Mr.
Mont Wiley was a member of a posse assigned by the sheriff to apprehend
John Deitz, who had successfully evaded arrest on a murder charge.
The following was a story dictated by Mr. Wiley to his wife.
Deitz
"In 1901,
John Deitz, the defender of the Cameron Dam, lived in an old logging camp
on Brunet River, at Price Dam in Sawyer County. He was a watchman
for the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company. His duties were to see
that the waters were reserved for log driving. Before the camps closed
down he had worked in the woods and had done a little farming.
In
1904, Deitz bought a piece of land east of Winter on the Thornapple River.
In the summer of that same year, the Chippewa Falls Lumber Company bought
forty acres of timberland near the Deitz farm supposing they had procured
the rights to Cameron Dam. But when the land was surveyed, Cameron
Dam proved to be within the boundaries of the land purchased by John F.
Deitz.
Deitz
settled in a log building formerly used by the lumberjacks. Here
he and his sons cleared land, put up other buildings and a root house.
The country was entirely unsettled. When the Deitz family went to
town they traveled on an old logging road which led to the main highway
into town.
Not
long after he settled at Cameron Dam, he tried to collect wages from the
Chippewa Lumber Company which he claimed was due for working as watchman
at Price Dam. The boss said he had been paid in full. The following
spring Deitz forbade the Company the use of the dam unless they pay him
$8,000 for 80,000,000 feet of logs that had passed through his land.
He appeared with his rifle to enforce his threat.
As
a result the Company rerouted and sent the logs by way of Flambeau River
to the sawmill. This was a longer and more roundabout way.
Finally the Company paid the wages which Deitz claimed, but still Deitz
remained hostile and would not let the logs pass through.
Deitz,
although uneducated himself, wanted his children to have schooling.
The school district agreed to pay the teacher's wages and furnish supplies.
A large room was built onto the Deitz home which was to be used for a schoolroom.
Instead, Deitz and his family moved into the new room and held school in
the old part of the house. It is said that Deitz could not keep a
teacher for any length of time. He expected the teacher to help with
the chores and other farm work.
While
in town one day with his son, Deitz had an argument with a member of the
school board. Bert Horel, who was Town Marshall, interceded and tried
to stop the dispute; Deitz drew a pistol and shot Horel in the arm; then
he and his son drove home in the old lumber wagon. Warrants were
sworn out for the arrest of Deitz, but he defied the authorities and said
if they wanted him, they'd have to come and get him.
The
sheriff organized a posse of eighteen deputized men. They surrounded
the Deitz place, pairing off and hiding behind the trees, stumps and bushes.
For several days they stayed in ambush. Finally two officials from
the State drove up in a lumber wagon. They entered the house and
entreated with Deitz to give up peacefully. Upon leaving they told
the posse that Deitz was a most stubborn and unreasonable man. Orders
were given that the posse would have to fight it out.
On
October 7, 1910, a cold foggy morning, the posse was ready for action.
Two of the deputies, Oscar Harp and Mont Wiley, were together. Harp
said, "Come on, Mont, let's move up closer. Deitz can't get us."
So they crawled over a knoll and moved up closer to the house. Deitz
shot at Harp, the bullet hitting him in the mouth, killing him instantly.
Another shot was fired at Wiley, but missed, as Wiley dodged just in time.
The rest of the posse were informed, then the firing and exchange of shots
really took place. About a half hour later, Deitz's little daughter,
Helen, ran out of the house waving a white handkerchief. She sought
the sheriff and told him that the family would surrender if they promised
not to kill her daddy who had been wounded. Upon her return to the
house, Deitz came out with two luggers strapped to his side and a rifle
under his arm. The posse covered him with guns, handcuffed him and
his son, Leslie, then brought them to Hayward. The whole family was
jailed.
The
following spring in May 1911, Deitz was tried for the murder of Oscar Harp.
John Deitz pleaded his own case and was allowed three hours for his plea.
He was convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison. The rest of
the family were released from jail."
At
the end of ten years, Deitz was pardoned. He died shortly after,
in 1924, in Milwaukee. He is buried in the Meadow Creek Cemetery
in Barron Co., Wisconsin.
