Two dramatic cases from Bill Tyroler

Responding to last week’s post on “Judgments from our Past,” Bill Tyroler kindly highlighted a pair of cases that are bound to interest many readers.  His comments are quoted below.

“1. Krueger v. State, 171 Wis. 566, 177 N.W. 917 (1920). Decision is accessible here: https://www.plainsite.org/opinions/2q7qipgdr/krueger-v-state/.

Stems from a shoot-out on a farm in 1918, flavor of which is captured by this contemporary account in the Neillsville Times:

ONE KILLED, OTHERS WOUNDED IN FIGHT WITH SLACKERS
Notorious Krueger Family Shoot to Kill in Resisting Arrest
Draft Evaders Barricade Themselves in Their Home Near Withee and Kill One Man. Mother and One Son Under Arrest But Other Boy Escapes. Battle Held Saturday Nigh

(https://www.wiclarkcountyhistory.org/5data/119/119816.htm).

It was a chaotic affair altogether, not just the violent event itself (400 shots fired, two killed at the scene, 1 killed later trying to evade capture; but also the ensuing trial (during closing argument, counsel described a witness as “that wretched-faced Jew bartender from LaCrosse”!). One Krueger was acquitted and two others were convicted, the latter being affirmed on appeal. They later received a governor’s commutation of sentence.

The event generated not one but two books: Kay Scholtz, “The Wisconsin Krueger Family Tragedy: 16 years of Letters from Prison” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8392938387); and, Jerry Buss, “A War of Their Own” (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2450158903). That both books are relatively recent (1998 and 2013) suggests enduring interest in the event which, as an aside, occurred in the postage-stamp sized village home to Bruce Beilfuss. To bolster that point, the Marathon County Historical Society had a presentation about the shoot-out a mere two years ago (https://business.wausauchamber.com/community-events/Details/marathon-county-historical-society-presents-history-speaks-the-krueger-shootout-1061874?sourceTypeId=Website). And, more recently still, it was made part of a UW course on WWI (https://doughboy.org/defiance-in-the-heartland-resistance-to-hyper-patriots-in-wwi-era-wisconsin/).

2. Bianchi v. State, 169 Wis. 75, 171 N.W. 639 (1919). Posted here: https://librarycollections.law.umn.edu/documents/archive/darrow/Bianchi%20anarchist%20case.pdf.

Arises out of the 1917 police station bombing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Police_Department_bombing), often referred to as the largest loss of police life pre-9/11. I won’t go into it further because the event remains well-known, thanks in no little part to Dean Strang’s book and, notably, the prominence given it by Thomas Pynchon in his recent “Shadow Ticket.” I’d just note that Clarence Darrow orally argued the case.”