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Van Wert County, Ohio
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GENERAL DEATHS MARRIAGES COURT XXXXXXX
Source:  Daily Illinois State Register (Springfield, IL)  Page: 1
Dated: Mar. 10, 1918
OHIO SWEPT BY TORNADO -
TEN DEAD AND MANY INJURED BY HIGH WIND
Thousand of Dollars in Property Damage Reported in Cities Affected
Many Points in Wake
     Lima, O., Mar. 9. - Reports over cripped wires late tonight indicated at least ten person slost their lives in the tornado which swept over northeastern Ohio, centering in Van Wert county, on the Ohio, Indiana state line.
     Unverified reports say that Holgate, Continental and Hamler, Ohio, were practically wiped out by the storm.  Because of blown down telephone and telegraph wires and interrupted traction and railroad service it was impossible to obtain the death list or the extent of the damage tonight.
     Although the heighth of the tornado was reached in the vicinity of Van Wert, high winds did much damage as far east and north as Findlay.  Ottawa suffered severely.  Near that city the house of a farmer was blown over and set afire.  The farmer, his wife and a child, all suffered broken legs.
---
(By Associated Press.)
     Columbus, O., Mar. 9. - Two persons are known to be dead, many are reported injured and thousands of dollars of property damage was done tonight by a tornado which cut a swath through northwestern Ohio
     The center of the Cyclone seems to have been in Van Wert county, although serious damage has been reported between Lima and Findlay, Continental, Ohio, is reported to have been almost wiped out by the high wind, and the towns of Van Wert, Defiance, Middlepoint, Convoy and Lima are reported to have suffered heavily.  Jantoria, Bluffton, Ottawa and other towns between Lima and Findlay are reported to have been hit hard.
     The heart of the storm apparently was in Van Wert county, from where the two deaths were reported.
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Full Loss Not Known
     Van Wert, O., Mar. 9. - A cyclone, a quarter of a mile wide and more than twenty miles long struck Harrison, Union, Hoaglen and Washington township in Van Wert county at 6 o'clock tonight, wrecking farm homes and buildings, and blowing down telegraph and telephone communications so that the loss of life and extent of injuries cannot be ascertained tonight.
     So far, two persons are known to be dead and many injured.  Mrs. James Geyer of Harrison township, died at a hospital in Van Wert from injuries received when he home was blown away.  Rex Ley, aged 12, was killed at Middlepoint.  Several persons injured are being brought to the Van West county hospital.
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Family Wiped Out.
     Lima, Ohio, Mar. 9. - One family at Van Wert was wiped out when their house was blown down by the cyclone this evening and several houses were blown across the Pennsylvania railroad tracks, according to reports to the Ohio Electric Railway dispatchers' offices here.  Conditions west of Van Wert are critical.  Farmers have started out to hunt victims in houses which are blown down.
     Traction officials tonight reported that towns and cities in several surrounding counties have been struck by a windstorm of tornado velocity and that at least two persons have been killed.
     A number of homes and farm buildings have been wrecked.  The roof of a stone-crusher, situated half a mile from Middlepoint, Van Wert county, was blown off and fell within the city.  It was at Middlepoint where the casualties occurred.
---
Reports Deaths at Richey.
     Fort Wayne, Ind., Mar. 9 - Four persons are thought to have been killed and several injured in a cyclone which swept over Van Wert county, Ohio, tonight.  It is reported here that Continental, Ohio, has been wiped out by the storm.
     The Pennsylvania dispatcher here was informed that four persons were believed to have been killed by the storm at Richey, a few miles east of Convoy, Ohio, tonight.  Pennsylvania trains are tied up at that point.
     It is also reported that the towns of Holgate and Halmer, Ohia, west of Leipsic, have been practically destroyed by a tornado.  Appeals for immediate help have gone out to the adjacent cities.
---
Started in Colorado.
(By Associated Press)
     Chicago, Mar. 9. - High winds which started in eastern Colorado last night and lashed parts of the central west today, spent their force in Indiana and Ohio, where several districts tonight reported loss of life and heavy property damage.
     Perhaps greatest damage possible, heavy loss of life, occurred in the vicinity of Continental, Ohio, which was reported to have been almost completely wiped out.  Holgate and Halmer, Ohio, also were destroyed, according to latest reports, and appeals for help have been sent out over tottering telegraph wires.
     At Van Wert, Ohio, houses were demolished, trees uprooted and livestock killed.  Bands of farmers have organized "first aid" parties and started in reach of victims.  One entire family in this town was reported killed.  The cyclone which struck this district left a path a quarter of a mile wide and more than twenty miles long, according to reports, which indicated a heavy casualty and great property damage.  Virtually all means of communication with the district had been destroyed
(Continued on Page Nine, Part One)
late tonight.  Detroit reported many Michigan cities cut off from wire communication.
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Four Dead at Richey.
     Richey, Ind., suffered heavy property damage.  At least four persons are said to have lost their lives in that town.
     Railroad officials at Lima, Ohio, declared tonight that meagre reports from towns in the surrounding counties all told of a trail of destruction left by the storm.
     Moving eastward from Colorado the high winds gained velocity as they dropped down into Missouri and Kansas, for a time reaching a velocity of 101 miles an hour at St. Louis, where two persons were injured Smokestacks were blown down, awnings ripped from their fastenings and other damage done.  Still greater damage was done in Kansas, but no fatalities were reported.  At Camp Funston slight damage was done by the wind.
     The storm reached up in Michigan but caused little damage, reports indicated.
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100 Mile Wind.
(By Associated Press)
    St. Louis, Mo., Mar. 9, - A windstorm that reached a velocity of 101 miles an hour, struck St. Louis today and did considerable damage.  The high velocity lasted only half a minute, however, but for hours the wind blew at a rate ranging from fifty to seventy-two miles.
     Two persons were injured.  Smoke-stacks were blown down, windows blown out, and automobile tops carried away.
Source: Grand Forks Daily News Herald (Grand Forks, ND) Volume: XXXVII  Issue: 112  Page: One
Dated: Mar. 10, 1918
TORNADO DEVASTATES OHIO VALLEY
Lives Lost, Towns Wrecked, As Windstorm Cuts Swathe Across Ohio and Indiana
Appeals for help sent out as Farmers seek Victims; Family of Five wiped Out.
At Van Wert, Ohio, Houses Were Demolished, and Livestock Killed; Telegraph Lines are Crippled adn Reports of Destruction are MEagre.
     Chicago, Mar. 9. - High winds which started in eastern Colorado and the central west last night, today spent their force in Indiana and Ohio where several districts tonight reported loses of life and heavy property damage.
     Perhaps the greatest damage and possible heavy loss of life occurred in the vicinity of Continental, Ohio, which was reported to have been almost wiped out.  Holgate and Halmor, Ohio, were destroyed, according to latest reports, and appeals for help have been sent out over tottering telegraph wires.
     At Van Wert, Ohio, houses were demolished, trees uprooted and livestock killed.  Bands of farmers have organized first aid parties and started in search of victims.  One entire family in this town was reported killed.  The tornado left a path a quarter of a mile wide and more than twenty miles long, according to reports.  Virtually all means of communication with the district had been destroyed late tonight.
     Richey, Ind., suffered heavy property damage.  At least four persons are said to have lost their lives in that town.
     Middle Point, Ohio, reported two killed and many injured.
     Railroad officials at Lima, Ohio, declared tonight that meager reports from towns in the surrounding counties all told of destruction.
     Moving eastward from Colorado, the high winds gained velocity as they dipped down into Missouri and Kansas, for a time reaching a velocity of 101 miles an hour at St. Louis, where two persons were injured but no fatalities were reported.
     The storm reached up into northern Michigan but caused little damage, reports indicated.

Center in Van Wert Co.

     Lima, O., March 9. - First reports over crippled wires late tonight indicated that at least ten persons lost their lives tonight in a tornado which swept over northwestern Ohio, centering in Van Wert county on the Ohio - Indiana line.
     Traction officials tonight reported that towns and cities in adjacent counties have been struck by a wind storm of tornado velocity and that at least two persons have been killed.  A number of homes and farm buildings have been wrecked.  The roof of a stone crusher, situated a half mile from Middle Point Van Wert county, was blown off and fell within the city.  It was at Middle Point, where the casualties occurred.

Family Wiped Out.

     One family at Van Wert was wiped out when their house was blown down by the cyclone tonight, and several houses were lifted across the Pennsylvania railroad tracks, according to reports to the Ohio electric railway dispatcher's office here.  Conditions west of Van Wert are critical  Farmers have started out to hunt victims in houses which were blown down.
     The home of Abram Showalter, three miles south of Convoy, Van Wert county, were wrecked by the storm, it is reported, and it is feared that he, his wife and five children may have perished.
     According to meager reports from Van Wert, Ohio, the entire Wells family of five was killed.  This brings the known dead from the tornado to six, a baby having been killed at Middle Point.  Further deaths have been reported between Middle Point and Convoy, but these reports cannot be confirmed as wires are down.

Many Towns Struck

     Van Wert, Ohio, Mar. 9. - A cyclone a quarter of a mile wide and more than twenty miles long, struck Harrison, Union, Hoaglin and Washington townships in Van Wert county, at six o'clock tonight, wrecking farm homes and buildings and blowing down telegraph and telephone communications so that the loss of life and extent of injuries cannot be ascertained tonight.
     So far two persons are known to be dead and many injured.  Mrs. James Geyer of Harrison township, died at a hospital here from injuries received when her home was blown away.  Rex Ley, aged 12, was killed at Middle Point.  Several persons injured are being brought to the county hospital.
     It also is reported that the towns of Holgate and Halmer, Ohio, west of Leipsic, have been practically destroyed by a tornado.
     Appeals for immediate help have gone out to the adjacent cities.

Four Killed at Richey

     Fort Wayne, Ind., Mar. 9.  The Pennsylvania dispatcher here was informed that four persons were believed to have been killed by the storm at Richey, a few miles east of Convey, Ohio.  Pennsylvania trains are tied up at this point.

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     St. Louis, Mo., Mar. 9. - A wind storm that reached a velocity of 101 miles an hour struck St. Louis today and did considerable damage.  This high velocity lasted only half a minute, however, but for hours the wind blew at a rate ranging fro 50 to 72 miles.

Source:  Fort Wayne News Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN) Section: Local News  Page: 17
Dated: Apr. 9, 1819
(Special to the News.)
     VAN WERT, Ohio, April 9 - Five more decisions affecting Van Wert county registrants who had claimed deferred classification in the army draft have been received from the district draft board at Findlay.  The following are the classes assigned:
Ray C. Higer, 2 Convoy, 22C;
Jesse F. Adams, Fort Jennings, 2C;
Ed J. Brickner, Van Wert, 2C;
Albert L. Duval, Middlepoint, 2C;
Evan G. Owens, Van Wert, 1E.
Source:  Fort Wayne News Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN)  Section:  Editorial and State News  Page: 11
Dated: May 28, 1918
TWENTY-SIX MORE LEAVE VAN WERT WEDNESDAY
(Special to the News)
     VAN WERT, Ohio, May 28 - Following the inducting of a hundred and five men into the army service last Saturday the county conscription board has been instructed to send twenty-six to the Columbus barracks Wednesday.  Details of route and train have not been received by the board, but they are expected before Tuesday forenoon at 10 o'clock, when the conscripted men have been notified to appear before the board for instructions.
     At the same time nineteen men will go from Auglaize county.  Nineteen from Paulding, fourteen from Mercer, nineteen from Putnam, nineteen from Henry and eight from Williams.
     The Van Wert county men are:  Doyt C. Gamble, Van Wert; Ira A. Redlinber, Convoy; Sylvester M. Dolt, Delphos; Ceile Brown, Van Wert; Peter C. Bonafis, Delphos; Frank L. Altenberger, Delphos; Fred Hay, Van Wert; Jan J. Gamble, Van Wert; Edmund Turrichi, Van Wert; Marimon J. Purkeypile, Dixon; Charles C. Heffelfinger, Middlepoint; Ray C. Lewis, Van Wert; Otto J. Hemme, Delphos; John M. Morris, Venedocia; Melvin E. Stemen, Fort Jennings; Emile F. Schumm, Ohio City; Emile Muntzinger; Convoy; Julius Verbauck, Venedocia; Orley C. Leiter, Van Wert; Hadley C. Smith, Van Wert; Isadore J. Bonafis, Delphos; Alois H. Brendele, Delphos; Russel R. Ramsey, Convoy; Peter Furst, Delphos; John A. Metzner, Ponestown; David Leiter, Van Wert.

Alternates.

     Launcelot C. Perry, Ohio City; Harvey J. Branam, Van Wert; Ira L. Lewis, Convoy; Russel B. Walters, Van Wert; Benjamin H. Handwerk, Ohio City; John K. Vlack, Van Wert.

The Lima News
(Contributed by Norita Moss)

Frank Coe: Haunted by his own demons
by line
Kim Kincaid - Wednesday Jan. 30th, 2008
LIMA Some turn-of-the-century neighbors said it was that hit on the head that changed Frank Coe. Others say he followed in his father s suicidal footsteps. Still others claimed it was his sad lot in life that traumatized him.
     Whatever the reason, Coe was a troubled man by anyone s standards. And before he disappeared from the face of the earth, he had murdered his wife in front of his toddler daughter and tried to kill the president of the United States.
     Pretty unbelievable for a guy generally considered likeable. In fact, experts in the medical and legal fields both described Frank as a talkative guy, inclined to make friends easily. His family said that growing up, he was generally happy.
     Until that fall.
     His brother George claimed that when Frank worked for the railroad in Lima in 1894, he took a fall and landed on his head. According to George, thats when many of the problems began.
     Three years later, Frank left Lima to find work in Cincinnati. While there, he began hallucinating that people were trying to kill him. Brother George went to retrieve Frank and had him admitted to a hospital in Toledo.
     While he was being treated there, his mother, Fidelia Burnham, went to visit him. On her return trip, the excursion train she took was hit by a freight train, and Mrs. Burnham was killed.
     As her son remained a patient in the Toledo hospital, her body was taken to Milan, Mich., where she was laid to rest beside her first husband and Frank's father, John Coe.
     After Frank was released from the hospital, he set up housekeeping on West Kibby Street with his wife, Emma. By all accounts, the two had a storybook marriage.
     However, Coe was back in the newspapers when his 16-month-old daughter Julia died of cholera in August 1899. Not long after, Frank lost his Lima job.
     The family picked up and went to Springfield to try and start over. There Frank did find a job, but his life quickly began spiraling out of control. Neighbors said he began to imagine that people were talking about him, and accusing him of wrong-doing.
     It came to a head on Dec. 27, 1899, when Coe killed his wife and then shot himself as their daughter Irma looked on. His suicide attempt was unsuccessful.
     George told the local papers that his brother was undoubtedly insane.
     Meanwhile, Coe s mother-in-law, Mrs. A .J. Neister of Indiana, said she had feared for her daughter's life for some time.
     She recounted that Emma had left Frank the summer prior to the killing and spent time with her mother, telling her of life in the Coe household. Although her mother begged, Emma refused to leave Frank, fearing he would do something desperate.
     The mother-in-law told the newspapers that insanity ran in Frank's family, claiming Coe s father had committed suicide years earlier.
     Police claimed two notes left by Frank intimated that he had intended to take only his own life, and perhaps his wife had struggled with him in those early morning hours before he shot her.
     A jury found Coe guilty of manslaughter, and he served one year in the state penitentiary. His daughter Irma was reared by her maternal grandmother.
     Upon Frank's release, he was taken to an asylum in Toledo.
     Shortly thereafter, he escaped from there. Considered harmless by hospital officials, no attempt was made to find him.
     But Coe's demons continued to haunt him.
     By 1904, he had sent several letters to President Theodore Roosevelt. In them, he detailed his plans for a bill to revolutionize the spelling of proper names.
     Signing his name as Edward Relgar, he suggested that Roosevelt require people to adopt their profession as their surname. Carpenter would be for carpenters, Mason for masons, and so on.
     Roosevelt did not respond to his suggestion, so carrying a gun, Frank made his way to the White House in February 1904.
     There, he was arrested at the gate and charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
     An uncle who knew of Franks suggestion quickly identified Relgar as Frank Coe, and once again the former Lima resident was front-page news.
     His family petitioned to have Coe brought back to Lima where they would take charge of him, promising to take him to a Chicago doctor who claimed he could surgically help Frank.
     That request was granted, and Coe, along with a U.S. Marshall, was on the next train out of D.C.
     However, when the train made a stop that night, Coe jumped out and was never seen again.
     His family told the local newspaper they didn't expect to hear from him ever again, until another strange notion overtakes him.
     No other word was ever heard from the very troubled Frank Coe.
Source:  Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, IN)  Page: 1
Dated: Mar. 11, 1918
FIVE KILLED IN OHIO TORNADO
Storm Limited to a Comparatively Small Section in Northwestern Part of State.
FARM PROPERTY SUFFERS
One Man Grasps Iron Hook in Cement Floor While Wind Takes the Barn Away.
Shaft from His Own Buggy Seriously Wounds Another Man - Operate bay Flashlights.
     LIMA, Ohio, Mar. 10 - Five persons are known to be dead, several others are reported killed, scores are injured, scores of homes are completely or partly demolished, and hundreds of barns and outbuildings were razed by the tornado which traveled across northwestern Ohio early last evening.
     Estimates of property damage range from one to five million dollars.
     No serious damage was done in any of the larger cities, most of the destruction having been reported from country-districts.  The tornado began in Van WErt county, on the Ohio-Indiana state line, and then traveled in a northeasterly direction, lessening in intensity until it died out east of Tiffin.  Towns suffering the most were Van Wert, Middlepoint, Convoy, Lima, Deshler, Continental, Ottawa, Napoleon, Holgate, Miller City and Tiffin.
     The known dead are:
     REXFORD LYE, age 12; Middlepoint, killed when barn was demolished where he was feeding cattle.
     HARRY PERRY, 8, three miles west of Van Wert.
     MRS. CHARLES REC, Middlepoint.
     MRS. WM. GEYER, 72, Van Wert county.
     PEARL BOTT, 26, farmer of near cloverdale, south of Continental.

Like a Kansas "Twister"

     The tornado came in the form of an old fashioned Kansas twister.  It would swoop down, wreck several farmhouses, then jump from a half to five miles before doing more damage.  The small loss of life is attributed to the fact that the tornado traveled mostly through open country, skipping towns and villages.
     Most of the damage was done in Van Wert county where five of the six known dead were killed at or near Middlepoint, Van Wert county.  The tornado swept a path from 100 yards to half a mile wide.
     Most of the injured in Van Wert county were taken to the Van Wert county hospital where several operations were performed by the light of small electric pocket lights, the city light plant having been put out of commission.

Big Boulders Carried.

     Queer pranks were played by the twister.  Big boulders weighing tons were lifted from their resting places of years and carried a distance.  Hundreds of chickens had all of their feathers blown off although they were unhurt otherwise.  One small chicken was blown high in the air and landed on a telephone pole, from where it was rescued today.  In numerous instances houses were lifted from the foundations and carried into adjoining fields.  In one case a heavy kitchen stove was carried half a mile by the tornado and was deposited in a field undamaged.
     Throughout the storm district hundreds of persons received minor injuries caused by flying glass and debris.  Twelve persons are reported seriously injured.

Girl Blown Into Barbed Wire.

     Near Miller City the tornado struck the home of Duke Lamison, a half mile away, and destroyed the house and barns.  Mary Lamison, age 8 years, was hurled through the air and landed in a barbed wire fence, 50 feet away.  She was unable to extricate herself until her father discovered her a half hour later.
     In the Cloverdale neighborhood, south of Continental, the three weeks old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Hitchcok was hurled through a window and landed in a cornfield, 250 feet away.  She was only slightly bruised and was rescued by neighbors, who were attracted by her lusty yells nearby an hour later.

Estimate Injured at Fully 100

     FT. WAYNE, Ind., Mar. 10 - The tornado which swept over Van Wert county and other parts of northwestern Ohio yesterday afternoon, killed five persons, hundreds of hogs, sheep and cattle and horses; created havoc among the farmers, whose homes and buildings were completely demolished or blown away, and injured fully a hundred persons.
     The storm came from the south and seemed to sweep over Van Wert county to the northwest in a wide circle barely missing the city of Van Wert and carrying debris from outlying farm houses into the streets of the town.
     At the John Wiseman home, five miles west of Van Wert, both Mr. and Mrs. Wiseman were severely injured, and Mrs. Geyer, mother of Mrs. Wiseman, sustained such serious injuries that she died a few minutes later, while being taken to the Van Wert county hospital.
     At Middlepoint, Rexford Lye, 10-year old son of Allie Lye, was standing at the door of a barn when the storm struck the Lye farm.  The lad was picked up by the wind, whisked around the corner of the building, which was falling, and was buried beneath the wreckage of the barn.  Mr. and Mrs. Lye were severely hurt.
     At the A. B. Showalter farm, two miles south of Convoy, every member of the family was injured, Myrtle, the 7 year old daughter receiving a double fracture of the jaw and Gaylord, the son, being badly-cut about the face and head.

Barn Flies Away from Him.

     John Wilmore, of near Van Wert was feeding his stock in his large new barn, when the storm swept over his farm.  By grapsing an iron-hook in the cement floor he was saved while the structure flew over him.
     Charles Kiel was driving to his farm south of Van Wert when the wind struck the road on which he was driving, killing his horse and driving a shaft of the buggy throug his side.  A passing automobile rushed the injured man to the county hospital, where he was operated upon under the light of electric torches and flashlights.
     Alde Kananski 8 year old daughter of a stone quarry worker near Van Wert sustained several deep gashes in the abdomen from flying glass.  She was operated upon but there is little chance that she will live.

Source: Oregonian (Portland, OR)  Page: 1
Dated:  July 24, 1948
Police End Wild Spree of Killers
1 Escapee Slain, Partner Jailed In Ohio Manhunt.
Picture on this page
     VAN WERT, O., July 24 (AP)
Leaving seven murder victims in their wake during a 14 day killing spree, two 22-year old reformatory parolees reached the end of the trail Firday.
     One, fighting it out to the last, was shot between the eyes and killed by a police officer at a road block near here.  The other, whimpering, gave up without a struggle.  Their death toll - five men and two men.
     Killed in the final gunfight was John Coulter West, ex-Parkersburg, W. Va., youth, slain by Sergeant L. D. Conn, 42, Van WErt policeman, Conn. seriously wounded by a slug in his chest, killed West as the officer lay in the middle of the highway.
Second Gives Up
     Captured was Robert M. Daniels of Columbus, who gave up to Sheriff Roy Shaffer of Van Wert county without lifting a finger, ignoring a rifle and two pistols which lay on an automobile seat beside him.
     The two desperadoes were captured only a few hours after the seventh of their slayings, and their second of Thursday night and early Friday.  At Tiffin, 86 miles east, they had killed Orville Taylor, 28, of Niles, Mich., to obtain his driveway truck, loaded with four Studebaker cars in an attempt to sneak through an ever-tightening noose of law enforcement officers looped over northern Ohio.
     Only a couple of hours earlier they had slain a 25 year-old Tiffin farmer, James Smith as he sat beside his young wife in their car.  The husband, en route home with his wife after an evening at an ice cream parlor, was killed when he objected to the men taking his driver's license.
Sheriff Stops Driver
      The two-wreck manhunt ended as the driveway, with West at the wheel and Daniels in one of the four cars on the trailer, pulled up in the road block, Sheriff Shaffer, Conn "covering" him with a submachine gun, asked West if he had any passengers.
     West said he didn't have, but the sheriff told him to wait anyway.  As Shaffer discovered Daniels crouched in the car, West came out of the cab shooting.  He wounded Sergeant Conn and County Game Protector Frank A. Friemouth, 55, before Conn's bullet felled him.
     Daniels, although he had three weapons beside him, put up his hands and crawled out.  He said to the sheriff:
     "Don't shoot!  You've got me.  Tell me what to do."
     West died en route to Van Wert county hospital, Daniels was put in the county jail.
Prisoner Ignores Mob
     Regaining some of his bravado after being placed in a cell, Daniels ignored a crowd of several hundred which milled around the jail with yells of:
     "Hang in rat!  Kill him now!  Let us have him."
     Later, when being photographed, one of the newsmen asked him to smile, but he snarled:
     "Go to H__!  I'm not smiling for any of you ___ ___."
     Sheriff Shaffer said Daniels admitted participating in five of the seven killings for which the pair had been sought in Ohio's most farflung man hunt.  He declined to sign a confession, the sheriff said, but admitted he was in on the triple killing of Farm Superintendent John E. Niebel of the Mansfield reformatory, with his wife and 21-year-old daughter last Wedneday; the Early C. Ambrose slaying in Columbus, July 10, and Thursday night's slaying of Taylor.  The sheriff said he did not queston him about the Smith killing, and the July 10 slaying of Frank Krech of Flat Rock, Mich., because he (the sheriff) did not know about them.
Killing Planned Months
     The sheriff quoted Daniels as saying West was the triggerman in all the shootings.  But in a later interview with Prosecutor Theodore Lutz, Daniels admitted killing the Niebels.
     About the Niebel shooting, Daniels said:
     "Johnny and I planned this for three or four months.  We wanted to beat hell out of him (Niebel) and if they'd given me a little more time, we'd have wiped them all out - those at the reformatory.
     "We really went to the reformatory the other day to get Red Phillips (a guard), but we couldn't find him."
     Daniels
said that after kidnaping the Niebels, he and West made them undress in the car.  After reaching the cornfield, Daniels said:
     "I told 'em (the Niebels) to line up.  Then I shot him, then the girl and then the woman."
Source:  Evening Star (Washington, (DC), DC) Page: 3
Dated: July 24, 1948
Unrepentant Gunman Glibly Tells of Taking Part in Six Murders
(NOTE:  I have copy of article if anyone wants to see it ~ Sharon Wick)

 

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