Bio: Garbisch, Edmund (Deserter - 1917)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Garbisch, Slocomb

----Source: Granton News (Granton, Clark County, Wis.) 10/19/1917

Garbisch, Edmund (Deserter - OCT 1917)

Edmund Garbisch, who with the second contingency of drafted men, left Neillsville for Rockford, Ill., several weeks ago, is in jail at Neillsville since Wednesday, awating his disposition by federal officials. Garbisch returned from Rockford within a few days after his arrival there, claiming that he had been rejected on account of physical disability. It came to light however, that he had deserted and when on Tuesday the town chairman of the town of Grant was notified to produce Garbisch, the young man attempted to escape by driving in his Ford roadster to Grand Rapids, where under an assumed name he tried to sell the car at a garage and this led to his arrest at that place. Mr. Otis Slocomb, Chairman of the town of Grant and a member of the exemption board, went to Grand Rapids and brought Garbisch home with him. The penalty for a deserter in time of war is a severe one and may mean a long term of imprisonment or even death. Edmund is a fine specimen of health young manhood, the only son of well to do parents in the town of Grant.