People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1893 — ASSASSINATED. [ARTICLE]

ASSASSINATED.

I A Prominent Sullivan (lud.) Lawyer Shot Read on Street. 6cllivan, Ind., Dee. 27. —Lawyer John S. Hultz, of this place, was shot dead on the street here Sunday morning by a man who wore a wig and a mask. The wig was found afteavard in a pond on a line between the place where the shots were fired and the home of ex-Sheriff Willis. Willis is under arrest on suspicion of commitI ting the crime He claims to be inno- ! sent The shooting was done with a shotgun and the charges in both barrels ! were emptied into Hultz’ back. The lawyer saw the man coming toward him and turned to retreat. When the ■ first shot was fired Hultz turned ! into »a stable, and as he did |so the second shot brought him : down. He died almost instantly. The j assassin ran away and the stock of the 1 gun, the wig and face mask were ; thrown in the pond. Ex-Sheriff Willis j was arrested, but protests that he is in- | nocent- Several persons saw the shoot/ j ihg, but the disguise was so complete ; that they cannot say who did the killi ing - : ■ Within forty minutes after the shootj ing sufficient evidence was collected against Willis that if established will place his neck in great danger. A small boy saw the assassin in a stairway putting on the wig. When |he added a beard the boy be- , came frightened and took to his j heels. He says positively that the man j was “Lem” Willis. A hostler of the i stable who ran to the dying man was j told by Hultz that Willis had killed him. The man who threw the things in j the pond was observed and watched. , He went in the direction of the highj way. Willis was met in the highway , a few minutes later by a farmer who ' saw him go to a neighboring farrn- : house. Willis was coming to the city | with the son of this farmer. When he i met the constable the murderer wore rubber boots, and it is said that Willis | removed the rubber boots as soon as he j reached the house and put on shoes. The preliminary trial will be held December 28. I Hultz was shot several months ago by j the ex-sheriff, who found him in a compromising position in the Willis residence. Willis had been Hultz’ personal ! and political friend, and had done more 1 than any one else to secure the latter’s ’ election as prosecuting attorney, j When Willis, learned that there j was ground for the suspicion that Hultz and Mrs. Willis were too intimate he set a trap and with his brother caught the couple together. He fired several times and two bullets entered liultz’s body. The lawyer escaped to a friend’s house, where a physician dressed what were thought to be fatal wounds. Willis put Mrs. Willis in a buggy and drove to her father’s house, where he left her. Hultz recovered and Willis brought suit against him for §25,000 damages, not with hope of recovering anything, j but, as was said at the time, to crush j the lawyer or drive him out of town, ; It had the latter effect, but recently ; Hultz returned to Sullivan and announced through the newspapers that i he had come to stay.