Krueger shootout presentation set for Oct. 4

Emily Gojmerac

REPORTER

What started out as a refusal to be drafted into WWI turned into a shootout, leaving one person dead and several wounded in 1918.

The Kruegers were a family who grew up on a farm two miles from the Withee area. Mother Caroline, a widow, had four sons, Frank, Louis, Leslie and Ennis.

Caroline raised her boys to not believe in war, stating that “The teachings of Scripture are strictly against war.”

Louis and Leslie had registered on June 5, 1917, but refused to respond to the draft. Frank and Ennis were reported as failing to register in the last registration.

Failure to register led U.S. Marshall Joe Gantz and Deputy U.S. Marshal Cyral Marks to order warrants on each of the boys on the grounds of being draft evaders.

A mysterious box was delivered to the Withee train station. The station agent, seeing that the box was addressed to the Kruegers, took action and informed law enforcement. The box was later opened by law enforcement and was said to contain multiple rounds of ammunition and one pistol.

U.S. Marshals were forced to take action. Once they got up to the Krueger house, shots were fired and they retreated and called for backup. Several armed citizens and guards surrounded the house, the Kruegers were barricaded and a battle ensued. After more than two hours with hundreds of shots fired left Frank Krueger wounded in one leg, he then surrendered.

Among the wounded were posse members Angus Page and Frank White, of Owen, each shot in the right leg; N. Mattson, of Owen, shot through the leg, and suffered a fractured arm. Ennis was found in the barn asleep and was shot and killed by a Marshal.

After the shootout, Frank and his mother were taken into custody and Leslie was captured soon after. All three of them were put on trial and Caroline was let go due to not firing any ammunition during the shootout. Louis was released as well.

Caroline had a history of wreaking havoc during registration and pushed her religious beliefs on people. She was later arrested for causing havoc on churches.

Frank and Leslie were given life sentences in Waupun and were later transferred to an insane asylum in Milwaukee.

The boys were later pardoned and were released.

The farm got sold off, Frank got into the well drilling business and had a good life for himself. Louis lived on the farm with Frank. Louis died in 1938, Caroline died in 1941, Frank died in 1953, and Leslie died in 1962 in an auto accident.

Lee Kaschinska who became fascinated with this story of the Krueger shootout has spent much of his time finding out about this amazing story.

Sara Nuernberger, President of the Taylor County Historical Society contacted Kaschinska about doing a presentation on this event. After many years of waiting for the pandemic to die down, they settled on Oct. 4 of this year to present this story to the public.

The event will be at the Broadway Theatre in Medford, at 6 p.m.

A video presentation on the 1918 shootout will be shown.

This event will be free to the public, but free will donations will be accepted.

Kaschinska hopes this event will bring knowledge to the public about this tragic event and how life can change because of one decision.