

t rebehy
j Unto
darinne
It waa at t535
the alarm came to
that. set headgquart
caused “Cc cures of ME HAajres
out. “< 4
“Have. fust shot ‘Aman ‘
Reisch. flreman.at station
who lives at 1433'P. ‘Atréet, toi
pollea.. —- : Be
:@f{ficers: Yapp fana't Phite resi
red to the alart n,-and a few ‘nm
later. Captain: Walter Andersor

weds

am,

Pp.

Shoots’ at’ ‘Prowler. se
‘tt develope d-that. Reinch had
ecreen of ‘hig? be
window at-a prowler who had +
in. between the two houres dunt
Yeisch house... :
‘The prowler, had. ‘stopped to ;
drink fron. a hydrant: between
two houses.: Then he. ae age
noinelessly~ between <the two -
until: he: pot under. the Relech.
room’ window. Reisck went
window that faced north, and’ wwe.
Tho rman hesitated, ckounbing

an

>

“Tap.on that window,” "Re! sch
his wife. She'did.) > ”

The intruder started to iiptee it

‘As "he got within sight; “Ht:
oried out, “Halt!tt:/ 0+!

The man .stapped and, then’ >
to creep ahead.

-Reisch fired, the atranker stun
to his. knees, -picked. himself up
Tan acrosg the :atreet to Eight:
and P streets, sw here. e got in
Ford coupe. ‘

The police were sim seareblne
neighborhood for the Ford c
whon there cnme another. call tc

police station... H came m
station No. 2, at Bebe iiteeinsts
O atrecta.

“ Astrange main, lo Ske like ex
{gs acting queerly here!”

Sergeant Towle rushed fevers
trdimen to the scena ¢

The officers were \met- by
Onk es, fireman lUving.at statlo:
2; W. W. Pankhurst, fireman, -'
at 109 North Twenty-third stree:
Harry Rasmusaen, fireman, liv!
932 South Fifteenth street.

The firemen told the -officers
they were sitting infront of the
tion, when they saw a. Ford

7
’

a

driven around the corner, te
from. O street, north on Twenty
gnd stop.in front of Panks

home. The Hghts went out on t:
as it-turned tnto Twenty-thirg ;
-. Crawled on the Ground,
“As. Pankhurst'’s’ wife was
'alone.” Oakes said, “we got
irfed about the presence of tha
tn front of the house, and e,
‘three. of us determined —§ to tn:
gente. We crawled In the grass j
rear of the station til we gO:
posite -the car.” *" ae
‘We were aatauuited. Oakoe
tinued,’ to see the driver of

+
Le


June 9.—A hoy
2 stray dog to tho
be killed for a quarter
» live himeelf, declares
White, author and
atement in ’his: paper.
azette. : : Hiss
protest in vehalf of the
ed hy an offer of 25
or dogs brought to the
BOs oes .4 ‘
matter with this city
anyhow?’ ‘“inqutred
author. “Were they
Tere they are advertis-
oys 25 cents for ench
ght into the city pound
Doesn't the city ad-
now that the boy who
tely bring a stray dogs
mao be iilled for two bits
me ilied himself? Don't
* boys are not so hard-
vt they know that the
vould rather earn two-
lawn. with a straight
marching by. him to
hole rather than to see
ied 2 bi
‘ement had in {it the
ence. about Emporia
has been mado. -
ha kind of a boy who
ter above the life of a
* doz—and ‘dor on

p ae

o*

SAME OFFICER
1 to The Star)

on
TTY, Ned. June 9.—s/A¢
iners meeting of /th>
service eluby/.. tha

a f5

Soc Mae

-
nl
il
2 ef om
‘ \ is
j
9
Sa oe a 5 om
Sty FN ares)
Se Ree hes ee!
! é i? Son
j ,oe 28
; $407 pe
266 ud ew fru? Net BO ‘cos
an ain an ifully
of -UNMCrCciuny
. . CST alin e
> ; ‘4 '
| ‘City Cificials

jUNe. wes
{minutes before 10 o'clock to twenty-
' iqutes after, the elevator did.

ri] matters pertainin
matters. befor
Crimo “wes: scom<«
od: you as wei did’ all
ting always to give
are deal, and encour-
onform with the rules
1s which were beneficial

lear

Tq

a
r
=

fa)
yj

to them. a ; M

“In your particular’caso I have en-
ceavored to encourags you:in every
‘way possible by sending. you’ to the
read camp, where you had sunshine

’

and.fresh alr. And-in all other mat-

ters I havo done the best I cou}d ‘to |-
‘make you believe I was your friend.

You never asked me for an intervlow
that I did not gladly. grant it to you.
Nover onco did you cumplain of even
an imaginary grievance elthor against
myself or my co-workers. Vihon. you
took the law‘in your own hands, and
murdered the -poon man who had
never harmed you, I then head a plain
duty to perform to the.-state and so-
ciety {in general—that was. to’ use
every honorablo means at my. com-

mand to see that justice waz doue,

and the majesty of the law upheld.
If I/falled to do this I would not be
a good’ citizen, and would be unfit
for this place of trust, ‘ wae
“As this :great government. rests
upon the foundation of law, order and
justice—when this fails—the govern-
ment must fall,.and we as ‘officers
must stand for ‘those three great
brinciples. Wee
“However, your fate no doubt ts
sealed, and my heart goes out in
sympathy for you; and only wish that
I could more thoroughly understand
why you committed this crime. I fully
beUeve that if you could undo the
things you have done, that you would
sladly do so. and J sincerely hope if
it is your lot to meet the Great Judge
on next Friday, that you will receive
mercy at His hands. I believe you
have a sincere sorrow for the crime
you have committed. Our good chap-
Inin, Mr. Maxwell, will call on you
oyth day as he has In the past, and I
hoow hé will do all the good, jn a
spiritual way, that is In his power to
ec. Any reasonable requests thnt you
eave to make I will gladly grant to
you, and will do all I can to make
the last few days of your life-on this
earth more cheerful. Shade ;
“And be assured, Jim.that you are
fully forgiven as.‘far as I am. con-
cerned... : ;
“"" Power Turned Off. + =

Electric. power suppiled from the

penitentiary plant:to run the passen- |
| 7er-elevator at the state capitol. was
;r2ut off for nearly half,an hour Fri-

Gay

‘morning, while the execution of
taking place. From. five

vin order to tn-
tent and constant: yoilt-

‘
BATT Sa mane
> saess VE
.

i

N

Sioux Clty :
mouth’ .32) Biait.

WW -

an ell ERE CIBTLTNY { aa }
Bee BODE t] ih og home, The leh
wo tg tay gates usiit turn nto
matin af 2 p Graw letcan
ie cay JA” Paenkhuret’
antl ‘peye gee alone -Onkes £4:
lem “had wh Gee bh fi irled about. the pri
3 ia epiged §- Yin: front of the’!
(3 2 i at p ae a ae h z Pie ey
. bo dat died £g ig threa ot us deterr.
Marat} iia SMa fate. We crawled |
oe —— ca in gc ftear of “the -statly
Heroine - of ~ Love: Tranediog| posite the can't.
rieroine OF Love. iragcaies Tg feeb natin

tinued,’ tu. see the
fet out and cra!

. Pr ns Yo p p s ‘ &
and Romances:to Become.
Ae e a He w.

stauett Thant a Owamanw footie’ fon ell fours.
ee. ieaire ste wht the atreef. «26.

ig eh a Bove Se dldn't lodicsr!
‘(Internationat News Service): thuret, “and sd.we :

LOS ANGELES, .’ Cal.’ June 3.~~].the station -aind -«
Through with’ bright: light cafe, s0-| We decided that
efal life, men\an‘1.-scandal. forever, | Brown: . Thon owe

there: The man xs)
up and -started.to.
ing armed,. the thr
dive for the artatio:

Coll,’the most /talked of woman: 02
two continents. because she is tha
heroine of half a dozen or more love
tragedies and. rominceés, {3 to. be+ 1. When- the. firem
sat Aad libres cone Sastre ene > 2“! station, -the potfte
n an interview here today ‘she| and. wero\ led. bar
arinounced that with, Oliver Morosco { here the man‘ cra:
as a partner, she fs golng into busl- | ond feet. ‘The mat
nesa and estadiish a chain of show * The firemen -then
housgs throughout the country. ~" leo the station and
Peggy Joyce—she asked the Miss Ford coupe with ar
or Mrs, be~forgotten—sald the first Officers who took t
million dollar house would be erected tion found that it’s
here with others to follow in Sin Cine 2. C: Hail bs
Franciscoand New York. She mod- days aco. Brown
estly admitted all will bear her namo.} 4.1. stolen. that’
but denied it was her intention to] 04 Joon as that
appear in.any proditction. . tnitea ‘tate sleek
“I am really happy for ‘the © first notified and alae)
time in years,” she sald toying with ands vinorotus ii
her $800,000 string of pearls. “I'm it Wan chen, thet
foingto start Iife anew, do some: ported -hurryin a
thing, Hye a clean and different life weak. aartth Seri
and ‘learn the‘ joy of living, » | motoreycle dashed
Pergy said the American “flapper” : n tewke and ¥ cok
{s something rnbout which she has pacha ras on .
heard Mttle. But. in Paris, she added, sat on ta ae
“flapper” does not mean.a very- nico pty ens a SB ,
young Indy. -'::: é, Has eg S10) % f
\cabe said she had cencelled- afl nor | ficer Rymer- recor
plans to return to Paris, After’a trip Rymer Was pact
to San Francisco next week, she sald I. went. to
she planned to return here ard pura {| Streets, after IT 5°
chase a home. : . >Phad been seen iat

oe -S}U streeta”. Ryn
’ "BIBLE CLASS. -

just starting .to ra

up to Twenty-ftr;

A > {1 got within’ six o

Is Lincoln -church ‘ridden? That's tand reached for m

the tojic tobe developed at the Oh- \ Bandit Or

erlies men's Hiblo class, Sunday June/ “Just as I told !

11; This interesting sension will Occurfupt'* Rymer said,
in convention hali—just off the main
lobby of the Lindell hotel. Lots of

community singling. sen are seb ockee

Pergy e mont eae miilfon dollar
t

Ing’ Caused my ‘tot
oyer. I landed on
hand, and. left. %:

es aie ae aren s


’ es
¥ ‘ ,
\
eee
4
/
’
; ’ piety - $ ry ; ; no ana wees 1 aoe nah ‘ eee
i eee i nth Ob, 44 y mets fe Hey ‘ A ge : ¢ . ’ .
3 : . et ne a me igre a ACs ot gs Sa ee ee He eM ay kien tae Taal be hee + *\ Ae
mr eh fey NRT, ANT cat ee aR bee ta, Ce ana rae £6rr ghd Shee ane eH ne P ges s a et A
Yeomeiatatea! IRON REAR EXECUTED ‘Stolfar would not drive hint to, testified that he was unable to; pardon board ta assure that every: ¥ Mallar, Meridas couaty tanhew * Wed ad Decambes f js
me Se. aS | (Coated trom Peas 0-* “town to buy work clothes two days | find any empty. liquot. bottles in Opportunity was givers ta present, wie ian U, Kuigs employer ona bist. | SA apetyiad alc
Dotty Cry lauesticn as to whether he hag! after he started work was the ex=} a search of the ranch. - /yany evidence at injustity The! duly any 10st. Arreated at hene” ej)
SNH VW) Nomad Sony last wishes, the incian aon, | CUSC he rave for his act. *s After the double killing, Iron pardon board, to which he mate! ™ Soe A pevivtaonupttec ss. oo
mer ferry ey omy that he anain be given al’ 50 Artesied At Allen, ~- Bear took the Stollar. automobile 1s: dast appeal,
mF. WIE | T-bone ‘steak for cinner and six} U

Pee Phe ee

» in Toblery Trial ay, At noon, he was provided

oti aea grated + ecular cleo:

Attorney. Frederj _) Sve regular prison meal.
SNridiiced ~~ peed Be Throughout the day and during
Miternoon to show Wes. i the time of preparing him for the

vad no money the day: “air, fron Bear was a man with-
i Kinsay service stats yn OUL emotion. No flash of the race

Cinse@y 5 station | * Noy ,

ut had more than si¢g: that fed him to kill John W, Stol-
sion the day follow | !4F. 58, with an axe and later his

bhery j Wife so that she could slot be a
24. $54 North Fourteenth, | Witness against hin

charged by the state et

1g Ngulee Ayres, ate

gs 29 Pp. m.-and short} thereafter
t the Kinsey stau at! P . y % a
ph 7 eahusker” of | Rl Prison activity was shut down
>the Oct, 24 stickup [and ali inmates
snes, 5S7u3 Huntington, |

bottles of soft drinks during the} Peterson
Frank Marsh, he admitted at the
hearing for the “rst time that he
killed Mrs. Stollar,
however,
killed her with a hammer, Sher-
iff Wendall Hills of Rushville tes-
tiGed that he found the axe be-’
side the body of the slain woman.

The defense offered by Iron]
Was --un-/ Bear was that he was drunk. He

had

His last meal was. served aly tentiary after serving a two year

j sentence for forgery only
| days before he was employed by
lecked in celle | Sto!lar to work on the ranch. He
Extra guards from other shifts) said. that

nder questioning by Gov, Val! and {led to - the

and Secretary of State mother, Mrs,
R ‘was arrested there
He insisted. | L.- Green and his
that ‘be’ believed he Sheriff Hills. They

tion, * fot nin
Final Appes!
Jordan’ was to app
been released from the peni-

made regarding the

torney general vap
twa

Prosecutor,

~ After a five day
he had been drunk in

Pete Richards: at
Allen,"S. D.. Three days later, he

Thdian police from fhe reserva! detai}

ause County Attorney Lloy:

ness to a statement Iron Bear
Clark of North Platte

deliberated from’ 8 Pi m._to 5

Monday denied: *

home of his him contmutation yt

of sentence, _
; Expeutioner’s Fee $150,.

: t JY *
= 1f p PGP 29 147 Bentented by Judge se f Lak
‘ P Re vas Rfon to die Dery 194
by. Sherif? F Col. Jones, after the ‘execution, | Pe 3. 1847. Weit of haneas corpue fied}. 5
- Sheriff 7j wad ‘lavish in his ‘praise of the My Lancenter seers la- Kata be: 4
puty, nov 7 < t C. 4. 1DAT  Kaecuitem Gate held tne. ie ,
\ epu here : Peace. offivers who co-operated in; Proper as not altowing 100 daye free da:0 | t
were @ ¥'relieving prison Personne! of the of reatence —* ‘ { of
In connection “with the! ,Jan ¢ Pl PR hie dato remy at) 5
execution of the :

, man with whom /
Denled, yi they had been in daily contact |

. »Aprit 7 ibes
. : for more than a year, tne | me @ to Supreme rourt
Fe Tenet Han{ +s The: warden ‘said’ that tHe exes), ADA. Ite. Supreme court diemmnsed
i pr

crime, the at-
pointed Rush
as special

;not revealed, was
) expenses
leutlon, °
trial, the jury | Pcer: $300,

From Reat's Caress.

paid $150 andj.

for carrying out-the exen4

he said,

‘ Bept
Eaeeution reronimenae

Marcn 20. )p4a,
| Made te Supreme cours

F OPpeal em wric of error because tracserips
cutioner, whose name.or home Was | aot

Soug? t Of paston i

bent, i
i i ye; Spore! and pet execution @ate fer Oct |
Prices in the past have oe shee ; et

7. . Wirth degree murder triar| -
le. 3 .

191. Pound gnity dy jury
4

Appeal ew writ-ef error |” :
Appeal on e@rit ef -errer } -
ct
j
i
vr

Heating ea
board

1, teen, eorametation

22, eae.

tequetied

ss ie

} i } pig ore enern Marin. Pidlssiacs t deeunene: wishin ee Petar ri } . oe,
® local store, was the “ef Put on duty to police the Alviance on these two days. ..7 18 m. before bringing in.a verdict i far tee vests fort meets Serer ereumeen band’ themed teins Bee {
‘we state witnesses to | SFounds. nie, ; At his trial, an Indian girl: of guilty of first degree satel Bale 3 1. iioee Discharged retormazory- AaAPS6, 8 A OM nesned iene in , G
esday afternoon. | - Trousers Cut At Knee, testified that she had spent one, and recommending execution, \.j Jaci a 1948, Entered Penitentiary for | re st fhe commuatian. - See He

sanie ur + -At42:30 a. m2 all who'w day with him and that he did} Three times -the execution date; two years tor forgery. a “cary -t gitots 28s Waa, Sommurntion tequesr ads} -

rein ye vid 1g | witness. the execution. were Ye not have a drink’-during that ;was suspended by tourt action A | (cine Teommpleted:: eee earted Perttontions, Pee. ila! give ton -hele at -otaie tN

ante! of alec Semttiea jwaltted behind the. walt, Fine time. Sheriff Wendell Hills alsolone Feprieve was granted. by the | Tou it went to work fer John Upenitentiary, UO: held eh se ae e
s witness as being worn! Went -the peace officers selected - . gat re :

A sales stip indicated; {fom over the state. who hed ‘= y

'r of shoes had been | @sreed to relieve the regular pris
St 7 f= Wesley Peery |CM personnel from Participating

on i, V bill og jit the execution, ‘ -

pe defendant's! , With the exception of Warden}

ss iJones, who is required by Jaw tu: *

x08 iewell, bank Attend, a prison Personne! wit- ¥

Oe te e: one | NESS he execution or psrtici-

og aia ao Radel Dated In carrying it out. The out. -
° $47°22 was “presented | Side officers dressed Iron Bear, ‘ Leos

tthe same day, Jesse! {fixed the metal helmet’ ana Say

had earher testified /@2Ped his head in a black hood. a

written him a $47.33 He was clothed in hospits: a

Jct. 9 : , white with the right leg of the
ad bsieng Added | trousers cut off'at the knee, ;
23, the day the check! At 12:50 a.m, Col. ‘Jones met
’ ee With oo ae and vyersy them /
aes - } om where they would be seated,
ag anetie  ety- | anawered a few questions and ex-
fepesit was credited tol Plained that speed was essential in
33. but that he-had no! MOVing all outsiders from’ within
‘ 23 the day he alleg- the walls after the execution so}:
the $25 chick ; that. workers in the bakery and,
iiderces owns of an Lperetion could start .on their de-
“establishment at 109 ; #74: resend Sy alg sa ;
{ Aughe paid him $50; + Ne Visitors... oes
23 as down patment! The officia! witnesses required
‘ontiac coach,. He tos. | by law were then briefed on their
* was avith Aughe at!duties and at_ 12:58 all were
ushered into the §63'y chamber,
amlin, 1744 North|The three physicians, who were
nd, formerlya wait. | to pronounce him dead were al-
focal réstaurant, said} f¢ady waiting. /
there at 10°10 ‘p.m Immediately after the execution,
’ the holdup and that | the body was removed and will be
{ him there about 45/ held awaiting word from relatives
. as to disposition. No word had
been received last night nor iid
s- i rig ge or cee of the
_ ; Sioux tribe visit him uring his
Ip MAKES you] | dast hours, EE MER Ts
| Five minutes after. ‘the

=r H

last |-
zt . ‘switch was thrown, the prison was |”
Y COUECL {cleared of all but regular guards
~>, and had returned ‘to normal rou-
on, [Soothe sore aes . tine: . A ;
put ite sno B Ry | Iron Bear never faced trial for
aan So pleas-.% the slaying of John Stollar, which} .’
“ste ent tacting, - the freely admitted and discussed} -
“+3 PENETRO during; a hearing given by the}:
3s COUGH SYRUP | pardon board on his application
for commutation, ‘Rage because |.
See Coates Oe
i é ES :
SES capmmnag ie, Gar
ABOUT A WATCH Ns
TE EO

‘AVORITE SOMEONE.

unity bith

4 * Cid
|. Service”

i This Is Just one of Magee’s many.
lerly helptul at Christmas, .

* 5 bee: \

‘LOAFER SO

an ae te he chy Niiice ; ay ao

~

me
. .

A gilt for perfect relaxation, . Loafer

ole by Ripon. Downy-soft. knitted

| {awrool with chamols-like glove leathet
_..¢ushion end hand embroidered.”

“Scarlet royal, maroon or brown tn

EO apt oo
vA es

5 Have you ever found the perfect git for a member of your'family...and < -
. then realized you didn’t know the sire?
eliminates the guesswork in’ Christmas buying, because
Magee’s has a complete s!ze record of all Magee’s men.
customera. When in doubt, ask your salesperson: to check the ‘size.

: ‘For a Lonnger's Christmas wi

Fe

»

7

bes

Ae et nen te

fe
ware

wat separ

Well, Magee’s “Size Record
and: women

regular services that is particu.

sizes 8 to 19, y ray
“. IMAGEE'S First Floor , “3
ance ae Sy qe it fl :

: All

‘ Te A gt

: i ; For Ganpicte Chetatmas Luxe 4 ane
= PENDLETON ROE

“Pendiston.robes...tor the men tn your life, Distinct
- checks, ae.well en. beautilully: blended maroon, grey
“olor robes Nationally advertised. A ‘wonderful gilt
alzes ype wg et oe or x85

HAGEE'S

v ese

Seco


/
\

8 pies se

3 Faelat.
Seelom fa Severed -
NANKIMNG — (AP) — Two na-
tlonalist army kroups were re-

ported today desperately trying to

i
{
}

|
| e
|

pes
'

Nebraska Firm Hareow Feder
eo ttion adopted the potieyy Ween
‘day that Presens state f

unds are}

adequate for the develunment of}
>

H more and better roads if properly
and, equitably distributed...

i The action, faking issue swith

} .-|Fecommendations made this wee,

1

c
g ;
e - - 4
% i
x
4 3
qo.
=
S i
ae {
; it
f
;
7 ;

» Ad Washington Airport

WASHINGTON —(AP) =
Madame Chiang Kai-shek, first
Jady of China, arrived today to

“Beck new American backing for
China’s hardpressed nationalist
government. . :

The Chinese first lady was met

hes “at the airport by Mrs. George C.

» Marshall, wife of the secretary of
stute.

‘* Ambassador ' Wellington Kool:

and other embassy Officials. also

-« Breeted her. ‘ s
“" | Madame-Chiang arrived from

. San Francisco aboard President
- Truman's fonner personal plane,
| ,.the Sacred Cow. a?

Piss Top Men Missing, ~ t
‘Top. American administration
Officials were missing. The state

department sent Walter Butter-

" worth, chief of ‘its office of Far
Eastern affairs. :
Madame Chiang Jeft tmmedi-

_.ate}y with Mrs. Marshall for the

Marshall home. at nearby Lees-
bury, Va., Without a word to re-
. Portera on her unofficial mission
or ‘any other subject, . if

She will be Mrs. Marshall's

se) gucst there for the time being.

There was ,no immediate. an-
“ mouncement of her plans,
y As she stepped from the plane,

“*/ Madame Chiang was greeted first

1 ae
+
4)
- ten
: ‘
-4 be
/
2 :
ne i
A h
4- t
4 .

Fy,

4

é
i

{> by Ambassador

‘#: at the same time Jast

Koo and by Dr.

H.H. Kung, former Chinese prime

seenaeiee whe is her brother-in-
w

+ Then she was

welcomed by Mrs.
Marshall:

They exchanged greet.
“ings and = a!most immediately
Greve» away, accompanied by
Btanley Woodward, -chief of’ pro-
,tocol for the White Mouse ‘and
~ slate department -*.- oh

. Eiguer Nevenne - >.

Collections Drop -¢
Liquor revenue of the state de-

elined sharply from $252,139 ° of

October te $231,853 in November.
‘This is only slightly below the
€253,472 in Novernver last year.
Revenue to date is $2.353.247 and

“87 had been collected.

Spirituous liquor dealers paid in
- $155,988, beer $59,165 and forti-

Nied wines $24,187,
ne

her -*¥ietory’ Dinner
NORTH PLATTE, Neb.—(AP)

“) c=Lincoln county democrats wil!
hold ao
“HB rAday night.
-efelett Eugene -D, -O'Sullivan of

A mana
7 apeuker,
2 hrc'yh owe

a

“vietory™ dinner

Pwill, be the principal
"5 4 SHOPPING if
tia sa OAVE £oPr

¢ eee Peet

‘ wf: Az. LA/ be ee

% wa, d4en ib

"

year $2,787,-

here |.
Representatives

In a commando-like raid,. aboyt
300 -invaders. broke. into two
Strikebound factories of the
Shakespeare Companies here to-
day, “wrecked equipment: and
parked cars, injured several work-.
men and then fled. ' . Py ee,
Police.: Chief Howard Hoyt
termed the raiders “union Koons.”
Gov, Kim Sigler and-his state
Police cyummissioner, Bonald Ss.
Leonard, immediately flew to the
scene for a conference with Kala-
mazoo officials,. ~ 2
Guard Ald Asked, i
Chief Hoyt, at the beight of the
raid, asked Sigler. for national
guard aid. He withdrew the .ap-
peal, however, when the invaders
departed from the scene as rapidly
as they had arrived. eoas
Several workers were taken to
hospitals with injuries, but police
said none was seriously burt.
Glenn E. Signam, a CIO United
Steel Workers representative in
charge of the strike at the two
; ‘Shakespeare plants, charged the
¥ two 20 second applications of casteeny. wiGh “unportine outside
p= volts. iad ah ¥ eee Strikebreakers” i
he minute and 20 seconds after ord 30-40, Carloads,
the switch was thrown for the ; eucee kin’ ‘as
first time, Iron Bear was declared deen wethhe ak ha ine ee
dead, bal 7 in a demand for contract
Throughout the long day at the changes, Wages were not an issue
prison, where Col. James M. Jones, About 700 employes , originally
Warden, was required to curry out were involved, - ar $7 rk Had
his first.death warrant, the prison Chief Hoyt sald about 7 or 40
Fourine. “was ‘modified ta quictly| cars rusred Into Kalamazoo about
and speedily meet che law's de- dawn and | barricaded — streets
mands with a minimum of: dis- around the. plants. The raiding
turbance to the 75) fellow in- squad’ Overturned Nbdut a dozen
mates of the condemned man. -: Jother ears, he udded, ‘
“Early :m the morning, Father} The raiders begs. throwing bricks
Sinkula’ visited Iron Bear und pen aeee. patend
performed the list rites of the
¢hurch. He spent: much of the
day with him Riving such solice
as he could, = : ‘
Neanested -Roft Drinks,

Col, Jones made an early Wate’ pasta
Morning Visit and in answer ty a, *"%? .

(Coniaued 0g Boge Seven), |

- Reciting prayers for the doomed
man, ‘Father Joseph Sinkula, the
prison Catholic chaplain, walked
into the death ‘chambereat 1:02
a. m. followed. by J Bear.
After Iron Bear was strapped to
the chair, the priest step: for-
ward.. | Pen

. “Tim, -have -you
say." he inquired. .
There was no response. ©.
The executioner, concealed from
the witnesses by a partition that}
extended about 10 feet into the
room, was ready: to, throw ‘the
switch, A warning came from the

lips of the warden: ie

“Father, step back!"

With a prayer on his lips, the!
chaplain retreated and the penalty
called for by law was exacted,

Requires Little Over Minute,

- Promptly at 1:03, the first 20
second charge of 220 volts of elec-
tricity passed through the body. A
pause and for 10 seconds 440 volts
were apptied.. These were followed {

anything to}

Mrough piant ino
Cars, tbe officer ad

setrikers ate
through pitket ies, ace
and (hen broke thropeh
doure the plants. .
a por

The Shakespesse Companies Operate the
Brakes tate Proadcis Co. asd Shakes.
beare Co producers ef fishtme tacaie and

Richardson County

Exceeds CROP Goal
‘ FALLS CITY, Neb. — (AP) =

Richardson county has exceeded
its goal of three carloads af grain

|Arabians May
for the Christian Rural Overseas

Quit U.N. If
Program, Chairman Ted vox Jews Admitted
reported. i

Cash contributions of $3,890 al. | eect saan “cee _—
;Teady have been made and suME| ab nations’ will “ceconsider

rd. 4 % °
W38 boniwk CF core sd tons | hear ‘emlershapan_tne” Coote

é . 4 . } :
bushels of wheat were’ pledged eet eae uy chanah ns oon:
the drive WENE Over the top, ‘Juled ta meet tumorrow fo consider
| with Ske funds available, the ‘te Israel appliestion. but
county CROP committer already! chances of Teaching a vote ‘then
hos purchased f 400. bushels Ol appeared dim.’ *
wheat to make up one ¢ar. Wi FL]. Farts Pl Khonrt,: Syria's dele-
Kentepp, Straussville elevator op. | gate Om Ube: security council and
erator, sold the wheat tu the Come (a leading spokesman, for thy Arab
MHiltte at ecat. 2 PPatrees. CD w Newson nes

op ae

a Wednesday to attend an

[tno ‘

Hunting contended. that vitamin
and protein content of corn and
wheat produced in Nebraska ts
nearthe Jawest of any region in
the United States, Ole

Dr. Atkerson. pointed out that
Nebraska doesn't grow corh “for
Protein. We grow it for starch
as a@ fattening food.” Sie vy ee ES

Dr. R. M, Sandstedt, professor
of agricullural chemistry at the
Univernity of Nebraska xald that
Protein count of a grain depends
to quite an extent on the amount
‘.Of Sunshine tt receives, and con-
sequently the wheat ef western
Nebraska is: high’ in Protein”
Content. - fork; :
- * Based On Drowth Years.

A. E. Anderson, - statesfederal
crops statistician, said -Bunting's
figures were based ‘on ‘the state’s
worst drouth ycarx. € aye

The Associated Press ‘in Omaha
rounded up the following © com=.
ments from grain specialists in
that city: ede scar

B. O. Holmquist. president of
the Sriaha Grain Exchapge, as-
serted Bunting “blew his top xxx
Nebraska wheat is a quality prod.
uct.” Nebraska wheat commands
a premium on the Kansas City
market, he added. :

* MT. M. Scoular, president ef

the Nebraska Grain improve. ,
ment association, sald Buuts

ing’s statement should be “dis- ;
recatded tn its entirety as conse

Ing from one poorly informed

and not competent te Judge

‘XS x x The records show that

‘few, If any states tp the nation

-have made treater progress than

Nebraska In recent years in im.
Proving gra{n quality.” :

FE. J. .Rosse,- chemist of, the
Maney Milling company and mem-
ber of the Americun Asxociution
ot Cereal Chemists,said “Nebrae
ka has about 98 per geht of good

idelegates went on record as fa-
voring § “reasonably Salary ine
creases for county officials” and

(Continued. oa Page Twe)

|E Dintia in 20. -
is Premature
| wee Instleute Is Told

* More tnan’ 90. Nebraska ddctors
and ‘nurses were in -Lincoin
institute
at the Lincoln General, hospital
nurses’ home on the causes, pre-
ventions and care of Infants born
Prematurely, ff
' Speaking at the Wednesday
; Morning meeting of the two-day
session, Dr. E. A. Rogers, acting
director of the maternal and child
health division of the state depart.
; Ment. of health, told those attend-
ing that one birth in every 20 is
| premature. AE Ry ss Soa ae
is “While the death-rate for the
infant during the first year of life
has fallen 43 ber cent, the rate
has declined only seven per cent
in the first 24 hours of birth,”
Roxers said. “Ne
~ Nutrition Streased,

He stated that prematurity is
responsible for this high ceath
rate during the initial 24 hour
Period and said, “There is a def-
Inite need for better equipped tus.
pitals and trained personnel to
‘deal with the problem of pre-
| maturity,"*: re) . a Shon
, . Also spedking .at. the morning
‘session’ on “Obstetric: Aspetts of
| Prematurity,” ‘Dr, §. LL Wolters,
‘Linenin, discussed the medical,
nutritional and social aspects in
the prevention of brematurity, -

‘In his. discussion, Dr, Wolters
Stressed’ the importance of proper
nutntion and care in the: pre-
Natal, period, and the nted fur

} : , om ‘ : . [by the governor's Nishway ativise
rel establish a new defense line, to] | | ery committee, came as delegatesy”
ts . fave this jittery capital from ad-| ¢ ‘Tot the farm organization’ m pint
ee gi Vancing Chinese communists. oe: final. session, ' Rs se ae i ot
{ aug. $ Diplomatg-expect to hear from j al Dele % he ' :
34 8? ry the govirnment—perhaps within] {  ° teates of: the’ federation, ;
8@ i 2S 36 hears <, thal Napking dacnat: Seuniee ies 3 pe speaks officis ty for 8,060
( i Jongey safe for them, Despite rove |: ark 8 : yoR a : a er of the -state’s 117,690 farmers,
we wes Ge ernment denials, it was learned req | FARM BUREAY OFFICERS—Dele. r ‘ s, -;| -Foted te recommend to the 1349 i
: * ; : Heer c ; es RE. sf * Erlewine, otlale, vice Yrealdeni;”* | - : of
it ; a a such @ warning. is being pre- Charles Marshall, Elmwood, re-elected president, ri Ronald Keg sak _| legislature = “bill which would f
7 maar Ae These developments came as! Weds ae Net | Fie pa resclutiona “presented to delegates’ | provide a “business manager” lo }
‘ af bd ™ i - ecnes - & ‘
and 4. . the Kovernment abruptly cut its Federation te Liscola. (ial! Phew) he bs hed — rms Reed the state ene Pepe e Seeitemmee RE Retiree der areed. 3
nison- ‘ air link with isolated Suchow aome { a ee Bs anchh Saas Si ‘ Rees ae 2
we t Ra Ee 300 milew=ACrihwest of Nanking } : : of CoS) * 4. Voleing their eriticiam: of ‘the DIESEL, LOCOMOTVE: rnocrrs OW Ie SACK~9:)
ran 08. ¢ yoo pe toe and deployed its forces fora battle | f Spe a ee) es State Traffic ,, | department, . federation members|. -Exproaa wae knocked on Ha back at Werven, O, Teeodey she:
ote st save the nation’s capital city. ; re TB a ea oy “ > BRAS ‘,adopted a tesolution which Pro~| tela." Five crewmen on the Passenger tala were intured pity s!
z pee New Defense Line, ke oD SS BP atics PATA slalmed that the state would be| (AP Wirephete Wednesday) es
“Gee poss st Awa delat line was re- pac Tied Rite _  fMPORUIG ti OR “Seaiadle. to get more miles of road ——
‘ pag Fe “po under construction*on the| [> = y " : o . .° per dollar expended if a man, es *. Spe) gre mmetl terveaya'-s
9 17.50 * P+: southern bank of ‘thé Hual river, iSTreCuye ee Show Deeline * | Proven successful in.business, be} “—enting'’s Altack—. 5
9 19.50. PS one athwart the 2pproaches to the “13. EB. PL Tinker, jr tive at. named by the governor to head ALA y pines . Dard ‘f
17.50: fy ft mer Nangize aaliey and. 100 on FD ey py | Bitton of the’ Nebraska Saroty| 2° bighway deparument - INGISraSiza fe :
B00 fo 44 2 ae ane Needy meee Ly '' E GS] LD - | Seuncit, reported Wednesday thar} Support Schroeder wn, A! UVOLD] easiest PRT ane
o ye : Z ai these Sea nisday helen ” . $219 traffic fatalities were recorded| Before turning their attention to Tay e. Pe Gain Brie en a
27.50 ’ 4 "{, Nanking and Suchow, and is being _ Indidn Goes Calmly - bo ren ia ee oe sores” ey eg c Ee ra A ra : H S ¢ :
9 25 ae his ont the bulk of sume| «To Chair’ Without with 275 for the same period in Schroeder’ mail route Rraveling ' Sa apres e se
25.00 wens ey Eighth on - the Sixth and Waking Statement 1947, for Seth og po and: to any amendments for rr) (eee: = s oe Rea ae 7
er Those groups are the last f ¥e wan < juttitic fatalities -tn “the state) it# strengthening. The federation i JEefeNGeqal |:
2 35.00 H.-+  Rationalist force standing between [EA YS KOR SLAYING | during Ae eta lyr tad Pm ee log lines Nad ne htc: i
. { eniintes ; ts - ".| year totaled 32, six Jess than ree Rt NAD spe! “¢~ . Wy a dey bee?
q i i Tne. eee fun ne, b Memochy toon Beer, 24-year-old | Folded during: the same month in ppt eribeagrne wattorps we sQuetie pe oes A
, 4 Se Sroup, of some’ 140.000 treo bares et Indian, died in the eer bs ai Rar MI a “state highway ‘planning asad en ‘ avue } eo desgermialit Sa ig \ i
‘ ft -, ie ' *{electric chair at ‘the state peni- ‘ationally,: traffic deaths in«|,° ’ P 1 ae 3
> “fi (Continued oa Page Two! . | tentiary-at 1:03 Wednesday. mom. creased 8 per ‘cent ins October. - nig taco ay Ape eee sid ceil pet lite pron OS
: BR ’ “fh Tae " : ; gn es ‘ne tb ir aR aaa aa vie f ‘The federation : re-ptedged . its sera “ehemistry | department, |! vaehaghe
” rae ° . at ae ’ e iexecution carried out the ra “iy a2" "ST support of the. gasoline re- {| Wednesday termed a. Chicagoan's ra
% P 3 : ; ; BV ada 3 1@ mandate of a Sheridan “county a ots PAS Al tung 3 hich’ Sectiechin fave on Nebraska grain farm : t +2
7 4° ; . jury imposed for the slaying with i at il © ik jitund law which returns to’ farm ers UML considered, she would |” @ 9°. 4
}. ages bra roe . an axe of Mrs.. Grace Blanche +, ee - a 28 ‘ uf era the. tax they pay ‘on. gasoline} have difficulty. proving such. 9! f>
ty GN : : ‘2 fn a a cs is- Stoller, 60,'as she sat at the table Pent ete Me Pee OmR Bee Te ee 5, : Used on the farm, but ealled for{ sweeping «tatement.” *- z . i te ine
2. vf | ‘he Ci Rous 2 g in the anne room of her ranch} fy - s) ° @ | * Mae re-allocation of gas tax funds] The N.U. faculty member Wail t
% rs i j q ft ' a4 liance on’ July 2, oi . mi iS Lied BG GE {  MNeS would deneNt surat RE Tescuae by a We ‘Bunting eee ss
‘ ; . oC . ’ . ¢ xe) ; s { s : r ‘ ‘ ¥ # ¥ uf 12, Tne <"$
fi f ‘ A a rate Tes The penalty preseri by law} _) vs : : I, Agnouncing: its opposition: to ager” of. the © Central- Furmere} ™
if H | .. & Ce OU GCL | wes cares tid sak phe set Kalamazoo Police Clilef\%h* principle of tederat aid for Feruiliser company-ef Chicago, tot
ny ae rT Se oe, Ries , [Second timing, ro as to interfere! Blames « ‘t'nion Goons’: |e rece ea eration reauested | the. Farm. Fidveas Federation inl
i} Race Top Diplomats Missing i aslittie-ns postdle-with the Js Some Workssen Injured |gram maintaning ans rig, looay | Limtoly an which jhe stated. thut |
ees From Reception Group | hour work routine of the prison, | OME - oP Ried : | Pope riers. "| Nebraska ‘corn and wheat with}.
- . Exeeutioner Concealed, - “KALAMAZOO, “Mich-—(AP)— | Onn oie feislative fields, the | fw exceptions is not fit to eat.”

A IE renee,

|

=

hos ‘aid @ strip of
‘enother atrip In @

“7 MARINGS GaY Prac

mOrines ere testing poas'>
“parking sisipa, surfaces o
| The vehicles carry appre:
tAP Wirephoto Wednesday

metrag
detioas!

|Eruman }

Death Of

dent Truman said
of Frank BL. Nb
‘American journal

staunch supporter
ferests 6f the nut

Noyes, for many,

company and of

Press,
Pleture on page

Man-YWade.

fan oa

Varieties af wheat.) & ;
“Nebraska Wheat Superior, -
Roose explained: bat the hard

spetial attention at the time af
birth of the premature ‘infant.
Other speakers at the morning u
j Session Were Mrs, Jesnette Ham-/ winter, wheat belt) — Nebraska,
bin, nutrition consultant. at the Kansas, Oklahoma and Texay—all
University of Nebrarka collvge of | produce wheat that is fairly cone
medicine, Omaha, and De. Eugenes stant “in protein and vitainin
W. Black, pediatric consultant aki makeup. The difference comes in
the college of medicine. “| milling. and baking qualities. Jn
In the afternoon those -attend- these, Rosse ‘said, Netiaaka wheat
ing the institute were to partici] is) superior, and Nebraska flour

+

They found
Man-made panca

have been a fault
‘Wives >

ercise for this n
talent frum new

Pate in the discussion and «demon- commands a national market,
stration of feeding techniques for] 44, ‘sdid any discussion of vita-
Prematore Infants. “ie Sct mn. content is beside the pont
Miss Ruth Doran, Ro N., ta | beeause fejera) law requires that
pcan Pha age the: ehite | flour he fortified by prin a ning
ce ooreau: in: Washinktone Dilntie’ ta make up tor at loat in
IC, spoke at the afternoon seaniest tthe imuiling ppurreee a ate ee
by he samect, Ma role Psd ne Protein content, he kald, varies,
ne rmuture, and: jaCUsse
Preparations for recewing pwrema-
ture ifants, immediate cure and
subsequent care ms the baby de-;
Velopa. .

same sort One impertant factor ts
the climate at the time the. berry
Ia rivening. If stole dey, protein
Swill be mock higher, .

j Widely in different years from the }-

Marsters,
meer Ww

« NEMR ASK Ass Paptiy
cer

te
wer lonwbe Io
eee Mehe Thirwter
“HANSA. Dusrenen
niaht

BER hee
1a) tame.
TNuretar
Prey

hk ZN wey
MGR eee

The final session of the firculn

Poon Ung alas chareet that Ne.
institute wall be held Thurstay, Al,” Fog > Saag res ‘ .

tte» @ Tee *>

@ eS ‘DOMINATING Fitu
WASHINGTON—(as~"

tng figure who

(Another. Noyee story

altending
wgteed they evuld’ “tind -.

Lone,
TMX ad
ot Cuiteens Theres
Puriheen te cs

Tour
Noy:

today t!
yea tah:
femoiaic
was al
of the :
lunal Cas

In @ letter of sympathy
family, Me. Truman join
Cabinet officers, fellow ‘pu
end others in paying wt

yeors p

of thes Evenmg Star, Ne

the As

Suppe

Possible Wistake
- FALLS CITY, Ned. ‘
Woon: the (Presbyterian
newspaper ™ af
*Come and see what the n
do" about 300 persans did.
themselves

kev and,

psupper ster which the me
pWashed the dishest But 9

vegesturr
~ Ue,
ewly dis
on.

aS oie wpa nr ae ng
‘TRE WEATRERU
LING Nem Percy ehavuy tons
Lowem temuerrature
Colder Tear mas
WP Presh teutheets ‘oo aoa

*.

Ure sehine’ teright and peruimies
- ber hweiteric ba Thurnler,

oloute
a ea

We

tem
S phd 4m

ae


’ ‘oop Somety, speaking. to Lincoln ever, at the commutation hearing futtndins TIC. REET
members outti ronal (ne admitted the slaying but said) jlne IF AANCTEASINE’ HVOF vee
iga |" pb rs Aa ited the educational he/believed:. he’ hit. her ‘with: a. fuels tax one eenty and. by. a ree [iiniy
tal— , presram of the national organiza-| hommar rather-than:the ax¢ that adjustment of motor volicle feos.
Yo thei tion, _The program's two ma)OT | yas found along side the body. - - |: “Details of). the -progrem: are] &s i
; left torobjectives” are rhaking people “The Sioux: Indian: frecly : ad- outlined * in ‘our report to you. tteviesd. age
reds will be taware of cancer’s carly symptoms | mitted to the pardon board that he Translated into dollars and cents, | o 3 ine)
’ other, smalier}— when the disease is curablo—|paqg-cilled Stollar, but insisted that this will represent an increased | Merriels .ccs
and attack Sus|and stressing the need for physical] he threw down the axe beside the |cost of $5 for each automobile| © | —--»

ready. - . ‘examinations... < ,; ; body, and did not return. ‘He deé- and. light. truck, plus an AVETALE | try pee
ment’ ae F ° uestioned about ° esear h with , ¥ Wir ¥ 5 ae" cost of $7. assuMINg that the Car |: . co, :
swnt’s 12th army|{ & Ir c nied moving the body to. the farm travels on an’ average of: 10,0001 (Conti
effort to reinforce said,. “Atomic reascarch holds| The story told by Tron Bear'was |™les c FAIR METHOD. eg, ee spose
-ported encircled by | great promise, but at present there | that. he had> been released: fromm} 2.3 BEA BAM er sa: during.‘
ut 12 miles south|are only -three approved, treat- | the: state penitentiary on July 20,| .° “I am reasonably certain thats oro si,

5 » {ments {or cancer: surgery, X-ray | after completing a two year sen- the. people of this state will Be in his OL:
‘ang En Route... *}and radium.” ~., Aes tence for forgery, and returned to| happy to pay a moderate hish>. i} gaclared: t!
“se developments, - Nebraska's education program. Alliance. | Before leaving Lincoln,| Way ase tax, as it has always + necessary
ng Kai-shek, wife of} under Mrs. Thomas Houlton, Oma- he said he bought a ‘half dozen deen considered a fair method of 4the minimu
ent, sped ‘oward the|ha, is progressing very well ac- marijuana cigarets from. a street | defraying highway costs. On the | uoports as

moved up from radjoactive isotopes,. Mrs. Bogert! building. .

|
xe
eet ey eb ae ot During! eo tral, Team scores
Sas. mal Gepulyy steadfastly. denied any knowlocye hearer. be
: ce of the American Cans! of the killing of Mrs. Stollar, How-~- mends that |

Patan “America eneing’ tor air: ones Ms peddlers “other Rand, better roads 0 26) range, farm
Bo plead tor immed: "as; Wi s. } AG 168 ese wee ion Fal | thing is don
ag cbhtee Houlton was with Mrs. Bogert at} ..°_ Quit School At 16:5 iol types of vehicles, if 2. hing is do

series iesr ly” fluctuati
ng and. smok-|. “As an example, five cents ord b Cieon pa

ing marijuana in. Alliance .an@| mile, isa conservative figure fot | combed wi
after he started work at the Stol- | Gepreciation, cost ‘of ‘gasoline, oil, Sustrial vac
ding American mili-| vicion.- lar. ranch on July 22. Evidence, tires, etc... for the “averare pase "Marshall.
ty Chiva — someone] ~ : Pig St Oe Sige Oe the trial showed that no empty | senger car aficxsmall. truck. Net-} overninent
Suglas MacArthur or], Mrs, Bogert was scheduled to} liquor bottle could be found andiurally for the larger trucks. andy ngwer, sv
rie C, Wedemever, | 2dress farm women at the Ne-‘at the commutation hearing he ad- | buses the total. net ‘cost of depre= | «ning shou!

Sander of the Chins | beaska. “harm Bureatt convention | mitted he only smoked one‘cigaret | ciation per mile is much higher. '¢¢ a survey

2+ *:Ithe meeting. They stressed the] ~itye told’

¥ premier, Sun “0! fact that the.program is approved He told of drinkl
|» Wastington in alliby the. state medical society and
ce urged appointment) onerates under medical super-

| Monday afternoon. She planned j over a period of three days... |The figures show = that: for the, cies by” co
a adenacaaiell to discuss the rural woman's re- |.” Iron Bear had previously served year 1947 there were registered in) sy apility.;m
san, Resident: sponsibilify in cancer control. a two year term in the state re- Nebraska about 471.000 passensev iin our “gon:
| tap, Mesicen "She will speak at Beatrice, Tues- | formatory for auto stealing’ on {cars . and ‘trucks, © These vehicles (phe. far
3 Years, Dies. . day and Grand Island, Wednes-, which he was released July 15, | traveled approximately. : 3:9. .dil-! canted: tne

day. : \ 1944, ‘ *liion miles: in Nebraska. ©... I Gance” by:

: ea pemcet nae 23 3 ‘| As a youth he attended school| “If better highways would re~ dustrys: an
se z nee mia Power Line Authorized: [in South Dakota quitting at the!duce the average operating, poet both: busin
re At A JOC? alt 3 Sor age of 16 after his father died in|only one-half cent per mile, it} lies.”
do morning. iby State Commission order to aid his mother. He lived | would result in. an annual sav-|. 0 To
U: ille, Mo., Mr. ‘Chimney Rock Public Power’ with her until she remarried. At|ings of approximately $19,500,000 | «Women :
lived in: the state for district, Bayard, was authorized by | the age of 19 he moved to -Al-|per year to the operatots of these tion were
twasa member of the; the state railway commission to’ liance where he worked and lived | cars and trucks. Studies have in- | the progr:
san church, construct’ 106 miles of electric with a cousin, David Arapahoe. | dicated that such Savings can be | Lewis, Min
are. his wife, Tina, | 1 vb Two brothers, Moses and Solo- |affected. It is worth noting that | associated
laze hig wife, Tina./transmistion Lines in Morril| man, and two, sisters, Madeline is SE tiie the addtional | evening a

| , Oi They aie suionoed ait ae iad and Sylvia. are also living .1n | almost double od Sega evening . ac
time for ‘completion of 733 miles South . Dokota. = allie ye ey oe at this Hocks. 3
lof lines which the Franklin Coun- | - Four Delays. ~ spmaeot gh’ Ste yeer _ paypeie is| Mra:
‘ty Electric. Merbership Corp., w Delays hav sek the Tawi etek ediuse it saying seem’ | cen
Sea A rites hg ship-Corp., was}. Delays have’ mae re finalligg high, adjust it to any lower) said toda:
| . ‘authorized to construct in Frank-/ fixing of the execution date. The jfigure that yau’ care to, ‘and dt| seek. te-el
| . ; in and Kearney counties. original date of Dec. 30, 1947, Was| will still represent a very large However,
\« : | or ADVERTISEMENT! set aside because it was not 100'sum. .° eye would “sce

‘

days after sentencing as provided “Governor Peterson, I have en-| chairman |

" 2 ‘ > ’ . lin cerv}) “j ‘ rd i
re) AWFUL RHEUMATIC rin eee ne su ee rey emnitee The | the Lane

; i 6 ; “E » of 2 als to the Su- ave iver re Maya:

| 1642-6917, } PAIN LEFT MAN’S ; preme. cou et thes May Antic was | ee tes Fae rid ‘theit aed po
a i ’ sus ‘doand t : , c to ings, a d ss}

z RODY IN 8 HOURS suspended anc e Supreme court) own expenses to’ all. meetings, and jing sessio

then fixed Oct. 29. On the grant- they have endeavored to bring*to; conferenc:
ing of a commutation hearing, the | the committee the thoughts of our: ing the a
pardon board granted a reprieve communities, .and jin every ri Electio:

: eir ur -| president
| ders, legs and an! achin ‘ until Dec. 1. Cot. stance. give their unbiased judg-| presi :
i ders, legs and ankles, which finally |. Because Lloyd Jordan, Sheridan mentor <tr ees se

got so stiff, sore and painful that ‘ ined fae ee oe Pak RY take plac
when I walked I would flinch with: county attorney,. was. to Appear | orp see EN Beg AEN ta
agony. 1 go. TRU-AID and started at the trial as a witness to thet} ee Dre ode or eae Spe hmee Se hy
ltuking it, am the rheumatic pains statement of the crime, given. by| 9 2. a OE a
ibegan leaving my body in eight Iron Bear, the attorney general} oso xT SOS Me te lk

‘lnours. Now the pains are gone named Rush Clarke of North) FR, ree (aes) x ee

UCK AND
.M SHOVEL .

“Por years. | had rheumatic

‘pains in the muscles of my shoul-

from my: muscles entirely. I feel Platte as a special prosecutor. Iron} = 2.87)" 2 Qaey teen

| praise TRU-AID to the sky.” This | Fisher of Chadron. Uk gdh Ue \

hantem  & rd: |! , : : F : SOR oa
anism draws stear®: fis a genuine testimonial from a The entire ‘Iron Bear. family fo0.5o 208

7 4, Mood overs f.-[man living right ‘here. in this| profess the Catholic religion and] 9° Ponty Wee: nhs sh, i
pete et oe PRO y, Po es hig hs Aaah, OK the: Catholic -chaplain - provided | Tac lm an ase oS \/ teh
Tie STRU-ALD fs the new lauld for- counsel for the condemned man}! \ 2 eS; oo As \~— ena

oe
«
Via
F id
7
p™ 4

c

Tang Beas : F : : F
it RE a , m ¥¢ ’ : ay 6 ‘ s ¢ fa ‘ % ‘
oe Sa ey Ee, Wai mula: containing - tare ya angio bat the prison. ‘ ‘ s : we

medical tnsrecients, trhasa ffeoe | The beard of pardons, however, |
LGrent. Medicines, off, blend d into} hes rr. velyed letters fron Jim Blue |
fone, fo right to the Mery cause of | Birds who éeserives himself. a2]
etd te Vo edad rheumatic and neuriie aches and | stave overscer of the Native Aract- . Wars
were meee f- PPains, Miserable people soon feel |ican Church of South Dakota, Inc. | ee Ge RY el le eae eS aie
different ‘ell over, So don't go on requesting information on the clec- }.7 : ner ai ook berg

'

wee Dl cutferinal Get TRU-AID. Sold. by | trocution date so that he can claim |

Mie DD,


L 4 wW aN

Dobe ly y |

"J" HE parching July sun beat down on

western Nebraska’s sandhills with

a ferocious intensity, blistering
everything it touched. Thousands of
fine beef cattle in the sparsely in-
habited area were threatened with
death as the water supply diminished.
Heat waves shimmered from the
ground; vegetation withered; even the
hardy ranchers kept to the shade of
their homes.

Throughout that area not a man, not
an animal moved more than was abso-
lutely necessary. The country seemed
to be completely desolated. :

On the ranch owned by Joe and
Grace Stollar, east of Alliance, that
desolation was even more marked. The
ranch house and the outbuildings were
quiet and deserted and unattended, as
if the sun in its scorching heat already
had brought death and pestilence. .

Death was at the Stollar ranch that
afternoon of Thursday, July 24, 1947,
but it hadn’t been brought by the sun.

Gart Kettleman, the mailman,
rattled up to the mailbox in front of the
Stollar ranch that afternoon and
sounded his horn.

No one answered. Kettleman pressed
the horn again, then again.

He had several letters, a newspaper
and a package of fresh meat for Joe
and Grace Stollar and when no one re-
sponded to the horn blasts he got out
of the truck and went to the house.

The doors and windows were open
and after he'd called and knocked

12

(0,

/

.
}

}

A

J

Joe and Grace Stollar,
above. Below, the man
who turned on them

several times, Kettleman stepped onto
the screened-in back porch. He put
the mail and meat on a table and pulled
the table over so it stood almost in front
of the door. “They can’t miss it now,”
he muttered, and hurried back to his
truck.

Before he drove away he glanced
back at the cluster of buildings and
noticed that the garage door was open
and the car gone. The Stollars probably
were out on the range inspecting their
water tanks and making sure their

‘huge herd was weathering the terrific

heat in good order, he thought.

The Stollar ranch was one of the
show places in the Pine Creek precinct
along the southern edge of Sheridan
County, about 35 miles southeast of
Rushville, the county seat. _

Kettleman drove off—and death and

desolation remained in possession of
that ranch, for two more days.
* On Saturday, July 26, Kettleman
stopped at the ranch again and as was
his custom sounded his horn to let
them know he had put mail in the box.
It was early afternoon and he was anx-
ious to get back to his home in Alliance.
But when neither Joe nor Grace Stollar
appeared to acknowledge the signal, he
made another trip to the house.

HE OPENED the porch door and
stared in amazement at the table
he had pulled across the floor two days
earlier. The mail and meat he had
placed there had not been touched.

MLtecele 79

aan

Timothy, NA, elec. Neb. (Sherid

/
Postman s
ee a ea .. een fs
econd Ring

‘

s

By Charles R.

Special Investigator for

- Because a Mailman Knocked Twice, the Sher-
iff of Sheridan County, Nebraska, Had to Find

A Double Murderer Who Had Struck and Fled
From the Sandhill Country, Leaving Behind
Him Clews Incriminating an Innocent Person

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE. STORIES

Kettleman realized something was’
very wrong at the ranch. He went into
the yard, circled the house, noticed
again that the doors and windows were
open. He hurried to the outbuildings,
peered into the machine shed, the barn

* and cattle corral. Still he could find no-

sign of the Stollars.

Finally he returned to his truck,
turned it quickly and in a short time
was at a telephone talking with Mrs.
Gale Thompson, the only daughter of
the Stollars, at her ranch home about
100 miles to the south.

“I can’t understand it,” she told
Kettleman after he described the de-
serted Stollar house. “I talked with
them on Tuesday when they were in
Alliance, and I know they wouldn’t go
away and leave the house open like you
say. Was there a hired man around?
Do you suppose they had an accident
out in the hills?”

“I don’t know,” Kettleman replied.
“I didn’t see anyone and it’s a-cinch
there’s been no one at the house since
Thursday. I can’t figure it out because
I know your dad planned to cut hay
this week.” ;

“T'll get hold of Gale and he’ll start
for the ranch right away,” Mrs. Thomp-
son promised.

It was almost 10:30 Saturday night
when Gale Thompson stopped his car
beside the Stollar house and hurried to
the back porch. He switched on the
porch light and after a quick glance at
the accumulation of mail and packages

i

V4 §

on the table, opened the door into the
kitchen. He was stopped in midstride
by an indescribable odor and stared in
horrified amazement at the sight be-
fore him, eG
The body of 53-year-old Grace Stol-

‘lar lay on the polished linoleum floor. a

few feet fromthe kitchen table. She
was face down, arms outstretched
above her head, her fingers curved as
though she had tried to claw her way
along the smooth surface. It was im-
possible to see her face but the left side
of her head was a mass of crushed bone
and flesh and huge circles of crimson
stained the side and back of her flow~
ered housedress.

THOMPSON wasted no time in con-

.jecture. He realized that his wife's

motHer had been cruelly, viciously

beaten to death. He knew that Joe.
and Grace Stollar had been inseparable

and did not doubt for a moment that

ha antag tiaael had suffered the same

a b ‘ .

He quickly searched the other rooms
in the big house, ran to the outbuildings
and flashed his light about the in-
teriors, but there was so sign of ‘Joe
Stollar. Finally he returned to his car
and for a brief moment stared at the
house and the grounds which so often
had meant happiness and rejoicing but
now represented only tragedy.

Thompson was familiar with every
Square mile of the sandhills and he dis-

‘regarded the road to cut over the hills

old to the Marks Loan Company in
‘ant St, Loula, Illinois,
Chlef Lewis ordered an immediate
heck of records at the loan company,
his turned up startling news.
The gun had been bought August 21
y Edwin Z. Linders, Junior.
The information fell on the Kirk-
00d police like a bombshell. Linders
as the stepson of Mrs, Alma Linders;
: had not been close to the family
r years, .
What was this all about?
Chief Lewis lost no time getting out
the McAndrew home to put the ques-
m to Mrs. Linders. He found the
men in the living-room. As yet they
1 not know that the apparent death
_— had been traced to Edwin
iders,
Lewis opened the subject abruptly.
‘Mrs. Linders,” he began, “we have
ne news which may startle you.”
The. woman put her hand to her
‘oat and said weakly, “Yes?”
‘We have traced ownership of the
1 which we believe killed your sister
your stepson Edwin.” : -
Ars. Linders clasped her hands tight-
n her lap.

“This case ié very pussling tous,"
wis continued. “I wonder if you
could give us any logical reason why
Edwin should dislike your sister,”
iss McAndrew was holding her
hand pressed to her mouth. ‘

“But we hardly know him!” she ex-
claimed. “We hardly know him! Why
would he do anything to Mother?”

_ “Before we answer that—or try to—

tell me one thing, Miss McAndrew,”,

Lewis said. “If Edwin had come to the
door last night and you were downstairs
alone, would you have allowed him to
come in?”

The young woman hesitated. “Why,
yes, I guess so.” .

“And now Mrs. Linders,” the Chief
continued, “about your stepson.”

“He was the one who went to court"

about my husband's estate,” she said.
“He was very bitter about it. He was
angry with me, not with: Grace. Grace
~~ involved in it at all.”

ut even as she spoke, Mrs. Linders
seemed to remember something. “Oh,
I made Grace the principal beneficiary
in my will so she could take care of
Mother. Do you think—?” She could
not go on.

)n the Postman's Second "Ring"

here was no doubt the Stollar car
been used to make a getaway. But
‘t puzzled Green was how and when
killer got to the ranch, unobserved
arently by anyone in the area, and
‘much time had elapsed since the
lars were attacked.

WOULD not be easy to pick up the
ail of a lone man in that vast ranch
itry. Itinerant workers were on
move; the haying season was on
men traveled from one ranch to
sher and little attention was paid to
1. Nor would the presence of a car
ome of the out-of-the-way spots be
idered unusual since most ranchers
omarily use automobiles to get to
far corners of their huge holdings.

Ve'll have to back-track Joe and.

‘e from the time they. were in Alli-

,»”’ Green decided, “and somewhere -

3 the line we’ll pick up the killer's
As soon as it’s daylight we'll look
he weapon he used and the place
‘e Joe was killed. In the mean-
about all we can do is ask
clons.” ;
spite the late hour the news had
\d throughout the region that the
ars were dead and it did not take
for friends and neighbors to
xr at the ranch house. This sim-
d the problem for Sheriff, Green
lis associates, who questioned them
t happenings in the area for the
week, ‘
lile.Green and County Attorney
‘n were busy with this phase of
avestigation, Deputy Sheriff Hills
‘ged for a three-state police radio
\cast directed to peace officers in
aing, South Dakota and Nebraska.
ere urged to be on the lookout for
tollar car, a black 1941 Chevrolet
‘ with 1947 license plates 61-641.
le driver is suspected of a double
er, may be armed and dangerous,”
warned. :
2mpson revealed that when the
‘Ts talked with his wife on Tues-
hey had said they’d gone to Alli-
to'do some shopping and try: to
se the hired man, who was quitting
ob. Thompson ‘did not know

ler Stollar had hired another.

mow he was worried about it,” he

“He had a lot of hay to put up-

inter feed and with the harvest in-
wing all around here it was a
‘hard job to get help.”

lis fellow who quit his job Tues-
Green asked. “How long was he

e ranch? How did Stollar get.

with him?”

ne,” Thompson replied. “He's
‘d for Joe: several months and he
good man. Joe said he knew how.
idk: stock and do the other chores
e hated to lose him. His name is

Joe Blanton and his people live some-
where near Miles City, Montana.”
Neighbors questioned by Green said

they had seen the Stollars Wednesday ’

afternoon making an inspection trip
of the windmills, watering tanks and
stock. Kettleman, the mailman, de-
clared that he had left some letters and
@ paper in the mailbox Wednesday
noon; these were gone when he re-
turned on Thursday with more mail
and the package of meat.

This tentatively fixed the time of the
double murder as between Wednesday
evening and Thursday noon. Green
believed the killer struck Thursday
morning while Mrs. Stollar was start-
ing the noon meal and her husband
was in the yard. .

SHORTLY after daylight on Sunday,
Searchers found the spot where Joe
Stollar had been killed.. A work bench
stood just outside the machine shed
into which his body had been dragged,
and several cutter blades for the mow-
ing machines lay on that bench. ‘

One sickle blade lay on the ground
beside a grindstone. Spots of blood
could be seen on the wheel and the
wooden stand and a huge stain was in
the grass between the grindstone and
the bench..: ’ :

Green and Hills reconstructed what
had happened. Stollar had stood by
the grindstone and held the cutter
blade against its whirling surface while
someone, apparently the killer, turned
the crank.

For some unknown reason they had
stopped work and the killer got be-
hind Stollar and struck him. Stollar
had toppled to the right and in the
brief instant before he was dragged in-
to the machine shed, the blood drained
from his shattered skull to produce the
bloodstain on.the ground. ‘

Other searchers found a short-
handled ax in a clump of bushes mid-
way between the ranch house and the
garage. The blade and part of the
handle were crimson-stained and on
one side of the blade Sheriff Green
found several long strands of black
hair he knew had come from Mrs.
Stollar’s head.

’ And that was all. .

‘As Sheriff Green drove back to
Rushville in the quiet of a hot Sun-
day morning he knew he was up
against a problem. Who had killed
the Stollars? Why? Where had the
killer fled?

Apparently the killer had been help-
ing Joe Stollar sharpen his mower
blades. That indicated that he might
have been a hired hand. But which
hired hand? One ‘such man had
planned to leave the ranch the week of
the murders. Had he actually left?

-Why—because of an argument with

Chief Lewis had only one more Job
—the apprehension of young Linders.

Lewis moved fast. Mrs. Ritschel re-
vealed that the youth frequently was
down on his luck and was unemployed
the last she’d heard. The Chief made
a quick check of the State employment

Office. Tracing unemployment com-.

pensation payments, he soon located
Linders in a downtown hotel.

There, in the presence of a girl he
had married several weeks earlier, he
was arrested. He protested his inno-
cence only briefly, Lewis announced
and, according to the Chief, blurted out
bn story after a few hours of question-
‘Ing, " ’

[X HIS confession, Lewis said, Linders

declared that he wanted to kill Mrs.
McAndrew to hurt his step-mother who,
he claimed, had beaten him out of his
inheritance.

The 36-year-old Linders, who police
said was a heavy drinker, took a taxi
from downtown St. Louis to Kirkwood,
got out near the McAndrew home and
rang the bell, according to police. He
was admitted by Mrs. McAndrew and
during the ten-minute conversation

(Continued from Page 13) -

Joe Stollar, an argument that had
flared into sudden temper?

Or had this man actually left the
ranch, and had Stollar found another
helper?

Without a great deal of luck, Sheriff
Green knew, these questions might go
unanswered forever. He had one pos-
sibility, finger-prints on the ax handle.
And that, he knew, was dim, since most
ranch workers in Nebraska wear gloves.

The Sheriff wired authorities in Miles ~

City, and asked them to find Joe Blan-
ton. ‘Then by telephone he asked the
commercial radio stations in western
Nebraska to broadcast the news of the
murders and the description of the
Stollar car. Listeners were asked to
report any bit of information they be-
lieved important and especially to be
on the lookout for the stolen car.

Shortly before noon a filling-station
operator in Alliance heard a broadcast
and immediately got in touch with
Sheriff Green to report that he had
Serviced the Stollar car .on Thursday
night. He described the driver as a
young. man, very dark, who kept his
face partially concealed by the brim
of his hat.

-“I’d guess he was between twenty
and twenty-five, and weighed in the
neighborhood of a hundred and sev-
enty pounds. He was smooth-shaven,
had black hair and eyes and at first I
thought he was a cowpuncher headed
for a rodeo,” the station man said.
“He had on a maroon-colored jacket
with tan trimming, light pants, a silk
shirt, cowboy boots and a Stetson hat.”

“Do you know which way he went?”
Green asked.

**NORTH, after he asked about the
roads into South Dakota. He said
he wanted to get to Deadwood that
‘night and go on the next day. There
must have been a hundred bucks in that
roll of bills he pulled out of his pocket
when he paid me.”
“You're sure it was Stollar’s car?”
“It was a black Chevrolet coupe and
I remember the number because I fig-
ured if I had been playing license num-
ber poker I’d have two pair, sixes and

- aces. The number was six one six

four one.”

Deadwood, South Dakota, was almost
on a direct line between the Stollar
ranch and Miles City, Montana, where
Joe Blanton, the missing hired hand,
lived.

Anxiously Sheriff Green waited for
word from Miles City. It came early
that afternoon.

Joe’ Blanton had been found at his
home and the Miles City Police were
questioning him, they told Green. He
claimed that he hadn’t known the Stol-
lars were dead and he swore that he
had no connection with the slaying.

with her discussed his legal troubles
with his step-mother,

At a Coroner's inquest he allegedly
repeated his confessions and told how
he drew the gun from the box he held
and said to Mrs. McAndrew, “I ought
to shoot you.” Just after she asked,

“What good ‘would that do you?” he ~

reportedly said he pumped the bullets
into her as she sat on the divan.

The purported confession stated he
left the house, threw the pistol box in
a yard across the street, walked several
blocks, threw the gun into a culvert
and boarded a streetcar for St. Louis.

Prosecutor Stanley Wallach of St.
Louis County said he would ask the
death penalty when Linders came to
trial. Linders meanwhile entered a plea
of not guilty and an information was
filed against him charging first-degree
murder. His trial is scheduled for the
January, 1948, term of the circuit court.

The Waters youth was released im-
mediately by the Kirkwood police and
allowed to go on his way.

' The name Russell Waters is fictitious
to spare an innocent person embarrass-
ment.

Read It First In
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

He had left the ranch Tuesday, two
days before the killing, he said. He
had made his way slowly, on train and
by hitch-hiking, to Miles City, and he
just had arrived.

The trouble with his alibi was that he
couldn’t back it up. Fast connections,
or fast driving, could have taken him
from the Stollar place to Miles City
easily between Thursday, the day of
the slaying, and Sunday. However,
although he couldn’t prove it, neither
could the police disprove it,

Sheriff Green drove back to the Stol-
lar ranch from Rushville,

Throughout the rest of that Sunday
the residents in a wide area around the
Stollar ranch were questioned about
any strangers that had been in the
region during the past week, and par-
ticularly on Wednesday and Thursday.

The tally book on Stollar’s desk
made no mention of the new man on
the payroll nor did it record the money
paid to Joe Blanton when he quit his
job on Tuesday—if he had quit.

FINALLY Green went to the bunk-

house. It was in perfect order; the
beds all made, clean towels and wash-
cloths on the racks and the floor clean
except for a little dust which had fil-
tered through the Screened windows
and door. Green studied the long,

comfortable room for several minutes -

and was almost convinced that @ Search.
of the place would be futile.

However, if there had been a hired
man at the ranch between Tuesday and
Thursday he had spent at least two
nights in this room and Green was
certain that any plan for murder did
not include destruction of finger-
prints unwittingly made on-fittings in
the bunkhouse and there was better
than an even chance the killer had
overlooked something which might
identify him.

After an hour of unsuccessful search,
the Sheriff gave up. He went to the
door and turned to glance once more at
the comfortable chairs and the clean
white He noticed something out
of place. On two of the beds the top
sheet and spread were folded back
away from the pillow but on the third
the sheet and spread were under the
Pillow. .

He strode rapidly to this bed and
tilted the mattress. Several articles of
clothing were spread on the springs
and Green picked them up and took
them to a table near a window. There
was a white shirt, some underclothing,
@ pair of dress trousers, a couple pairs
of socks and some handkerchiefs. He
examined each piece carefully and on
the edge of one of the white handker-
chiefs a number was faintly visible. _

He called to Deputy Hills who was
busy at the other beds and pointed to

'

Jl

Hi

=


NOMT

|

ITCT

ZOumTy ‘yt

7
A
Lf

- Wisconsin does not have a death who investigated this Slaying was E. L. newspaper. The December, 1947, issue His attorneys have indicated there will
Penalty. Consequently, when Johnson —Lefty—Fowler. In fact, he was abit of OFFICIAL told of this case under - be no appeal. e
pleaded guilty to both murders on too prominent.* He Was arrested and the title, .““Betrayed by One Missing All escaped convicts were recaptured
March 22, 1949, the most drastic charged with the murder, as detailed in Clue,” and of how detectives realized except two, who were shot to death
sentence he could be given was life im- the story, “After Weeks in Her Four- that the newsboy who had known when they fired at officers who had sur-
prisonment for each murder. He got Wheeled Grave,” July, 1947, OFFICIAL. enough to stop his deliveries also must rounded them.
it, the sentences to run consecutively. _ Fowler was brought to trial in have known of the murder. That news- Business was quiet and the bartender ~

Drug stores and soda fountains were August, 1948. When the prosecution boy, Ralph Duchacek, Junior, was only in Queens, New York, thought he could

closed late one night but Edna Louise had finished its plea, he told the Assis- twelve at the time of the crime. He spare time to replenish his tobacco
Chiles of Oakland, California, decided ‘tant Attorney General, “A good talk,Mr. was thirteen, however, when he pleaded supply. He dashed out, came back in-
she wanted a coke anyway. She stopped Lattimore. If I wasn’t innocent, I’d_ guilty to second-degree murder and_ side two minutes—and stumbled over

in a tavern and ordered one. While _ believe it myself,” 2 . Was sentenced to life imprisonment. the body of a man who had been knifed

ye she was there three youths walked in, The jury also thought it was @ good to death.
= held up the tavern. Miss Chiles her- talk and thought, too, that Fowler was SIRENS Screamed in Canon City, There were no witnesses to thé crime.
Self told of the Subsequent robbery, not innocent. He was convicted of Colorado, that cold Winter night. A No one knew where the killer had gone,

the arrival of the Police, the shooting first-degree murder, with a life sentence wholesale break of Prisoners from the - whence he had come. Nevertheless, by
fray that followed, in “Me, the Blonde recommended. state penitentiary was underway. slow, painstaking detective work, New
in the Morgue!”, OFFICIAL, May,1949. - St. Louis detectives heard a Startling Quickly posses ‘were formed; police York police gradually traced the crime
For this robbery Mel Davis, 20 and a story one night recently. An aged, were notified in towns, villages and to the door of Edward McElroy. “Tat-
Marine, was sentenced to not less than gray-haired man .was roaming the hamlets for miles around. A group of tooedtoa Shuffleboard Slaying,” in the
five years in San Quentin Prison on streets looking for a killer to hire. How hardened convicts—murderers, thieves July, 1948, OFFICIAL, told the story
February 19, 1949. His two companions, those detectives found the man and and cut-throats—were at large. of that detective work.

Bert White and Elias Bueno, both nine- arrested him before. he could put that In the midst of the desperate man- So convincing was the evidence
teen and both also Marines, were turned killer to work was told in the May, 1948, hunt, somebody stumbled over a body against McElroy that he pleaded
over to the Youth Authority under OFFICIAL, “When He Couldn’t Hire a in an isolated field. It was that of guilty to manslaughter before a Queens

Treus)) do *Qen *oeTe ‘un fAt

California law. Killer.” Robert Hutchins, a tourist from Cali- County court. He was sentenced to
; : The man was brought to trial and fornia; he had been Slain, his car stolen, serve from five to ten years in Sing Sing.
|X THE crystal-clear quiet of New prosecuting attorneys discovered that his wife and child kidnaped, Also in Queens County, attractive,
Year's night, a resident of Cleveland, the only crime he had committed was Surely it was the work of the fleeing slender Norma Kotler was spending
Ohio, found what he thought at first “soliciting another to commit murder,” convicts. é every spare hour she had to exonerate
was a large doll huddled on his front a misdemeanor in Missouri. The man The car was traced to Denver; police her father of a criminal charge. In the
Porch in the reflected light of a Christ- was Sentenced to 60 days in the work- drew a cordon around that city. The midst,af her fight she was found in her
mas tree. It was not a doll; it was the house. He since has been released, h wife and child were found Safe after apartment, choked to death with an Os
body of a neighbor’s child, little Sheila _ t i |ihetr harrowing experience; the killer electric-light cord. o
Ann Tuley. The pathetic death of During the Scorching, stifling heat of had fled on foot. Slowly, bit by bit, the It looked like’ an underworld ven- ry
Sheila Ann aroused the entire nation; | the 1947 drought, a postman found the / police trap drew closer around him. geance Slaying. But police, ever skepti-

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES
brought the full story of the investiga-
tion into the crime and the arrest of
Harold A. Beach in its September, 1948,
Issue, “—To Die by the Christm.

bodies of Mr. and Mrs. John Stollar in | Finally it closed in. cal of the obvious, went further into the
their Nebraska farmhouse. Timothy And netted in that trap was not an life and past of Norma Kotler. “Of All
Iron Bear, an Indian brave who had | escaped convict but dazed, befuddled «Her Father’s Stirmates,” in OFFICIAL
been their hired hand, could not be | Donald Tucker, a hitch-hiker who had DETECTIVE STORIES for August,
found, however. “On the Postman’s | chosen for murder the moment when 1947, told how a friend, Abe Ringe,
Second Ring,” in the January, 1948, § the entire State of Colorado was an eventually was arrested for the Slaying.
OFFICIAL, described how Iron Bear | armed police camp. Ringe was convicted of first-degree
was traced to the Dakota badlands and The story of this capture was told in murder but his attorney filed for and
arrested for the double slaying. the July, 1948, issue of OFFICIAL won a reversal of the conviction.

The Nebraska State Penitentiary DETECTIVE STORIES Magazine, Thereupon Ringe promptly pleaded
electric chair wrote finis to the story of / under the title “On a Borrowed Man- _ guilty in the second degree. He was
Iron Bear December 1, 1948. hunt.” Since that publication, Tucker sentenced to 25 years to life, also in

ndead was brought to trial at Castle Rock, Sing Sing.

Helen Beavers, a Duncan, Oklahom

uo (£,unN092

opened the trunk of that car and for four days when authorities found Colorado. After only one ballot a jury om ti i i
of Mined inside it he found the body her body in her Ashland, Massachusetts, found him guilty of.first-degree murder Up to the Minato prays wo
of Mrs. Beavers. home. On the front porch were milk and fixed his penalty at life imprison- _ pages with similar information on last-
Prominent among the policemen deliveries for those four days, and one ment—in the Canon City Penitentiary. minute cases. Watch for it. rs
: bo
\O B
Lo
COo®
e
2
e


«

Bloodstains on the ground near
this mower blade told the Sher:
iff where a man had been slain .

toa neighboring ranch and a telephone.
As he drove through the night he
wondered about Joe Stollar. Had he
been kidnaped? Had some mad slayer
forced him to drive to some out-of-the-
way spot and then killed him? Why?

What motive did anyone have to slay .

him or Grace?

Sheridan County Sheriff F. L. Green
was at his home in Rushville when he
received Thompson’s call. He listened
without interruption to the terse, low
report of Thompson's discovery. “Joe’s
car is gone and anything might have
happened .to him,” Thompson said,
“but it’s a cinch we'll find him dead.”

“Maybe,” Green ‘replied. “I'll call:

the County Attorney and my deputy
and we’ll start for the ranch in a little
while. You better get someone in Alli-

ance to come out with an ambulance

and then go back to the ranch and wait

pon me. Don’t touch anything in the
ouse,””

It was nearly midnight when Green, |

Deputy Sheriff Wendall Hills and
County Attorney Lloyd Jordan arrived
at the ranch. They found: Thompson
and several neighbors waiting for them
beside cars drawn up outside the ranch
yard.

“You told us not to mess around,”
Thompson declared, “but we hunted for
Joe and his body is in the machine
shed.”

“Beaten to death?” Green asked.

“We don’t know. We didn’t go in-
side to look.” -

A few: minutes later _grim-faced -

neighbors of Joe Stollar crowded about
the open door of the small shed about
fifty yards from the house and in the
bright light provided by flashlights

No one answered the postman at this door to the Stollar home
because Mrs. Grace Stollar already lay dead in the kitchen (arrow)

watched Green, Hills and Jordan pul
aside scraps of lumber, some weather-
beaten shingles and a few musty grain
sacks to reveal the twisted body of the
sixty-year-old rancher.

Stollar lay on his back; his arms

stretched at full length above his head, .-

his feet close together. Twin scratches
in the soft earth of the shed extended
from the heels of his cowboy boots to
the door and were mute evidence that
he had been dragged head first into the
shed. ‘

Green, a veteran man-hunter,
quickly searched the dead man’s pock-
ets and found them empty.

“Joe always carried a long brown
billfold with a couple hundred dollars
in it,” Thompson volunteered.

“I know. That’s why I looked for it

‘right away. Maybe that’s what the

killer was after.” t
“But why’ was Grace killed?” a
rancher asked.
“To keep her from talking,” Green
replied. “Whoever did this figured

it out pretty well. He’s probably a long
way out of the sandhills by this time.”
When Stollar’s y was turned over

»; the cause of death immediately was ap-
“ parent. .The back of his head had been

split wide open by a single blow from
a heavy, sharp-edged weapon. Death
had been instantaneous.

“I can’t figure how -anyone could
catch Stollar off guard,” Sheriff Green
commented. “He’s got on his gloves
and that means he was working at

+ something outdoors when he was hit.

When we catch up with this killer I'l]
bet it’s someone Joe thought he could
trust.” ‘

“Stollar was a big man and he'd put
up an awful scrap if he had a chance,”
Deputy Hills declared. “I don’t think
his body was dragged very far. Maybe
we can find the place where it hap-
pened.”

se BETTER wait until daylight

| for that,” Sheriff Green decided.
“If we start messing around ‘in the dark
we're liable to spoil some other sign.
Let’s get back to the house.”

Mrs. Stollar apparently had been
seated in a chair at the kitchen table
when she was attacked. The blow
which had crushed the left side of her
head and knocked her to the right also
had toppled over the chair and part of
it rested across her feet.

A pan of green beans and a kitchen
knife were on the table as well as some
stationery, envelopes,. an uncapped
bottle of ink and a pen. “It looks like
she was going to write a letter and get
it out to the mailbox for Kettleman to

pick up before she fixed those beans for
dinner,” Green suggested. ,

“According to that she was killed
sometime before noon on Thursday,
Thompson said. “Kettleman always
got here about twelve o'clock or a little
after.” Y

Green studied the wounds in Mrs.
Stollar’s head. “You know, there’s
something curious about this,” he said
finally. “Joe was struck from behind
but Mrs. Stollar faced the killer, saw
him come through the kitchen door
and she didn’t have time to make a
move.”

County Attorney Jordan who, under
Nebraska statute also serves as coroner,
supervised the ambulance men as they
removed the body. After this was done
he pointed to several Scratches on the
floor and a trail of blood which had
caused a semi-circle of stains on the
floor.

“Apparently Mrs. Stollar lived for
some time after she was struck,” he
said. .“Those marks on the floor in-
—— she tried to crawl away from the

le.”

Green believed that robbery was the
motive for the.double murder but he
was puzzled by the fact that the ranch
house had-not been searched. Ob-
viously the killer knew his victims were
the only occupants and with both of
them dead or dying, he had plenty of
time to search for valuables. Gale
Thompson, the son-in-law, already had

. gone to an upstairs bedroom and found

Mrs. Stollar’s jewel case in a drawer
and he was certain the contents worth
several hundred dollars were intact.
(Continued on Page 51)
13

‘es

xg

the five-digit number, 1-5=1-8-§,
“That's an odd sort of a laundry mark,”
ig declared. “What do you make of
t ”

“They stamped a lot of stuff with
numbers in the Army,” Hills suggested,
“but that's too many numbers for an
Army laundry mark,”

“I've got it!” Green exclaimed sud-

. denly. “Get to a phone and call the

warden at the State prison in Lincoln,
Ask him about that number and if you
don’t have any luck there call the pri-
sons in Montana, South ‘Dakota, Wyo-
ming, Kansas and Towa.” $

An hour later Deputy Hills was back
at the Stollar ranch once more. “That
number, one five one eight five, belonged
to Timothy Iron Bear, a two-time loser
who was released from Nebraska State
Prison just last Monday, July twenty-
first. He finished a two-year sentence
for forgery and before that he served
Some time for auto theft.” .

“Could they tell you when he left
Lincoln?” Green asked,

“He was given transportation to Al-
liance where he was sentenced on the
forgery charge,” Hills said. “They said
he got out of town.on the first train
and that was the Burlington which put
him in Alliance Tuesday,”

Sheriff Green called Sheriff Louis
Mosseau at Pine Ridge and shortly be-
fore midnight Sunday, South Dakota-
and Nebraska officers met at the State
line and in two cars drove into a heavily
wooded area where the roads were lined
with dense brush and undergrowth.
They drove through deep canyons and
towering, rocky bluffs and the Speed of

The Wrong Way to Reach

house at 10 p. m. and had gone to bed
egg immediately, as he was very
ired.

And that, it seemed, cleared Kelly of
iny trace of suspicion.

Next morning Johns, Strasner and
Taylor went back to Belridge, : i

First, they searched Grant’s belong-
ngs. They didn’t find much in the

apers, @ radio that didn’t work, and
ronically, a pamphlet on how to reach
: ripe old age.

“He sure picked the wrong way to
row old,” Strasner said. €

Before giving up, they searched once
lore the closet where Grant had kept
is clothes. They found a big wad of
ash in a sock that was stuffed into a
lud-encrusted boot. Now robbery
omed larger in the picture aS & possi-
le motive. :

Next, Chief Investigator Johns at-
‘mpted to reconstruct the crime, He
sked Turner to point out the exact
‘ace where the slayers’ car had been
wked. Turner designated a spot to
‘e side and in back of the two gas
imps,

“Now, where were you when Grant
ened the door?”

Turner said Slowly, “Grant didn’t
en the door. ‘The moment he’d
ished the bolt back this man yanked
e door open.” :

“And he held a gun: in his hand?”
hns asked sharply. “Show me how.”
Turner went to the door. It was a

‘een door that swung from right to

t. With one-hand he held the door

the oficial cars was slowed consider-
ably, by sharp curves and the danger
of rock slides,

Sheriff Mosseau halted the caravan
at the entrance to one of the canyons,

“Bear’a father and mother live about
& quarter of a mile north of here,” he
explained. -“I’ll scout ahead and look
the place over. If Bear is there it’s a

cinch the Stollar car is close, by and.

ready for a quick getaway.”

Sheriff Green, his deputy, Wendall
Hills, and, four South Dakota officers
waited impatiently for Mosseau’s re-
turn and when he did step almost noise-
lessly out of the brush beside them,
there was a grim smile on his face.

“The Chevrolet coupe is parked be-
hind the house,” he reported, “and that
means Bear is on the inside, asleep.”

“How do we get him out?” Green
asked. :

“It may not be too hard,” Mosseau
said slowly. “A couple of my boys will
go to the door and knock while we keep
them covered from the edge of the
clearing. There’s an old sayjng around
here, ‘Strike at dawn,’ and that’s what
we'll do. It will be light enough in an
hour to make our nfove.”

At 4 o'clock Monday morning the
Officers silently moved. into position
around the log cabin. Every window
and door was covered by a man with a

Bob. Fast and Bernie Janice. “Go
ahead,” he ordered. “We'll cover you.”

AST and Janice crossed the open
Space to the front door swiftly,
knocked and stepped to one side. There
Was a brief wait before the door swung
Slowly inward and a man stepped irito
the opening. He rubbed his right hand
across his eyes and: then stared in
amazement at the two deputies,
. He was Timothy Bear and for an in-
Stant it seemed he might try to make a
break and head for the brush. But
when he saw Sheriffs Green and Mos-
Seau emerge from the woods and hurry

-

Open, with the other ‘he pretended to
be pointing a gun.

Johns stepped up to the door and ex-

mined the four Openings the .45-cali-
ber slugs had left. All four holes were
along the right edge of the door, about
waist high,

“I thought so,” Johns Said, frowning.
“Grant told us the gunman was left-
handed. Well, that’s out. In order to
hold the, gun with his left hand he
would have to reach with his right arm

over his left arm to hold the screen.

door open. Besides, if he were left-
handed, the bullet holes in the screen
door most likely would be closer to.the
‘Center. That man was as right-handed
as you and I. The question is: Did Grant
give us a wrong steer deliberately? And
if he did, why?”

STRASNER shrugged. “He could: have
made.a mistake,”

When the deputies returned to their
office in Bakersfield it seemed once more
that there was a short cut to this goal,

An oil worker named Marvin Bellamy
had phoned the office in the deputies’
absence, stating that he had informa-
tion on the murder. He left word
where he could be reached—a Taft ad-

ress, ‘

Taylor and Strasner once more made
the trip through the barren country
between the county seat and the oil

wn, '

“He’s asleep,” @ woman told the in-
vestigators at Marvin Bellamy’s ad-
dress. “But he'll talk to you.” :

Presently a puffy-faced man emerged,

“I work the graveyard shift, see?” he
Said by way of apology.

“That's fine,” Strasner said. “What's
the dope you got?”

“It’s about a fellow that’s been work- «

ing at the Belridge oil plant since day
before yesterday.”

toward him he shrugged and asked,
“Well, what do you want?”

"You," Mosseau said, “They want
you in Nebraska for Stealing that Chev-
rolet coupe,”

“It's no good," Bear mutlered, “I
Pearse out the rods on the way up

ere,”

“He readily agreed to waive extra-
dition to Nebraska and shortly after
9 o'clock, Monday morning, July. 28,
was locked in the Sheridan County Jail
at Rushville. y

Later in the day he was questioned
by Sheriff Green and County Attorney
Lloyd Jordan but stubbornly refused to
answer any questions. On Monday
night he. was questioned again and
Sheriff Green checked off the evidence
which definitely proved Bear was the
killer. Finally he shrugged, leaned
forward and brushed ‘the clothing,
hand-ax and some Papers to the fioor,
“All right, I did it.* I killed them both.”

He described the events leading up
to the murder in a vaice devoid of any
emotion. “When I got off the train at
Alliance I heard Stollar ask another
man if he wanted to work on the ranch
during the haying season. That fel-
low turned him down 8o I said I'd take
the job, We left Alliance after supper
and got to-the ranch after dark.
Wednesday we spent the day oiling the
machines and Thursday morning we
Sharpened the sickle blades on the
bench beside the machine shed.

“After we worked a while I told Stol-
lar I'd like to get some money and go
to town. Mrs. Stollar was out there
with us and she said I’d have to earn
the money before I got it. She stayed
out in the yard a little while and then
went back to the house.

“Stollar and I argued some more and
after a little while I said I wanted to
go to the bunkhouse to get some to-
bacco. I stepped behind him, picked
up the hand-ax and hit him. After I
dragged him into the machine shed and
took his wallet I figured I had to kill

the, woman or sh

the typed pages.
all that before.”

“Skip it,

would tiirn me in,”
After Rear'n formal confeasion waa |
typed and placed before him for signa-
ture, County Attorney Jordan tried to
explain his constitutional rights, Bear
interrupted as he scrawled his name on

I’ve heard

At 11 Tuesday morning, July 29, he*
was taken into county court and heard
Jordan charge him
with the first-degree murder of Joe and

County Attorney

Grace Stollar,

Judge Clarence Ben-

schoter asked him how he wished to

Plead and. Bear replied quickly, “I say

guilty,”

He was ordered held without bond
for action of the district court, for un-

der Nebraska law wh

en a plea of guilty

is entered to a first-degree murder
charge, a jury must be impaneled to
hear the State’s evidence and fix the
punishment, which may be death in the
electric chair or life imprisonment.

SHERIDAN. COUNTY

moved swiftly for an ea
and on September 8, Timot:
taken into court and repe
of guilty before District

Jackson,
A jury was im

authorities
rly hearing
hy Bear was
ated his plea

Judge Lyle

Paneled and for three

days Sheriff Green and County Attor-

ney Lloyd Jordan

presented the facts

which they had gathered. The twelve

men on the jury order
killer of Joe and Gr:
his crime in the ele

Judge Jackson order

State Prison for safe-k

day on which form
Passed, and the da
established. Befor
tember 11, Bear w.
stone prison near
‘he had been freed
before. His executi

writing,

The name Joe Blanton in t

‘ed that the brutal
ace Stollar pay for
ctric chair.

ed Bear taken to
eeping until the
al sentence would be
te of electrocution
e nightfall on Sep-
as back in the gray

Lincoln from which

is not real but fictitious,

Old Age (Continued from Page 23)

The deputies were interested. -The
day before yesterday—that was the date
of the slaying. ;

“He works graveyard like me. The
night that fellow was-killed he was all
excited, tellin’ everybody about the
holdup and how the dead man was
bleeding on the floor before the am-
bulance picked him up. This kid just
didn’t sound right.”

“What does he look like?”

. The description had a familiar ring.
The strangely acting oil worker was
about twenty years old, slightly built,
dark-haired and dark-eyed, thin, pen-
cil mustache,

“Name?”

“Lee Carver. He and another fellow,
a friend of his, both came to work for
the first time that night.”

“Know the other fellow’s name?”

It was West something—the witness
didn’t know the last name. ‘They look
very much alike, same age and -build,
but West’s a bit taller,”

The detectives drove to the Belridge
oil plant. The personnel office swiftly
supplied the wanted data. The name
of the second suspect was West Muroc,
and they both had Taft addresses,

Both were located with little diffi-
culty. They whined protestations of in-
nocence, ‘We were in the plant. A
fellow came in and said that this guy’d

» been shot—”

Chief Johns took over when the depu-
ties brought in the youths. His first
move was to summon Turner and Percy
Kent as identification witnesses. How-
ever, the deputies were. able to find only
Kent, as Turner was away for the day
on some job.

Ushered into Johns’ Office, the Bel-
ridge man eyed the youths angrily.
“It’s them all right,” he said.

“Thanks, Percy,” Johns said. “That’s
all.”

He then questioned the boys sep

less than sixty days
On is pending at this

his story

arately, tackling West Muroc first.
“Now tell us why Grant was killed,”

Johns said.

“We didn’t kill him. We didn’t kill no-
body.”

Johns leaned back in

pose you tell us what

ten and midnight that

The story didn

Muroc said they

before ten, and h
where they drop:

his chair. “Sup-
you did between
night.”

’t make much sense.
had left Taft shortly
ad driven to Belridge,
ped in at the Union

Cafe. From there they went directly to

the oil plant,

“You were on the shift that starts at
midnight, weren’t you? And you mean

to say you went to the
an hour ahead of time?

Johns said,
was questioning
nd smaller of the

“That's right.”

“That’s all for now,”
A minute later he
Carver, the younger a

two.

plant more than

“When did you get to the plant?” he
asked.

Carver’s answer was identical with
that of his associate,

eleven,”

“Any witnesses?”
“You bet. It was our first day at
with the office.

work, and we checked in

Does that satisfy you?”

“No. Why did

you check in at the

“Just about

plant more than an hour before your

shift started?”

se E HAD nothi

ng else to do.

We

just hung around. It ain’t no
crime to. be early for work,”
“You stopped at the Union Cafe first.

Why?”

“To pass the time,”
“They thought you were stickup

men,”

Carver grinned.
act, playing kind’a

“We just put on an ;

great kick out’a it.”
The answers were pat and it was no
use. Johns sent his deputies to check

tough. We got a.


84

(Continued from page 82) He crossed the
room, stripped back the covering and tilted
the mattress. Spread out on the springs
were several articles of clothing. There
were a white shirt, undershirts and shorts,
a pair of blue dress trousers, two pairs of
silk hose and some handkerchiefs. A pair
of brown oxfords under the mattress at the
head of the bed had raised it just enough
to attract the sheriff’s attention. .

Green examined each piece carefully
and on the hemmed edge of a handkerchief
found a number which had almost been
obliterated by frequent laundering. He
deciphered it finally as 15185 and as he
handed the square of linen to Deputy Hills,
remarked, ‘“‘That’s a strange laundry mark.
What do you make of it?”

“They stamped serial numbers on a lot
of stuff during the war,” Hills commented.

“But those numbers had seven digits,”
Green replied. “I’ve seen numbers like
this some place else.”

He examined the garments again and
noted there were no manufacturers’ labels
in the waistband of the trousers or on the
collar of the white shirt. “I’ve got it,” he
exclaimed. “These are prison-made and
that’s a convict’s number. Get to a phone
and call the warden at state prison. If
you don’t have any luck there, call the re-
formatory and the prisons in Kansas, Wy-
oming and South Dakota.”

AN HOUR later, Hills reported to Green
at the Bar-S.

“That number 15185 belonged to Timothy
Bear, a two-time loser who was released
from Nebraska State Prison last Monday,
July 21st, after he finished a two-year term
for forgery. He was sent up from Alliance
and before that he served time for auto
theft.”

“He was turned loose Monday and he
murdered two fine law-abiding people on
Thursday,” Green muttered. “What a nice
rat he must be.”

“He was given transportation to Alliance
from where he was sent up and he took
the night train out of Lincoln,” Hills con-
tinued. “That put him in Alliance Tuesday
afternoon.”

“And Stollar hired him and took him
to the ranch the same night,” said Green.

The personal history of the ex-convict
obtained from prison officials revealed that
Bear lived with his parents in the barren
badland area between Pine Ridge and Al-
len, South Dakota.

Green called Sheriff Louis Mosseau at
Pine Ridge and, late Sunday night, Ne-
braska and South Dakota officers met at
the state line and headed into a wooded
area where the roads were narrow, lined
with dense brush and scrub trees.

Finally Sheriff Mosseau stopped his car
near the entrance of a canyon which ex-
tended back into the hills. “Bear’s father
and mother live about a quarter of a mile
north of here,” he explained. ‘“T’ll go in
and look it over and if Bear is there it
won’t take long to nail him.”

Sheriff Green, Deputy Sheriff Hills and
four South Dakota deputy sheriffs waited
impatiently for Mosseau’s return but it was
almost an hour before he stepped out of
the brush beside the cars.

“Stollar’s coupe is parked behind the
house and Bear is in bed,” he reported.

“It’s your party,” Green smiled grimly.
“How do we smoke him out?”

“It won’t be too tough,” Mosseau replied.
“Tl have a couple of boys go to the house
while we cover the windows from the edge
of the clearing. We’ll make our move when
it gets daylight.”

It was shortly after four o’clock on Mon-
day morning when Mosseau ggain led
the way into the rocky defile and finally
arrived at a small clearing approximately
a hundred feet square.

The Bear cabin was in the center and it
did not take long for Mosseau to station
men so that every exit was covered. He
nodded to Deputies Bob Fast and Bernie
Janice. “Go ahead,” he ordered. “You
know what to do.”

Fast and Janice sprinted across the open
space to the cabin door, knocked several
times and stepped to one side. There was
a brief wait, then the door swung open
slowly and Timothy Bear appeared.

He had no opportunity to make a break,
for Fast and Janice grasped his arms as
Sheriffs Green and Mosseau stepped from
the woods and hurried toward the cabin
while Hills and the other deputies moved
in from the rear.

“Well, what do you want?” Bear de-
manded.

“You and that Chevvy coupe you stole in
Nebraska,” Mosseau retorted.

“It’s no good,” Bear replied. “I burnt out
the rods on the way up here.”

He waived extradition and about nine
o’clock on Monday morning, July 28th, he

TOUGH DECISION

The Washington State Supreme Court
has ruled that a man has a right to
complain to the cook about a tough
steak without being subject to assault.

When Glendle Wayne Noble. U. S.
Navy enlisted man, couldn’t chew a
tough steak in a cafe near Mount Ver-
non, Washington, he took it gingerly
between his thumb and forefinger and
went back into the kitchen to complain
to the cook.

But the cook, Dan Hogan, didn’t take
kindly to the protest. He picked up a
heavy chain and worked Noble over,
sending him to the hospital for two
weeks with a broken arm and head
wounds.

Hogan was convicted in superior
court of second-degree assault. He ap-
pealed, but the supreme court stood by
the patron,

Said the judges: ‘We do not com-
mend the act of Noble in picking up
the steak in his fingers and going into
the kitchen with it, but that act in it-
self was no justification for Hogan’s
attacking Noble as he did.”

It was a tough decision.

—Mike Quinn

was locked in the Sheridan County jail at
Rushville. Later in the day he was ques-
tioned briefly by Green and County Attor-
ney Jordan but refused to answer ques-
tions. Monday night, Green set the stage
for another session and when Bear was
ushered into the sheriff’s office he blanched
when he saw the bloodstained axe, the
clothing he had abandoned in the bunk-
house and a small package of papers. They
were the documents customarily given a
convict when discharged from prison at the
end of his term. Sheriff Green had found
them in a crevice in the bunkhouse at the
Bar-S when he made another search of the
building after Bear’s arrest.

Bear hesitated a moment in the door-
way then stepped forward and brushed the
articles to the floor. “All right, I did it,”
he said. “I, killed them both.

“Stollar took me to the ranch Tuesday
night,” he went on. “No one saw us be-
cause I met him and his wife at the edge
of Alliance where I went to visit some
friends. On Wednesday, I oiled mowing
machines while he was out on the range
and Thursday we began to sharpen the
sickle blades. I said I’d like to get some
money and go to town but Mrs. Stollar

said I’d have to earn it first. After she
went to the house I argued with Stollar
for a while. I knew he had a roll in his
wallet and as soon as I got behind him I
grabbed the axe and hit him. Then I went
to the house and finished her and beat it in
the car.”

He signed a detailed confession without
hesitation and Tuesday morning was
taken into county court and charged with
the first-degree murder of John and Grace
Stollar. When Judge Clarence Benschoter
asked him to plead, Bear almost shouted
the single word, “Guilty!”

He was held without bond for action by
the district court at the next term. Under
Nebraska law it was necessary to impanel
a jury to hear the evidence despite Bear’s
plea of guilty. It was their duty to fix
the punishment. Late in September, Bear
was taken to district court before Judge
Lyle Jackson and after only two days the
jury retired and in less than an hour de-
cided that Bear should die. Judge Jackson
set September 30th as the date on which
sentence would be passed.

On that date, Bear evinced little emo-
tion as he stood before the court and was
told he must die in the electric chair on
December 30th, 1947. When Deputy Sheriff
Hills led him from the room he muttered,
“Tll beat the chair.”

Two days later Bear became ill in his
cell at the county jail and an X-ray exami-
nation disclosed he had swallowed several
metal objects. He was loaded into an air-
plane and flown to Lincoln, where an am-
bulance from state prison transferred him
to the prison hospital where an emergency
operation was performed. The surgeons
removed several pins, some nails and
screws and half a dozen pieces of steel
bed spring which the condemned man
had ripped from his bunk.

He seemed to be in perfect health and
his recovery was rapid. In a few days
he was transferred to the death cell while
preparations for his execution progressed.
His first move to cheat the chair had been
checkmated by surgery. Whether he would
be as successful in an appeal to the su-
preme court for a review of his case re-
mained to be seen.

On Friday, December 9th, 1947, Bear was
given a temporary reprieve. Judge Henry
Polk of the Lancaster County District Court
at Lincoln, Nebraska, signed an order which
set aside the death sentence since it did
not comply with the law.

The statutes provide that 100 days must
elapse between the date of sentence and
date of execution and it was pointed out to
the court that only ninety-one days would
elapse between Sevtember 30th, the date
on which Judge Jackson passed sentence,
and December 30th, when Bear was sched-
uled to die.

The order provided that Bear be re-
turned to the custody of Sheridan County
officials and that a new date of execution
be set by the trial judge. The order, how-
ever, did not invalidate the verdict of the
jury nor its recommendation that Bear be
executed for his crime.

Almost one month later, on January 6th,
1948, the convicted killer was brought into
the district court at Rushville, Nebraska.
There he again faced Judge Lyle Jackson.
This time the date of execution was fixed
for May Ist, 1948. Immediately after sen-
tence was passed Bear was returned to his
death cell in the State Prison at Lincoln,
Nebraska.

EpiTor’s Note
The name Joe Warren, as used in this
story, is not the real name of the person
concerned. This innocent person has
been given a fictitious name in order to
protect his identity.

}

New Yor

(Continued from
been operated by
structor of opera

Officers discove
had once been s
Lindner for $370
spent for tips, ta>
while acting as !
gay nightspots.

Meanwhile, ho
Attorney Grumet
two account ledg
unearthed in thei
Both were bound
about eight inct
inches wide and <

As he leafed
Grumet noted thz
wont to keep a r
tures whether the
hold expenses, a!
and florist and
impecunious bu
artists to whom ¢s
Lady Bountiful.

There were mo!
and they ranged
able at the top t
the bottom and =
the names he re:
open the door of
strata of life—t
nightclubs and :
financial world, *
tile industry a
poker sessions i
and aging wome

Among the ne
volumes were tt!
Hollywood banc
prominent barit:
presario; an Indi
Evelyn Nesbit T:
Thaw who slew £
of the century;
nightclub figures
weig who was b
as Mickey Owen
pop in and out

Late that afte
hours after Lan
finally got an op
Langford in som
administered sec

In agitated sn
by tears and den:
murderers, she
through the eve:
ing. As she talke
on numda rugs
room, exhibiting
have belonged
girl. Finally, s
petit-point chair.
in the room, anc
of her late hus
shaped table wh
by Marie Antoin
piano and on oth
of such celebrit
opera singer; O°
cier; and U.S. §
inscribed to her

But when Gri
concerning her fi
ticularly with re
tone, Reed La:
$16,500, accordin
spirited tempera

“You dare to c
to others?” she
own money. If
I wished.”

She went on t
that her husban
bers.

“T would have

eT


MS RUE 2 te Sette ena 4:

afternoon of January 13th, 1947. The
twelve rugged mountaineers deliberated
fifteen minutes, then reported their ver-
dict: “Guilty.”

The mandatory sentence was death, Only
Bell appealed the verdict which went to
the United States Supreme Court. Mean-
while, both of the condemned men waited
in their cells in the State Penitentiary at
Raleigh.

WHEN the highest court in the land

refused to intervene in Bell’s case, the
execution was set for November 14th, 1947,

The prisoners’ last resort for clemency
was Governor R. Gregg Cherry. He re-
viewed each detail of the charges, then
announced, “It’s an awful thing to take
a man’s life, but I can’t intervene in these
cases. It was one of the most horrible
crimes. If there is going to be a death

penalty for rape, this is one of them.”

Informed of the Governor’s decision,
Litteral, who had _ hitherto spurned the
prison chaplain’s offer of spiritual con-
solation, underwent a change of heart.

He asked the Reverend William H. Jackson
to baptize him, and after the service said:
“There is only one way—that is to follow
God. I wish I had followed Him years
ago. Tell my friends and loved ones to
accept God before it is too late.”

There were twenty-one persons in the
witness room when the two who all their
lives had flouted the laws of both God
and man, were brought into the gas cham-
ber. Bell and Litteral, their faces hidden
by masks, clasped hands for an instant,
then gripped the sides of their chairs as
the fuming cloud of deadly cyanide curled
toward their nostrils. Litteral was seen
to take deep breaths as if to hasten the

end. Within a matter of minutes both
figures were still, only the stethoscope
Strapped to each of their chests echoing a
feeble heart beat.

Then there was silence, and the figures
slumped forward, dead.

Their torture victim’s vision of doom
was now fulfilled.

EpitTor’s Norte:

The names, Helen Harris and Adam
Walton, as used in the foregoing story
are not the real names of the persons
concerned. These persons have been
given fictitious names in order to pro-
tect their identities. The name of the
town, Croley, is also fictitious. Photo-
graphs of Ralph Litteral (left) and
Marvin Bell appear on page 80.

Double Murder at the Bar-§

(Continued from page 45) doesn’t take two
or three men long to load half-a-dozen ani-
mals and be on their way.”

“Why didn’t Stollar report his losses?” an
officer asked.

“He wanted to be sure,” Warren replied.
“He did ask brand inspectors at the stock-
yards in Omaha and Denver to be on the
lookout.”

When these facts were reported to
Sheriff Green he decided a cattle rustler
would not be likely to follow the Stollars
back to the ranch, beat them to death and
steal their car. “He’d use a gun, let the

bodies lie out on the range and get away”

in his truck,” he declared. “There must
be another answer to this riddle.”

With the arrival of dawn, Green asked
the spectators to search the ranch yard for
the murder weapon while he and County
Attorney Jordan returned to the machine
shed where Stollar’s body had been found.
They followed the scratches made by his
boot heels in the soft soil and these ex-
tended from the shed door to a grindstone
which stood beside a work bench about
ten yards distant.

Several sickle bars from mowing ma-
chines lay on the bench and there was one
on the ground beside the grindstone. There
were several crimson stains on the stone
and on the wooden stand, and a huge
brown blotch on the grass beside the work
bench.

This made it easy for Sheriff Green to
visualize what had happened Thursday
morning. John Stollar had been killed as
he held a sickle bar against the whirling
stone. He had toppled forward against
the stone and then slid to one side. His
attacker had quickly dragged his body into
the shed, rifled his pockets and covered
him with debris,

Since it required two men to sharpen a
sickle bar, one to turn the stone while the
other held the bar against it, Green de-
cided that Stollar had succeeded in find-
ing someone to take Warren’s place and
that it was the new employee who had
killed his employers after only a few
hours on the ranch.

() THER searchers found a short-handled

axe in a clump of bushes between the
house and garage. It had been thrust into
a pile of mulch and only the tip of the
handle was visible. The blade and tower
part of the handle were bloodstained and
several strands of black hair adhered to
one side of the blade. Green was certain
that laboratory tests would prove these had
been torn from Mrs. Stollar’s head.

but failed to find any. He hoped the
killer had been careless for an instant but
then he realized that most men in the
range country wore gloves as they worked
and this man had been no exception.

When the commercial radio stations in
western Nebraska went on the air at seven
o’clock Sunday morning, the news of the
double murder created a furore and re-
sulted in a flood of tips to Sheriff Green
and his associates.

Through these valuable bits of informa-
tion they were able to account for prac-
tically every moment John and Grace Stol-
lar spent in Alliance on Tuesday and tele-
phone calls were received from several
near-by towns where Stollar was. well
known. It did not help, however, to iden-
tify the killer though one informant re-
ported that Stollar told him he had found
a man to take Warren’s place who could
start work in the hay fields the last of the
week.

Stollar had spent some time in the Al-
liance Farm Bureau Office and told the
manager he needed a man. He talked to
several itinerant workers at the Burlington
Depot but apparently without success since
all of. the men boarded the afternoon train
bound for the north and the harvest fields
in South Dakota. Late Tuesday evening,
he and Mrs. Stollar drove away from the
Alliance business district and stopped at a
filling station to have their car serviced.
The attendant there told Green he was
certain they were alone at the time. The
task of finding out who the killer was
loomed as well-nigh impossible.

Shortly after noon, a filling-station owner
heard a repeat broadcast in which special
emphasis was placed on the missing car.
He immediately contacted Sheriff Green
and said he had serviced the Stollar car
about nine o’clock Thursday night. He
described the driver as a young man about
twenty to twenty-five years old, five feet,
ten inches in height, and estimated his
weight at about one hundred and seventy
pounds. He was deeply tanned, smooth-
shaven and had black hair and eyes. “He
looked like a cowpuncher headed for a
rodeo,” the station owner said. “He had
on a tan silk shirt, tan trousers, cowboy
boots and a dark jacket with tan trimming.”

“Did he say which way he was headed?”
Green asked. :

“He asked about the roads to the north,”
was the revly. “He wanted to get to Allen,
South Dakota, that night and go on to
Sioux City, Iowa, the next day. There
must have been a couple hundred dollars
in the roll he pulled out of his pocket when
he paid me.”

“You're sure it was the Stollar coupe?”
Green insisted,

“If Stollar’s license number was 61-641,
as you say it was, then it was the Stollar
car It was a black Chevvy coupe and I
suggested an oil check but he told me to fill
it with gas and let it go at that,” the man
replied.

h geval GREEN quickly contacted South
Dakota authorities and suggested it
seemed more than a coincidence that the
driver of the stolen car was headed for
Allen and that Joe Warren lived in that
small community on the eastern edge of
the Bad Lands. He asked that Warren be
questioned about any friends who had
visited him while he was employed at the
Bar-S.

Sioux City police were asked to shake
down the Iowa metropolis and Detective
Chief Harry Gibbons told Green a rodeo
was scheduled to get under way in a cou-
ple of days and contestants were arriving
daily from all parts of the West.

In the meantime, Gale Thompson found
the Bar-S tally book in John Stollar’s desk.
In it were recorded all transactions inci-
dental to the operation of the huge ranch
but there had been no entries for several
days. It did not contain the record of sup-
plies purchased in Alliance, the name of
the new hired man and his rate of pay or
the amount of money paid Joe Warren
when he quit his job.

But Green was convinced that some-
where around the ranch there was some
bit of evidence which would point the way
to a quick solution. He reasoned that it
was impossible for anyone to spend two
nights and a day at the place and not
leave some clue. Finally he went to the
bunkhouse for another search. A hired
man would have spent several hours in
this building and it was here he might have
overlooked some vital bit of evidence.

The long, narrow room was in perfect
order. Apparently one of the last things
Mrs. Stollar did before she was bludgeoned
to death was to put the bunkhouse in order.
The three beds were made up, clean towels
and wash cloths were on the-racks and
the floor was spotless except for a little
dust which had filtered through the
screened windows.

After nearly an hour of futile search
Green was almost ready to admit his hunch
was wrong. He went to the door and
turned for one more look about the interior
and then he noticed something which
seemed out of place. The mattress on the
center bed seemed to be slightly higher
that the other two. (Continued on page 84)

ener aera

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82 He examined the handle for fingerprints

we on i
hE

| Thomas, ‘black, 39, hanged Nebraska (Douglas County) on May:

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Pomp
_ Negra, As

‘Been :

under the. Tenth stree
_ {Ty-befare 9. o'clock, Wednesday om
tog, When found the -man’ gasped aut... 1,
“the words, “I've bean cut and robbed.” f
and died within a few. minytes- with."
aut making any further.statement ©
All indications ‘point to a most brutal ©
" “urder, with . robbery as .8
 'Bhortly before the tragedy the vic
< qeag seen in company -with @ negro, and *;
" $t i» believed that the colored man en: ©
-- “tleed him under the viaduct, slashed bua
>with @ rasor Im, 2S coveers
“> Frank Williams, ‘porter iu

~ the Pullman servic

day. eyen~

i 4 if vs
HE nee?

ee

\

4 tL
ae
+4

Beelng a. man
Iked berk and
non Pacifica
estigated

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of. which was ecross
and which had elmo
“+ Another was across

‘
1
q

and Boer:

“=< ""\ third om the back. of the heads 03.64!
ies st I: covigg 5 before .the body. was found, ©
| prank Galvin, an elevator boy at the

vo. Unlon station,
“man in company

bY i

19, 1911,

erald
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~


‘murder,., with robbery @6 & flivs.
Shortly .. “pefore the tragedy. the wictks
ee seen in company with a negro, 4.4

tile believed that the colored mai wa-  .
ies him under the viaduct, slashed tice -
with a razor and robbed him, »

Frank Williams, colored, a porter is
the Pullman service, first discovered +1). 4
unfortunate man. According to hia ets: ¢
he walked down the track in searcu of
his car, and heard groans. Seeing a tag
lying on the track, he walked beek and:
notified J. C. Mitchell, a Unen Pac ihe;
engine foreman. Mitchell investigat«4
and to - him’ the man sald he had been antic
saulted and robbed. : tics

It was found that. the Pierce was suf.
fering from three horrible wounda, 62%
of which was across the back o. the neo
and which had almost severed the hea.
‘Another was across the throat: and e
third on the back of the head. .

Shortly ere the body was “found: aoe
Frank. Galvin, elevator boy at the: pe
Union station, hed seen the murdered -
man iy company with @ negro, whoin he.
describes as a short, very, ‘black youn.
The same: negro had been seen loitering °°.
iste ‘the station earlier tn the rain ae

Apparently Was Drunk. res:

“Galvin says that Frankland prepa? te:
be under the Influence of Intoxicanta, and
that the negro was leading him pbout, , .:
laughing and joking with him. Accord. AL
ing to Galvin the. last time he saw th
pair, Frankland wished to take the eleva |
tor,- but he says the negro ‘induced the,
man to go out upon-the viaduct. -.-.,

The supposition is that the colored man iad
led hia. victim down the. viaduct: stairs ta; ..
the tracks below, where sbe faurder and |
j robbery followed, 3026.0

“When found | Frankiand’s pockets. were
turned | ‘{nalde’ out, but the robber. had

F everlooked $20: in bills. in his baste..-Hia:
“T-watch had: been Jerked ‘fram o
Sand the guard broken, 23652 5: i
>4 James Tuil,.a@ ridge. hapneclin eka
Thad arrived in Omaha from: Plattsmouth? j:
Wednesday morning, was at: the Vnlca:
gstatfon at.the time of the tragedy, aud: ;
paid that he had a partner named Janes e
Frankland ‘who ‘wag missing... Ho waé,
> 4 taken to the body of the saurseren., Day
4 Bagh could not identi ay: tee aly

‘Both Tull and . Ffank~ “Wiliams, the
1 Pullman porter, were placed “under arrest .
‘by Detectives Maloney. and: Van Duseq, *

"| who are working on the case, ond, will
a | be held pending an investigation.«. =. .°~

Was an Odd Fellowe at
: ‘In the murdered man's nockets‘ wer
)} found a membership card: tg. the “Inder:
| pendent Order of Odd Fellows, lodgo No, |:
24 of Chicago, made. out.to Henry R,
Frankland. A telegram, ‘Gated. Chicago,
October 10, read: ‘FL. Frankland,
city—Impossible to get- Fpl ‘The tele.
gram was signed, “Lucky Frankland,"
Beneath waa the notatlene! #Phone this
message to Hickey Bros, & Burke, and |
charge them up & cents.” 5 el ae
The murdered ‘man was ; ‘apparentiy |:
about 33 ears old, and was fairly well’
dressed, The body. wee. ‘taken 1o charge .
by Corener Heese wh @ wa hold bse pe |
! beter: Scie

FREIGHT STEAMER © ea a
WRECKED. BY STORM |

4 fa
pti Patooneery the Captain’ and Four
7.) ef the Crew Lose Thelr?:


‘| Continued from Page 1
‘| Bowers said Friday he expects Felker
.. | to be executed in about six weeks.

‘| to get a three-judge appellate panel’s

ee es a ee

First Data’s Ak Plan Ge

Continued from Page 1
Corp. (RecCo).
Douglas County created the two non-
sp entities in 1992 to oversee Ak-Sar-
n operations.

With the property owned by two
nonprofit entities, the County Board
doesn’t have to follow time-consuming
procedures intended to apply to county-
owned property, Everett and.

Everett said he would still urge the
County Board to adopt the approach he
suggests.

The problem for the county in both the
First Data proposal and the Everett plan
is the early deadlines for the county to
commit to one plan or the other. First
Data has said it needs to know by early
July. Everett gave July 23 as his deadline,
then said he was flexible and could wait
an additional 30 days.

Going through the county’s normal
bidding procedures could delay any deal

High Court —
Backs Limit
On Appeals

The high court upheld a procedure
requiring state prisoners, who fail
initially in getting federal court help,

permission before filing another fed-

eral appeal. A denial of permission
could not beappealed.

involving Ak-Sar-Ben long past those
deadlines.

In discussing the First Data plan,
Edmunds raised the same objection that
he raised in recommending against the
Everett plan, but he acknowledged that
the lawyer for the First Data plan might
have found an answer.

Kermnt Brashear, legal adviser to the
community leader team, suggested a
legal merger of RaceCo and RecCo.

Those two entities would become a
new nonprofit entity called Ak-Sar-Ben
Future Trust. Because no land is sold in
that merger, county bidding procedures
can be avoided, Brashear says.

The new nonprofit group then would
sell 60 acres to First Data for $10 million
and would donate an additional 60 acres
to UNO for an information science and
engineering center.

unds says that if the First Data
plan were challenged in court, a judge
“will most likely regard the existence of

the corporations (RaceCo and RecCo) to
bea legal fiction.”

If the plan submitted on behalf of
First Data is declared void during a court
challenge, “you may have a worse mess
on your hands you do now,”
Edmunds advised the commissioners.

He guickly added: “On the other
hand, (First Data concept) may be
declared perfectly legal and a new way to
convey county property.”

This key difference exists between the
lans of First Data and of Everett: The
irst Data plan envisions a merger of

RaceCo and RecCo to form a new
nonprofit group — and then a sale to
First Data. Under the Everett plan,
RaceCo and RecCo would sell their
Ak-Sar-Ben property directly to Everett.

Brashear said he was encouraged by
Edmunds’ opinion that the community-
leader team’s plan has merit.

“Nowhere does he say the County

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD Friday. june 28, 1996 #1
OE

ts ‘Qualified OK’

Board shouldn't do it (the First Data
plan),” saiq Brashear, who is a state
senator,

Bras id he disagrees with the
concen Bese by Edmunds. In a
nine-page response, Brashear says Ed-
munds is wrong in contending a judge
probably ~ id hold that Douglas
County is the true owner of Ak-Sar-Ben.

For one thing, he said, major parts of
the 1992 sale of the Ak-Sar-Ben property
depended on the existence of the “corpo-
rate veil” that separates Douglas County
from RaceCo and RecCo, Brashear said.

No one intended for the Ak-Sar-Ben
property to be owned by the county until
the $25 million debt was fully repaid,
Brashear contends.

With RaceCo and RecCo as the
owners, and not the county, title can be
transferred to First Data without going

the public bidding process, Bra-
vee pub 7 8P

Court’s Move Stalls Joubert Execution

Continued from Page 1

asked for an execution date for Joubert,
but the date set was six weeks in the
future.

Less than a half-hour before the U.S.
Supreme announcement, Stenberg had
expressed optimism that the execution
could be carried out yet Friday.

He said the Supreme Court’s ruling
Friday morning in a test case on limiting
death-penalty appeals brought the state
a step closer to carrying out Joubert’s
execution.

Even so, he had cautioned that the
ruling did not guarantee Joubert’s execu-

tion would be carried out.

“The decision tly increases the
chances we might hear yet today in the
Joubert case,” tenberg said. “But at this
point in time, we don’t know when the
court will rule in Joubert or whether the
court will rule in Joubert.”

Neither Stenberg nor Weber offered
reasons why the Supreme Court delayed
a ruling.

“T have no idea,” Weber said. “I know
they are extremely overwhelmed at the
Supreme Court in its last days of busi-
ness for the year.”

Said Stenberg: “We simply were not

told.”

One key question remains unanswered
in Joubert’s case, lawyers on both sides
acknowledged. That is how the high
court might handle Joubert’s pending
appeal questioning whether the electric
ae amounts to cruel and unusual
punishment.

Joubert’s lawyers filed the challenge to
the electric chair as a direct appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court — one of the key
avenues of left open after Con-

ess a law earlier this year
fim ing the number of appeals that can
be filed by death-row inmates.

It was that law the U.S. Supreme
Court upheld earlier Friday morning in

tthe test case. The high court rejected the
ee of Georgia inmate Ellis Wayne
Felker.

Earlier this week, Joubert filed an
appeal raising “Felker” claims that he
was entitled to pursue a second federal

court appeal, even though the 8th U.S.
Circuit of Appeals had denied him
ission.

It was in that appeal that the U.S.
Supreme Court entered an order late
Thursday to stop Joubert’s execution.

Stenberg said he thinks the high court
will rule against Joubert Monday. |

“It is very likely — not a certainty —
but it’s very likely that the U.S. Supreme
Court will rule in favor of the state in this
case,” he said.

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Crowd at Prison
Smaller, Calmer

Than for Otey

BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — Death-penalty backers
chanted, “Jolt him,” and opponents lit
candles and prayed Tuesday outside the
Nebraska State Penitentiary as John
Joubert’s execution neared.

The pro-capital-punishment crowd
cheered loudly when prison officials
announced at about 12:30 a.m. today -
that Joubert had been executed. A few
minutes later, Joubert’s friends were
escorted from the penitentiary to their
cars as some in the crowd jeered them. .

Gov. Nelson said that two people had
been arrested as of 12:30 a.m. ;

The Nebraska State Patrol estimated .
the crowd at 600. There were about twice
as many death-penalty proponents as
opponents present.

About 12:15 am., a death-penalty
proponent rushed into the anti-death
penalty group. State troopers ran in
before anything could happen and took ©
the death-penalty proponent into a pick- +
up truck and drove him away.

Earlier, a large cup of ice and a plastic
jug with water in it were thrown from the
proponents’ side into the opponents’
a side. No one apparently was injured. ;
= = The crowd was smaller and quieter
than the gathering of more than 1,000
demonstrators outside the penitentiary ©
for the execution of Harold LaMont
Otey in 1994. :

Authorities had expected a smaller,
calmer crowd but prepared for a group as .

lare

«. JEFFREY Z. CARNEY /THE WORLD-HERALD

-is consoled by Effie Johnson of Lincoln late

nd, Theresa O’Brien of Ireland

rien 0}
ide the Nebraska State Penitentiary,

ting Joubert’s execution.

Last of Appeals Rejected

Hours Before Execution |

BY JOY POWELL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — John Joubert was electro-
cuted at 12:14 a.m. today for the murders
of two Sarpy County boys. He was
pronounced dead at 12:22 a.m.

Joubert, dead at 33, confessed to
murdering Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and
Christopher Walden, 12, while carrying
out sadistic fantasies in 1983.

The former Offutt airman was electro-
cuted at the Nebraska State Peni-
tentiary.

His final statement at 10:45 p.m. was:
“I just want to say that again I am sorry
for what I have done. I do not know if my
death will change anything or if it will
Pang enone any peace, and I just ask
the families of Danny Eberle and Chris-
topher Walden and Richard Stetson to
please try to find some = and ask the
people of Nebraska to forgive me. That’s

"Joubert also killed 11-year-old Rich-
ard Stetson in Portland, Maine, on Aug.
22, 1982. Maine does not have the death

penalty.

Gov. Nelson received a call at 12:18
a.m. informing him that the sentence had
been carried out by 12:15 a.m.

“Hopefully, the finality that this repre-
sents will let us close the Joubert case,”
Nelson said. “Hopefully, he will rest in
peace and those of us who have been
affected by this will also find peace.”

In a later call, Nelson was told that
Joubert was pronounced dead at 12:22
a.m.

Attomey General Don Stenberg said,
“This morning one less monster walks
the face of the Earth to threaten our
children. May his name soon be forgot-

FULL PAGE

Joubert
Execution
REGIMENTED: John Joubert
said a domineering mother,
parochial school and the military
, fed his longing
for control over
another. Page 8.
DARK
HOURS: Susan
Walden, whose
son was killed
by Joubert,
: le recalls that
John Joubert gestures of
dness from
strangers sustained her. Page 8.
WAITING: A list of those
imprisoned on Nebraska’s death
row, their crimes and dates of
sentencing. Page 8.

ten and may his victims be long remem-
bered.”

Joubert was the second person to be
executed in Nebraska in 37 years. Harold
LaMont Otey was executed in 1994.

Joubert’s last appeals to the U.S.
Supreme Court were denied about 1:30
p.m. npn

His death walk began 10 minutes
before the electrocution. Witnesses and
prison officials gave this account:

A team of four corrections officers
escorted Joubert as he left his “death

Please tum to Page 9, Col.


OMAHA WORLD-HERALD Wednesday, July 17, 1996

“ee ew Fe

Joubert Executed for

Continued from Page 1
watch” cell in the prison hospital.

Joubert walked 20 paces from the
hospital room to the elevator. Flanked
by the guards, Joubert descended from
the second floor to the first floor of the
prison’s front building.

Out of the elevator, it was eight paces
to the death chamber.

There, in a 10-foot-by-10-foot cinder-
block room painted white, Joubert took
his final seat. Guards tightened tan
leather straps across Joubert’s chest,
arms, legs and ankles, strapping Joubert
in the oak electric chair.

Harvest gold drapes — the same color
as Joubert’s boyhood home — opened so
he could see for the last time some of
his closest friends. They and official
witnesses to the execution saw Joubert
through a window.

Joubert’s head, beard, mustache and
eyebrows were shaved off. He wore a
faint smile as he scanned the witnesses in
the front row, said Chuck Ashby of
KFAB Radio in Omaha, one of the
witnesses.

Witnesses selected by Joubert were
Theresa O’Brien, his beloved pen pal
from Ireland; Dale Baich, an Ohio
assistant public defender and death-pen-
alty opponent who has known Joubert
for six years; Rich Pitrie, who taught
clarinet to Joubert at Chevrus Hi
School in Portland, Maine, and who
recently had been his spiritual adviser;
and Laurel Van Ham, a Lincoln psychol-
ogist who counseled Joubert.

Joubert also selected his longtime
attorney, Mark Weber of Omaha, to
witness the execution. Weber said Tues-
day that he planned to visit Joubert but
would not watch the electrocution.

State Sen. Erie Chambers of Omaha,
a staunch death- ty opponent, and
the Rev. Donald Coleman of Lincoln
were the state’s authorized witnesses.
Five news reporters and an associate
warden were the other witnesses.

Chambers, who visited Joubert Mon- _

Continued from Page 1 |
as large as when Otey was executed —
between areas fenced off for death penal-
ty supporters and opponents in the
Nebraska State Penitentiary parking lot.

Demonstrators also were forbidden

Crowd Smaller, Calmer Than for Otey

from entering the parking lot until after

10 p.m. Tuesday. |
ol. Ron Tussing, superintendent of

) ovue ¢
ackson of Lincoln, Harris, ¥
lived in Bellevue when Joubert murder

ally and felt a need to be in Lincoln “
see him off.” otal

“People say, ‘How can you kill a
human Sang! ” Harris said. “Well, he’s
not a human being. He’s a human beast, |
and like anybody who preys on human’
beings, he should be tracked down and
killed ”

Jackson, 21, said he was frightened’
when the murders happened but said he
did not believe that executing Joubert
was an appropriate punishment. —

“It doesn’t seem like it’s a punishment
for the crime that’s happening,” Jackson
said. “It seems like it is a show of force by
a system that is trying to show people
that it’s doing its job. They’re playing
God.”

The scene outside the Otey execution
sometimes resembled a party, and other
times bordered on a brawl.

two boys, said he took the crime person-| fi

day and Tuesday, said his role was to
make sure Joubert was treated humanel
during his final hours of life. His pres-
ence during the execution should not be
interpreted as acceptance of Nebraska’s
death penalty, Chambers said.

Joubert focused his attention on his
girlfriend, Ms. O’Brien.

“T love you,” he mouthed to her. She
appeared to mouth the same words back,
news media witnesses said.

After a 30-second glimpse at Joubert, a
tison official who was standing to
oubert’s left drew the drapes shut.

One electrode was attached to Jou-

bert’s scalp and another to his left calf,
where his pants were cut along the seam.

Guards placed a leather mask over his-

face, leaving only his forehead and nose
visible. :

Two or three minutes after the wit-
nesses last saw Joubert’s face, the drapes
again swept open to reveal the con-
demned man.

A traveling executioner, whose iden-
tity is kept secret, ra i the switch from
an adjoining control room.

The first charge was 2,450 volts,
followed by a second charge of 490 volts,
then the cycle repeated. The electrical
surges flowed for one minute.

itnesses said they heard a thud each
time a jolt was administered. Joubert’s
right forefinger had been extended but as
the first charge was applied, he clenched
his left hand in a fist and his right hand in
a partial fist.

Smoke or steam rose from Joubert’s
left calf where the electrode was at-
tached, said Ed Howard of the Associat-
ed Press, another witness.

Five weeks before his death, Joubert
had said that capital punishment was
never a deterrent for him. When he was
murdering, Joubert said, he never
thought
the death penalty.

Joubert said he believes God will be
him on Earth.

MIES

DEATH PENALTY

John Joubert,

_ At that time, an anti-death penalty
demonstrator burned a U.S. flag. Some
_ pro-death penalty demonstrators crowd-
surfed, and others chanted “Na-na-na-
na, goodbye.” There were yelling and
even spitting matches between some
people on the opposing sides.
uesday night, the clashes were mostly
verbal. As arguments heated up about a
half-hour before the execution, state
troopers stepped into the buffer zone
between the two groups and cleared the
only area where the two sides could have

t he would be caught or about

fairer than those who have judged_

PROPONENT: Ben Zilelinski, 17, of Elkhom 9
estimated 600 people outside the State Penitentiary early today during

83 Slayings of Boys

The former Eagle Scout and assistant

'Y scoutmaster is remembered in the Mid-

lands as a man who showed no mercy
when he slashed, stabbed and tormented
innocent boys.

He kidnapped and murdered Danny
Joe on Sept. 18, 1983, and Christopher
on Dec. 2, 1983. The boys each were
missing for three days before their bodies
were found in rural areas of Sarpy
County.

Joubert was sentenced in October
1984 after pleading guilty in the Nebras-
ka killings, and his appeals began almost
immediately. Joubert lost post-convic-
tion hearings and appeals before the
Sarpy County District Court, Nebraska
Supreme Court, U.S. District Court, the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and
the U.S. Supreme Court.

He also was denied clemency by the
Nebraska Board of Pardons, which is -
made up of Nelson, Stenberg and Secre-
tary of State Scott Moore.

Joubert’s final two appeals before the
U.S. Supreme Court concerned whether
electrocution was cruel and unusual
punishment and whether the makeup of
the Nebraska Board of Pardons was
prejudicial to Joubert.

oubert has said his family did not
want to witness the execution. His moth-
er, Beverly, of Alaska, and his sister, Jane
Huffman, of New Ulm, Minn., have
visited him in recent weeks. Since the
killings, Joubert has been estranged from
ra ie, Jack, who lives in Lawrence,

Ss.

Joubert said that what he has learned
in life is that he should not hurt
anyone and that he should have feelings
for people. “If there is a next life, if
there’s anything to the theory of reincar-
ae we're learning for that life,” he
said.

In Joubert’s unsuccessful clemency
request last month, his supporters argued
that he should be studied, not killed, in
hopes of preventing future serial murder-
ers.

State officials denied Joubert’s request
that he be taken to Omaha Tuesday for a
brain scan at Creighton University Med-
ical School. State officials said the securi-
ty risks were too great.

A former altar boy, Joubert attended
his last Mass Tuesday morning. He was
anointed Tuesday evening as death ap-
proached.

His last meal seemed like party fare:
pizza with green peppers, mushrooms,

lack olives, onions and mozzarella
cheese, a salad and strawberry cheese-
cake.

In his last hours, Joubert met with
Pitrie, Ms. O’Brien, Baich and others.

At 10:45 p.m., Joubert appeared be-

fore the witnesses to read his final.

statement. Witnesses said that Joubert
looked at a deputy warden, took a couple
of deep breaths and appeared to have
difficulty getting the words out.

Pitrie and Ms. Van Ham sat on either

side of Ms. O’Brien as the execution was |

carried out. tes whispered softly to
each other, held hands and hugged,
witnesses said. .

Other friends said that Joubert had
hoped his remains would be shipped far
from the prison walls, overseas to a final
resting place in Ireland.

World-Herald staff writers Bill Hord,

Leslie Boellstorff and Paul Hammel con-

tributed to this report.

JEFF BUNDY

thorities ex
crowd for Joubert’s exeeu
versity of Nebraska-Li
session, unlike when 0
Joubert is the seco:
in recent history,
since 1959; and Jou
generated less sym)
enalty opponen
World-Herald
contributed to this


Nelson Expects Execution

\

—

\

_\ BY LESLIE BOELLSTORFF

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — In the waning hours before
John Joubert’s scheduled execution, the
battle to save his life proceeded Monday
in a less-frenzied atmosphere than exist-
ed three weeks earlier.

Instead of five courts and a pardons
board, Joubert’s hope for a reprieve
Monday rested with one: the U.S. Su-
preme Court.

Joubert, 33, is scheduled to go to the
electric chair shortly after 12:01 a.m.

To Proceed on Schedule

preme Court on what would happen
next.

Day-to-day activities proceeded as
usual at the Nebraska State Penitentiary,
where the execution would be carried
out. Prison staff members began putting
up crowd-control fences Monday, and
the warden’s office fielded a few phone
calls from news organizations preparing
to cover the execution.

It was a different atmosphere from
that of three weeks ago, when death-pen-
alty opponents and Joubert’s supporters

__ fi lnan appeal from the Nebraska
_ Supreme Court, he arguesthat ©
_ theelectricchairviolatesthe
Eig
nd

Amendmentban oncruel —
'd unusual punishment. The ap-
eal allegesthatelectrocution _
auses a lingering and painful

_ death and that itis easily botched.
_ Most states have abandoned the -
_ method, the appeal maintains,

_ Min an appeal from the athU.S.
_ Circuit Court of Appeals, Joubert

Jes thatthe Nebraska Par- _

W for the 1983 kidnap murders Mounted a frenzied campaign to stop the _| dons Board violated his constitu.
of tea ee : County hove Meukon execution, then set for June 28. i baile handling
confessed to Killing Danny Joe Eberle, Lawyers filed multiple appeals in five Ulver fairly consider
13, and Christopher Walden, 12. courts in an effort to stop the execution. estforclemency.The __

By Monday, lawyers had filed all the
legal paperwork in what was  penerally
appeal

Joubert’s friends and loved ones organ-
ized a futile effort to seek clemency from

gard voted 3-0 June 26todeny

- Joubert clemency and torefuse —

expected to be Joubert’s final appeal. the Nebraska Board of Pardons. Joubert her applications from him.
They awaited word from the U.S. Su- Please turn to Page 8, Col. 1 So
j

Joubert argues electric chair
unconstitutional punishment

Joubert, from BI
penalty opponents have acknowl-
edged that Joubert’s crimes were
abhorrent but said that does not
warrant state-sanctioned killing.

In his tape-recorded confession,
Joubert said Walden and Eberle
cried and begged for their lives.
Eberle promised not to turn Jou-
bert in for stabbing him, Joubert
said, if Joubert would just take
him to a hospital.

“J stabbed him a couple more
times,” Joubert said in his confes-
sion.

Two judges of the 8th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals, who rein-
stated Joubert’s death sentence in
January, said they could not
imagine more horrible deaths
than those of Eberle and Walden.
Eberle ‘desperately tried to bar-
gain for his life’ but was
butchered, the appeals judges
said.

They said Walden was forced to
strip and lie in the snow while Jou-
bert strangled him. When Jou-
bert’s hands got too cold, they
said. he switched to stabbing and

slicing the boy.

Capt. Jeff Davis of the Sarpy
County Sheriff's office, who
helped investigate the crimes,
said there was irony in Joubert’s
argument about the electric chair.

In a separate case in U.S. Dis-
trict Court in Omaha, Joubert
argued that the state Board of
Pardons, scheduled to review his
clemency request today Wednes-
day, was prejudiced against him.

Koenig said the three board
members — GOV. Ben Nelson,
Attorney General Don Stenberg
and Secretary of State Scott
Moore — made public statements
“showing that their minds are
made up.’’ Under state law, the
board must hear Joubert’s
request for a clemency hearing
but is under no obligation to grant
a hearing to determine whether to
reduce the sentence to life in
prison.

The clemency request automat-
ically stayed Joubert’s execution
but the board eould decide no
hearing is needed and allow the
execution Friday.

Man Executed in Nebraska's Electric Chair For Killing Boys

By Associated Press, 07/17/96

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A former Boy Scout leader who said he enjoyed the "power and
domination" of killing was executed in the electric chair early today for murdering two boys in
1983.

John Joubert, also a former airman, repeatedly stabbed and slashed Danny Jo Eberle, 13, and
Christopher Walden, 12, near the Air Force Base where he was stationed. He also was convicted of
stabbing and strangling a boy in Maine.

In his final statement, Joubert apologized for the three murders.
“I do not know if my death will change anything or if it will bring anyone any peace,” he said.

Joubert mouthed the words *‘I love you," and made a gentle kissing gesture toward his girlfriend
after being strapped in the chair. She returned the gesture.

Judy Eberle, Danny's mother, said Joubert deserved the death penalty not out of vengeance but
because *‘it is the only punishment that can make sure that he will never walk the streets again."

Joubert, 33, has said the murders were the culmination of years of psychosexual fantasies. He had
asked the Nebraska Pardons Board to keep him alive so researchers could study him.

The killings 13 years ago in Bellevue near Offutt Air Force Base kept the Omaha area in fear for
three months. Joubert was caught after he tried unsuccessfully to abduct a preschool teacher, who
then noted the license plate number of Joubert's car. Joubert confessed later that day.

In explaining why he killed the boys, he told the Omaha World-Herald last month: ‘‘It was the
power and the domination and seeing the fear. That was more exciting than actually causing the
harm."

Joubert's lawyers gave up their legal battle shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court refused two
requests to delay the execution so that Joubert could argue whether the electric chair was cruel and

unusual punishment or whether Nebraska's pardon's system was unfair.

Nebraska is one of six states that use only the electric chair.

Hundreds gather for execution

BY AL J. LAUKAITIS Lincoln Journal Star

An estimated 700 to 800 people stood outside of the Nebraska State Penitentiary Tuesday night awaiting
the execution of John Joubert — many of them shouting and holding signs.

Lt. Kent Woodhead of the Lincoln Police Department said the crowd was not as large as one gathered
two years ago for the execution of Harold Lamont Otey. That crowd was estimated at about 1,200
people.

He said he was "surprised and dismayed" that so many people would "come out for the execution of a
human being."

Connie Woodard of Glenwood, lowa, said she brought her three children and two stepchildren to the site
of John Joubert's execution for the lessons they could learn.

"There are definite consequences for your actions if you go against the law and that's very educational for
them," said Woodard.

Woodard works near LaPlatte, Neb., in the vicinity where Joubert dumped the bodies of his two victims.
She said she's been following Joubert's case ever since.

Woodard was among the first people to pull into a parking lot at Sutherlands, a lumber company on the
west side of the penitentiary where authorities directed people to park their cars before allowing them to
walk to the penitentiary at 10:30 p.m. It was one of the precautions taken to try to prevent a repeat of the
carnival-like atmosphere when Otey was executed shortly after midnight on Sept. 2, 1994.

Otey's execution was the first one to occur in Nebraska in 35 years. Authorities and officials, including
Gov. Ben Nelson, later said they were shocked at the behavior of some of the people in the crowd.

Death penalty supporters at that execution waved signs like "Fry Wili" and "Nebraska State Pen First
Annual BBQ." Some wore costumes and screamed and yelled racial slurs and others lit fireworks and
sparklers and carried frying pans. Some people also drank alcohol on the premises.

To prevent a similar occurrence, officials increased the width of a buffer zone between the pro- and
anti-death penalty sides from six feet wide to 60 feet.

Crowds began to build around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Things were quiet in the area for about a half-hour.

Jon Waldo, 32, of Gretna carried a sign that read, "Joubert finger fries — $1.25. Limit 10. Serving at
12:05 a.m." Waldo said justice should have been served years ago.

i

Supporters of the death penalty outnumbered opponents about three to one. At about 11:10 p.m.,
members from both groups surged toward a snow fence that divided the two groups and a shouting
match occurred.

At about 11:40 p.m., a man who witnesses said was trying to start a fight with opponents of the death
penalty was escorted quickly by troopers to a patrol car. "He called everybody morons and said ‘it could
be your children, ¥" said Scott Dodge of Lincoln.

About that same time, a smoke bomb was thrown into the buffer zone between the two groups. One man
in his 20s who was opposed to the death penalty was visibly upset.

"I'm tired of Nebraskans killing folks," he said. "Don't tell me I have to stand here and be quiet. I'm not
going to do this tonight. It's the second time I've seen this."

Rev. Thomas Saddler of Lincoln, who was trying to comfort the man, said the only difference in this
crowd from the last one was the lack of racial overtones. "But this crowd is angry because of the acts that
were committed against the defenseless," he said.

At about 12 a.m., crowds began to chant "Fire up the chair -- hey" and "Give him the juice." Some began
a countdown.

At about 12:20, shortly after the execution was carried out, officers read a statement to the crowd. When

witnesses came outside, the crowd surged toward them, shouting and clapping. The crowd dispersed
around, 12:30.

c =

Copyright ©1996, Lincoln Journal Star and/or Associated Press. All rights reserved.


BY BUTCH MABIN and JOHN BARRETTE Lincoln Journal Star J ohn Joseph Joubert, the former
Offutt Air Force Base airman whose ghastly murders of two Sarpy County boys paralyzed communities
with fear 13 years ago, was executed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary shortly after midnight this
morning.

Penitentiary officials said the first of four jolts of electricity was administered at 12:14 a.m. and "the
sequence" -- as prison officials referred to the execution -- ended one minute later. Joubert was
pronounced dead at 12:22 a.m.

In a final statement read to witnesses before he was escorted to the death chamber. Joubert said:

"I just want to say that again I am sorry for what I have done. I do not know if my death will change
anything or if it will bring anyone any peace. And I just ask the families of Danny Eberle and Christopher
Walden and Richard Stetson to please try to find some peace and ask the people of Nebraska to forgive
me."

As he was strapped into the electric chair, media witnesses said, Joubert appeared to mouth the words "I
love you" to Theresa O'Brien of Ireland, who developed a romantic relationship with Joubert while
writing to him for more than four years. She appeared to also say "I love you" back to Joubert, other
witnesses said.

Media witnesses contrasted the comforting and hugging shared among Joubert's personal witnesses --
O'Brien, Rich Pitre, Joubert's former teacher and spiritual counselor, and Laurel Van Ham, a psychologist
-- with the surroundings of the execution itself.

At one point, O'Brien said to Pitre, "Focus on his eyes."

"Justice will be carried out in Nebraska tonight," Gov. Ben Nelson said at an early evening news
conference, adding, "This is not a cause for celebration, but we will move forward and carry out the law."

The governor said his thoughts were with "the families of the victims and the family of John Joubert, who
are victims, too."

He described himself as somber. "I take no pleasure in this, but I'm at peace with my decision. There is
not anything you do as governor that is more difficult."

Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg said Tuesday afternoon that death was the only appropriate
punishment for Joubert, 33.

"In my view, Joubert's sentence is the only appropriate sentence to his crimes. Three innocent children
died horiiblc deaths at the hands of John Joubert for his own amusement," Stenberg said in a prepared
statement.

Earlier Tuesday, state officials refused Joubert's request to travel 50 miles to Omaha for a brain scan that
would have allowed doctors to check for abnormalities and perhaps learn something about the mental
problems and psychosexual fantasies that lead to the types of crimes he committed.

Nelson said the request was denied for legal and security reasons and to avoid another appeal. Joubert's
final appeals for stays were denied Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals.

A Sarpy County District Court panel of judges handed Joubert two death sentences in 1984 for the 1983
murders of Danny Jo Eberle, 13, and Christopher Walden, 12. Both boys had been bitten, slashed and
stabbed to death.

Joubert was later convicted by a Maine jury for the 1982 murder of 1 1- year-old Richard Stetson of
Portland and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Maine does not have the death penalty.

Joubert had said that the deaths were the result of his own sexual fantasies and desire to exert control
over others. He expressed remorse over his crimes, especially to the families of the young victims.

"John killed in the midst of an emotional disorder," said Pitre.

aa.
—~

-—

Nebraska’s four-month manhunt for More

THE SEXCRAZED “=
KNIFEWIELDER =
WHO STALKED — *:

LITTLE BOYS! =

Knifed body «
one of two Neb

Qe

by GARY C. KING

jat

ITUATED on the west bank of
the Missouri River directly
across from Council Bluffs,

lowa, lies Omaha, Nebraska and its sur-
rounding metropolitan area, the back-
drop for this story and by far the
largest population center in the *‘Corn-
husker State.’* As its nickname impl-
ies, Nebraska is primarily agricultural
and is one of the nation’s leading states in
the production of wheat, rye and hay,
with wheat being the primary cash crop
The state is also known for its heavy
production of corn, alfalfa and, of
course, livestock. The main industry in
the state is the processing of the aformen-
tioned agricultural products, in addition
to the manufacturing of bricks, tiles and
cement

Located some 425 miles west of
Chicago in America’s heartland, Omaha
is a major midwestern center of
academia with three universities and six
colleges, and is the gateway to many
notable points of interest, such as Boys
Town, U.S.A., a refuge for homeless
boys established in 1917 by Father Ed-
ward J. Flanagan. And, perhaps most
importantly, Omaha is considered by
many to be the world’s peacekeeper,
and rightly so, since it is the site of Offutt
Air Force Base, Strategic Air Qom-
mand’s headquarters and home of the
5Sth Strategic Reconnaissance Wing and

34 Official Detective


Q: You threw sheath and all in?

A: At the time I was scared and sorry,
not half as sorry as I am now. Went into
my room after that. It took me a half
hour, but after that I drifted off to sleep.

Questioned further and extensively
about his motives for the brutal killings,
Joubert steadfastly denied that he had
sexually molested either boy and that he
killed each within 90 minutes of the time

he picked them up. He denied that he had

taken them to any place but the scenes
of the murders.

Prosecutor Wellman said there is evi-
dence that Joubert may have taken the
Walden boy somewhere else before kill-
ing him. He said there is evidence that
each boy was not killed the day he was
abducted.

‘*There is evidence, and it is in-
consistent with his statement that he kil-
led them right away,’’ Wellman: said.

Sheriff Thomas agreed.

The day before young Walden’s body
was found—and two days after his
abduction—there was an ice storm, Tho-
mas said. But, he said, there was no ice

on the boy’s body, indicating the boy
was held somewhere else for a period of
time.

Lieutenant Sanderson said he was told
by FBI technicians the rope (nylon
covered) that proved to be the clincher in
the case was a most unusual type. He
said the FBI’s 50 U.S. offices, 11 for-
eign offices and the Air Force’s Office
of Special Investigations were notified
to be on the lookout for similar rope.

Sanderson said both federal agencies
told him that a search all over the world
failed to turn up a maker or a source—or
any other samples of the same rope.

A three-judge panel will decide
whether Joubert should be sentenced to
death in the electric chair or life in
prison—the only two options under Ne-
braska law. &

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Shelly Morgan is not the real name of
the person so named in the foregoing
story. A fictitious name has been used
because there is no reason for public
interest in the identity of this person.

LOVE MADNESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

Two months previously, they’d had a
baby boy, which was being cared for at
that moment by a policewoman. Taylor
had been a high-class attorney with a
future without limits. There had even
been pressure on him to think about a
political future, which he could combine
with his legal career.

The Taylors had always dreamed
about living in the country cottage, and
suddenly it had been possible to realize
those dreams. They had planned to move
into their new home in a couple of
weeks. Their dream had become a
nightmare.

‘*Did he have any business enemies?”’
the widow was asked.

‘‘Not the way you mean,’’ she re-
plied. ‘‘Lawyers always have foes of
some kind since their business is con-
tinually one of contests, but it’s all pro-
fessional.’’

‘*You’ve never heard of anyone bear-
ing a grudge against him?’’ Finnerty
pressed.

“*Really, no,’’ the widow replied.

‘There are, on occasions, you see,
people who do threaten to kill lawyers
or attorneys. It’s something we have to
live with. We rarely take the threats
seriously. But just occasionally, once in.
a while, we come up against a real crazy.
Someone who believes that a cop or a

’

56

lawyer had ruined his life. Revenge is all
that he lives for. But there’s usually a
build up. A series of threats, probably by
phone. Or a spate of hate mail. Please
think back. Did your husband mention
anything that might have suggested that
he was being bugged by a nut?’’

“‘T’ve told you...no. Mind you, if he
didn’t take the threats seriously, he prob-
ably wouldn’t bother to tell me, anyhow.
I should speak with one of his partners.
But I shall be very surprised if there was
anything like that. Most of his work in-
volved the civil law. You know, con-
tracts, conveyancing and business agree-
ments. He wasn’t involved in much
courtroom drama. He wasn’t in the busi-
ness of trying to have people put behind
bars.”’

The two polige pathologists who con-
ducted the.autopsy concluded that Taylor
had died from injuries that were ‘‘con-
sistent with having been involved in a
violent accident.’’

Finnerty was quick to probe thé police
surgeons more closely about their find-
ings. ‘‘Are you saying you accept that he
died from injuries sustained in a car acci-
dent?’’ he asked.

‘“We deliberately avoided making that
kind of judgment,’’ answered the more
senior of the two. ‘‘You’ll notice we
referred to a ‘violent accident’, but did

not mention tlre word car. He suffered
several fractures to the skull. Certainly
he died as a re:s ult of those injuries and
not from burns or suffocation due to the
smoke.

“‘Now, if someone was the driver of a
vehicle that was involved in a high-speed
smash, and he wei sn’t wearing a seat belt,
so he was thrown. all over the place, then
he could quite easily pick up multiple
fractures to the s}kcull.”’

“‘So there was nothing odd, strange,
suspicious about the injuries to Greg
Taylor?’’ Finnerty’ was exasperated, but
he tried his damnciest to keep his cool.

‘There are one or two things we’re
not happy about,”’ tthe second patholog-
ist admitted. ‘‘Mostt of the injuries to the
head seemed to hiave been made by
something with a lo.1g, smooth surface.
You don’t find too many of those when a
modern, metal vehic:le is, at a stroke,
being converted into a wreck. But it is
possible. What’s harci! to accept, though,
is that there shoul! be such a con-
sistency, a similarity, between all the
injuries.”’

‘Hold on! Just wait a minute! What
you’ re telling me is thiss guy was battered

_to death with a weapoun such as a club?

Isn’t that the score? Juss:t how many lines
do I have to read betw’een?’’

“It’s a possibility, a strong possibil-
ity,’’ one of the surgecyns answered.

‘‘A strong possibility’!’’ Finnerty ex-
claimed. ‘‘I’ve heard of tthe medical pro-
fession being circumspexct, but wow!”’

When questioned about the time of
death, both surgeons were adamant that
Taylor died ‘‘round about the time of the
accident.’’ One of them iadded: ‘‘That’s
another of our problems. You see, if
there was any foul play, the:n it must have
been almost simultaneus with the
crash.”’

Blood samples taken froun the cottage
were quickly analyzed in a police lab-
oratory. The blood was fouund to belong
to the same group that had flowed
through the victim’s veins. It didn’t
prove anything conclusively’, but it was
another piece in the jigsaw puzzle.

A window at the rear of tthe cottage
had been forced, and there were scratch
marks on the wooden window frame on
the inside. ‘‘Looks like someone made a
forced entry through the kitchen win-
dow,’ the head of forensics :said.

Not only was there a blood-thrail out of
the rear door, through the kitchen, but,
under high-powered magnifyin gyglasses,
the detective scientists were atyle to tell
that something fairly heavy aind bulky
had been dragged across the floor, This
could be determined by the dist: urbance

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Om

More than 100
probers and the FBI
| combined forces
| to find this

_ guy, but a lot
of credit must go
to a spunky little
teacher who
kept her head in
the face of death.
Here’s how her
quick thinking
ended the killer’s
murder spree

the constantly airborne, 24-hours-a-

day flying command post.

But anyone who has visited Omaha
recently or who has relatives living there
will more likely than not associate the
city with the violent, terrifying murders
of two little boys rather than the
aforementioned qualities that its citizens
would prefer their city to be known for.
But, unfortunately, Omaha, like most
major metropolitan areas, has its share of
violent crime, the most recent examples
being the stabbing murders of 13-year-
old Danny Joe Eberle and 12-year-old
Christopher Paul Walden.

It all began on Sunday morning, Sep-
tember 18, 1983 imthe Omaha suburb of
Bellevue, when young Danny Eberle
awoke early to begin his paper route. As
most of the town’s 23,000 residents were
enjoying their breakfast on this cool, pre-
autumn morning, Danny was providing
those on this route their Sunday morning

Knifed body of 12-year-old Christopher Walden was found in these woods. He was

Danny Eberle disappeared while on news-
paper delivery route. Family was sure
he would not have run away from home

newspaper to go with their second cup of
breakfast coffee. However, Danny was
not alone on the streets of Bellevue that
fateful morning, and at one point along
his route his deliveries stopped and he
mysteriously disappeared.

As the morning wore on, the com-
plaint desk of the local newspaper began

Chris Walden vanished on way to school.
Firm lead to suspect was provided by
teacher who jotted down license number

Official Detective 35

receiving an unusual number of com-
plaints from irate customers on Danny’s
route reporting that they had not yet re-
ceived their Sunday paper. Noting that it
wasn't like Danny to make late deliveries
or otherwise not finish his paper route,
the boy’s route supervisor called his par-
ents to find out if the boy had gone home
sick or had somehow gotten hurt.

By the time Danny’s parents received

the call from the route supervisor they
were worried sick, themselves preparing
to begin making phone calls. The super-
visor learned that Danny was long over-
due at home and hadn’t been heard from
by his parents, which naturally increased
his own concern about the boy’s welfare
considerably. He assured the parents that
he would call them if he learned anything
about their son’s whereabouts.

The parents promptly called the Be-
llevue Police Department and reported
their son missing, explaining the suspi-
cious circumstances surrounding the ap-
parent disappearance to the officer on
duty. Officers were quickly dispatched
to the boy’s home, where they obtained
from Danny's overwrought parents as

much detailed information about their

son’s movements that morning as well

Police and volunteers conduct grim search for missing Danny Eberle. His stabbed body was found on roadside three days later

#
36 Official Detective
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Sata Ses
HORRIBLE: HANCING,

| Two Attempts Necessary Be:

ei
. 4
*

/ ae
Murderer Hauenstine Was Ii uns.

_ *h

| SLOWLY CHOKED TO DEATH,

i

Hundreds of People Witness the Awfal
Struggles of the Victim—Crowds Over-
powerthe Deputies and Tear Down

the Wire ‘enclosures ’

BROKEN Bow, Neb., May 22.—Such a
terrible hanging as occurred here was
never before witnessed in Nebraska.

Two attempts were necessary before
Albert E. Hauenstine, the murderer of
Roten and Ashley, was finally strangled
to death. . { 4

When the trap was first sprung the
rope broke and the body of the unfortu-
nate man dropped to the ground.

Sheriff Jones and his deputies at once
seized the half-conscious form and car-
ried it upon the scaffold. The rope was
doubled, the noose adjusted, the trap
sprung. a

The rope held this time, but the con-
demned man’s neck was not broken.

Instead he was slowly: strangled to
death.

The sight was sickening. The body
swayed convulsively, and the hands and

feet were wildly swung in an effort to ;

loosen the straps with whichthey were
bound.

The crowd groaned, but watched the
horrible spectacle as if fascinated.

Gradually the motions grew less and
less, and after the. body-had been hang-
ing fifteen minutes the doctors pro-
nounced life extinct.

First Attempt.

It was just 1 o’clock when the drop
Was sprung the first time. Hauenstine
had been brought from the jail in full
sight of the assembled multitude. He
was accompanied by his spiritual ad-
viser,{ Father Haley. He walked with
a firm tread and nota tremor was
noticed. He stepped on the trap and
submitted without a word to ‘the

ae

operation of having his arms and feet
pinioned. von

—

A brief prayer was then offered by
Father Halé} afd tfe black cap was ad-
justed. Sheriff Jones sprung the trap.

There was a snap, a groan, and+then
Hauenstine’s body fell to the ground
with the end of the broken rope yet
around his neck. Instantly a wail went
up as the spectators realized what had
occurred. People were almost besides
themselves. Sheriff Jones leaped from
the scaffold and called to his deputies
to assist him.

Choked to Death. 1

The almost inanimate form of Hauen-|
stine was lifted in the arms of the men |

and was conveyed upon the scaffold. |}

The trap was closed, and the sheriff |
doubled the rope. The noose was again |,
adjusted about Hauenstine’s neck and
the poor wretch was placed upon the

‘| trap.

Once again Sheriff Jones sprung the
lever and the body fell. The rope proved
strong enough this time, but the drop
was not far enough.

Tore Down tne Enclosure.

A wire fence had been erected twelve

feet outside the frame structure BUI fh cas

rounding the gallows.

The crowd made a rush against the
Wire, pushed back the deputies, and in
an instant, amid cheers, pulled down
the enclosure,

The sheriff finally succeeded in forc-
ing back the crowd. Hethen mounted
the scaffold and addressed the people:
“You have violated the laws of Nebras-
ka. Now I want to know if you are

2 willing to ‘keep outside of the rope.

Every man willing to do this, hold up

‘ | your right hand.”

Hands went up all over and the
people cheered. Mis
Hauenstine was dressed in a suit .of

| blue with white shirt and collar and
jw,{ Dlack tie. He seemed nervous as the
,| last finishing touches were put on his

«| toilet. Then he said: “I am very
| sorry for what I have done, for the

trouble I have made you. I hope you'll
take warning by what I have done, I
ask your forgiveness.”


’ i
4
A) wnt A
’ + 264 PIONEER HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY f fe

loiner were fresh and easy to (race. As this was but one instance in ninny of y
recent occurrence in the neighborhood, Messrs. Rolen and Ashley detertuined 4
they would thoroughly investigate and detect if possible the evlprit,

We are not certain is to the length of time they were absent before their
friends became uneasy and instituted a search, Some days, however, had ‘

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ALBERT UAUNSTINE, 7

elapsed, when’a searching party visited Ilaunstine’s home, which was back
from the road and isolated, and found it unoccupied, In looking around they
discovered the bodies of the missing men, near the house, partly covered. by
hay. Subsequent events disclosed the fact that on reaching Haunstine’s house
and making their business known, he delivered to them the eloeck which he
confessed to having taken from the school house; that while they remained
within no words or trouble oecurred, but when they Jeft the house and started
for their wagon he took down his rifle and shot them while their backs were
turned, killing them instantly. Ue then searched them and secured about
$40 in money, their watches and a rifle and reyolver, Their team he tied
in an old deserted sod house on an adjoining claim, and gathering together a
few household effects, he and his wife started to get out of the country. They
went to Arnold, changed teams, and drove down the South Loup river to near
Madison, where Haunstine hired out to husk corn. Ile worked three days,
sold his team and then started for Columbus, where his wife had already gone,
Just as the train was nearing town it was flagged by officers who were on.

aaet chante Lame
eS

1 ARR ene to py arg mam Nh mp Ny

BOARD of DIRECTORS OFFICERS
Harry Purcell Harry M. Richardson, President

illi Phillip Gardner, Secretary, 1964-
rai aoe Custer County ee

Charles Giles
Edgar Varney ° . s Mary Landkamer, Curator, 1983-
Harry Richardson Historical Society, Inc.
oe 255 South Tenth Avenue
Carl E. Smith Telephone: 308-872-2203
Founder & ist President BROKEN BOW, NEBRASKA 68822
1960 - 1976 ,

July 31, 1987

Ronald C. Van Raalete
P.O. Box 72883
Roselle, IL 60172-0883

|
|
Charles Sargent, Jr. BROKEN BOW HISTORICAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM

ott c

The Custer County Republican, published at Broken Bow, NE. issue of Nov. 15,
1888 carried an account about two deputy constables, Hiram Roten and Wm.
Ashley who lived in southwestern Custer County being shot down by AlbertE,.
Haunstine last Friday, November 9. Some articles had been discovered missing
from the schoolhouse and the two men had gone in search of them and when they
came to Haunstine's place, he shot them, Haunstine was later hung for this,
and has the distinction of being the only hanging in Custer County.

The Custer County Republican, issue of 18 August 1886 carried a story ‘about
the murder of Enoch Young who had been deputized to serve some papers con-
cering a boundary dispute to Thomas Vincent who shot him. This was also in
the southwest part of Custer County, Section 2, Township 14 North, Range 24
West.

Sincerely, |,

7] / a LE Hp ager’
Mary\ La amer

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AND SHORT SKETCH Bs OF EARLY DAYS IN NEBRASKA, 269
able to tell his experience. We said that he did not rentize Hat he had been
in the well so long, ‘though he was conscious sll the lime; that he knew when

(hey were throwing dirt into the well, and knew when the well man Dbepan
digging; he thought, however, that the { segs of the dirt in. the well was a
heavy Fade storm, :

Dr. Wamsley was present, and took charge of the ease, but
bad one. The body was bruise “dl, and the bowels go badly torn th:
lion set in and in four days he died, The accident happened. about 8 o'clocle
on Saturday morning, and it was 2 o’eloek Sunday afternoon ins he wats
faken from the well; thus he remained in. the well about thirty hours,
eighteen of this time being under ground a distance of about twenly feet, and
his having lived while in this eondition Was due, doubtless, to the fret (hit
wn iron pipe, used for pumping Purposes, wats bhesetuay in (he well and his faee
Was against it, thus affording him sulicient ain ty keep him alive, ;

e his sad incide mt will ever be remembered by the old settlers of Cunn-
mings Park with sidness, ts Mr, Cummines was one of our best

citizens,
and his untimely de: ith cast a gloom of despair over the entire community,

The Haurstine Cragedy.

By James Whitehead,

The murder of Hiram Roten and William Ashley by Albert Ik. Ttnunstine
occurred November 9, 1888. It was regarded, and time hag failed to change
the sentiment, as one of the most unprovoked and horrible tragedies kuown
in the history of this county. The murderer and his victims lived in the
sume neighborhood—Roten valley. Toward them it: was not shown that
Ifannstine had the slightest resentment or enmity, LHe had, in faet, for a time
made his home with Hiram: Roten, at whose hands and those of his young
wife he had received the best of treatment. Mr. Ashley, who was a relative
of Roten’s, and lived close by, was not so well known to I: lunstine, yet they
were on friendly terms. The school house of the district, of which Roten and
Ashley were oflicers, was located near their homes. A clock and some lumber
had been taken from the school louse, and the fact of the missing voods was

= ©
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THE MILITIA AND Ponce PRE
ime trite to mates | SERVE THE BEST OF ORDERS " Higa
aa: aquelehed bythe | | EERE ee nn i bairodaeed

« needs more tenement
HLEGS should have them at oncei ”

“"
-Adouahise
The CIty Crowded With Strangers whe id that the trai

2° Werd Anvions to Witness, 4 r

_ Me Executions PS
ee ce

: Wis’ Bods Turned Over 40 His Kela

car frauchice has beew grant {7 4 sd ie Win, Mates i

ark and: hin associates, pad Crime, a

d4y'in which to begin opera-| =. gta. ¥ ’

4 The roid wilt’ be built. © ‘ a FUGL PARTICUL As wh “1 pinioned he swayed to

~ enn : ‘ as & pe H weptall during thistn

itt gett a Hitle now The test Vagal oxeeuticn that es. : took” when the “black. wae wh over
sHuui.. was

,
+f
1
1

;

f

aaa yi ee, “Tam Deputy HMoberle,

pl

Ming next Friday vs
seer have any motiey at that time. My bret
a 4 tee tess

iirc cotabe al : et a elon Pil . ih ditah

afternoon:

a th ee Sad Date)
b PPeinted vy tne ca
ed to beat ard he wen pro | M9) NINE a a ehink ¢

bounced dead. | After he was Cut down it) ie Gone o!
Wan fonnd that: his neck was broken and
: fast

You pow have. yoer ds. hg 4 Fe :
‘Din Qnae an the taw di: ai oe bs Hf

“ E oodles & ~von g s

REE Taree om eine at

Gall Bischt OF def
he v the peuple of Dantar
PE hwalamied fav ees |


eparnilons | tor ‘the Hangivg
“Sohn P, Brown has oom pleted: fhe gal
lows on which ‘Hofman ja. to be “hoog ‘and
it is now lying: in the yards of the ‘Chieago} .
ral|.Lamber company. It is put together en-}
§ tirely of bolts, as ‘nail being used in its

eunstraction. T work of erecting” the
y | gallows and the enclosure’ will begin to-
y| morrow and be completed in’ short: “order. |
‘ ¥ Hofinan, during the past few das « Hy hax

pad | has devoted cousideratile tine to
heading the bible and louking’ after his
apiritdal welfare, ° “Rev. Pearson, af ‘the
| M.E. church, is Miviatering to his sspiritaal
] Pace as Hoffman claims to be a member
that ebaroh, ‘Satie wont fee oge

will be lnced ou the. walla tt ean:
yard and will Ke. “on duty ‘at 8. ovoluck ine
at the morning and rewind wntil o vck i ia

| brick etarch, oatmeal aud howiny’ mill,

Sat Afty hands, j The. Dinin building will be
&. Tn7 FM Pred: Beyschiag, formerly |
uuuer of the Boyaching brewery, of. that];
wae. ts the wniV Tents Hh A. aim:

Ite ican during ae wok ening Sas
y Ay Asei,: dgruivhed far ‘tus gale! by Waa,

a ae nto tealize. ‘that the end is’ ‘drawing a

eee cowuienced on nthe: ised: -atory

4 The works will give employ ment. to about | f ft

aces prices,
Brain ey
beon ranted

‘ Auuuinta Aa Y

i uaa Grbee n. Koller ap} Mt.


€ ow
be
2 | wy
@

kate An 1 Canada ty bigs, Coppose 7 on that ©

prilinete iw the gegetrd I / Paes Wigler
WL ree gi wr Fe, BV, vipers. I SE: 7 recite

bs FCM on: bry Eres Lot Ss Lit s
i fi pr

mh Z, the for. Hr tert y diy Galt
agin. Mbt gee tA R- DLS Lit
be Soogh,. Aide a) Lhre prinely 2 ee Weegee
BY ae ‘3 me (893, LUT 2 4v rag ae, Rell Lot

Hd at Gro pes GPit4a Wt; EV i eos
fee or bok. ee ae ip G pers the aed Py ttave
tr

-OFLEL Se m4 a tsea ae Wid po hee Se a oo

Ther Hoda WEE 14 T hl _/ Lt the
bates nS ihe galt Aq. iz Sore: ol fobats
tn. 7 “Z Y, hie rae Pie ae “a besten L ct
Ly as ee cay OE LU Hea ri
bx LAAN Ay 4 , AAA At Le Ce ae 7
heh sine of 6 fopl- ply A “AO ote Soe TH 4-2-4 ppb the,
Va Ometdy la Beg/ G1 yl?’ Me Le A wet hoaik rhy th

LOL ie Wed bee ich LAVIU «

; we opte i ja
Pattie z tei de Ror ee tanith Prati

Cred geet. dtA4nd £2 we ie bk the 4
a4 04-4 Sy PF eS Yeth barurellrl AL oJ, iy i
Spe Fad ger inet fisted’ 4 eh, Crepe mation
neniaisae | AEWA % byt ciel hae gliins ‘

; Cis

; Spat hh geod pee 4 Wri G fecan dhs mclhihNarrens

binete bactine Aaprecaky, Us KArG
ae b the faonl op nl AL OE EO QO
ert

gy ps 22 H/
trdere 4 hs ls Gurtead tt Kath Cuctebe— y before
Ths Sey i bad tt pr A few Consa % On. ft thet
Abe, =: rasan Road Kear 4 etry hed. Fei teX. nay — -)
serge pers ey. Bes tlie eal Cea hee td Py Aeon
be wen BL EL naar the 2 Galea b Cab Pies —

til ecpontste! de Feb eed’ Cops ee We. De. Pigg eee e Cie
ait OR

Sees eee


(x UE: bas eo La tbr ack fe. oo as 1 Sy A, Q : ia “Shunanrn
a nan AniloA& > heap cdickee _

/} [es reli, be pe SO
peer, Wy Ao, prt ll A at wet. e/, the Hee oar e C4
Ural feats tg, [Le tAV BE, Lert! a
“7 i (ily hrerw, ve hAdrvid “
| 3 hy ACCRA | Jyh
Fide Ga, vs Crepree L, ba A. dup pethster
coe se Wen 2 Stone oe

( AL
a ae gt a, an ey

Kitinctina des pod law hen ede toy Yeates

pee, “gta La tats, OY aw ys AAS CAS
Kk }- As ater A aia Aaland Z 40) ). Gas 2 eee thr beets
Loe aus fhe Lote - bia beh — Lill ;
; Sf Ee HY, Lb Ly Lb TIAA, Lidheclss
=f
Ae Lith 44 Curr, 4b Y fell, Le jfostiig
hye Beh. whe Byuvlll reid the pupe
tian (Com 2 Lace F re er 7tot 7 Bp tab me fT EL
firs ween ‘Uear Zl eh Barcel the CAL tera, tune
Aelkrgut, hag 2 —, 420 the jh at ha papier
ent 5 (foe Cha gete Learal a) thet Lhe 6 ¥
thee Prag vig . a Del hoary i oss fe. feviw tetany
a Aw wnt AU tb Saat A. oN) peliget %
go pee Fae Lai 2 ae WA LTS hi plig Lhat they —
re | we had. Pry. —7 IDE fe ; Lt fe
Be yee rea Je. age Ba bihitms Das rade
YO 5 acct C41 Lae 40-21, aah A teh.

aed ALA Loa ‘E:
Q A pte xa: ieee hie LAL OAD re patie
kobe, Mss Rétior Us ABE $4 Mea acta t
ope a Vs: WOR BA vriptedé, Lisle ruta OF the [ee abt luda)
t, ae: CTV here ae: tiddi/Aet b bd Bebe Sa Si OTR:

Aide a) AAl QA hreuied, hut G20. ah Iz. i

i) | oe AA anred oda) dared Ls thr Oe : eae

eee. S that le AVEC pisces Gras Lid Orth
AA

iQ) fiteegity BALD? of ALAAL
gion ee or Silsciad I ANAK that #25 Pigit Gp A fi)


, vs > se beaviy
that the recurrereve
vhich he must pass
Me net oaet ow h terrorizing: force
eaker belief In his

pare Dor his Site

as ft we

Spiritual sate tt

tb oun

In appearance he was not extremely

agitated, Clough the pallor ef his coun-
tenin-e wos frightful to the beholder.
This cout in part be ascribed to his
long confnement. thouch the greater
parte fit was of course. due to thoughts
(Obs approaching end. All who saw
Iho believed that he would go to his
(ath without any of the scenes, horri-
Me te witness: whieh arise from the ter-
hroecensequent upon facing the dread
instrument by the means of which his
ate Was ty he rendered extinct.

His brvakfast eaten, Hoover received
AvisitTrom his pastor, Rev, J. M. Wil
rv and Rey Cc. Ww. Savidge,
“Meo kay such consolation ag min-
“ters of the aospel could give at such
ftme To those waiting for the final
Soe ef the drama of death the con-

aboommunication appeared to be
Pre othe fw ow ho were permitted to
be freee at the execution stood ner-
Sously Waiting. leaning | against the
Balls of (he jail corridor, or softly pass-
eto and fro through the halls to the
il yard to gaze on the brown, somber
MAMine erected as the monument to im-
Press all ot the punishment meted out.

These who Were to take the active
Martin the closing scene bore pale, awe-
MUCK faces seemingly weighted down
With the

awful responsibility of taking
ante Butone fact lightened their
ds of the terrible pressure of par-
“AUrys in the unpleasant duty. This
as the knowleatge that no one could
: which hand {t was which caused the
tot irop to throw {ts burden’ of life
eternity, Four push buttons held

_

hi

~ TaABy fingers, shaking with nervous-
pte and at the given signal from
ine M Denald, as if with one will,
f tad “ulLonS Were pressed. and one
know = cateeed the drop to fall. None
Pers and hene will ever Know, of this
- Which tinger sent Hoover's soul
‘fore its judge,
s

ho :
“Sertly after 10 o'clock Sheriff Me-

Janae with Deputy Sheriff John Lewis,

ea Shand and Deputy Jailer John

fon gn OM PAnied by Rev. J. M. Wil-

sone eee the solitary cell in the
cor of

building ey the east ving of the

a

"i dean he was to walk only to

Sherite u and in an unsteady voice

Gein cDonald read to Hoover the
Varrant issued out of the supreme

Court, fn Which
With the wold the sheriff was directed,

On the ith

Prepared in Douglas
te of Nebraska, and

ae ceatayp ps Cove
examination to learn
when life was extinet. Dr. Connell was
the first to say that Hoover's neck had
been dislocated by the fall. Only one
shrug of the shoulders showed that the
body still held life.

Dr. Lee says that Hoover died without
the slightest strangulation, though his
heart continued to beat for thirteen min-
utes after the drop had fal'cn.

The drop fell at 11:37, and at 11:50 the
physicians pronounced life extinct.

Under a request made by Hoover him-
self, the body was removed by Under-
taker Maul from the jail direct to the
residence of Hoover's mcther, at 3179
Seuth Thirteenth street, from which
place the funeral will be held Sunday at
2:20 p.m. The interment will be at
Laurel Hill cemetery, in the lot occu-
pied by Samuel DuBois, whom Hoover
shot. The body was at Hoover's re-
quest, and that of Mrs. Dubois, not
placed in the undertaking rooms fcr the
public to view.

Policeman Hoff, who witnessed the
hanging, was so cvercome with the scene
that he wept. .

Hoover left a number of small memen-
toes for those who had befriended him.
To Mrs. Shand, the wife of the jailer, he
left a booRlet containing written mot-
toes, which had been given him by one
ef his nieces. To one of his death
watch, A. P. Larson, he gave 2 small
calendar, on which some months ago he
had crossed the date of his hanging,
and on which he checked off each day as
it passed.

T> the other member of his death
watch, John Croft, he sent this Ictter:

“Omaha, Neb., Aug. 6, 1896.—My Dear
Friend and Brother: I want to thank
you for what you have done for me and
the favors you have dcne me and may
God bless you for your kindness and
reward you hereafter. John, you are
as deartomeasabrother. Ifit wasnt
for drink I wouldn’t be here today.
After I am dead-and gone, think of the j
word I have told you and another thins,
think of your soul, for John you are not
going to live always. You know that,
so prepare yourself for the hereafter.
I pray for you every day and ask God
to help you to be a christian. Dear
brother, I hope and pray that I will
meet you in heaven. Good by. May
God bless. From your dear friend,

“CLAUDE H. HOOVER.

Sunday evening next Pastor C. W.
Savidge will read at the People’s church
a@ sermon prepared by Hoover and which
will be read at Hoover’s request.

Hecover sent a letter to Sheriff Mc-
Donald in which he said that he bore
no ill-will to the sheriff for the perform-
ance of his duty. He expressed his
thanks to the sheriff for many kind-
nesses and to the other officers of the
jail he said a last good. bye. In the
letter Hoover asked, as a dying request,
that John Croft be allowed to accom=
pany him to the scaffold, side by side,
but‘ owing to the ‘circumstances, “this-

acquittal of her son, and since his con-

viction, for commutation 3 sen-
tence, cherished the hope if her
son's sentence should be ¢ ted he

might, after some years, pe pardoned
and restored to liberty. Two of his un-
cles have aided her financially in her
vain undertakings.

One of Hoover's attorneys feels that
Hoover was, as he phrases it, made “to
suffer a vicarious punishment” for nine
murders that others had committed in
this part of the state.

MRS. DUBOIS’ TRYING PLACE,

Her Husband the Victim and Her
Half-Brother the Slayer,

Mrs. Du Bots was represented in pub-
Hshed reports as having called upon
Governor Holcomb to intercede for
Hoover that his sentence might be com-
muted. Hoover, while the slayer of
her husband, was also her half brother.
The situation of the widow and sister,
placed as she was in a position most
trying, was naturally one to subject her
every act in court and at the jail to
curfosity. One of the attorneys calls at-
tention that while she went to the Pax-
ton hotel with her mother and sister
while the latter two interceded with the
governor, Mrs. Du Bois did not apprise
him of her presence, and it may be
doubted, the attorney adds, if she could
have controlled her emotions upon that
occasion to have spoken to the gov-
ernor if {t had been urged.

The conduct of Mrs. Du Bois under
these trying circumstances has been
such that she has been praised by at-
torneys who have noted it as being most
womanly.

STORY OF THE CRME.

Hoover's] Unprovoked Killing of
Councilman-Elect Dubois.

The crime for which Claude H. Hoover
has suffered the penalty of the scaffold
was the murder of his brother-in-law,
Samuel Dubois.

The murder occurred shortly after 6
o'clock, the evening of Friday, Decem-
ber 13, in Gustav Saalfield’s shoe shop,
418% South Thirteenth street, under cir-
cumstances which lent but little of the
sensationalism to it, from the utter lack
of mystery or other circumstances which
surrounded the affair. ans

The circumstances of the murder, as
developed from the evidence introduced
on Hoover's trial, were these: :

Kate Brophy, the 17-year-old half-sis-
ter of Hoover, related that early tn the
afternoon of the day of the shooting
Hoover, who was at the time working
for his brother-in-law, Dubois, had a
quarrel with Dubois, the latter having
upbraided Hoover, not alone because of
his becoming addicted to drink, but be-
cause Hoover had spoken harshly to
Katie on the subject of a girl with whom
Katie had been associating and to whom
Hoover was opposed. The q
to warm words, at. the conclusion of
which Dubois discharged Hoover, pay-

the shop in an 4 tly friendly man-

sd the party to the soaffok) @

followed
Ree

Ean

.4 Dut which,

* Ee

ing him what was his due. Hoover left

The only remarkable fact in connec-
tion with the crime was the quick trial
which was given Hoover. A preliminary
examination was held the following
Wednesday and Hoover was held with-
out ball to the district court. Thirteen
days after the shooting Hoover was

Placed on trial in the criminal court.
The trial, after the selection of the jury,
cccupied but one day, the case going to
the jury at 10:45 o'clock Saturday morn-

(From a sketch made-soor after his ar-
rest when he was haggard
* and unshaven.)

ing, December 28. TBe jury was out a
little less than twenty-four. hours and
Sunday morning ret ed a verdict of
guilty of mufdeér in the first-degree with
the penaky Bxed at deaith, Hoover be-
ing thus convicteg of his érime sixteen
days after its* mission. January 3
Hoover was sentenced’ by Judge Scott
to be executed Frida#y; April 17, last,
between the hours of Ma. m. and 2 p. m.

February 4 Hoove attorneys ob-
tained from the sup e court a sus-
pension of the gentefi€e of execution
until the court could upon the case.
About thirty days the supreme
court affirmed the vemiict and decision
rendered in the dictrid€ Gourt and set the
date for Hoover's ex@eution for Au-
gust 7. . 4 : . i

For his defense Hooter rested upon
several technicalities 3m the case, but-
mainly upon the questéén of his sanity.
An attempt was ma y his attorneys
to introduce evied howing that in
former years Hoovert :_ considered
slightly out of hig ming} but Judge Scentt
ruled that the evidenedwas not properiy
brought before the curt and in this
decision he was sustained by the su-
preme court. ~ # aes mage

fore'the governor to‘ask’ for a commu-
ae reed 25. ee ae geen
men’ t ureday,: Ju : gov-
ernor gave his- decision that the case

Ke case -is mars,
that justice. followgd’ w

Hoover's attorneys took the casé be-

TAD sc

executive interference. T cannot act
that. SILAS A, HOLCOMB.

yp <A ccpy_of the telegram was also sent
to Simeral.

HE DID NOT HEAR.

Dr. John Crawford Was Slightly Deaf
and Run Down by a
Train,

John Crawford, aged 61, Uving at
Fcrty-fourth and Jackson streets, was
Tun over by a Missouri Pacific Passen-
ger 4rain about 490 feet north of the
Leavenworth street crossing at noon
today and {instantly killed.

Dr. Crawford was returning from his
Place of business on Twenty-seventh
street, near Leavenworth, where he was
engaged in the manufacture of artificial
limts, and was walking along the rail-
road tracks which pass near his home.
He was slightly deaf and supported an
an artificial leg. The incoming Missouri
Pacific train, due here at 12:55, came up |
behind him.

Engineer Finnecune saw a man on the
tracks 400 feet ahead of him and sig-
nalled with the whistle and by ringing
the bell, but Crawford did not evidently
hear the alarm, and before the train
could be brought to a standstill the en-
gine and four cars passed over the body,
horribly mangling it. Conductor
Myers removed the body to the train and
delivered it at the Webster street de-
pot to Coroner Burket, who will hold an
inquest this evening at 7:30.

Dr. Crawford leaves a wife and one
son, the latter being a soldier in the
United States army, stationed at Staten
‘Island. The doctor formerly lived at
Cleveland and Toledo, O., and has re-
sided here about fourteen years. He has
two sisters living at Chicago and also
one at Waterloo, Ind., his native city.
He was a strictly domestie man and
highly respected for his high moral
principles.

He narrowly escaped being run over
by a team of horses yesterday. About
three years ago he met with an acci-
dent on a motor car at Twenty-fourth
and Grace streets.

SEVEN LIVES LOST.

Chieago, Rock Island & Parifie Train

Wreeked at Leighton,
lows.

~ “¥

we ees 2 od cg ej iy EE Res

Des Moines, Ia., Aug. 7.—A Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific railway freight
train was wrecked at 7 o'clock last
night at Leighton, fifty miles south-
| east of this city. It fs known thet the

Out of the upheavals of |
-"- td facts at the county po
ussioner has learned a:
s him to threaten to t:
evince Medical college doctor
count. That is, that not lon
epileptic young man, an inm:
hospital, was taken in hand b
tors, and put into such cond
he could have no heirs, Also, t
father hears an epileptic wor
similarly treated. Also, that.
also an inmate at that time o
pital, was operated upon with
pose shortly before she was t
rent and that she subsequen
ried.

The doctors say that If thes
things were done they were
the public good, that another zg
of epileptics might not be rear
burden upon the county.

But the county commisstone
knows of no modern legal aut!
the course taken by the doct

KILLED BY H

St. Louis Is Suffering Fron
Hot Wavé--Three Dea
Reported,

St. Louls, Mo., Aug. 7.—L:
was the hottest experienced
years. At 10 o'clock this mor
thermometer registered 92. ° 1
of heat prostration and three d
reports d. The dead are:

ARAH VOTTLER.

CHARLES BARNISH.

CHARLES REESE.

LOSKING FOR STOLEN |
sioncesinmmans

Colorado Sherif Is Also
Kanchman’s Murdere
Special Dispatch to the World-H
Kimball, Neb., Aug. 7.~—Da:
sheriff of Logan county, |
passed through here this mort
@ posse of men, looking for a
eighty-five head of cattle th
stolen from a ranchman nam
living In the above-named cot
It is believed that Rose was n
as he has not been seen since |
disappeared. A reward of $56 |
prendthange and $109 for 1

BRITIgH_AND_MATABI
Buluwayo, Aug. €—The
column under command of

Plummer had an engagement’
with the impis, or :


; Tavern

Beets 4 i i Hua > te WNP LO
realtin the taking of haman life agwea
The force

Punishment we mrenced,
ne a race a haan hanight’s watch-
fhe for nene oP®tnem were ablowoad or

ryen had the’ desire toe shop. with the

prespect which awahing w
the the: pet

those dutios

Sormanee
which the
routine regulations ef the hal provided.
Heoever, the condemned. had not sig-
rifhed what he would like for breakfast,
fhe fast meal which he sas tocat anda
toeal was prepared for him with espe-

sep s eben

everyeday

claleare and with reference to inducing
mn Whieh the circumstances
surrounding him could not fail to lay dor-
nmuint. He ate without relish, appearing
tucat more from necessity to strengthen
Waself for the ordeal throush which he

appetite,

wis sy soon to pass thin from any
his for his: food. :

He had pass do the nicht with less
Pestlesstiesa than his known elose
Proximity to death would seemingly
Warrant. but, as he has expressed him-
elf hfe thoughts having been directed
twardl’: forcivens ss for his crime, and
having fecone deeply imbued with the
Miho of a Christian, he wes so nearly
Prepared Tor his fate that the recurrence
Of thS Stone thronch which he must pass
dk ret act with such terrorizing foree
asi weoullunder a weaker belief in his
Spiritual sate ty,

In appearance he was not extremely

agitated, Gioueh the pallor ef his coun-
vo temance was frightful to the beholder.
This could in part. be ascribed to his
long continement, though the greater
Petefitwas, of course, due to thoughts
ff his appreae hins end. All who saw
him belieys that he weuld go to his
death witheut any of the scenes, horri-
Me tu witness, Which arise from the ter-
TT consequent upon facing the dread
‘strument by the means of which his

He owas ty be rendered extinct.

Nis breakfust eaten, Hoover received

AVsit from his pastor, Rev. J. M. Wile
ab and Rev @. W. Savidge,
Whe kav such consolation as min-

“ters of the gospel could give at such
Atme To those waiting for the final

fhe of the drama of death the con-
Seental communication appeared to be
lng The te a who were permitted to
coc the execution stood ner-
_/Y Mating, leaning against the
Walls of the jail corridor, or softly pass-
eto and fro through the halls to the
fail yard

to Saze on the brown, somber
aching ereeted as the monument to im-
Dress all of the punishment meted out.

hose who were to take the active
Bart in the closing scene bore pale, awe-
es 8. seemingly weighted down
Ria : Awful responsibility of taking
ay ae But one fact Hightened their
ees terrible pressure of par-
eid ee in the unpleasant duty. This
tell wt e* Knowledge that no one could
fatal a hhand tt was which caused the
ea - op to throw {ts burden of life
ts tee “nity. Four push buttons held
ay NY tingers, shaking with nervous-
Sones at the given signal from
the four ye omald. as if with dne will,
ae cn. sultons Were pressed, and ohe
ue : caused the drop to fall. None
earth. nd none will ever know, of this

fore Which finger sent Hoover's soul

Te its judge.

Shorty. we
My after 10 o'clock Sheriff Mc-
Rall. with Denuty chewte vue

Leer ROSE VL kD ES SPL eC aa, Lr V

spoke., His tone was so low that only
those on, or immediately near, the scaf-
fold could hear him. He said that his
death could be attr-buted to drink and
that he died without feeling against any
and in the faith that God would protect
his after Hfe.

tev. J. H. Wilson addressed a short
invecation to the deity, with a suppli-
cation for mercy for the condemned man.
During the prayer Hoover reised his
eyes to the blue skies above him and
seemed to be above earthly fear.

Not a tremor shook his fram> as the
bands were placed about his limbs at
the knees and ankles by Lewis and
Shand, though he slightly winced as the
band was pulled too tight about his
wrists. He stood perfectly motionless as
the black cap was adjusted and the
hoose was placed about his neck. Less
than a minute elapsed between the be-
ginning of the adjusting of the noose
and the signal given by Sherlff McDon-
ald when the drop fell from under Hoov-
er’s feet and his body shot down without
a@ quiver.

Drs. Mercer, Lee, Connell and Hol-
ovtschiner immediately pressed forward
and began the examinaticn to learn
when life was extinct. Dr. Connell was
the first to say that Hoover's neck had
been dislocated by the fall. Only one
shrug of the shoulders showed that the
body still held life.

Dr. Lee says that Hoover died without
the slightest strangulation, though his
heart continued to beat for thirtcen min-
utes after the drop had fal'cn.

The drop fell at 11:37, and at 11:50 the
physicians pronounced life extinct.

Under a request made by Hoover him-
self, the body was removed by Under-
taker Maul from the jail direct to the
residence of Hoover's mother, at 3179
South Thirteenth Street, from which
place the funeral will be held Sunday at
2:30 p. m. The interment will be at
Laurel Hill cemetery, in the lot occu-
pied by Samuel DuBois, whom Hoover
shot. The body was at Hoover's re-
quest, and that of Mrs. Dubois, not
placed in the undertaking rooms fcr the
public to view.

Policeman Hoff, who witnessed the
hanging, was so cvercome with the scene
that he wept.

Hoover left a number of small memen-
toes for those who had befriended him.
To Mrs. Shand, the wife of the jailer, he
left a booRict containing written mot-
toes, which had been given him by one
ef his nieces. To one of his death
watch, A. P. Larson, he gave 2 small
calendar, on which some months ago he
had crossed the date of his hanging,
and on which he checked off each day as
it passed.

To. the other member of his death
watch, John Croft, he sent this Ictter:

“Omaha, Neb., Aug. 6, 1896.—My Dear
Friend and Brother: I want to thank
you for what you have done for me and
the favors you have done me and may
God bless you for your kindness and
reward you hereafter. John, you are
as deartomeasabrother. If it wasn't
for drink I wouldn't be here today.
After I am dead-and gone, think of the {
word I have told you and another thing,
think of your soul, for John you are not
going to live always. You know that,

so prepare yourself for the hereafter.

mana

VR ce On ene nen eee Bee td ale

Hoover, who was regarded, to use

their phrase, as “ornery” by, er pris-
oners in the jail when there,

changed his disnosition late ince he

-has felt that he has made his peace with

his maker he has been regarded at the
Jail as a most amiable prisoner, and
Sheriff McDonald says he never had a
man there in his charge who gave him
less trouble or was more tractable.

The expressed desfre of Hoover some
weeks ago was that if his life might’ be
spared he should be able to devote years
ef liberty to doing something toward
making the children of his victim happy,
or at least smoothing the pathway of life
for them.

The last day before his execution he
was given the greatest peace that could
be given humankind, the granting of
forgiveness by his sister, Mrs.
Du Bois, and her two children, in re-
sponse to his last request to them.

HIS MOTHER HOPED FOR A PARDON.

Commutation, Followed A({tor Some
Years by Release Waé Her Hope.

Mrs. Brophy, the mother of Hoover,
who has worked day and night for the
acquittal of her son, and since his con-
viction, for commutation of his sen-
tence, cherished the hope that if her
son’s sentence should be commuted he
might, after some years, be pardoned
and restored to liberty. Two of his un-
cles have aided her financially in her
vain-undertakings.

One of Hoover’s attorneys feels that
Hoover was, as he phrases it, made “‘to
suffer a vicarious punishment” for nine
murders that others had committed in
this part of the state.

MRS. DUBOIS’ TRYING PLACE,

Her Husband the Victtm and Her
Half-Brother the Slayer,

Mrs. Du Bois was represented in pub-
Nshed reports as having called upon
Governor Holcomb to intercede for
Hoover that his sentence might be com-
muted. HooVer, while the slayer of
her husband, was also her half brother.
The situation of the widow and sister,
placed as she was in a position most
trying, was naturally one to subject her
every act in court and at the fail to
curiosity. One of the attorneys calls at-
tention that while she went to the Pax-
ton hotel with her mother and sister
while the latter tio interceded with the
governor, Mrs. Du Bois did not apprise
him of her presence, and it may be

doubted, the attorney adds, if she could.
have controlled her emotions upon that

occasion to have spoken to the gov-
ernor if {t had been urged.

The conduct of Mrs. Du Bois under
these trying circumstances has been
such that she has been praised by at-
torneys who have noted it as being most
womanly,

ee

TORY OF THE CR ME,

Hoover's] Unprovoked Killing of
Counciiman-Elect Dubois.

The crime for which Claude H. Hoover
has suffered the penalty of the scaffold
was the murder of his brother-in-law,
Samuel Dubois. : poo

The murder occurred shortly after 6
o’clock, the evening of Friday, Decem-
ber 13, in Gustav Saalfield’s shoe shop,
418% South Thirteenth street. nnder ote.

and tender sensivilities, felt, as it was
put, almost as badly as did the chief
figure in the drama of the scaffold him-
self when it was announced thut the
hanging could not be avoided. Feeling
that he had no altemmitive, the sheriff
made preparations to so conduct the
duty, under the finding of the jury that
tried Hoover, as to send him out of the
world with as little that was grim or
gruesome as possible.

Consequently, the exerution, he: de-
cided, should be witnessed by. the least
possible who could witness it; the afrair
managed with the-minimum of pub-

Neity and pitniginsace o= may be ag-
sumed that the sherifPig.’p h
ne

tal punishment. Be as
Hoover's has been the fifth legal
execution In the forty ‘years’ hiatory of
Douglas county,the fourth legal hanging
at this city having been that of a
federal prisoner, Dixon, whose crime
was committed on the frontier, and who
happened to be tried here. :

HIS RAPID TRIAL.

Hoover Convicted and Senteneed in
Sixteen Days.

The only remarkable fact In connec-
tion with the crime was the quick trial
which was given Hoover. A preliminary
examination was held the following
Wednesday and Hoover was held with-
out bail to the district court. Thirteen
days after the shooting Hoover was

placed on trial in the criminal court.
The trial, after the selection of the jury,
eccupied but one day, the case going to
the jury at 10:45 o’clock Saturday morn-

7-1 HOOVER. =..
(From a sketch made-soor gfter his ar-
'.Fest when he was haggard
- * and unshaven.)

ing, December 2% The jury was out a
little lesg than twenty-four. hours and
Sunday morning ret ed a verdict of
guilty of murdét-in the first-degree with
the penalty. Axed at deatth, Hoover be-
ing thus convicteg of bis érime sixteen
days after its ‘cdmmfssion. January 2
Hoover was senténcef by Judge Scott
to be executed Friday; April 17, last,
between the hours of a. m. and 2 p. m.
February 4 Hoove attorneys ob-
tained from the supréthe court a sus-
pension of the ‘gen _of execution
until the court could upon the case,
About thirty days the supreme
court affirmed ict and decision

tendered in the dictric€ and set the
date for Hoover's tion for Au-,
gust 7. Sch PELE

For his defense Hedter rested upon

~~ tree ate ee kee GLE WOLKE
toward none. J, as his attorney, ask
that the mantle of charity and forgive-
“ness be ewtended to him in this his last
hour upon earth, and that the sym-
pathy of the community gO out to his
stricken mother and sisters.”

LAST FROM LINCOLN,

Governor Woleomb Gives Hits Fin
Opinion Regarding Clemency,
Speclal Dispatch to the World-Herald,
Lincoln, Neb., Aug. 6—It has been
settled by the occurrences today that
there will be no tmterference by the
governor with the execution of the
Hoover’ seutence. There now remains
no queetidn that all appeals have either

ing. Goverritt Holcomb today received 4
a telegram frdém Attorneys Kaley and
Simeral, who have been interested in
the case, asking him ty examine a final
appeal for clemency -which had been
forwarded by mail. After considering
the application for a reprieve contained
in the letter Holcomb sent the following
telegram:

Lincoln, Neb., Aug. 6, 4:30.—J. L. Kaley,
Attorney, Omaha, Neb.: Close investiga-
tion precludes in my mind the slightest
doubt of Hoover's sanity now or at the
time of homicide, or his moral or legal
responsibility. Sentiment only exists for
executive interference. I cannot act on
that. SILAS A. HOLCOMB. ;

A _ccpy of the telegram was also sent
to Simeral.

HE DID NOT HBAR,

Dr. Join Crawford Was, Slightly Deaf
and Run Down by a
Train.

John Crawford, aged 61, lving at
Ferty-fourth and Jackson streets, was
run over by a Missouri Pacific passen-
ger grain about 400 feet north of the
Leavenworth street crossing at rigon
today and instantly killed.

Dr. Crawford was returning from his
place of business on Twenty-seventh
Street, near Leavenworth, where he was
engaged in the manufacture of artificial
Iimts, and was walking along the rail-
road tracks which pass near his home.
He was slightly deaf and supported an
an artificial leg. The incoming Missouri
Pacific train, due here at 12:55, came up |
behind him.

Engineer Finnecune saw a man on the
tracks 400 feet ahead of him and sig-
nalled with the whistle and by ringing
the bell, but Crawford did not evidently
hear the alarm, and before the train
could be brought to a standstill the en-
gine and four cars passed over the body,
horribly mangling it. Conductor
Myers removed the body to the train and
delivered it at the Webster street de-
pot to Coroner Burket, who will hold an
inquest this evening at 7:30.

Dr. Crawford leaves a wife and one
son, the latter being a soldier in the
United States army, stationed at Staten
Island. . The doctor formerly lived at
Cleveland and Toledo, O., and has re-
sided here about fourteen years. He has
two sisters living at Chicago and also
one at Waterloo, Ind., his native city.
He was a strictly domestie man and
highly respected for hig high moral
principles. - site meats

He narrowly escaped being run over
by a feam of horses yesterday. About
three years ago he met with an acci-
dent on a motor car at Twenty-fourth
and Grace streets, ae

SEVEN LIVES LOST,

“eee ENJO

eeks to Prevent Wate
Bondholders From Tak
the Plant.

ee

Judge Dundy this morning
order for E. L. Blerbower a
Hunt to file within thirty day
of their dotngs as receivers of t
works property In this city.

The hearing upon the matter!
der turning the property over t
Omaba

Venner hag secured a
tion in @ court In New York aj
. bondholders taking - pozsegs!},

plant. .The scope and effect o|
junction is not known here,
Hall, local attorney for the
ers, will go to New York
week to be present at the heari

SPARTAN TREATME

A Commissioner Wants ¢
Question of Its Lecalit

Out of the upheavals of ¢
allegtd facts at the county
commissioner has learned a s:
Moves him to threaten to t
soine medical college doctors
count. That fs, that not lon
epileptic young man, an inma:
hospital, was taken in hand b
tors, and put Into such condi
he could have no heirs, Also, t
father hears an epileptic wo
similarly treated. Also, that
also an inmate at that time of
pital, was operated upon with
pose shortly beforé she was to
oe and that she subsequent!

The doctors say that if these
things were done they were
the publle good, that:another g
of epileptics might not be rear
burden upon the county.

But the county commisstorne
knows of no modern legal auth
the course taken by the docto:

KILLED BY Hi

ee Boe

St. Louis Is Saffering From
Hot Wave--Three Deat
Reported,

St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 7.—La!
was the hottest experienced
years. At 10 o’clock this mo
thermometer registered 92. 'T.
of heat prostration and three
ae peor The dead are: are

ARAH VOTTLER. {<7

CHARLES BARNISH. Gee

CHARLES REESE... pes oe

LOOKING FOR STOLEN
Colorado Sherif le Also 4
“> Manechman’s Murdere
Special Dispatch to the World-H
Kimball, Neb., Aug. 7.—Dav

It is believed that Rose was 1
as he has not been seeri since t
disappeared. A reward of $56

several techniralitted @ tha cace . hnt-

for the cattle and ) for
derer. tees pe


Seis.

Wha Og

nor
aitgollgs
#gitqeod

Sates |

a
Hi) aft
Ppaduet?
ta]

cane ete cen

SUNDAY WORLD-HERALD June 23, 1996

Plans Complete for Joubert Execution

Continued from Page I
boring businesses.
Though only about a dozen s

members are directly involved with car-
Tying out the execution, its impact rever-

berates throughout the institution,

‘touching staff members and inmates and

their visitors.

For the execution, an escort team of
four corrections officers, supervised by a
Captain, will accompany Joubert to the
electric chair and strap him in. A backup
team of another four officers also has
been designated and trained, Hopkins
said.

Other staff members involved include
those who will supervise Joubert during
his final hours on death watch in the
prison hospital, the warden and the
official who will read the death warrant
to Joubert and ask whether he has any
final statements.

The electric chair itself will receive its
final testing in the 24-hour period before
the execution. The identity of the execu-
tioner — a person hired from out of state
— is never disclosed.

Hopkins said staff members integrally
involved in the execution are required to
participate in mental health counseling

, before the execution to prepare them to
.cope with their feelings about it. They

also are provided post-execution coun-

_seling if they desire.

Staff not so closely involved also can
request counseling. °
“As a whole, our staff deal with
ee out this particular sentence
professionally,” Hopkins said. “They
understand it’s the result of a judicial
process, and they understand they have a
responsibility to carry out the sentence as
they do any other sentence.” _
€ general prison population so far
has reacted calmly to the pending execu-

‘tion, although inmates are being moni-

tored.

Ed

Execution Timetable

Joubert on Friday:

available on the prison menu.

members prepare for their duties.

is read.
on.

last-minute reprieves.

Here is a general timetable of what prison officials say can be expected to take
place in the final hours leading up to the anticipated execution of John

Twenty-four hours before the execution: The electric chair and support
equipment are tested. The condemned man is taken to a special room

in the prison hospital for death watch unless he's moved there earlier for other
reasons. He is granted special visits with his family and friends.

Twelve hours before: The condemned man chooses his final meal from items

Six hours before: Other inmates in the prison are ordered to their cells,

where they will remain locked in until the execution is completed. Barricades
and signs are erected in the prison parking lot.

Two hours before: News personnel are admitted to the prison visiting

room. The condemned man’s escorts, official witnesses and mechanical staff

One hour before: The condemned man’s visitors leave and he is prepared
for execution. Official witnesses hear his last statement and the death warran

Forty-five minutes before: Equipment supporting the electric chair is turned
Thirty minutes before: A preliminary telephorie call is made to check for any

Ten minutes before: The condemned man is taken to the execution
chamber. After he is strapped into the chair, curtains between the chamber
and the viewing room are opened so witnesses can recognize his face. The
curtains are closed while the face mask and electrodes are applied. A final
telephone call is made to check on last-minute reprieves.

Execution: The curtains are opened and the execution is performed. The
curtains are closed. The warden announces to the Pardons Board by phone
and to waiting news media representatives that the execution has been
carried out. The inmate's witnesses are escorted out of the prison. A
mortician is summoned to remove the body.

“While many inmates disagree with
the death penalty, they understand as
well that it’s a sentence alternative for the
courts,” Hopkins said.

One of the unanswered questions is the
time the execution might be carried out.
Decisions such as visiting hours for the
general population, as well as traffic
control and other issues, await more
definite word on the timi

Traditionally in Nebraska and else-
where, executions are carried out as soon

as possible after midnight, when the
death warrant takes effect.

In Joubert’s case, however, the Board
of Pardons has scheduled a meeting for 9
a.m. Friday to consider any last-minute
requests for commutation.

The meeting was scheduled in advance
to deflect any attempts by Joubert to use
a commutation request as a means to call
off his execution.

However, on Friday, the Pardons
Board issued notice that it would place

Joubert’s case on the agenda of its
regularly scheduled meeting Wednesday.
If Joubert presents his commutation
request early next week, the case could be
heard Wednesday. If Joubert’s request is
denied then, his execution could be
carried out early Friday.

Capt. A.K. Anderson of the Nebraska
State Patrol said the impact of a daytime
execution is hard to predict.

Anderson coordinates execution-day
security outside the penitentiary by the
State Patrol, the Lincoln Police Depart-
ment and the Lancaster County sheriff.

“It could alleviate some problems,” he .

said. “Some people would be working
and wouldn’t be sightseeing. It could
make a smaller crow

“But the businesses in the area will be
open for normal business. It could cause
additional congestion and problems if
people are trying to park in private lots.”

Hopkins said prison staff and police
officers learned lessons from the specta-
cle created by demonstrators outside the
prison during the Otey execution.

Officials again will use the strategy of
designating specific areas for death-pen-
alty ents, death-penalty advocates

and the press. This time, however, there |

will be a wider “no man’s land” between
the advocates and the opponents, Hop-
kins said.

Security staff is prepared to deal with
people who are rowdy or intoxicated,
Hopkins said.

“We have made a few modifications to .

perimeter security and have made some
arrangements to deal with individuals
whose behavior or condition may be at

. issue,” Hopkins said. “I’m not going to

comment on what they are. Let’s just say
that those individuals who decide to be
on site at the penitentiary should be
prepared to conduct themselves as ap-

propriate citizens and adults, and I think

we'll be all right.”

Sa ee ee


| FJookery|
P] ans Set

For Joubert
ecution

Decisions Awaited
From Courts, Board

BY LESLIE BOELLSTORFF
LD-HERALD BUREAU

Lincoln — The Official witnesses have
been chosen and briefed. The escort team
has practiced its walk to the electric
chair. Local law enforcement Officers
have worked out their plan for control-
ling parking-lot demonstrations,

.

Joubert, 32, was sentenced to die for
the 1983 murders of two Sarpy County
boys, Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and Chris-
topher Walden, 12. If Joubert’s execu-
tion takes place as scheduled, it will be

the second, carried out in Nebraska in
recent history,

It doesn’t’ get any easier the second
time around, said Frank Hopkins, war-
den of the Nebraska State Penitentiary,

Nebraska’s death row is housed at the
penitentiary, so the job of supervising the
execution goes to Hopkins,

“It’s a difficult sentence to carry out,”
he said.

Present in the days leading uP to the
September 1994 execution of Harold
Mont Otey,

In another example, legal maneuvers

make it likely that Joubert’s execution
ill b ! : : :

fewer crowds at the ey because
So could

create parking-lot headaches for neigh-

Please turn to Page 5, Col, 1


FF pouer]

\

State Moves Quickly in Seeking

New Execution

BY PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Lincoln — Nebraska Officials moved
ovittly Monday to ask for a new execu-
tion date for confessed child killer John
Joubert after the U.S. Supreme Court
rejected two appeals,

Assistant Attorney General J. Kirk
Brown filed the legal request with the
Nebraska Supreme Court at about 4 p.m.
Monday — barely seven hours after the
federal court’s ruling.

Brown and Gov. Nelson expressed
hope that the state court would move just
as swiftly and give Joubert, convicted of
murdering two Sarpy Count youths 13
years ago, a date with the electric chair
within two weeks,

Nelson said: “The system is supposed
to have some finality. It’s time for that
finality.”

Jautiert 32, had been scheduled to die
in the electric chair Friday. But the U.S.
Supreme Court stayed thé execution and
Postponed until Monday rulings on two
appeals brought by Joubert. The delay

owed Joubert’s death warrant — valid
between 12:01 a.m. and 12 p.m. Friday
~— to expire,

Monday, the high court dismissed the

Date for Joubert

Joubert appeals without comment. The
Tuling | automatically lifts the stay of
execution.

By law, the state must seek a new death
warrant and execution date from the
Nebraska Supreme Court.

The Attorney General’s Office broke
with tradition in its Tequest filed Mon-
day.

It asked that a date be set “no more
than 14 days following the issuance of
the order.” Normally, a date is sought
“as soon as possible,” and the court sets
it six to eight weeks in advance,

Brown, who handles the State’s death-
penalty cases, said he was optimistic that
the State Supreme Court would rule
quid on the request for an execution

ate, That court, he said, turned down
two recent requests from Joubert to halt
the execution.

“I am assuming that all of the courts
have lost patience with Mr. Joubert and
his delaying tactics,” Brown said.

Brown said all legitimate appeals in
the Joubert case have been exhausted.

“T think John Joubert burned a lot of
bridges last week,” Brown said.

He said there was no reason to wait

Please turn to Page 2, Col. 1

aL RR: tate ee rare
e, 1
Ny


Joubert Attorneys

BY PAUL HAMMEL
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Lincoln — Attorneys for confessed
child-killer John Joubert asked the U.S.
Supreme Court on Wednesday to stay his
execution until after deciding whether
electrocution is cruel and unusual pun-
ishment and whether Joubert received a
fair clemency hearing.
Joubert, 33, is scheduled to die in

Nebraska’s electric chair just after 12:01
_ am. Wednesday for the 1983 kidnap-

ee
“4

slayings of two Sarpy County boys.

A spokesman for the American Civil
Liberties Union} which is providing legal
help to Joubert, jaid that obtaining a stay
of execution is the only way the appa
can be heard before the execution date.

The U.S. Supreme Court is on summer
recess and will not hear arguments on
such cases until October.

If the court decides that one or both of
Joubert’s ap have merit, it could
halt the execution until it decides the
issues. If it rejeds a stay, the execution

will proceed as planned, and the appeals
will become moot.

Nebraska Attorney General. Don
Stenberg has said he doubts that the
Supreme Court would issue a stay for
Joubert.

Matt LeMieux, executive director of
ACLU Nebraska, said the organization
is pursuing every option to obtain a
Supreme Court review of the constitu-
tionality of the electric chair.

“No court has addressed this issue on
the merits yet,” he said. “We certainly

Ask U.S. Supreme Court for Stay of Execution

feel that it’s time for a review of it.
Whether they dois a different story.”

LeMieux said that two justices on the
court have indicated that they want to
review whether electrocution violates the
Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitu-
tion, which provides protection against
“cruel and unusual punishment.”

The question now is whether the court
wants to use the Joubert case or another
death-penalty case to review that issue,
LeMieux said.

‘ 5 f 1
/ JOON? {4

Joubert, a former airman at Offutt Air
Force Base, was sentenced to death |
after pleading guilty to the abductions
and murders of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, -
and Christopher Walden, 12. He also
admitted killing 11-year-old Richard
Stetson in 1982 at Portland, Maine,
Joubert’s hometown.

Two weeks ago, the USS. Supreme |
Court rejected an appeal brought by /
Joubert on the electrocution issue on |
procedural grounds.

Ed
?


Child Killer Cites Reasons

AP. 17-Jun-1996 11:44 EDT REF5398
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.

The information contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written
authority of The Associated Press.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) +~- A\former Bay Scout leader who tormented and
killed three boys said, while he regrets what he did, he enjoyed
himself at the time and would. have murdered again had he not been
caught, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

"It was the power and the domination and seeing the fear," John
Joubert told the newspaper in his first interview in nearly 10 years.
"That was more exciting than actually causing the harm."

Joubert, 32, is scheduled to die in the electric chair June 28 for
the killings of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and Christopher Walden, 12, in
1983; and the murder of 11-year-old Richard Stetson in Portland, Maine,
in 1982, ,

The boys were bitten, slashed and stabbed.

In his sometimes self-contradictory comments, published Sunday,
Joubert said he took pleasure in inflicting pain and selected children
as victims because they were easy to handle. But he denied deliberately
torturing the boys. ie, 3 ;

"I’m sure that the pain was torturous, yes," the former assistant
scout leader and Offut Air Force Base airman said. "But there was no
intent to inflict pain over long periods of time."

During his 12 years on death row, Joubert has gone from being a
pudgy 20-year-old to a muscular weight lifter. He regrets having killed
the boys and has' no idea why he did it. Had he not been caught, he
would have done it again, he said. ;

"I am glad I was stopped from killing again,” Joubert said. "But I
am certainly not glad about being executed. " |

ere AAo

fRESsS

HEERCD

22 DET- 1990

Judge rejects Joubert appeal

@ Decision could send
multiple killer to electric
chair in Nebraska.

By JILL LANG
Staff Writer

ROCKLAND - A judge has ruled
that John J. Joubert should return
to Nebraska to face the death pen-
alty, but the lawyer for the convicted
killer said he will appeal the
decision.

In a ruling filed Wednesday in
Knox County Superior Court, Jus-
tice Margaret Kravchuk denied Jou-
bert’s request to stay in Maine while
he appeals his October conviction
for the 1982 killing of 11-year-old

6¢We all know he’s going back to Nebraska. It’s
just a matter of when.99

Eric Wright, assistant attommey general

Richard Stetson of Portland.

Kravchuk’s decision could send
Joubert, 27, to the electric chair in
Nebraska, where he has been sen-
tenced for the 1983 killings of Danny
Joe Eberle, 13, and Christopher
Paul Walden, 12. Joubert, a former
Portland resident, pleaded guilty to
those killings in 1984.

Joubert has appealed his
Nebraska case to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which has stayed the execu-
tion until it decides whether to

review the case. He was originally
scheduled to die Dec. 7.

Joubert’s attorney, Stuart W. Tis-
dale Jr. of Portland, said he will also
appeal Kravchuk’s decision and ask
to stay in Maine State Prison in
Thomaston for the duration of his
appeals here, which could take a
year or more.

The state will oppose those
requests, said Eric Wright, an assis-
tant state attorney general who
helped prosecute Joubert.

Before bringing Joubert to Maine
to stand trial for Stetson’s killing, the
governors of Nebraska and Maine
agreed he would return to Nebraska

within 10 days of his sentencing |

here. Joubert is tentatively sche-

duled for sentencing Jan. 9 in Lin-

coln County Court in Wiscasset. -
Maine prosecutors will ask that

Joubert get a life sentence for killing ~

Stetson, said Wright.

‘Kravchuk said in her ruling that _

Joubert’s extradition to Nebraska
would not interfere with his Maine
appeals. But she acknowledged that
the extradition “presents a signifi-
cant possibility that he will die
before his appeal has been decided”
in Maine.

Please see JOUBERT, Page 2D _Loses appeal to stay in Maine

John Joubert


Child Killer Executed In Neb. a gi MG
AP 17-Jul-1996 2:49 EDT REFS189
Copyright 1996. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

The information contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written
authority of The Associated Press. an es

By DAWN FALLIK.

Associated Press Writer oe : , :

LINCOLN, Neb, (AP) -~ A former Boy Scout leader who said he enjoyed
"seeing the fear" of his murder victims was executed in the electric
chair early Wednesday for stabbing two boys to death in 1983.

John Joubert, also a former airman, confessed to repeatedly stabbing
and slashing Danny Jo Eberle, 13, and Christopher Walden, 12, near the
Air Force Base where he was stationed. =

After Joubert was convicted in Nebraska; he was convicted in Maine
with strangling and stabbing 11~year-old Richard Stetson in Portland in
1982. He got a life prison term without patole for that killing.

In his final statement, Joubert apdélogized for the three murders.

"I do not know if my death will change anything or if it will bring
anyone any peace," he said. rere cae

In explaining why he killed the boys, he told the Omaha World-Herald
last month: "It was the power and the domination and seeing the fear.
That was more exciting than actually causin “the harm."

Joubert, 33, has said the murders were t e culmination of years of
psychosexual fantasies. He had asked the Nebraska Pardons Board to keep
him alive so researchers could study him.

He wanted to be taken to Omaha, about 50 miles from Lincoln, for a
brain scan before his execution so researchers could check for
abnormalities. i: oe ye

State and prison officials denied the request because they feared
potential security risks and legal appeals to delay the execution if
any abnormalities were found. a

The killings 13 years ago in Bellevue near Offutt Air Force Base
kept the Omaha area in fear for three months. Joubert was caught after
he tried unsuccessfully to abduct a preschool teacher, who then noted
his car’s license plate number. He confesséd later that day.

Joubert said he made one boy strip and lie in the snow as he slashed
and strangled him. He also described how Danny begged for his life,
promising not to turn Joubert in for stabbing him if he took the boy to
a hospital. ona

"I stabbed him a couple more times," Joubert said.

Joubert’s lawyers gave up their leg&él battle shortly after the U.S.
Supreme Court refused two requests to delay the execution so that
Joubert could argue whether the electric chair was cruel and unusual
punishment or whether Nebraska's pardon’s system was unfair.

Nebraska is one of six states that use only the electric chair for
executions.

By Dave Zelio
The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. — Confessed
child-killer John Joubert escaped
death in the electric chair Friday
and will probably be alive for
months.

The reprieve came when the
U.S. Supreme Court put off a deci-
sion on what to do with the Maine
native’s case until at 'east next
week — long after his death war-
rant expired at midnight Friday.

The court’s inaction left in
place a temporary stay Joubert
won Thursday less than seven
hours before he was scheduled to
die. It also meant state officials
would have to ask the Nebraska
Supreme Court to set a new exe-
cution date.

“It’s hard to explain,” Gov. Ben
Nelson said. ‘(How can convicted
killers have an extension in their
lives because the Supreme Court
goes home for the weekend?’’.

CLG/IG PanagDa;
Joubert’s death warran

Legal wrangling over child killer from Maine could take months

Stay of execution, attorney Lyle

Koenig said.
The U.S. Supreme Court could

Joubert is safe for now. Even if
the court denies his appeal, it
would be weeks before the state

Supreme Court announce as early as Monday that
sets another exe- # it will reject Joubert’s fourth
cution date. appeal or that it will hear it dur-

ing the fall term. It may not issue
an order at all. A Joubert defense
attorney, Mark Weber, said he
thinks the court is concentrating
on an argument that electrocuting
someone is cruel and unusual pun-
ishment and therefore violates a
person’s constitutional rights.

Nelson and Attorney General Don
Stenberg, however, said the delay
was a cruel twist for the victims’
families. Both said they expected
Joubert to die for his crimes — it
was just a matter of time.

Stenberg said he hoped the exe-
cution still could be carried out
this summer.

If the justices rule against Jou-
bert, Stenberg said, the attorney
general would be prepared in
about two weeks to seek another

Joubert, a 32-
year-old former
Eagle Scout, has
beer on death row
for 12 years. He
admitted he killed
13-year-old Danny neg
Jo Eberle and 12- 7 4getee
year-old Christo- ¢
pher Walden in
late 1983. The
boys’ bodies were found days after
they disappeared. Each was
stabbed and slashed repeatedly.

Joubert also was convicted in
Maine of murdering 11-year-old
Richard Stetson in Portland in
1982. Maine, which does not have
a death penalty, returned him to
Nebraska for execution.

Joubert wept when told of his

Joubert

expires

execution date. Stenberg first
must confirm, in writing, that no
Stays of execution are in effect for
Joubert in state or federal courts.

Stenberg said the 8th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals has made clear
that Joubert would not qualify for
additional review of his case under a
new law that limits federal appeals
by death row inmates. .

“It’s a very frustrating process,
particularly when you have a
defendant who is a serial child
killer,”’ Stenberg said.

Prosecutors had hoped that a
U.S. Supreme Court decision Fri-
day morning in a Georgia case
challenging the federal law on
appeals would clear the way for
Joubert’s execution.

In that case, Felker vs. Turpin,
the court unanimously upheld a
procedure requiring death-row
inmates and other prisoners to get
approval from a_ three-judge
appellate panel before filing a sec-
ond round of federal appeals.


Judge’s decision on Joubert extradition due next week

@ Convicted murderer
John Joubert faces the
death penalty if he is
returned to Nebraska.

By TESS NACELEWICZ
Staff Writer

_ ROCKLAND - A Maine judge is
expected to rule next week when
the state can return John J. Joubert
to Nebraska, where he faces the
death penalty.

Justice Margaret Kravchuk said
Monday that, even if she rules Jou-
bert can be returned to Nebraska,
she won't allow it until he has a
chance to appeal her decision.

Kravchuk’s action ruled out any
possibility that Joubert will be exe-

¢¢He essentially used Maine to hide away from the
death penalty. He had the opportunity to object to
the 10 days .. . but he waits until he gets here,
where we don’t have the death penalty.99

Lisa Marchese,
assistant attorney general

cuted in Nebraska Dec. 7, as
scheduled.

Monday in Knox County Superior
Court, Kravchuk heard Joubert’s
arguments on why the state
shouldn’t return him to Nebraska
until he fully appeals a Maine
murder conviction.

Under an agreement between the
governors of both states, Joubert

was to be sent back 10 days after
being sentenced for murdering a
Portland boy. His sentencing date
has yet to be set.

Joubert, 27, was been sentenced
to die in Nebraska for the 1983
killings of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and
Christopher Paul Walden, 12. Jou-
bert, a former Portland resident,
pleaded guilty to the killings in

PoRTLAWD (Ame)
Préss HERALD

TUES. NOU: 2F,
1790

1984.

A Lincoln County Superior Court
jury convicted him last month of
stabbing to death 11-year-old
Richard Stetson in Portland in
1982.

Lisa Marchese, the assistant
attorney general who prosecuted
Joubert in Maine, said in court that
he had the chance to challenge the
governors’ agreement when it was
presented to him in Nebraska. She
said Joubert insisted he wanted to
face the charge against him here.

“He essentially used Maine to
hide away from the death penalty,”
Marchese said. “He had the oppor-
tunity to object to the 10 days .. . but
he waits until he gets here, where
we don’t have the death penalty.”

Please see RULING, Page 2D

Stuart Tisdale, Joubert’s attorney,
argued that Gov. John R. McKernan
had no right to agree to send
Joubert back within 10 days of
sentencing.

State law says a person may be
returned to another state as soon as
prosecution or imprisonment is fin-
ished, Tisdale said.

Prosecution in Joubert’s case is
not finished, Tisdale argued,
because Joubert has filed for a new
trial and will file an appeal of his
conviction, according to Tisdale.

“This is too soon,” Tisdale said.
“This is way before the point at
which the prosecution can be consi-
dered to be terminated.” If Joubert
returns to Nebraska and is put to
death, he loses his chance for appeal
— a right guaranteed by the state,
Tisdale said.

But Marchese said that “to sug-
gest he is going to be executed a
week from (Friday) is a fiction we ail
recognize.” She said Joubert plans
to appeal his convictions in
Nebraska through the federal
courts, which she said will take a
minimum of two years.

John Joubert

Faces Nebraska execution

Kravchuk asked her why the state
had brought Joubert here to try him
if it was not prepared to see the
conviction appealed.

Marchese said the state accepts
the jury’s conviction of Joubert as
final.

She referred to the case of Steven
H. Oken of Maryland, sentenced in
Maine to life in prison for the 1988
murder of a Kittery motel clerk.

Marchese said Oken’s is the only
other case in Maine concerning
extradition where the death penalty
is involved. She said the case has
bearing on Joubert’s, but Tisdale
said the cases are too different.

. ‘THE BOSTON GLOBE e TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1990

Maine man found suilty 0 ol killing Portland boy

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WISCASSET, Maine — John J.
Joubert, already facing the death
penalty for killing two boys in Ne-
braska, yesterday was found guilty
of murder in the stabbing and stran-
gling of an 11-year-old Portland boy.

A Lincoln County Superior
Court jury deliberated less than two
hours before finding Joubert, 27, ori-
ginally from Portland, guilty in the
killing of Richard Stetson in August
1982.

Joubert sat expressionless and
blinked as the verdict was read. No
sentencing date was set for Joubert,
who is to return temporarily to the
Maine State Prison in Thomaston.

Joubert is scheduled to die in the
electric chair in Nebraska on Dec. 7.
Prosecutors had said Joubert would
be returned to Nebraska to face the
sentence there no matter what hap-
pened at his trial in Maine.

His lawyer, Liisa Hamilton, said
Joubert is expected to appeal the
Maine verdict and that he will seek
to withdraw his guilty pleas in the
Nebraska killings.

Assistant Attorney General Eric
Wright, who prosecuted Joubert in

Maine, said he will seek Maine’s S

maximum sentence of life in prison

for Joubert. Wright also discussed:

why Maine sought to try a man al+,

ready on death row in another state. ©
“I think people in this state needi

to understand that we wanted to do

our best to make sure that if he ever . “3 : aware af Jothort’s Nebraska ecnvis-

got out from under his death. sen-
tence in Nebraska, he’d have no
place to go but Thomaston to die,

said Wright. :

Joubert, asked for his reaction to
the verdict, said, “No comment.” :

Before they were closeted to de-*
cide on a verdict, jurors were chal-;
lenged by defense as well as pros-"
ecution lawyers to carefully compare

BL aE:

casts of Joubert’s teeth with photos
of bite marks on the victim’s leg.
Wright said the casts match the
tooth marks. Hamilton said they do
not necessarily match, and that she
was not convinced the marks on
Stetson’s body were left by teeth.

_ But the marks proved to be piv-
otal in the jury’s final decision, as did
testimony from a journalist who had
interviewed, Joubert after the killing,
said forewoman Terry Blazek of
Waldoboro.

Blazek said that j jurors were not

i “tions.

»€ “Every ‘single one of us had no

idea about what happened in the oth-
er states,” she said.

Joubert is to be executed in Ne-
braska for the 1983 abductions and
killings of Danny Joe Eberle, 13, and
Christopher Paul Walden, 12, both
of Sarpy County. Joubert had been

stationed at Offutt Air Force Base
when those crimes occurred.

Because of heavy publicity in the
Maine case, Joubert’s trial was
moved from Portland to Wiscasset, a
small coastal town about 30 miles
north.

_ Prosecutors relied heavily on tes-
timony from Mark Pettit, who wrote
a book about Joubert and said that,
during an interview about his
crimes, Joubert did not deny he
killed Stetson.

In his final address to the jury,
Wright took issue with the defense
attorney’s attempts to link an alter-
native suspect to the crime, saying
that there was no evidence to sup-
port that attempt.

Wright also labeled as “unrelia-
ble” the testimony of Dr. Norman D.
Sperber, a forensic dentist called by
the defense who said it was unlikely
that Joubert’s teeth left marks in

Stetson’s body. The prosecutor said
Sperber’s testimony was riddled
with inconsistencies and contradic-
tions.

Hamilton took aim at the testi-
mony of Pettit, the journalist who
has written a book about Joubert
and his crimes.

Pettit testified that when he
asked Joubert whether he killed
Stetson, Joubert responded: “I can’t
lie to you. I can’t tell you I didn’t do
it.”

Hamilton questioned why Pettit
failed to go to the police with that
information.

“Why would he make that state-
ment to a reporter, of all people?”
said Hamilton.

The lawyer also challenged the
testimony of Dr. Lowell Levine, a
New York dental expert and pros-
ecution witness who said he was sure
the tooth marks were Joubert’s.

iW - iW- GSI

‘Let Me See Killer Die’

From: Raymond K. Parks, Hayward, Calif
Former PAC chairman, Omana NAACP

I respectfully submit My request to be a
witness at the execution of Robert E.
Williams. I further request, at this execu.
ton, to sit behind the glass with Williams.
To sit five feet from him. ] would
also want the hood removed so I can look
into Williams’ eyes. I want to see the first
Jolt of electricity hit those cold, frightened
eyes. | want to see his teeth clench, his
body go stiff. I want to see the second,
third and possibly the fourth jolt hit him,

And after I witness all this, I will go back
to Patty McGarry’s son, my godson, and
tell him I watched as the man who
recklessly, maliciously and without Provo-
cation murdered his wonderful, beautiful
mother was executed. As his father’s
best friend, I want the father and son to
know that Williams paid with his worth-
less life for taking Patty's precious life,

I would also like to come away from this
execution with an explanation to give my
godson (who is 2] now and grew up
without a mother) of how a court can say
the murder of his mother was neither
heinous, especially cruel nor depraved,
(Williams was sentenced to death for two
murders, but U.S. District Judge Lyle E.
Strom endorsed a recommendation t athe
be resentenced for Ms. McGarry’s death.)
I was there the night the bodies were
discovered. Aren't multiple, serial Killings
considered heinous? ,

The man killed two women and then
stayed in the house well after the murders
with Patty's then-4-year-old son upstairs,
hiding under his bed, afraid to come out
after having seen his murdered mother on
the floor. /

I again request to be a witness at the
Nov. 16 — or whenever — execution of
Williams. I will be looking forward to that
date.

‘Joubert Is the Worst’

From: Mickey Guinan, Omaha

Absolutely unbelievable. John Joubert
is the most detestable criminal I can think
of. He is undeserving of mercy and should
have paid for his crimes years ago. How
long must we tolerate someone so out of
touch as U.S. District Judge William
Cambridge?

‘Not Depraved Enough?’

From: Dave Mason, LaVista

How many 12-year-old kids do you have
to kill in over to demonstrate “exception-
al depravity”? How does Judge Cambridge
live with himself?

’

Oman WORLD-LERALD 1994

WEF KOFERPA

ARAN ARAR  .

~ NEBRAGKA: WWUERE EVEN reALtipe MONSTERS

GET A TREAT AT HALLOWEEN...

The Public Pulse

‘Joubert Can Really Eat’

From: Joe Citro, Omana

i phn
_ Unbelievable! John Joubert killed two

innocent fours boys, pleaded guilty to
their muri
Now his death sentence has been over-
tumed because his constitutional rights
were violated. Unless that tuling is over-
tuned or he is retried and resentenced to
death, it looks like the g00d citizens of
Nebraska will have to Support him for the
Test of his life. This guy can put away some
Broceries, too! Has anyone compared a
Current picture of Joubert to one taken of
im when he was arrested? In my most
humble opinion, he certainly has grown
into a chubby little rascal,

lers and was sentenced to death.

12 EDITORIAL PAGE

. OMAHA DAILY HERALD FOUNDED 1865
OMAHA DAILY WORLD FOUNDED BY GiLBEAT u HITCHCOCK 1e65
OMAHA WORLO-HERALD FIRST PUBLISHED JuLy 1S. 1889

Omaha @orld-Herald

JOHN GOTTSCHALK, Publisher

G. WOODSON HOWE, Editor

MICHAEL J, FINNEY, Executive Editor
DEANNA J. SANDS, Managing Editor

FRANCIS L. PARTSCH, Editorial Pages Editor
LAWRENCE D. KING, Assistant Managing Editor

Joubert Bit,

lashed and Terrorized

Without ‘Exceptional Depravity’?

If the State of. Nebraska can’t carry out the
death penalty on a monster like John Joubert, its
capital punishment law is a cruel fraud on the
Public, '

Few men sentenced to death in Nebraska in the
Past 100 years deserved more to be executed than
does Joubert. Few have been so devoid of
anything resembling humanity, Few Struck as
much fear into a community, with as little sign of
remorse, as did this torturer-killer of young boys.

The fear changed patterns of hving in the
Omaha-Bellevue area. The Teign of terror started
in September 1983, when a 13-year-old Bellevue
boy was found slashed to death. It didn’t end
until the following January, when Joubert was
finally arrested, five weeks after he took the life of
4 12-year-old boy, also of Bellevue.

Parents chauffeured their children to school
and accompanied them when they went out at
night. Some even discouraged their kids from
Playing in the yard. An animal was Stalking the
community's children. No one knew when it
might claim another victim.

One of the bodies bore evidence of tooth
marks. Joubert told officers he had tried to

disguise the marks by cutting the body with his
knife. And these weren't his first killings, Later it
came to light that he had killed a young boy in
Maine before moving to Nebraska.

Nebraska law allows the death penalty when
the crime is accompanied by one or more
aggravating circumstances, “Exceptional deprav-
ity” is one. U.S. District Judge William Cam-
bridge ruled Tuesday that Joubert must be
resentenced. Judge Cambridge said “exceptional
depravity,” as applied to Joubert's case, was
unconstitutionally vague.

In the next few days, learned scholars of the
law will attempt to show how the nghts of the
condemned man are violated unless the defini-
tion of “exceptional depravity” is refined to the
total satisfaction of the legal mind.

But it will be hard to Offer a convincing
explanation as to how exceptional depravity
doesn't apply to Sexually abusing a young boy
and then cutting and gnawing on his body.
Ordinary people will be Outraged. No one should
be surprised if ordinary people fee! betrayed by
the very system that was established to, among
Other things, protect their children.

{A “(C4 - Gi

‘Joubert’s Guilt Doubtless’

From: Barbara J. Borgeson, Omaha

Regarding the overturning of the death
penalty for John Joubert: Joubert admit-
ted his crimes. Evidence linked him with-
out a doubt to them. Judge Cambridge
isn’t even questioning Joubert’s guilt but
cites vague language as unconstitutional in
the description of the crime.

I understand and am concerned about
constitutional rights, but what about jus-
tice? Are we to be less concerned with the
constitutional rights of Danny Joe Eberle
and Christopher Paul Walden just because
they are dead?

A Welcome for Joubert?

From: LuAnn Tauchman, Omaha

Although I, along witb the majority of
Nebraskans, would like to see John Jou-
bert die in the electric chair, there would be
one consolation were his sentence convert-
ed to one of life imprisonment: He would
be released from death-row secunty and
could be turned into the general prison
populauon. The general prison population
would give him the “welcome” he’s due.

e

‘Can the Judge Sleep?”

From: Charlies Gilmore, Omaha

Judge: William Cambridge’s action of
overturning John Joubert’s death penalty
was despicable. Joubert is an admitted
killer of three boys and admitted he might
have done it again had he not been caught.
Is this what our judicial system has come
to? I can’t imagine Judge Cambridge
Sleeping at night knowing the heartache
and despair he has caused by this action.

I used to think President Reagan was a
great man and politician until I found out
that he is responsible for appointing Cam-
bridge to this position, from which he can’t.
be recalled. If it were possible, I'd be
leading the fight.

e

‘Joubert Is Bit of Flotsam’

From: Peter L. Larson, Omaha

The overturning of John Joubert’s death
sentence constitutes monkey shining with
something that, appropriately, had been
bre Joubert took the lives of three-

roductive young. boys. He is a piece of
umn flotsam. This stoops to a new low
Hep eyvh Oy il Lyfrition,

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW Ow

The writer is a clinical psychologist and a professor
at Florida State University. He opposed the execution of Harold Otey.

Race and the Death Penalty

BY KENT S. MILLER

1 would quarrel
with a sain of | REsPonse
Harold Andersen's | TO SEPT. 11
observations in his |  COWMN:
Sept. |] column, but | _ “EFFORTS
I comment primarily | TO SAVE OTEY
upon one — the issue UACKED
of racism. RATIONALITY:

Racism is not as
wrnasitwveinhk
recent past. But regardless of how
strongly the participants in capital
sentencing (jurors, prosecutors. judges)
disavow any personal prejudice, the
evidence of its presence in the system is
overwhelming.

Federal agencies, including the U.S.
General Accounting Office and the
US. Supreme Court, have conceded
that the victim's race is heavily asso-
ciated with death sentencing. A majori-
ty of the studies focused on this subject
om that race of the defendant also
influenced the likelihood of being
charged with a capital crime or receiv-
ing the death penalty.

Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote,
held that it would “demand exe: on-
ally clear proof before we would infer

that the discretion has been abused.” In
taking this position, the court acted
irrationally in that far less convincing
5lausucs have caused the court to inter-
vene because of discrimination related
to voung, housing or work.

Justice Brennan, dissenting in the
decision mentioned above. stressed that
the evidence of racial bias was strong
and “surely, we should not be willing to

take a person's life if the chance that his

death sentence was irrationally im
posed is more likely than not.”

Some argue that Nebraska is differ-
ent, that national statisucs do not
apply. Maybe. But of the hundreds of
murders in Nebraska since Otey's ar-
rest, why has only Otey been executed?

Between 1978 and 1991 (Nebraska
reinstituted the death penalty in 1977),
37 (of the 692 murder victims in
Nebraska were nonwhite, Yet, of the 10
men on death row at the time of Otey’s
execuuon, only one was there for killing
a nonwhite.

The statistics for Nebraska for this
period reveal that those who kill whites
are eight times more likely to be sen-
tenced to death than those who kill
nonwhites.

lo-1G AY Own’

‘Visit Victims’ Parents’

From: Ken Liedie, Omaha

I would like Judge William Cambridge
to visit the parents of Christopher Walden
and Danny Joe Eberle and explain to them
that their sons’ deaths did not fit the
definition of “exceptional depravity” be-
cause it is unconstitutionally vague.

°

‘l’ll Await Joubert’s Death’
From: Ingrid Barth, Omaha ,

I thank Raymond L. Parks for a well-
written Friday Pulse letter, “Let Me See
Killer Die.” I also want to see a killer
die. My husband and I were friends of
Christopher Walden’s family, and my
husband had to take the ternble news of :
Christopher’s death to Christopher's

andmother in Florida, How can Judge
William Cambridge live with his decision
that John Joubert be resentenced? ;

I request to be a witness at the execution
of John Joubert — the animal. Whenever
that will be, I will be looking forward to
that date.

Lo } ielr7 1a
ave Ciel Has ?

From: Larry Quigley, Omana

best ee 1994, = a dark day, even
though the sun shone brightly. Judge Fee

William Cambridge took it ot himself _‘Killings Seem Depraved’
to overturn John Joubert’s death sentence, From: Layne Yahnke, Omana

What in God’s name has happened to our
judicial system? Has it gone berserk? How Sioned
can this happen? How must the parents of eg Cambridge overturning John J
those two boys feel? My prayerisforthem. — “exce dead yrrescnd pe
And apart from genuine Tepentance, deep: _ tional

remorse and a total commitment to Jesus daebing and murder of two
Christ, John Joubert will one day get his His Honor natule exception
just due: eternity in hell.

's Honor has an unusual, perv

values, \cj 5 igus

4 ail G
Ont Sete

From: Thomas P, Staebell, Omana

Professor Michael Radelet, in his
Wednesday Another Point of View, ar-

ed that Harold Lamont Otey should
& received clemency from Governor
Nelson instead of being executed, Clemen-
cy would have commuted Otey’s sentence
from death to life in prison. Professor
Radelet aj Uy does’ not know the
anucs of Nebraska's Parole Board if he
believes “life in prison” means mi “id It
is precisely because a majority o ras-
pe righ believe Otey would have
ended his days in prison that he was
executed. thy :

I believe that actions: that deprive an
individual of her most precious possession,
life, should result in the perpetrator for-
feiting his life as well. Until “fe in prison
means just that, executions are the only
way to ensure that these murderers harm
no one else and justice is done for soacty
and the victims. They do not have tne
opportunity to have prominent advocates
speak of their needs, and | fear that the
professor's concern for the perpetrator's
needs far outweighs his concern for the
victim's.

‘No Sorrow for Otey’
From: Connie Krejci, Omaha

The State of Nebraska finally fulfilled
its obligation to Nebraskans and the
family of Jane McManus by carrying out
the execution of Harold Otey. Even thou
| agree with Governor Nelson that
“party” atmosphere at the State Peniten-
tiary was led for, | felt no sorrow for
Mr. Otey, He forged his own destiny the
morning he entered Miss McManus’ resi-
dence, .

The sorrow I have ever felt is for
Miss McManus and her family — imagin-
ing the pain and horror she was subjected
to Mr. Otey. The majority of Nebras-
kans — as indicated in a recent World-
Herald Poll — believe in the death penalty
for what it represents: the ultimate punish-
ment for the ultimate crime — murder.

e

I am saddened, sickened and disillu-

y the ruling of U.S, District Judge

‘Ou-
pecause the words
Y are unconstitu-

Y vague. If the torture, repeated

‘oung boys
depravity,
erse set of

OWWH sh, q T

‘Killers Deserve Death’

From: Oonaid €. Fry, Raision

| am appalled at the naive and hustor-c-
ally ignorant Pulse letters concernin
tal punishment. Harold Otey and ch ric
Starkweather were far greater enemie
than most of the Japanese and Germar
who were killed in World War II
deserved to die for their crimes.

| was trained by my government to fiz
and seni off to kill or be killed. This «
nght and had to be done to Protec
Ourselves and our country. | do not fez
“diminished” of “barbanc” for having
done so. The pansies who crv over
convicted murderer's life are Probably the
first to scream for the Police and armec
forces to protect them in a crisis. | am
willing and able to punish our society's
cncmucs. f necessary. to protect mysel/
my famuly and my country. And | am not a
murderer for having the guts to do so.

‘We Did Otey a Favor’

From: Lona L. Nichols, Wayne, Neo

Florida sociologist Michael Radele:
(Wednesday Another Point of View) is
undoubtedly an intelligent man. He
eves Harold Otcy’s death sentence
should have been commuted to life in
prison.

However, many Nebraskans were noi
the least bit concerned with what Flonda
psychologist Kent Miller called the “dra-
mauc progress in rehabilitation” Oirey
made in tus overextended Stay in pnson
The emphasis should have been on the
Sweetheart he was when raping and mur-
dering Jane McManus. A ury found Otey
guilly beyond a reasonable doubt, and he
Was sentenced to death. Beyond that point
| don't see how his charming personality
could have been a factor.

Otcy was not “a man who camed a
commutation to life impnsonment.” Otev
camed the pain and suffering he inflicted
on his victim, As far as I'm concerned, we
did him a favor,

e
‘McManuses Courageous’

From: Virginia M. Wood-um, Lincoin

Harold Otey was a vicious murderer
who cared about no one but himself. There
was talk about his having been rehabilitat-
ed. How would one know unless Otey had
been let out onto the street to prove
himself? A guaranteed life sentence with-
out parole? Baloney, Rapists and killers
are released on parole to walk the streets
and repeat their violence.

God bless the wonderful, courageous
McManus family. Jane will always live
on in their hearts. Maybe they can have
peace now,

My ll-year-old niece was murdered in
Louisiana in 1981. She was mutilated
almost beyond recognition. One murderer
was executed in 1987, The other received
life without parole. My sister, mother of
the victim, often fears that the one in

" prison will someday be released on parole

and kill again,
We need fewer appeals, and we need to
Clean out death row,

e
‘Executions Uncivilized’
From: Mary LaVelle, Omana

Executions are an outward Sign of an
uncivilized society, We are all members of
this immediate society called Nebraska,
When a murder occurs within our group
and we retaliate (punish) with another
killing, does sonety benefit? I believe we
don't.

Governor Nelson wants the next killin
to be more civilized, with less of a cami;
atmosphere. | don't think he has the nght
to dictate how people “act up” at an
execution of a state-insued death warrant.
The only right he has us the Power to stop
the killing,

Harold Otey dererved to spend the resi
Of his life in pnw. wih no chance of
open AS 2 fodent of the State of
Nebraska, | did nox deserve to be a party to
his murder.

*

ms

olent murder—
triends and the
: case—the pas-
uing Christmas
iost to at least
ceable matters.
able happened.
k again.
vecember 2nd,
yher Paul Wal-
e of his alarm
ie ancient B-52s
e Base as their
ber’s engines in
jaily ‘‘round-
is. As Christ-
the week’s last
nics, security
is Were chang-
light line, fresh
going Off shift.
ght plans to the
dispatcher and
eir giant bomb-
he flight line,
‘ly ate his last
ed his parents
warmth of his
school on this

ents know that
chool that day;
ie fafé that
\ awaited him.
|s of what hap-
ig after Christ-
‘ known, inall
as approached
which pulled
_ after which
ured by the
was physically
and taken to a
r the case, lit-
de it to school
! absent by his
i missed until
(hat afternoon.
n t return home
(ime, his parents
| and called the
n detained for
earned that he
that day they
rry thatcomes
id happened.
he police and
rcumstances,
another leng-
ition
Ss well as
acted every
ut no one had
iced his usual
id something

J. Lane 2 De

= a

Sd cli ass Si

_\ Sees

belonging to him that might indicate
what had happened. But again their
efforts proved to be in vain; likewise, no
one living in the neighborhood along
Christopher’s route to school had seen or
heard anything suspicious or otherwise
out of the ordinary.

Days passed slowly for Christopher’s
parents and friends following the filing
of the missing person report. Family and
friends, as well as the police in-
vestigators, made countless attempts to
uncover clues to Christopher’s where-
abouts, each attempt ultimately ending
in failure and frustration. Everyone con-
cerned tried to keep their hopes high,
though, and remained optimistic despite
the fact that there had been no sign of the
missing boy.

On the following Monday, December
Sth, three days after Christopher Walden
disappeared, the waiting was over for yet
another suffering, tormented family.
The thing everyone feared and dreaded
the most had happened.

C hristopher had been brutally mur-
dered.

The boy’s body had been located in
Sarpy County, as had Danny Eberle’s,
but instead of being left along a roadside
as Danny’s body was, Christopher had
been taken into a grove of trees. Accord-
ing to police reports the modus operandi
or the killer’s method of operation, was
the same as in the Eberle case in that a
young boy had been abducted from a
public street and subsequently stabbed to
death, with the body being found along
or near a roadside in Sarpy County.

According to autopsy reports released
by the county coroner’s office, Christ-
opher Walden died as a result of having
been repeatedly stabbed with a knife or
other sharp instrument. It was also be-
lieved, as in Danny Eberle’s case, that
Christopher’s death was sexually moti-
vated to fulfill the perpetrator’s sick, de-
mented lust for blood and pain inflicted
on a helpless victim.

Following a thorough search for clues
at the crime site, investigators came up
virtually empty-handed once again.
There was no murder weapon, no
obvious clues that could put the cops
onto a suspect. Only a young boy’s ra-
vaged, bloody body with the killer’s
same vicious ‘‘signature’’ in the form of
his MO which told the cops that he’d
struck again and ultimately challenged
them to catch him if they could.

By now, Sheriff Thomas and his in-
vestigators had no doubt they were deal-
ing with a killer who would definitely

strike again if he wasn’t caught. But at
this point the killer’s apprehension didn’t
seem a likely possibility, at least not in
the near future, due to the lack of clues in
the case. With little else he could do at
this point in the investigation, Sheriff
Thomas again made a plea for public
assistance and issued warnings to parents
and children to take extra precautions
until the child-killing maniac was
caught.

Following the murder of Christopher
Walden, more than 100 investigators
from several law enforcement agencies,
including the FBI, Omaha Police De-
partment, state police and adjacent coun-
ty sheriff's departments, took part in the
intensive manhunt for Nebraska’s child-
killer. However, each new lead only
proved utterly fruitless, and left the in-
vestigators little to work with.

The lawmen acknowledged that they
were probably dealing with a stranger-
against-stranger homicide case, the most
difficult type to solve, but they were re-
luctant to rule out the possibility that the
killer might have known his victims, due
to the fact that both boys were abducted
from public streets. They reasoned that
had the boys not known the suspect, they
would have put up a struggle and some-
one would have likely noticed and re-
ported the incident to police. On the
other hand, there was no known connec-
tion between the victims, one being from
Bellevue and the other from the county,
thus supporting stranger-against-
stranger theory.

By Monday, December 12th, after
utilizing and exhausting every in-
vestigative method at their disposal and
ultimately achieving no new leads and
virtually no siginificant results in the two
Sarpy County child homicides, Sheriff
Thomas and his investigators felt as if
they had been backed into a corner, un-
able to move until the killer made it
possible by claiming another innocent
victim.

Fear spread quickly throughout Sarpy
County, and in practically no time at all
the entire community was fearful of the
fiendish killer who preyed on little kids.
So intense was this fear that parents no
longer let their children out of their sight,
and demonstrated their concern for their
children’s safety by taking their kids to
school in the morning and picking them
up in the afternoon. Children were es-
corted to local stores, shops, ice cream
parlors, video arcades and so on, virtual-
ly everywhere they went. The local
newspapers even took additional pre-
cautions with their young carriers by
sending along adult escorts, just to make

certain the killer couldn’t take another
paperboy as his victm.

Feelings among law enforcement per-
sonnel and the general public alike
ranged from anger and outrage to fear
and disgust toward the killer who had
turned their once peaceful, safe commu-
nity into one of terror and distrust. Sher-
iff Thomas called a special press con-
ference and publicly denounced the kil-
ler as sick and in need of help, after
which he asked the killer to come for-
ward and turn himself in. Unfortunately,
no immediate results were achieved as a
result of the sheriff's statements and
pleas, and 1983 ended with the vicious
killer still at large.

On Wednesday morning, January 11,
1984 a female pre-school teacher arrived
at the school where she worked in the
community of Papillion, also in Sarpy
County. It was still early; none of the
school’s students, who range in age from
3 to 5, had arrived yet. The teacher was
all alone, and she didn’t immediately see
the young man as he quickly approached
her upon entering the building.

The teacher swung around just as the
youth lunged at her, but her eyes were
quick and she saw that the man was
brandishing a knife. Fortunately for her,
she was able to sidestep her attacker’s
thrust, and the blade of the knife missed
its target. Before her attacker had a
chance to make another sweep with the
knife, she screamed, and the young man
ran away. Unwilling to let him get away
scot-free, however, the teacher followed
at a safe distance, watched him get into a
car, and noted the car’s license number
as it sped away. Afterward, she ran to the
school’s parsonage next door and called
the sheriff's office to report the incident.

The next day, after tracing the car’s
license number to an airman at Offutt Air
Force Base just outside Omaha, Be-
llevue police officers arrested 20-year-
old John J. Joubert and charged him with
the attack on the pre-school teacher. Air-
man Joubert was transferred to the coun-
ty jail in Papillion, since the case was
under the jurisdiction of the sheriff's de-
partment, according to Bellevue Police
Chief Warren Robinson.

Investigators working on the knife in-
cident involving the pre-school teacher
learned that Joubert was originally from
Portland, Maine and had been trans-
ferred to Offutt Air Force Base in July,
1983, where he worked as . an avionics
mantenance apprentice with the 55th
Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. In his
spare time, the cops learned, Joubert

Official Detective 43

ind in these woods.

e]

note

Shine

————_.

by L.J. ROI

PORTLAND, MAINE
JULY 7, 1987

The last time he saw his 11-year-old
son, Richie Stetson’s father would re-
call, was ‘‘a few minutes before, or a
few minutes after eight o’clock’’ on the
steamy Sunday evening of August 22,
1982, at the intersection of Marginal
Way and the Preble Street Extension.

‘‘T called him over to the car and he
said he was doing his jogging, his exer-
cising. I said, ‘All right, be careful.’ If I
knew he was going out by the boule-
vard, | would have put him in the car
then.”’

When Richie’s father returned to his
Hanover Street home in the Back Cove
section of Portland, Maine, later that
night, he learned that his son had not
come back from his run. The boy’s par-
ents waited anxiously for Richie, or for

a call to explain his uncharacteristic tar-
diness, but,none came.

““When he didn’t come back, we
went looking for him,’’ the boy’s father
remembered.

Despite their intensive canvassing of
the neighborhood, the Stetsons found no
sign of Richie. So, just before midnight,
certain that.something serious was the
matter, they contacted Portland police
with an urgent request to find their boy.

Eleven-year-old Richard Stetson was
described as a red-haired, freckle-faced
boy last seen wearing a gray warm-up
suit. Short for his age at 3 feet, 7 inches
tall, the child was a student at Portland’s
Pupil Rehabilitative Education Program
on Cumberland Avenue. A grueling
search for a boy of that description pro-
duced no results, though. In fact, it was
not until 7 a.m. on Monday that the
search for the missing child came to an
end.

It was a female pedestrian and a male
motorist who first noticed the body in
the grassy triangle bordered by Wash-
ington Avenue, Interstate 295 and the
Baxter Boulevard ramp leading to
Tukey’s Bridge. Dressed in a gray out-
fit, the child lay on his back in a drain-
age ditch about 30 feet from the roads.
To the Portland police officers who
fielded their calls, the passersby ex-
plained that the body appeared to be
dead, evidently the victim of a hit-and-
run driver. And, despite the large blood-
stain on the child’s chest, the diagnosis
seemed accurate to the police respond-
ing to the scene.

Around eight o’clock on Monday

morning, a detective knocked on the
door of the Stetson home on Hanover
Street and asked if he could speak in
private with Richie’s father.

“Tl figured something happened,’’ the
child’s parent would tell reporters. ‘‘He
said, ‘It’s about Richie.’ When he hesi-
tated, I knew it was bad.’’

Only then did the child’s family learn
that Richie was dead, evidently the vic-
tim of a traffic accident.

It was not until they were apprised of
the results of the autopsy performed at
the Maine Medical Center that the po-
lice and the child’s relatives learned that
11-year-old Richard Stetson had not
been struck by a car, but had died of a
number of stab wounds to the chest and
of strangulation. Death, the pathologist
said, had probably occurred before mid-
night.

In light of the finding that the little
boy was an apparent murder victim,
Portland homicide investigators con-
tacted the Stetson family again to in-
quire what Richie might have been
doing near Tukey’s Bridge, so far from
home.

“‘Whatever made him go out that
way, I don’t know,”’ the boy’s father
said. Richie, he added, was ‘‘just a nor-
mal kid, full of fun. He was always here,
always trying to help somebody out, just
like any other kid growing up.”’

One of Richie’s teenaged brothers
and a friend of Richie’s told police that
they had been jogging with the boy
around the neighborhood early on Sun-
day evening.

‘‘He said he wanted to run the boule-

Inside Detective 39


volunteered as a Boy Scout leader.

Although investigators working on the
murders of Danny Eberle and Christ-
opher Walden did not immediately link
the knifing incident involving the pre-
school teacher with the deaths of the
young boys, Joubert was eventually sus-
pected of the murders because of jail-
house statements and subsequent in-
terviews with the homicide detectives.

Noting inconsistencies in many of his
statements to detectives when ques-
tioned about the Eberle and Walden
murders, Joubert was charged with first-
degree murder and kidnaping in connec-
tion with the stabbing deaths of the two
boys after “one thing led to another.”’ In
addition, Joubert was charged with using
a knife to commit a felony. Deputy
County Attorney John' Irwin demanded
$1 million cash bail.

‘Given the seriousness of the crime
and lack (of the suspect’s) ties to the
community, we are comfortable in mak-
ing the recommendations of $1 million
cash,”’ said Irwin. Judge Jeffrey Camp-
bell set bail at $10 million, requiring 10
percent or $1 million cash for Joubert’s
release. Joubert was lodged in the county
jail after pleading innocent to the
charges, unable to make bail.

While in jail, according to Chief Dep-
uty County Attorney Michael Wellman,
Joubert told psychiatrists that when he
went out on January 11th, to look for
someone to kill, he had set out to prove
that ‘‘he didn’t just pick up little boys,”’
and had chosen the pre-school teacher as
his next victim. In retrospect, Wellman
said he now believes that Sheriff Tho-
mas’ December 12th remarks in which
he denounced the child-killer ‘‘may have
made this case possible, although I di-
dn’t think so at the time. It may finally
have gotten him out.’’

Prior to his trial, Joubert confessed to
authorities that he killed Danny Eberle
and Christopher Walden. But in spite of
the confessions, his attorney, Public De-
fender James Miller, decided to stay with
the innocent plea and try the case before
a jury, banking on the likelihood of hav-
ing the admissions declared inadmissible
in court.

However, in May, Joubert allegedly
told a teenaged friend that he didn’t
know why he killed Danny Eberle and
Christopher Walden. The friend told the
investigators about Joubert’s confession
to him, rendering what little defense
Joubert had virtually useless. As a result
of the confession which Joubert’s attor-

ney said ‘‘was totally admissible in court
and put a kibosh on the idea of a trial,”’
Joubert was advised to plead guilty to the
charges against him.

Joubert took his lawyer’s advice and
pleaded guilty to two counts of first-
degree murder on July 3rd. On Tuesday.
October 9, 1984, John J. Joubert was
sentenced to die in the electric chair by
District Court Judge Ronald Reagan.
‘*The evidence is overwhelming that the
brutal murders were totally senseless and
bereft of any regard for human life,”’
said Judge Reagan as he handed out the
sentence.

Although Joubert received the death
sentence, most officials agree that it will
be years before it is carried out, if it is
carried out at all. Chief Deputy County
Attorney Wellman believes that, be-
cause of appeals processes, it will be at
least five years before the execution
occurs, perhaps longer, if ever. But, he
says, ‘‘I think the final rulings will be
favorable to the state, but this will be
some time. For now, however, Jou-
bert is on Nebraska's death row with
11 others awaiting execution, all exercis-
ing their rights to appeal.

kok

Bullet Sealed Her Lips (from page 18)

unconvincing delivery of it.

After they had some time to consider
it, they decided to go back to Bernice for
another try. This time she said that a man
whom she knew only casually, had
forced her to let him and another un-
known man into the house. Once in, she
was helpless to prevent them from taking
the guns.

It took about a day or so for Troopers
Petty and Faul to conclude that this little
story wouldn't wash, either. First of all,
they had no information about the where-
abouts of this person, if indeed he ex-
isted at all. When they returned to Be-
rice for further details, she was remark-
ably vague. This led them to conclude
that she had been leading them down the
primrose path once again.

When they confronted her again with
their doubts and suspicions, Bernice
finally decided to tell the truth, saying
she had been holding back only because
she feared for the safety of herself and
her child. James Michael Elliotte had
taken the guns, she told the Maryland

44 Official Detective

troopers, and he could be located at his
residence in Newark, Delaware. She
added that she had known Elliotte for
some time previous to this incident, and
he had found out through her about the
existence of the guns at this house.

As welcome as the truth was from
Bernice Makuck, it didn’t help very
much. This was because by now the trail
to recover the stolen weapons was
already three days old. When the Mary-
land investigators arrived at Elliotte’s
home in Newark, their suspect wasn’t
there, but his friend Bruce McGowan
was. McGowan proved to be a malleagle
witness, and without too much effort he
told them that he, too, had been involved
in the theft of the weapons. However, he
added that they were no longer at the
Newark residence. Instead, they had.
been taken to the home of another ac-
quaintance in Chesapeake City, Mary-
land.

When the troopers arrived at the Che-
sapeake City location, they found that
the guns had been removed again. The

acquaintance simply said that Elliotte
had just taken them. The guns were at his
place for over a day before he realized
Elliotte was stashing them there, he said.

There was nothing to be done, as it
turned out, about the weapons. By the
time the troopers caught up with Elliotte
at a gun shop, his ‘‘cache’’ of weapons
had been traded or sold off. According to
Trooper Faul, responsibility for this fail-
ure to recover the stolen property lay
with Bernice Makuck because of the de-
lays caused by her false stories. But at
least now, for the time being, Mike
Elliotte was in police custody and
charged with the theft along with Bruce
McGowan.

Within a few days, Elliotte was back
out on the streets after having a relative
post her home as bond. As the courts
move slowly, Elliotte’s trial on the theft
charge was delayed for more than a year
But it would be a mistake to assume that
the semi-employed construction worker
was not worried about his future pro-
spects of doing some hard time. In-
creasingly, it seemed, he also began to
become even more erratic and unpredict-
able in his behavior. He lost his place of
residence and became a ‘‘street person.”

His clean-cut
meanor gave
lected one 1n
a beard. The
him too, as ft
drug circles
user.
Through

actly what |
ship with hi
girlfriend at s
also taken ste}
socially. Th:

” thing to do wi!

as a Stale 's wi
she was now
tion. And gi
erratic and b
didn’t bode \
Not that tt
any cause \
caused by the
But now tha!
with the abr
head. they
template
what see!
derstandab!|
Elliotte ha
in the home
Bruce McGo.
tim. Now th
was fhe oF
standing bet
freedom fron
guns case
while El!
Bruce Mc‘
the police
could be res
Clearly.
State's Att
who was p!
case in Ce
Elliotte was
ing his cas
Makuck ar
cooperatiy
witness wa
had to be tai
Despite
could not
anything be
having an
and fami!
ative nad
Elliotte d
day ot f
rather thar
feited. He p:
land State !
His tna
In Februar
sented by)
Scarboroug!

son, |
call

POR]

The knifed body of 12-year-old Christopher Walden (inset) was found in these woods.

TRIGGER MAINE'S
BOY-STALKER?

rs

Se

bo
os ; Ase. im bs a
R

,

ing the
innocen

°

Death was the only punishment befitt

Ssectio!

ts.

ble crime against three i

ica

°

most desp

night,

com

ents \

38 Inside Detective

*s)

ee ly