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From: jimxman007(a)msn.comTo: chrisman-l@rootsweb.com:Subject: Shootout in South dakotaDate: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:38:09 -0500
Hello Lonnie, how are you? This is Jim Chrisman mailing you from Fremont, Nebraska about my Grandfather's story. My home address is 643 north Christy in Fremont, ne. 68025. See what you think for the Chrisman Who's Who page. Walter Clarence Chrisman was born Dec. 4, 1890 and died Friday May 13, 1927 in Spink County, Redfield, South Dakota. He was accused of being a bootlegger, a murderer and of committing suicide. These accusations are made on the LEO Memorial for law enforcement officers in Pierre, South Dakota and on the Officer Down Memorial Page on the net. I am Jim Chrisman, grandson of Walter and I would like to set the record straight. Walter was an undefeated pro wrestler of his time. He ran a farm, wrestled and owned a still. Times were tough and the proceeds from his still went to help others in the area who were even less fortunate than him. He also taught kids how to wrestle and get into good physical condition. This he did at his farm in the barn. On May 13 { Friday } 1927 Special Agent Charles Bintliff ATFE and Deputy State Sheriff Charles Halpin went to his farm to take him down. There were two other officers there but their names were excluded. Why? It was stated that he injured another officer a week prior to this but does not give his name either. What really happened is the local bankers son went to Walter and wanted in on his bootleg business. When he was turned down he threatened Walter and got his tail whooped. He then ran to daddy who contacted the authorities. The ATF guys could not find Walter or his still so they took his wife,Ida, to the town of Redfield, So. Dakota. They then drove her down an alley behind the Jail/Courthouse where more revenuers were hanging her youngest brother from the third floor roof. Her brother,Arch Booze, was about twenty-two at the time. They told her "Tell us where the still is or we are dropping him." Naturally she told them and they found the still and destroyed it but by that time Walter was back at his farm working in the barn. Ida was in the house when the officers showed up and she reluctantly told them where he was at. They immediately surrounded the barn and commenced firing their weapons. She said it sounded like a war. They gave Walter no choice but to defend himself.Officers Bintliff and Halpin were killed in the exchange of gunfire and Walter escaped on a white horse he was stabling for a neighbor. The other two officers went to form a posse. It is said that a posse of four hundred men went looking for him. That seems like a lot of men to gather together in such a short time in such a sparsely populated area. They eventually caught up to him and said that he had committed suicide behind a strawstack with a single gunshot wound to the forehead. That info came from a phone call between myself and a clerk from the Spink County Courthouse in Redfield. Both officers died of wounds from a shotgun blast. He had no other weapons and was not the kind of man to take his own life. When Ida viewed his corpse she asked why Walter and his clothing were ripped to shreds. They told her " That must have happened when he was crawling through the woods trying to evade capture." There are no woods in that area and I think it is quite obvious that that there was a " lynch mob mentallity" at that time and he was probably drug behind his horse by them before he was executed behind a strawstack. They had themselves a hay-day. My Grandmother never said anything about this until she was about to pass on. After the burial she packed up her two infant sons, Joe who was two and warren { my Dad } who was one, and moved to Fremont, Nebraska. She never told the story because she felt it was partially her fault, she was scared to death and she had two young boys to raise and she did not want them growing up with a grudge for the law. On her death bed she was heard to say " I pray that Walter has forgiven me 'cause I'm going to see him now." Itwas 1927 Prohibition days and a lot of revenuers thought they were out there to take down " Big Al Capone" himself. And that is the rest of the story, like it or not. On another note my Great Grandfather to the fourth was lynched in 1778 for being a British sympathiser. He was thought to be falsely accused so his confiscated property was later returned to his Widow and her two young sons. His name was Michael Christman. His son George took the " T " out of my last name. THANK YOU !
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