Murder in Wauwatosa by Paul Hoffman

Author:Paul Hoffman [Hoffman, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, Midwest (IA; IL; IN; KS; MI; MN; MO; ND; NE; OH; SD; WI), True Crime, Historical, Murder, General
ISBN: 9781614235729
Google: 7yJ_CQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2012-06-26T16:02:27+00:00

“Hermit Endures Scrutiny of Slain Boy’s Friends” Milwaukee Sentinel, September 17, 1925.

“He’s not the man.” Six Wauwatosa boys yesterday looked at Edward Vreeland, questioned in connection with the slaying of Arthur Schumacher, and failed to recognize him as the hobo who had molested them and other boys in the woods where the Schumacher boy met death. “He is the man,” said the two boys who are shown in the center photograph. They are, left to right, Arnold Young and John Wolf. He is the person, they insist, who chased them and Buddy Schumacher from the freight train. Vreeland, in this picture, is shown smiling under a fire of questions from Capt. Harry McCrory, head of the detective bureau. The manner in which science is being enlisted to aid in the solution of the abduction and murder is shown by the photograph at the right. At the left is Sheriff’s Deputy Edward Siepman. In the center Dr. Edward Miloslavich who made microscopic studies of the handkerchief which strangled Arthur Schumacher and today will examine clothing found in Koepfler’s woods.

The story that accompanied these photos in the September 17 Milwaukee Sentinel revealed some new facts. First of all, two prisoners at the house of corrections asked to see Deputies Siepman and Lenehan. After their conversation, the deputies “left hastily, apparently to follow a lead suggested by the prisoners.” The deputies stayed out all night. But when morning arrived, their superiors knew nothing of any new developments.

However, there was another most interesting development that day: the finding of a blue coat at the county jail. A note attached to the coat alleged that it was left there by Vreeland when he left for the house of correction. The man who chased Buddy Schumacher and his companions from the train was said to have been wearing two coats at the time, one light and one dark, according to the boys. Vreeland was wearing a tan coat at the house of correction at this time.

Vreeland, according to Wauwatosa police, was wearing two suits of clothes at the time that Buddy vanished—a gray one underneath a blue one—and he also wore a cap. Meanwhile, the boys who were with Buddy said that the man who chased them was young, wore a blue suit and a cap. In addition to the discovery of the blue coat, authorities also discovered underwear and other clothing in Koepfler’s woods. None of this clothing appeared to belong to Buddy, though.

Once again, the Milwaukee Journal took a more reserved route with its coverage of Vreeland being identified by the boys. A two-column headline simply stated, “VAGRANT IS IDENTIFIED BY SLAIN BOY’S PALS” in the September 16 editions. A one-column photo of Vreeland standing in the Wauwatosa Police Department accompanied the story.

Among the revelations in this story was the report of a nineteen-year-old Wauwatosa man stating that he’d seen a “tramp” on the riverbank near Koepfler’s woods shortly before Buddy went missing. Harry Sellhausen had been camping west of Wauwatosa and went to the river for water.

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