The Mount Ayr Record
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
August 4, 1904

John WIRTZ, who lives near Benton, is occupying a cell in the county jail. The crime for which he was arrested and placed in jail is incest. County Attorney FULLER received word Monday from J. R. HAVILAND, a Justice of the Peace at Benton, that WIRTZ was charged with this crime, and had been arrested by the township constable. H. A. FULLER and A. I. SMITH went to Benton Monday to have the preliminary hearing before Squire HAVILAND. The hearing resulted in WIRTZ being bound over to the Grand Jury in the sum of three hundred dollars.

The woman in the case is Laura DILLON, who is WIRTZ' stepdaughter. This is not the first time that WIRTZ has been in the clutches of the law. He was indicted in this county several years ago for obtaining money under false pretenses, and on conviction served a term in the penitentiary. The name of Miss DILLON has also appeared on the court docket. John GOFF, of Redding, is now serving a term in the penitentiary at Fort Madison, for an attempted rape on the person of this same Miss DILLON. The GOFF case is of more recent date, and he had his friends at the time of the trial who thought a penitentiary sentence was rather severe on him, when all of the circumstances were taken into consideration.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December, 2008