The following narrative came from
the "Osceola
Sun" dated 25 October 1906 and is a fitting introduction to the topic
of
John Deitz of Sawyer County Wisconsin & the picture is a 1922 photo:
THE
HERO OF THORNAPPLE DAM
Once in a
great
while, the moneyed forces mark a man as their victim, and, when they
come
to carry out their well-laid plans, find that they have singled out the
wrong man. They find a man who is willing to stand up for what he
considers right, even at the risk of losing his own life and
sacrificing
the lives of his wife and children and all else that he holds dear; a
man
who cannot be swerved from the stand he has taken when he knows that
that
stand is for the cause of justice; a man who cannot be frightened or
coerced
into give up his just dues. Such a many is John F. Deitz, the
prosecuted
hero of the Thornapple dam.
John
F. Deitz is
a man in every sense of the word. He is a type of sturdy pioneer
who reclaimed this land from the wilderness and made it the abode of a
thrifty people. All his life accustomed to the dangers and
hardships
which beset the pioneer in the wilderness, he fears no man. To
know
the man is to respect and honor him, and even the most bitter of his
enemies
will do him the justice to admit that he is honest in his convictions.
Thus you
now know the
character of the man known by many names -- John Deitz, John Dietz,
John
F. Deitz, and John H. Deitz, to name a few. Not only was there
confusion
about his name, but also about the very dam that he defended, among
which
include the Cameron Dam and the Thornapple Dam. But whatever he
was
called and whatever he defended, he was known country-wide for his
convictions
from which he refused to back down. Within this page I will
attempt
to tell you more about this fascinating man, his family and his story.
John
F. Deitz Timeline
April
3, 1861
Born in Winneconne, Wisconsin – 3rd Son of John & Almira
(Swart) Dietz.
1871
October…
The Dietz Family moves to Stanley Township (near Rice Lake) Barron
County,
Wisconsin.
1874
Daniel Shaw, Eau Claire Lumberman, under a charter built what became
later
known as the Cameron Dam, spending $5,000 on it and channel
improvements.
July
9, 1882
Married Hattie E. Young (a sixteen year old school teacher), daughter
of
Rufus L. Young & Mary A. (Brown) Young – she was also born on
December
26, 1866 in Clayton, Wisconsin in Winnebago County. Her folks had a
homestead
West of Rice Lake on Barker’s Creek.
1883
(about) Daughter May F. Deitz born.
1885
(about) Son, Clarence Born
1886
Son
Harold ‘Harry’ Deitz born
March
11, 1888,
Son Lester 'Leslie' Deitz born
April
20, 1891
John F. Deitz’s mother Almira (Swart) Dietz dies and is buried in
Meadow
Creek Cemetery. (She was born on September 23, 1831 in New York State)
1892
(about) Daughter, Myra Deitz born
1893
Daughter Leanna R. Deitz is born
July
15, 1897
Son Harold ‘Harry’ Deitz dies from small pox and was buried
in Meadow Creek
Cemetery
1898
(about)
Daughter Helen Deitz is born
April
14, 1899
Enters Real Estate Business with his older brother William W. Dietz.
December
13,
1899 John F. Deitz sells his farm 4 miles southwest of Rice Lake
April
29, 1900,
Daughter May F. Deitz marries Herman Voight
July
13, 1900
Daughter Leanna R. Deitz dies from the result of spider bite and was
buried
in Meadow Creek Cemetery
October
11, 1900
Purchases the Thornapple River Property from Jennie Cameron, widow of
Hugh
L. Cameron. Southwest Quarter of Section 20, Township 38 North, Range 4
West, in the name of Hattie E. Deitz for $280.00.
1900
(about)
Son Stanley Deitz is born
January
1901
Moves to Sawyer County Wisconsin, spending their first few weeks living
near Bishop’s Bridge (Ojibwa Township). Then moved to an
abandoned lumber
camp at the Price Dam, on the Brunet River just east of Winter (under
Lake
Winter today)
April
3, 1901
(According to John F. Deitz) John Mulligan, foreman of the Chippewa
Lumber
& Boom Company, of Chippewa Falls adjusts the flow (rising its
output)
from the dam asked him to serve as watchman for the Price Dam.
1902
Spring Election
– John F. Deitz goes to Hayward to cast his vote for Sheriff a
supporter
of Harry Shue. The election was stolen by Sheriff Giblin and his
cronies.
1902
Spring
– Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company pay John F. Deitz $72
for 36
days of work as Dam Watchman.
April
7, 1902,
John F. Deitz gives a speech (reported to be eloquent) at a special
Judicial
Review in Hayward, immediately after which Giblin and other incumbents
resigned, for a short period of time the ‘Old Guard’ in
Hayward lost power
and the major power broker in the county R .L. McCormick sold his
interests
in Hayward (North Wisconsin Lumber Company, Sawyer County State Bank
and
Hayward Electric Light & Power Company) to Edward Hines and moved
to
Washington State. It seems that the Old Guard Republicans had
bought
the Indian Vote, so their candidate would win. When the Indian
Agent
delivered the votes, every single vote from the reservation was for
Giblin
and when those who were supposed to have voted were asked, it was
learned
that they had never voted, and many did not know they were even allowed
to. This is what Deitz brought up, he delivered the ‘coup
de gras.’
Deitz made many enemies in Hayward and the within the moneyed
establishment
of Sawyer County and many friends every where else.
1904
(about)
Son John F. Deitz, Jr., is born
February
1904
– Prior to moving from Price Dam and onto their place on the
Thornapple
River. Deitz wrote the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company demanded pay
for the entire period he lived at Price Dam. The company referred
the matter to their foreman John Mulligan. When Deitz present him
with the bill a brawl occurred, Deitz getting the better of Mulligan
and
a ‘scaler.’ It is with this incident that
Deitz’s problems with the
Lumber Companies began.
February
14,
1904 – The Deitz Family move from the Brunet River site
to their
land along the Thornapple River at Cameron Dam. Refused to allow
Chippewa Lumber Co. to move logs through the dam, without statutory
compensation.
April
1, 1904
After
having determined that most of the Cameron Dam was on his property,
John
posts on the dam a sign that reads, ‘NO TRESPASS – All
persons are strictly
forbidden trespassing on the N½ of the SW½ and S½
of NW¼ Sec. 20 38-4W, at their peril – John F.
Deitz’
When this was soon discovered by the Chippewa Lumber & Boom
Company,
Deitz presented them with a bill for $8,000. They offered him
$500,
which he spurned.
April
27, 1904
Sheriff Charles Peterson, from Hayward, delivered an
‘injunction’ from
Judge John K. Parish, 15th Circuit Court on behalf of the Chippewa
Lumber
& Boom Company. Sheriff Peterson did not give ‘regular
service’ to
the injunction as it was to John F. Deitz rather than to Hattie E.
Deitz,
the lawful property owner, nor did the injunction include the
judge’s signature.
April
29, 1904
Deitz’s
sons open the gates on Cameron Dam allowing the water to escape and
stranding
about 5,000,000 board feet of white pine (5,000 logs) in the marsh
above
the dam.
May
3, 1904 Deputy
Sheriff Fred Clark came to the Deitz homestead and tried to talk John
into
quietly agreeing to being arrested, when this failed he warned John to
be careful because big trouble was coming his way.
May
8, 1904
With the object of arresting Deputy Sheriffs William Giblin and William
Ellliot, farm hand Erwin Giauque and Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company
employee
Pat Magin, and the camp foreman John Mulligan. When they were about 3
miles
away from the dam, two men, John F. Deitz and his neighbor Valentine
Weisenbach
jumped out of the woods ordered the men to put their hands up and then
began to fire. Four bullets hit the wagon, breaking Magin’s
forearm and
cutting one of his suspenders, putting a hole in one man’s
hat. Erwin
Giauque dove head first out on the road, while the team and the rest of
the posse. He ended up chasing them down the road towards the
Cameron
Dam.
May
9, 1904
While eating lunch with the loggers Deputy Giblin inside the cook
shanty,
they came under fire from an unknown man, two shots were fired, one
breaking
the arm of logger John Tracy and grazing another logger Bill Tromblay.
They assumed that Deitz was the shooter and lumber company removed its
crew and reapplied to Judge Parish’s court in Hayward.
May
1904
John F. Deitz writes his brother asking for help. William W. Deitz, the
former sheriff of Barron County and a Republican stalwart, sought and
received
an interview with Governor Robert M. LaFollette. The governor who was
at
the time deeply involved with a struggle for control of the Republican
Party, only promised that he would not send militia to capture
John.
What the Deitz brothers had wanted him to do was to arbitrate the
situation.
He did not.
May
11, 1904
Judge Parish orders 24 rifles and 720 rounds from the Nation Guard unit
in Ashland, the unit refused without an order from the Governor.
June
5, 1904
Judge Parish issues his decision in the case of Chippewa Lumber &
Boom
Company v. John F. Deitz it recognized the right of the Company to
operate
the dam, and that people like Deitz who defied the law were nothing
more
than anarchist. The Sawyer County District Attorney drew up criminal
complaints
for arrest against John F. Deitz and Valentine Weisenbach. All attempts
by Sheriff Peterson to serve the warrants were futile.
July
20, 1904
William
Irvin, manager of the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company and first
citizen
of Chippewa Falls came to the clearing and pleaded with John F. Deitz
to
let the issue be arbitrated, as they both were
‘freemasons,’ that they
should allow the Grandmaster of the Wisconsin Masons to sit as a board
of arbitration. Deitz refused because he did not trust the lawyers
working
for Irvine and other of his lumber associates because they had paid for
the arms that Deputy Sheriff Giblin had brought with him to the Dam on
May 8th. He also felt that if he held out he could get even a
better
deal.
October
3, 1904
Judge Parish sites Sheriff Peterson in contempt, removes him from
office,
for not seeing that the warrants against Deitz and Weisenbach.
Sheriff
Peterson was fined $150 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, neither
of
which were ever enforced as the county had an outstanding amount due to
Sheriff Peterson of $2,500 and the parties came to an agreement, that
remained
private.
October
1904
James Grist is appointed by Governor LaFollette as interim Sawyer
County
Sheriff. He tells a local paper he will arrest Deitz or take a bullet
trying.
His one attempt was fruitless when Deitz tossed aside his papers and
scared
him away.
October
25, 1904
The Sawyer County Board of Supervisors authorizes up to $500 for the
assistance
in the arrest of John F. Deitz.
November
1904
James Gylland is elect sheriff.
February
28,
1905 – The Chippewa Lumber & Boom Company along with
The Mississippi
River Logging Company obtains a complaint, summons and an injunction on
John F. Deitz, from Judge A. L. Sanborn of the US District Court in
Madison.
March
11, 1905
Deputy Marshal W.T. Pugh attempts to serve the papers on John F. Deitz
at Cameron Dam, Deitz refuses to be served.
Late
March 1905
E.L. Ainsworth an officer of the Chippewa Boom & Lumber Company
hires
a dozen ‘operatives’ from the McGuire & White Detective
Agency of Chicago
to assist federal marshals in dealing with the ‘Deitz
Problem.’ The
operatives were sworn in as deputies.
April
3, 1905
Deputy Federal Marshall Heman Jonas, disguised as a ‘timber
cruiser’, succeeded
in entering the Deitz home, Deitz immediately realized he was being
duped,
hit him in the face and drove him out of his house at pistol
point.
Hoping that Deitz would surrender peacefully a siege of the homestead
and
dam began.
April
29, 1905
- Valentine Weisenbach is arrested by two special deputies of the
Sawyer
County Sheriff’s office. William W. Dietz and Henry Dietz
posted
bail and got his trial removed to Chippewa County. (this trial was
repeatedly
delayed).
May
22, 1905
– US Marshall William H. Appleby and 25 men converge on Cameron
Dam from
the north fork of the Flambeau River. Their scouts are spotted
and
run off. And the attempt is abandoned
July
3, 1905
Sheriff
Gylland of Sawyer County tried to arrest Deitz and failed. So did
the sheriff of Chippewa County when he tried to serve Deitz with a
summons
to appear in court for the trial of Valentine Weisenbach.
Judicial
anger in the state grows with judges demanding that the governor send
in
militia to end ‘the anarchy.’ The Governor does not oblige
them.
January
1, 1906
James O. Davidson replaces Robert M. LaFollette, who has selected as a
US Senator from Wisconsin.
January
15, 1906
The annual board meeting of the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company
resulted
it a resolution demanding that the governor send in troops to deal with
Deitz, that no mere county sheriff should be expected to. Governor
Davis
publicly does nothing.
April
13, 1906
A Federal Marshall approaches the Deitz place but is not allowed to
come
any closer than the lumber pile on which he leaves a oilskin cloth
which
was used to wrap a sheaf of civil and criminal warrant. Deitz
using
a pitch fork toss it into the Thornapple River, later telling folks
‘I
thought it might possibly be an infernal machine.’
April
15, 1906
With Spring run off in heavily flow the gates of the Cameron Dam are
mysteriously
closed and quickly the water tops the dam and washes out the west wall
of the dam, about half of the timber goes down the river but the other
half is scattered in the woods. Deitz no longer has to
watch
the dam, both sides blame the other for the gate closing.
May
3, 1906
Valentine Weisenbach’s trial in Chippewa Falls begins. The trial
is more
a trial against Deitz than one against Weisenbach, he is referred to as
‘a gang member’
May
6, 1906
Valentine Weisenbach was convicted of attempted murder.
May
9, 1906
Valentine Weisenbach was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
May
22, 1906
Sawyer
County Board pass a resolution reminding the Sheriff of his
responsibility
to apprehend John F. Deitz, and also stated they wanted to be consulted
in advance about costs above and beyond normal.
May
24, 1906
Governor Davidson sends Wisconsin Adjutant General Charles R. Broadman
on a fact finding mission. He talk to scores of people in Barron
and Sawyer County. He finds public opinion totally mixed when it came
to
what to do about John F. Deitz. Many saw him as really having done
nothing
wrong, that it was all trumped up by the logging company, others saw
him
as the most dangerous man in the country, even people that knew him and
were friendly with him were scared of him and what he might do.
July
25, 1906,
While John Deitz was cutting marsh hay adjacent to the Thornapple
River,
8 year old Helen notices a man making his way through the tall grass on
the far side of the river. Hattie and Myra get the 3 younger
children
in the house, while John and his sons Clarence and Leslie picked up the
rifles they had with them. They notice a number of men on the
other
side of the river. John ordered them off his land. In the
midst
of this one of the Deitz’s cow become very vocal and interested
in a clump
of willow on the south edge of the clearing and as Clarence walked
towards
it, a shot rang out and Clarence was hit in the face. John and
Leslie
returned fire and then got Clarence to the house. Confusion resulted as
to who the men in the posse were, for some time it was thought that the
Governor had sent in the militia, but it was Sawyer County Sheriff
Gylland
and his posse, led to the site by James Hedrington, foreman for the
Chippewa
Lumber & Boom Company. The posse was promised $5 a day for taking
part,
they were given uniforms to look like state militia. One man was
injured
John Rogich, he was shot in through the ankle, buttock and his neck was
grazed. After this affair Sheriff Gylland informed the press that
‘the only way to take Deitz was to kill the who family, as the
women and
the children had also shot at them.’ This little adventure of
Sheriff Gylland
cost the tax payers $2,300. This incident turned public sentiment
totally
to Deitz’s side (with the exception of the Hayward
Establishment).
It made national news and the fact that the men dressed as State
Militia
embarrassed the governor and the state to no end. Reporters begin to
flock
to the Deitz’s place.
Fall
1906
The fall elections for Sawyer County District Attorney and Sheriff
became
the next battle ground. In the District Attorney’s race the
Republican
Establishment candidate and incumbent Frank L. McNamara had a
primary
challenge from the County Judge Sam Williamson, who declared that Deitz
like every other citizen had the right to justice and equity.
McNamara
lost but then ran as an independent and when the Democrat withdrew from
the race – McNamara one. Yet in the Sheriff’s race
Sheriff Gylland
was replace by Joe Clark, a man known to be soft on Deitz.
December
15,
1906 Mississippi Logging Company gets a judgment in Federal
Court
against John F. & Hattie E. Deitz for $20,025.00.
April
4, 1907
A Grand Jury in Sawyer County indicts John F, Deitz, Hattie E. Deitz,
Myra
Deitz, Clarence Deitz and Leslie Deitz for attempted murder of the
Gylland
posse on July 25, 1906. The warrants for their arrest were made and
given
to Sheriff Clark, who stated that as far as he was concerned the issue
was over when the dam washed out and refused to honor the warrants.
May
22, 1907
The Sawyer County Board of Commissioners meets because they are tired
of
the county being the butt of jokes about the Deitz affair offers an
award
of up to $1000 to anyone who can assist the Sheriff in arresting John
F.
Deitz.
May
29, 1907
John F. Deitz and Clarence appear in Winter, Wisconsin. This
caused
a real stir and he declared that he would continue his resistance.
June
10, 1907
W.E. Moses an independent logger from Northfield Minnesota, arrives at
Cameron Dam with a conciliatory letter from Fredrick Weyerhaeuser in
St.
Paul, stating that he wanted no violence and offered to pay Deitz the
money
that Deitz said they owned him for watching the Price Dam in 1901-1903
and for this Weyerhauser wanted Moses to be allowed to come and remove
the timber north of the Dam over land. Moses insisted that a
proper
and agreeable property line be set and this was when it was discovered
that Deitz owned even more of the Dam than he initially thought.
September
16,
1907 W.E.
Moses, accompanied by William W. Dietz (John’s oldest brother)
arrived
at the Deitz home and give John $1,717.00 and John & Hattie sign
papers
authorizing the removal of the logs.
Mid
March 1908
All of the Weyerhaeuser logs are removed from above the dam, by use of
steam skidder
Mid
November
1908 Son, Stanley Deitz died of pneumonia and was buried on the
ridge to the east of the home at Thornapple River.
September
1909
John F. Deitz appears at the Lake Chetek Chautauqua, Chetek Wisconsin.
September
6,
1910 John, Clarence and Leslie Deitz come to Winter to vote in
the Primaries. While John was hitching up the team for the ride back,
Clarence
Deitz became involved in an argument with the president of the School
Board
Charles G. O’Hare, about the agreement to provide a school
teacher and
$20 a month so that the Deitz children could be educated at home.
John left the team and started arguing with O’Hare. When their
voices rose
a big logger named Bert Horel with a reputation for fighting tried to
separate
John Deitz and O’Hara and John Deitz was knocked to the
ground. Deitz
got back up with a pistol in his hand and shot Horel in the neck,
nearly
killing him. With gun in hand the Deitz pushed their way through the
crowd
and made their way home. (This act turned the people of Southern Sawyer
County against Deitz)
September
7,
1910 Town Chairman Joseph Buckwheat swore out the complaint
against
John F. Deitz for the ate mpted murder of Albert ‘Bert’
Horel, Judge John
Roirdan issues the warrant for his arrest.
September
12,
1910 Deitz and his sons arrive in Winter defiant looking and to
purchase supplies and ammunition. They are unmolested.
September
13,
1910 Someone fires a shot at Deitz as he walks from the barn
to
the house.
October
1, 1910
- Leslie, Clarence and Myra Deitz ambushed along the road to Winter by
Sheriff Madden and the two people he deputized two wood wise lumbermen
to assist in the arrest of the Deitz family, Fred Thorbahn, a store
keeper
in Radisson and Roy Van Alstine, a Kentucky born neighbor of
Deitz.
Leslie escaped, Myra wounded and arrested and Clarence was also wounded
and arrested. Sheriff Madden had expected John himself to be on the
wagon.
When they got back to Winter, Clarence, who was shot in the arm was
treated
and then locked up in the town hall. While Myra was placed under guard
in a hotel room, she was not expected to live, she was shot in the
fleshy
part of her back and a fragment of her corset nicked her spine. The
Sheriff
closed all the saloons in Winter, deputized a dozen more men and
prepared
for John Deitz to attack the village. Deputy Van Alstine removes his
family
to town. Deitz was convinced by his wife and a reported named
Floyd
P. Gibbons that going to Winter would be a trap. Gibbons went to
town.
October
3, 1910
Gibbons and the doctor administering to Myra convince the Sheriff and
the
District Attorney that Myra will die unless they can get her to a
hospital.
She was moved at dawn carried on a cot, through a livery stable and
onto
the baggage car of the 7:10 train bound eventually for Ashland’s
St. Joseph
hospital. It took a score deputies to escort the young lady to the
train
and they had her completely covered in quilts. The treatment of
Myra
Deitz turned sentiment back towards John Deitz and away from the
Sheriff
and District Attorney.
October
5, 1910
Deputies Thorbahn and Van Alstine are put in charge of the 30 or so
deputies
that have surrounded the Deitz property. Winter, Wisconsin is
full
of reporters, lumber jacks, the sight seers, and the drifters.
Despite
the injunction to close the saloons, liquor flow freely and the ladies
who work at the Hotel go on strike to protest the drunkenness of their
patrons.
October
6, 1910
Three men arrive at the besieged Deitz Farm, G.W. Froelich a St. Paul
businessman
who volunteered to act as intermediary, Frank L. Gilbert, Attorney
General
of the State of Wisconsin and Governor Davidson’s private
secretary and
former State Senator Oliver G. Munson. They crossed the Thornapple and
were greeted by John Deitz and introduced to Hattie, who was pregnant,
daughter Helen and sons Leslie and Johnny. They try to convince
Deitz
to surrender.
October
7, 1910
Froelich, Gilbert and Munson return for a second day of trying to
convince
Deitz to give up and Mrs. Deitz reject the offer to evacuate her and
the
children.
October
8, 1910
– 9:30 am Helen Deitz comes out of the house to call the cows for
milking
followed by her brother Leslie, John Britton opens fire and Leslie ran
back into the house amid a hail of bullets from all sides. Hattie
covers herself and her children with a make shift barricade. John moves
from the house to the barn to draw fire away from the family. 10:30 am
under the orders of Thorbahn, 4 men attempt to approach the farm from
the
southeast and one of them Oscar Harp was shot in the mouth and died
instantly
as the bullet transversed the length of his body. At 3 pm John Deitz
ran
from the barn to the house having been shot in the hand. At this
point Hattie pleaded with him to surrender and on her volition Helen
went
outside waving a white town. After a short negotiation John Deitz and
his
family surrendered after siege. John Deitz shot in hand. This was the
tenth
attempt to arrest him.
October
10, 1910
Oscar Harp’s funeral and the inquest was held into his death, the
inquest
because it could not determine who fired the shot brought murder
charges
against John, Leslie and Hattie Deizt, they had no council.
October
12, 1910
Bail Set for Hattie Deitz at $4,000, Leslies at $10,000 and John at
$40,000
(an additional $22,500 was required for the charge of attempted murder
of Bert Horel). Clarence Deitz released on bail.
December
5, 1910
-
Myra Deitz released from Ashland Hospital. Hattie Deitz (at $4,000) and
Leslie Deitz (at $10,000) released on bail.
January
7, 1911
– John Deitz out on $62,500 bail. The family lives at the
Gustafson farm
west of Rice Lake.
March
7, 1911
Son Clifton Deitz born
March
9, 1911
Son Clifton Deitz dies, cause of death is ‘pre-natal trauma
during Cameron
Dam Siege.’
May
2, 1911
- Trial at Hayward with Deitz conducting his own defense. Deitz
loses
bail. Deitz, wife and Leslie charged with murder of Deputy Oscar
Harp.
May
13, 1911
-
Jury out sixteen hours. Deitz found guilty of murder in the first
degree and sentenced to Waupun for life. Mrs. Deitz and Leslie
freed.
May
20, 1911
– John Deitz enters Waupan and becomes Prisoner #11342
Spring
1912
Sawyer County reels at the expense of the trial and absolutely refuses
to pay the $1000 for the surgery to Myra Deitz in Ashland.
March
16, 1912
The Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin arguments for and against
Deitz
and up holds the conviction and the sentence.
May
15, 1913
John Dietz, Sr., John F. Deitz’s father dies in Rice Lake and is
buried
at Meadow Creek Cemetery. He was born on July 22, 1824 in Hessan
Darmstadt
Germany. He immigrated to the US in 1847, coming to Wisconsin and
married
Almira Swart in 1851. They came to Winneconne, Wisconsin in 1855.
Veteran of the Civil War (GAR) as a member of Company C of the First
Wisconsin
Artillery (September 1864 to End of War).
August
9, 1913
Valentine Weisenbach released from prison.
Fall
1913
Eugene Newman, a movie producer came to Cameron Dam to shoot the movie
‘Dietz – Battle of Cameron Dam’ Myra played her
mother and later married
Newman (her first husband) This movie along with a lyceum show was used
by the family to help defray legal expenses and to support petitions of
clemency for John F. Deitz.
December
31,
1914 on his last day in office Governor Francis E. McGovern
reduces
John F. Deitz conviction to second degree murder and reduces his
sentence
to 20 years. (This made him eligible for parole in August 1922).
1915
William W. Dietz oldest brother of John F. Deitz dies in Rice Lake and
is buried in the Meadow Creek Cemetery. (Born July 25, 1853)
December
9, 1916
Governor Emanuel L. Phillipp denies John F. Deitz a pardon
May
21, 1921
Governor John J. Blaine pardons John F. Deitz and he is released from
prison.
Late
Summer 1921John
F. Deitz and Hattie Deitz separate, Hattie living in Mayville,
Wisconsin
and John moving to Milwaukee.
May
1923
John F. Deitz & George Garbrecht of Milwaukee make a trip to
Winter,
they visit Cameron Dam & Stanley’s grave, John almost breaks
down when
he talked about burying him without an undertaker, minister and how he
read a prayer those many years ago. Then they visit his family in Rice
Lake staying with his eldest daughterMay, Mrs. Herman Voigt
May
8, 1924
John F. Deitz dies at West Side Hospital in Milwaukee
May
11, 1924,
John F. Deitz buried at Meadow Creek Cemetery in an unmarked grave
– at
the insistence of Stanley Township officials.
January
4, 1937
Henry Dietz Sr. last brother of John F. Deitz dies in Rice Lake and is
buried in Meadow Creek Cemetery. (Born 1854)
1942
Hattie
E. (Young) Deitz dies in Rice Lake and was buried in Meadow Creek
Cemetery.
.
John F. Deitz October 1910 Sawyer
County
Jail, Hayward Wisconsin
