Wagner Family

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DRAFT--This page is a draft. It is incomplete, not proof read and may contain research notes

This is a strange story, a murder mystery.

On July 22, 1897, the siblings Amelie Franke, Fred Wegner, and Gotlieb Wagner, who lived one mile north of Reardan, were arrested for the murder of Herman Franke, Amelie's husband, who disappeared around October 25, 1984. Two other Wagner brothers (Adolph and __) living in the area were not arrested.

A few days before his disappearance, the Frankes fought and Herman was charged with assault and battery and fined $75. He borrowed the money from John Christian. About 10 days later Mr. Christian went to visit Herman and could not find him. Foul play was suspected. Mrs. Franke went to her brother Fred Wagner's home until it was noticed that Herman had disappeared and she returned home.

Fred came to the Reardan area around 1883. His brothers followed him. The Frankes followed in 1896. They invested $7000 in land, stock, and equipment. It turns out that some of the money that Herman had invested was actually Amelie's separate money, but he put the title to the land purchased with it in his name and not hers. Hence the argument.

She was insisting on her right to the property purchased with her money. He was not going along with that. He beat her and she left their place and went to her brother Fred's place about a half mile away. Meanwhile Herman was cutting up her clothing into smalll pieces and tossing them outdoors.

After Herman's disappearance, Emily tries to get a divorce from Herman. She is told she must wait a year to get a divorce to establish her residency in Washington.

She did get a divorce and got title to the land.

The charges against the Wagners was brought by John Thyne, also of Reardan and an employee of W. H. Childs who ran an elevator in town. Fred Wagner thought he, Emily and Gotlieb were innocent. Mr. Thyne, who was thought to be also employed as a detective to solve the mystery of Mr. Franke's demise. Mr.Thyne may have been motivated by a $500 reward offered by the Lincoln County commissioners for the arrest and conviction of Mr. Franke's killer.

The accused were arraigned and a court date set for the following week. They did raise the $5000 bond, so they did not have to spend all five days in jail, but probably some. [This is probably the same cell as the cell now in the parking lot of Lincoln County Historical Museum.] They hired attorney's and their principle line of defence was they got the wrong Wagner. They should be looking at their brother Adolph. Mr. Thyne was said to be a good friend of Adolphs, so may have be acting as his agent when the accusation was made. At any rate there was not enough evidence for a murder charge and the case was dismissed.

A side note.

1897 was a bumper crop. It was reported that the crop average was 40 to 50 bushels per acre in the Reardan and Davenport area. William Schulz was reporting a 50 bushel per acre crop on a field of 115 acres. This seems high to me. When I asked about the yield in the area before fertilizer, I was told that it ran in the 20s. I found a news article from 1933 about wheat allotment and it was based on 15 bushels per acre. This could be showing that the soil was getting "tired." It would be nice to know "real" numbers.