THE WAUPACA POST

August 19, 1886

 

Disastrous Wool Pulling

 

            Something of a sensation was created Monday morning in this city by the arrest of George Brown and Chris Peterson for larceny.  Upon investigation it was found that Kenny Sherman who has been in jail for the past three weeks awaiting trial for burglary, had made a confession to Ralph Rowe and they had been arrested on a warrant sworn out by S.A. Oaks.

            The preliminary examination held Tuesday afternoon resulted in both being held for trial.  At the examination Sherman swore that sometime last month the two prisoners sent a boy for him and hired him to sell two lots of wool they had stolen from S.A. Oaks, - about $0 worth in all.  One lot was sold to L. Stern and the other to J.W. Evans.  He received a dollar for making one sale and three dollars for the other.  There was considerable corroborating testimony introduced to support Sherman’s story.

            Deputy Ralph Rowe obtained the confession of Sherman in the following manner:  He had suspected the boys of crookedness and when Sherman was confined to jail laid a plot to get a confession.  He secreted himself in one of the cells and listened to conversations between a prisoner named Wilson and Sherman and found that somebody had passed a saw and file through the bars to Sherman and that he would soon try to escape.  He let him work until he caught him in the act of cutting his way through the ceiling of his cell and then scared a confession out of him, telling him he had heard what he told Wilson.  Sherman then made a clear breast of the whole business.  He also told that the two prisoners gave him the tools and implored him not to “squeal” on them.