Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1886 — HANGING of WARTENA. [ARTICLE]

HANGING of WARTENA.

from Supplement) THE STORY OF THE CRIME. . Weibreu Wurtena, a native-bf the Maritime province of Frieslaild, Hyilaffd, came to this country, with his fatuity, in the spring of 1883. He lived near Pullman, near Chicago, in Cook county, Illinois, one year, working in a shop of sonde kind, and as a hand on a farm or market garden. In the spring of Isß4, moved to Keener township, in this coilfity, and, after living for s short time on ail island in the Kankakee river, moved into an unoccupied house about 1 mile from the station of DeMoite. Besought to make ills living, ihaiiily by fishing iu the river and peddling the hsli, xhoughsometimes working for his neighbors by. the day. The lamily were desperately poor, and, doubtless, often in actual want. The nearest neighbor to the Nd aTtena family was John JDreger, a German, who, tiiougn still young, was a widower, and lived alone in nis house on a farm of JO acres. He was an unoffending and most amiable man, “without an enemy iu the world,” and , moreover, was a very liberalirieud of the VVnrtenas’, and often gave them assistance in various ways. He owned considerable personal property, and live stock, and among tlie latter several good cows, the milk of which he freely gave to his neighbor, Wartena. ibome 2 or 3 months before the crime w r as committed, Wartena began talking to his neighbors of a check; fur winch he soon expected to receive from Holland, and of Ins intentions of buying Hreger’s .personal properly. On the bill of cNctober Dreg er, after much solicitation on the part of Wartena, borrowed a light wagon of a neighbor named Brooks, <md hitching his (Dreger’s) team to tlie wagon started with Wartena, for the river, a distance of 2or 3 miles, to bring home some fish the latter svid he caught and left there. Before starting Wartena loaded his double barrel snot gun, and also placed iu the wagon two old iron pumps which he had picked up some place in the neighborhood. The two men started from Wartena’s place about 2 c’clock in the afternoon. The events of tnat fatal journey, are known from Wartena’s own confession, and from corroborating circumstances. The country in which tiiese two men lived is thinly settled and piest of it stall unenclosed, and largely covered with timber and dense underbrush. Tlie umce on tue river to which they drove is wild and lonely, surrounded by trees and willows, far ,rom any Human habitation, and wnere, ordinarily, the sound of human voices is not heard once a year. Driving up to tlie river bank the two men got out of tlie wagon, Dreger being tlie first to aligut. Wartena followed witn gun m hand, and in less time prob r ably than it requires to wHre tlie story of tnis fearful deed, tne gun was clubbed and Dreger felled to the ground, senseless, by a blow across the head The force of the blow broke tbe gun at the locks and ie.l a long, jagged point reaching backward from tne breech. Witn this long point the ill-fated man was staboed in the neck, oelowtne ear, again and again, until life was extinct. It had been the intention cf the murderer to shoot Dreger, but fiaa.ly, for fear of attracting attention by the noise of tlie report, he cruelly anti barbarously mangled him to death in the manner described. As soon as Dreger was dead, the murderer took tne rope lialter from the horses, and tied the i.on pumps 1 firmly to his' victim's back, sunk tl\e body in the river, removed all vestiges of *lie horrid deed, got into the wagon and drove buck home. Arriving there he immediately took possessiuir of the murdered man’s property and removed it to liis own house.- Horses, cows and other stock, household goods, everything, even to tlie deceased wire’s clothing. The new suit of clothing belonging to Dreger, he buried so cunningly that afterwards 'they were found with the greatest difficulty even"when lie had described tne place where they were iiidvien. To the neighbors he gave out t hat lie had bought all of this property for £375 end given therefor a draii for S-10J and said that Dreger had, on the morning after - tfie trip to the river, started,Her Chicago to‘get the draft cashed, with the promise of returning the extra 825. Three weeks passed by, Tlie neighbors &nd friends of the misusing man wondered* that ha should have left in so sudden and unaccountable a manner, Whfle the murderer .often si okfc of- the $25 Dredger had failed to repay him. '• Whatever the neighbors may have suspected «£ to Dreger’s fate they could, have fio way to prove, that jhe wtis murdered or' fasten■ the

crime upon Wartena, but for one fatal error. The weather was unusually warm for October, and the murderer miscalculated the buoyant power of the body after it had lain in the water for a few. weeks. The pumps were not heavy enough to hold the bodj* down after the process of decomposition had distended it with gas, and on the last day of October a man rowing his boat into a secluded bend of the river, in search of favorable places to set traps, was' horrified to discover the body of a man floating, face,upward in the river. SUBSEQU NT HISTORY. Of the identification of the body, the inquest, all of which Wa r ten a was an, apparently, unmoved spectator, of his arrest and subsequent confession, finding the buried clothes, and many other incidents of this interesting case, we can not speak in detail. In January, 1885, lie.plead guilty to tlie charge of murder iu the first degree, ancl was sentenced by Judge Ward, to be hanged, May 15 tli. Before the day set for the execution, extensively signed petitions for, and remonstrances against the' commutatioh of the sentence, were “placed before the Governor. He took no action in the case, however, but only a few days before the appointed day and after the gallows and its enclosing walls had been erected, the Supreme Court ordered a new trial on she grounds that the, Court erred in lnmself fixing the degree of punishment, instead-of calling a jury to decide tlie matter, The case was again reached in .the June term, but continued till the October term, to allow the attorney for the prisoner, F. W. Babcock, Esq., rj time to procure certain depositions from Holland, which he believed were important. The attorney entered the plea of not guilty, «and the special plea of insanity. The second trial of ti e case was begun on Wednesday, Nov, 3rd, 1.885, before Judge Ward, and an unusually intelligent and impartial jury. The attorneys for the St Ye were M. H. Walker, of Fowler, the Prosecuting Attorney, aud 1!. W. Marshall, of Feener township. For the defense, F. W .Babcock.an.l H. K Dv/iggins, the latter gentleman’s connection with the call' being entirely voluntary’.’ It was a great trial, in exery respect, but especially notable for the- great ability with which it was argued by the counsel. All the arguments were 6xc limit, but the closing speech of Mr. YY o-liter was, perhaps,’ the most eloquent and convincing appeal ever addressed so a jury in this circuit. The jury t-o >k the case about no'op, on Saturday, and a little aftei noon, on S«nrVay, brought in u verdict of guilty, and. fixed the" penalty at death. Tr. is understood that all tlie jurors were''■for a verdict of guilty f ohi the first, but two or three of them were."at in favor, of a life sentence. The Court met the next Monday morning to hear the arguments cor a new perhaps, sentenae th§ prisoner, but was suddenly interrupted hy a sad and tragical o'ceurrenee at the home of Cant. Babcocg, wlnefc' in the death"of his littji|ipen, by carbolic poison. for a new trial was pveWiTfed’,. and sentence passed upon the prisoner, Tuesday evening. The se-eue was made

] very distressing, by the fainting j of the prisoner, while standing up ] to receive sentence. THE LAST EFFORTS, j Capt. Babcock, tlie tireless and conscientious attorney for the 1 prisoner, though working without hope of pecuniary reward, has, as in duty bound, exhausted all lawful means of mitigating the penalty of his client. No formal petitions have been presented to the Governor, however, that gentleman having early announced his decision not to interfere with the jucTgI lnent of the Courts, in the c ise., iAs was to bo expected, au appeal was again taken to tlie Supreme Court. The grounds upon which that body was asked to grant a reversal was that the Court bei-ov erred in not granting a new tri d, upon the defendant’s motion. The causes assigned in the motion for a new trial were few in number, the principal of which were based ’upon the action of the Court in in isting upon the’att >rney for the defense making his argument at a night.session, when he was tired out and unfit for tlie duty; and the action of die State's attorney in absenting himself from the court room during the closing argument for tlie defense. Errors and irregularities the prisoner were also asserted, and the claim ruad n that the verdict was contrary to tlie law and the evidence. On last Friday, Feb. 19, the Supreme OoUit rendered a decision in the ca->6, affirming tlie judgment of the Court below, and thus ENDING THE LAST HOPE of saviug the prisoner’s life. The decision was rendered by Judge J. A. S. Mitchell. It is quite to > long to be published in full. It st ites that uo Question is made as to tne sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the finding of she jury; and that no err* >r was found in the :pepord. The abstract of the opinion, as publisaed by the fi dianapolis pajjers, is If? re given : ‘•lffso. We:i>r a ,Wa teria vs. Tho State. Jasper (1 0. Affirmed. Mitchell, J.—Appellant was convicted of murder arid sentenced to be hanged. Owe of his eounsei concluded the opening argument at € o'clot k Fri'iliy evtg. ning of the last week of the term. The court announced a iceess until 1 o’clock in me.evening, at winch the argument for the defense vvouid proceed. Tae“ principal Counsel informed Uiq court that the closing, argument for th" accused d-volved upon i im, and that Jrs was not able to attend a night session . v*. t. because of fatigue in the trial and loss of sleep in attending upon sick members of his family. Ho requested A po*tp ncment, winch was tel used. The record discloses tiwvt counsel addressed the jury without Irmitaidtion as to time, ari'd for all that appears said all that. could.bein < xteuiiathm of the crime. No legal riitlitor appellant'sappears to fjavirbeon invad d. an 1 tie court did not abuse its discretion. (2) Mental weakness, the subject being of sound mind, ib n h insanity and constitutes no defense to on rite ” THE MURDERER AND HIS FAMILY. «■ i r Personally Wartena did not look like a desperate criminal,* but in fact, his appearance was rather favorable: Hi's head was pf rather 'bad shape, however, of sin a” J>rriiu capacity. It is under sfoo that lie came of a rather good fam- ; H /,.in the old country, and hejmsktrted tbaf he studied several years

with a view of making a physician, but was obliged to give it up because “his head would not stand it.” In the trial the prosecution practically admitted that bis mother was a weak minded and nervous .woman and that two of his sisters had been treated for insanity. His family consists of. his faithful wife, air intelligent and honest lookiug woman, and four children. The two oldest children are bright and promising boys, and one of them is learning the Black smith trade with L. C. Grant, in Rensselaer, and the other living with Mr. Ponsler, iu Newton county.. The wife find two youngesi children find a comfortable home at the county poor farm.