News: Greenwood – Slayers Use Farm for Hideout (Nov 1947)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Pomputis, Winslow, Sennett

----Source: Greenwood Gleaner (Greenwood, Clark Co., Wis.) 20 Nov 1947

Excitement ran high in Greenwood (Clark Co., Wis.) on Monday afternoon, as two young men, hunted as the slayers of a University of Wisconsin student and rapists of a Michigan coed, were reported as hiding out on the Pomputis farm, located about six miles north and two miles west of Greenwood.

A convoy of state and county officers roared through Greenwood about mid-afternoon, throwing our quiet little city into a state of confusion, and made it bustle with excitement. Local people crowded into cars and sped to the scene, hopeful of getting a glimpse of the criminals and perhaps a lot more in the way of excitement. The road was blocked off a fair distance from the farmhouse by the police, so the two hundred or more spectators milled about on the road and surrounding territory waiting tensely for something to happen. It was expected by everyone that the slayers would put up a fight after committing crimes in so ruthless a manner and bragging about them later.

About five planes had landed in an adjoining field, one a police plane and the others from the presses, newsmen from Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago were present taking pictures and waiting for the news that would send them speeding back to make their deadlines. One girl reporter from Madison stood bare legged in the cold weather for hours waiting for her scoop.

Finally, when it seemed as though notheing was going to happen, and the crowd started to break, a group of figures could be seen walking over the knoll. A few minutes later a second group came over the hill. Then a plane that had been circling overhead for some time, seemingly took an arm signal from someone on the ground, circled abruptly and roared of to the north.

Then a car was seen soming down the highway from the farmhouse traveling slowly and stopping at times as the crowd milled about it taking pictures and trying to see Robert Winslow, of Owen, who was seated between two officers. He appeared to be in shock, as his eyes stared blankly into space. The slayers had surrendered meekly without gunfire and their big talk stories of ‘shooting it out’ had vanished.

The second car held the confessed murderer, Buford Sennett, of Richland Center. He appeared to be a more toughened personage and continued to look sullenly at the floorboard.

As the police cares headed toward Neillsville, the photographers took their last pictures of the Pomputis farm and the members of the family. Mrs. Pomputis seemed bewildered by all of the confusion and pictures being taken and stared abjectly at the endless store of bulbs kept on popping.

The men were then taken to Neillsville, where a courtroom jammed with press men, photographers and the curious, met them. They were immediately whisked into separate adjoining rooms, but were brought back into the courtroom for pictures. Winslow still (the rest of my copy was missing)