Escaped Convicts Captured Near Maquoketa

LARSON, HOFER, FUEGEN, HOLTZ, KAUFFMAN, MOREHEAD, GIBSON, HINZ

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 10/4/2009 at 15:51:37

Jackson Sentinel, Maquoketa, Jackson County, Iowa, June 24, 1946

TWO CONVICTS CAPTURED FRIDAY FOLLOWING DEATH OF ANAMOSA GUARD

Charles Larson, 21, of Fort Dodge, and Louis Hofer, 35, of Indianapolis, Indiana, who escaped from Anamosa State Reformatory after fatally injuring a prison guard, were captured about 4:00 p.m., Friday near Old Browns, 10 miles east of Maquoketa.

Neither convict was armed when captured and they were immediately returned to Anamosa.

The local chase started about 4:00 a.m., Friday when a telephone call notified Sheriff Bert Morehead that the convicts had stolen a car at Center Junction and were headed east. A chase through Maquoketa at an 80 mile an hour clip resulted and the car was finally ditched after Sheriff Morehead and Deputy Charles Gibson riddled the back tires with shot. The men took to the heavily wooded area and successfully eluded state highway patrolmen, vigilantes, and police officers from neighboring counties.

Hofer was first captured after Leo Fuegen reported that the men had purchased two dozen eggs at his farm. Ed Holtz and Leonard Kauffman first encountered the two convicts under a tree on the railroad right-of-way. Holtz had a single barrel shotgun, which had been fired and Kauffman had a .22 caliber pistol. Hofer offered no fight, but Larson fled through the brush, only to be captured a short time later.

John Hinz, 49 year old prison cheesemaker, was slugged with a hammer by the convicts and fatally injured. He is survived by his wife and six children, and it was indicated that both Hofer and Larson will face murder charges.