Bio: Krueger, Mrs. Louis (Statements Regarding War and Religion – 2 Oct 1918)

Contact: Ann Stevens
Email: ann@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Krueger, Jensen

----Source: Neillsville Times (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 10/3/1918

Krueger, Mrs. Louis (Statements Regarding War and Religion – 2 Oct 1918)

The first interview with Mrs. Louis Krueger, mother of the Krueger boys, murderers and draft evaders, who fought posse men and state guardsmen who surrounded their farmhouse September 15, and killed one of the posse men, Harry Jensen, was obtained yesterday by a Leader reporter, who was permitted to visit her in her cell at the County jail.

Reluctant at first to talk, Mrs. Krueger decided after a moment’s thought to take the opportunity to tell the public something about her views on the war, how she reared her boys, etc.

“The Bible teaches it is wrong to go to war,” Mrs. Krueger said. “I taught my boys that war was wrong.”

“If war is wrong, do you not also consider it wrong to fire on an officer of the law?” she was asked.

“The Bible teaches it is wrong to fight at any time,” she replied. “My boys were taught that it is wrong to fight or quarrel at any time or anywhere.”

Replying to questions, she said: “Frank and Ennis were the only boys there in that trouble. Louis and Leslie were not there.”

“Where were Louis and Leslie?” she was asked. At this she turned away and would not answer.

“Were they on your premises then or were they anywhere in Clark County?”

“They were not there; that’s all,” she replied.

Every subsequent question concerning the whereabouts of Louis and Leslie received the answer: “I don’t know,” or “I have nothing to say regarding that.”

“I was the only one in the house when the shooting started,” she said. “Frank and Ennis came in later. No, the other two boys weren’t there. I didn’t touch a gun myself. One might stand in the house for a year and I wouldn’t know how to handle it. There were no cartridges there while I was there alone. Frank came in the house and went out again; it was then he was shot. I helped drag him in. Then I went out and surrendered. They told me Frank would have to come out and I told them that he couldn’t help himself get out. Then the shooting started again. That’s all I know.”

Responding to other questions, she said: “I did not advise the boys not to register, although I heard them speak about it at different times. I know nothing about laws; I’ve always lived on the farm. I did not realize there was anything serious about the boys not going down to register.”

Questioned again about her religious belief, she said: “I don’t think it right to kill either here or over in the other countries. I have always raised my boys to be clean, Christian boys; they did not visit pool halls, saloons or such places.”

“What do you think of the course your boys took in failing to register for draft?”

“You’ll have to ask the boys that,” she replied.

Mention of her son, Ennis, killed last Sunday by Government secret service agents who encountered him hiding in a barn near Polley, caused the mother to break down and sob. Recovering herself in a few minutes, she said: “Oh, I’m not worrying over his death; he is now at peace and out of trouble. He was ready to go and meet his God.”

“Would you like to make a full statement of everything concerning this trouble?” she was asked.

“No, it would do no good,” she answered.

Of her own predicament, she said: “I don’t know what is to become of me. God pity me if I am turned over to the Clark County officials.”

A return to the subject of Louis and Leslie caused her to decline to say any more.

When the reporter called on her, she was reading a newspaper. Her Bible lay close by. She spends much of her time in jail reading the Bible. She probably will be transported to the County seat of Clark County within a few days for arraignment on a charge of murder in connection with the death of Harry Jensen, a posse man killed in the battle. – Eau Claire Leader (Thursday)