Mug-shot photos of William F. Stees, 26-year-old bricklayer of Reed Township, near Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, who admitted to the murder of a Harrisburg grocer. The grocer was killed on January 9, 1933, by Stees, in the course of robbing the store – a robbery which only netted him $29. After the guilty plea was entered to the charge of “First Degree Murder”, the court had to decide on the penalty, which by Pennsylvania law had to either be life imprisonment or death in the electric chair. Lawyers for Stees asserted that he was mentally abnormal and they paraded dozens of witnesses through the court who claimed that Stees had buried cats alive, had mental illness on his mother’s side, and that he had shot holes in the floor of his school room. The prosecution claimed that there was strong evidence that he knew the difference between right and wrong. In the end, the judges sided with Stees and he was sent to the Eastern Penitentiary to serve a life sentence.
The story was covered almost daily in the Harrisburg newspapers from January 1933 to early March 1933. The actual story of the crime and how it was committed did not become public until the only witness, a 14-year-old grocery store helper testified during the sentencing phase of court.
Here are some of the main stories of the crime and the punishment.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 11, 1933:
REED TOWNSHIP MAN ACCUSED IN SLAYING; POINTED OUT BY YOUTH
City Police report Statement Is Obtained in Riverside Store Shooting; Gun Found
“That’s him.”
With those words young Clifton Robb identified the alleged murderer of Asa L. Lantz, grocery store manager at 202 Lewis Street.
The man young Robb, only witness of the crime, identified is William F. Stees, 26 Reed Township. His home is about four miles above Clarks Ferry Bridge.
Police said Stees this afternoon re-enacted the holdup scene at the store.
They also said Joseph S. Charles, 308 Lewis Street, told them he saw Stees near the store before the shooting.
Stees, who was arrested yesterday at 2 p. m., less than 24 hours after the shooting at his home, was lined up with other prisoners and some policemen in civilian clothes at police station. Robb walked up and down the line, peered into each face.
Stopped in Front of Stees
He stopped in front of Stees, who returned his steady stare.
“That’s him,” Robb said.
Stees looked straight ahead, face immobile.
“Are you sure?” Lieutenant John Hollands persisted.
“That’s him,” Robb repeated.
Get Statement Chief Announces
Later, according to Chief of Police George J. Shoemaker, Stees made a statement.
This morning in his cell at City Hall he was ordered to stand up.
Read Murder Warrant
Detective Harry Page and State Trooper William Kasparvich, the two officers who had led the search which culminated in his arrest, read the murder warrant. Stees had nothing to say, slid back to a seat on the cot as the two officers returned down the corridor.
Has Wife, Four Children
Detective Page and Trooper Kasparavitch found Stees at his home yesterday. His wife and four children was at his parents’ home.
He was brought back to Harrisburg on a charge for safe-keeping, the officers told the family.
Gun is Found
The murder weapon was found on the third floor of the Stees home later by Detective Page and Joseph Rineer, Patrolman John Abrams and State Trooper John F. Frank. They said it is a German 32 automatic, capable of firing seven shots.
Stees was formerly a customer at the Riverside Marker, where Lantz, the manager, was shot.
The total loot was $29, police said today. S
tees will be given a hearing on the murder charge tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 in city police court before Alderman John P. Hallman.
The statement, which he made to police, is being withheld until the hearing, Chief Shoemaker deeming that “advisable.”
Chief Shoemaker had eloquent praise for the State and city policemen who co-operated in bringing about Stees’ arrest, naming these: Captain Herbert G. Rupp of the detective bureau, City Detectives Page, William Jenkins, Joseph Rineer and Patrick J. Hylan and City Patrolman John Abrams; Corporal Albert Davis of the State Police and Troopers Kasparvich and John F. Frank. The Chief also spoke highly of the co-operation of the district attorney’s office, mentioning County Detective John Yontz specifically.
Chief Shoemaker also made this statement:
“It’s been one time that the whole detective bureau worked on a case as a unit since I’ve been a policeman.”
He was asked, “How did you get a line on Stees?”
“You don’t need to know that now, maybe later,” was the answer.
Stees, police say, attended Franklin and Marshall College for one year.
Employed by Father
Stees is a son of Isaac Stees, 1933 State Street, a contractor. He has been working for his father on several jobs around town the past year as a bricklayer – more recently on the Paxtang municipal building and the new Y. M. C. A.
Mrs. Stees was absent from home at the time of his arrest, being at the home of his parents in State Street taking care of her mother-in-law, who is ill.
Funeral services for Lantz will be held tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 o’clock at the home of an aunt, Mrs. Ida Eckles, near Shepherdstown, with burial in the Chestnut Hill Cemetery. The body may be viewed tonight at the Eckles home. In addition to Mrs. Eckles, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. Margaret Miller, Gettysburg Pike; and uncle, J. F. Lantz; two other uncles, J. A. Lantz, Anderson, Indiana, and L. W. Lantz, with whom he lived.
Assemble Evidence.
Investigating officers this afternoon began assembling evidence which will be presented to the Grand Jury for an indictment.
Nathan Brenner, 72-year-old pawnbroker, 1315 North Third Street, identified Stees as the man who purchased a box of .32 caliber automatic shells at his shop last Saturday evening about 7 o’clock. The box contained twenty-five shells and sold for fifty cents, Brenner told police.
Investigations are underway to determine whether empty slugs found after the shooting fit the gun which police say was recovered at Stees’ home in Reed Township.
Clothing Corresponds
Clothing which Stees was wearing when arrested corresponded with those the man wore the night of the shooting police reported. A tan raincoat which police say Stees was wearing was found at the house, they said.
The revolver recovered at the Stees’ house was not loaded.
Police said that Miss Emelene Nead, Capitol Hill employee who resides near the scene of the shooting will be asked to view Stees probably late today.
Miss Nead, Capitol Hill employee who resides near the scene of the shooting told police she saw a suspicious looking man near the store as she alighted from a trolley Tuesday evening, a few minutes before the shooting.
An inquest will be conducted tomorrow afternoon at o’clock in the city police assembly room.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, January 11, 1933:
FATHER AND WIFE DO NOT BELIEVE STEES IS GUILTY
Both Isaac Stees, 1933 State Street [Harrisburg], the father of William F. Stees, accused of the murder of Asa Lantz, Riverside Market clerk, killed in a hold-up Monday night, and Mrs. William Stees, his wife, are positive the accused man is not guilty of the murder.
“I think they have the wrong man,” the father declared this morning. “My son has been too fine a boy to be mixed up in such a crime as this.”
“Of course I think he is not guilty,” his wife declared, adding that she had no more to say about the charges and referred all questions to her father-in-law, who has retained an attorney to defend his son. The name of the attorney was not revealed.
“There are several angles to this affair,” Mr. Stees said, “which make me hesitate to make any lengthy statement at this time. We believe William is innocent, but in a case like this there is always a great deal of public feeling and I don’t want to turn it against my son by making rash statements.”
Mother Is Ill
Mrs. Stees, the man’s mother, has been ill in bed for nine weeks following a serious operation and everything is being done by other members of the family to prevent the shock of her son’s arrest from aggravating her condition.
The father was at police station last night when Clifton Robb made the identification.
“I talked to my son before the identification was made and he declared he was innocent. He felt that a serious mistake was being made, and it was a great shock to me and to him too, when the boy selected him.”
When asked whether he knew if his son owned a revolver fitting the description of the one found by police at the Halifax farm, the father declared his son had told him he owned a 30-30 automatic which he had turned over to police.
The wife and four children of the accused man are living at the Stees home on State Street. The eldest is William Stees, 8, and the youngest, Gene Isaac Stees, a year old. The other children are Jerry Stees and Richard Stees. Mrs. Stees was Miss Thelma Eisenberger before her marriage.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 11, 1933:
ACCUSED MAN NATIVE OF CITY; WAS EMPLOYED BY FATHER AS BRICKLAYER
William F. Stees, 26, Reed Township, who lives in a one and half story brick bungalow, was born in Harrisburg, where his parents Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Stees, 1933 State Street, now reside. Stees moved to his residence in Reed Township about two years ago. The bungalow is located on the highway about four miles above the Clarks Ferry Bridge, and about 150 yards above Kinter’s Gas Station.
Neighbors said that they did not see him for several days while an attendant at the gas station said that Stees was in the place yesterday morning and that two men came in and asked for him. She said that they started to question him and went up the road to his home.
Stees is a bricklayer by trade and has worked every day with his father who is a contractor, neighbors said.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 11, 1933:
DID LANTZ NAME HIS SLAYER OR DID ARREST FOLLOW DEDUCTIONS?
City and State police are reticent about discussing the steps which led to the arrest of William F. Stees, accused of the murder of Asa L. Lantz.
It was learned unofficially that the detectives and policemen on the case resorted to a process of elimination.
They got out all the pictures they had accumulated in the last five years, checked up on many of them.
This narrowed the quest down to a few, Stees’ name remaining. His arrest and identification by Clifton Robb, 14, followed.
In other quarters there is talk of a mysterious tip to police.
Others hold to the belief that Mr. Lantz named the bandit before he died about seven hours after the shooting. Those who incline to this opinion point out that police say that Stees was a former customer of the grocery. Friends of Lantz have said that he had an unusual memory for names, took pride in greeting his customers by name.
All this is conjecture, however, as Chief Shoemaker this afternoon held to his views that the time is not ripe for a full explanation of the case.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 11, 1933:
MAY TRY MURDER CASE NEXT WEEK
The Dauphin County Grand Jury will be asked Friday to indict William F. Stees, Reed Township, for the murder of Asa L. Lantz, grocery store manager, District Attorney Karl E. Richards said today.
Commenting on whether Stees will go on trial next week in the present criminal court sessions, Richards said: “Of course he has certain rights which we cannot ignore, If he were to plead guilty, I would say it will be disposed of next week.”
If he does not plead, Richards said, attorneys may ask time to prepare a defenses, and if the court grants the request the trial would be postponed until March.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 12, 1933:
TOO BAD CHIEF!
Steelton Police Chief Paul Reisch “missed sharing in the capture of William F. Stees, accused murderer of uptown grocer, said:
“Almost every other police officer around her was in on it.” You see, chief, he headed North. Now it it’d been South!! What a whale of a lot of difference a little geography makes.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 14, 1933:
ATTORNEY SILENT ON DEFENSE PLEA IN STORE MURDER
STEES TRIAL IS SCHEDULED FOR SPECIAL COURT OPENING FEBRUARY 20
Victorious in their first battle for William F. Stees, 26, accused slayer of Reed Township, his attorneys today went silently about the intricate business of preparing the defense they hope will save Stees from the electric chair.
Asa L. Lantz, manager of the Riverside Grocery, Monday evening was slain by a bandit who fired five bullets and escaped with $29. Police charge it was Stees.
While District Attorney Karl E. Richards yesterday pressed the Dauphin County Court to set Stees trial for Wednesday of next week, Homer L. Kreider, chief counsel, insisted he cannot prepare a defense by that time.
President Judge William M. Hargest terminated an hour’s argument about starting the trial by ordering a special session for criminal case trials the week of February 20. He then placed the Stees case on the trial list for that week.
“Mr. Stees is a citizen of the United States and the State of Pennsylvania and he is entitled to the constitutional rights of both.” Kreider argue; while Richards said: “Mr. Kreider is a busy lawyer but he is no more busy than the district attorney’s staff.” I believe he could prepare this defense by next Wednesday.”
Illness of Stees’ mother and aroused public opinion were other reasons advanced by Kreider for delay.
Mr. Kreider today was silent about defense plans made no comments on the case.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 8, 1933:
SLAYER’S FATE TO BE DECIDED LATER IN MONTH
Special Court Session Canceled as Trial Is Waived
William F. Stees, 26, Reed Township, today in Dauphin County Court, pleaded guilty to the murder of Asa L. Lantz, 48, manager of the Riverside Market, in a holdup at the grocery January 9 [1933].
Dauphin County Judges will decide his fate. Under present State laws, the penalty for first-degree murder may be death or life imprisonment.
Announcement of Stees’ intent to plead guilty was made by his attorney Homer L. Kreider, shortly before a special court session was convened to make a formal entry of it.
Await Doctor’s Return
Tesimony will be heard by the court February 20 [1933], but decision will be reserved until a defense witness, Dr. Thomas E. Bowman, 1541 State Street, now on a trip in the South, returns later in the month or in March. Kreider said Dr. Bowman is a material witness, but the nature of his evidence was not disclosed.
Confesses Crime
Stees was arrested January 11 by city police, two days after the holdup. He confesses, re-enacted the holdup and aided in a search for a bullet desired by the prosecution as part of its evidence against him. Lantz, shot five times, died six hours after the robbery, which netted Stees $29.
Clifton Robb, a 14-year-old Camp Curtin Junior High student, was in the Riverside grocery at the time and positively identified Stees as the bandit.
The January grand jury indicted Stees. Kreider won a fight to delay trial, the court ordering a special term February 20 for the case. The extra session will not be held, however, in view of the plea of guilt.
Father Issues Statement
Kreider and Benjamin Levi, associate counsel in defense of Stees, said they had been authorized to issue the following statement from Isaac Stees, father of the confessed murderer: “A plea of guilty will be entered for my son when his case comes up before the court.”
The decision to accept the plea followed a hurried conference between Kreider and Levi, President Judge William M. Hargest and District Attorney Karl E. Richards. Economy was paramount, they agreed.
Will Save Expense
The Stees trial had been listed for a special term of court, February 20 [1933]. One hundred jurors had been ordered to appear, firearms experts and alienists would have been required, all at county expense. It has been estimated acceptance of the plea will save more than $3500. Richards said the average day of criminal court costs $600. The eighty other cases listed for the special term have been continued until March sessions.
Stees appeared in court accompanied by Sheriff George N. Barnes. Deputy Sheriff Lewis P. Jenkins and Cornelius J. Nelly and Warden Francis H. Hoy. He was handcuffed to Barnes.
As he was arraigned, Clerk of the Court Charles W. Henninger asked: “What is your name?”
“William Stees,” he replied, meekly, eyes downcast.
He held up his right hand, the “bracelets” gleaming under the electric lights and listened as Henninger read the indictment. When Henninger asked for the plea, Kreider rose to his feet and said: “If the court please, the defendant pleads guilty… correct?” he asked, turning to Stees.
Stees nodded affirmatively.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 23, 1933:
TOLD OF DEATH
William F. Stees, Reed Township, indicted a week ago for the murder of Asa L. Lantz, riverside Grocery manager, was informed last night at prison of his mother’s death.
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From the Harrisburg Evening News, February 8, 1933:
STEES PLEADS HGUILTY TO DEATH IN STORE HOLDUP
Following closely, the announcement of counsel of William F. Stees, murderer of Asa L. Lantz, Uptown grocer, that he was ready to plead guilty to first-degree murder, he was ordered to appear before the Dauphin County Court this morning and at 10 o’clock his plea of guilty was made. Stees, who lived in Reed Township, is the father of four children. He is 26 years of age.
The court deferred sentence until February 20, when testimony will be heard to assist the court in deciding whether Stees should suffer death in the electric chair or be sentenced to life imprisonment.
The move to enter a plea of guilty, announced this morning by Homer L. Kreider and Benjamin Levi, the man’s attorneys, and approved by Isaac Stees, the accused man’s father, continued the swift retribution which followed the crime in the isolated Uptown grocery early in January.
Lantz was preparing to close his store when Stees entered and ordered him to hand over the contents of the cash register. When Lantz resisted, he was shot by the bandit and died within a few hours in the Polyclinic Hospital.
A manhunt, which pressed into service many members of the city and State police force, ended dramatically twenty-four hours later with the identification of Stees by Clifton Robb, who was in the store at the time of the holdup. Stees at first denied and then admitted the murder.
Held for court when he waived a preliminary hearing, Stees was indicted the following day by the grand jury. His trial was set for a special term of criminal court to begin February 20.
Stees was taken into court this morning manacled to Sheriff George Barnes and accompanied by his counsel. To spectators he seemed unconcerned. While Court Clerk Charles W. Henninger read the long indictment, Stees sat with eyes fixed on the floor.
“Are you guilty ort not guilty?” Henninger asked.
“If the court please,” Homer Kreider, his attorney said, “The defendant pleads guilty.”
Utters No Word
A sense of relief seemed to pass over the defendant’s face, while the Court ordered him remanded to jail. He left the courtroom again without having uttered a word.
After the plea the Court announced the proposed special criminal court was canceled and cases scheduled would be heard at the March term. There is insufficient business to keep the Court busy for a week, the Court declared.
District Attorney Richards explained there were eighty cases on the docket beside the Stees case, but that pleas were expected in many of them. He said the plea of guilty and consequent cancellation of the court session meant a saving of $600 a day to the county. He estimated the Stees trial alone would have cost the county approximately $1000.
An effort will be made to defer the sentencing of Stees even later than February 20 [1933] as Dr. Thomas Bowman, a material witness for the defense, is in Florida and will not return by that time.
Dr. Bowman has been the Stees physician for years and the defense considers the testimony he will give as one of the defendant’s strongest claims for leniency.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 20, 1933:
CAMP CURTIN BOY RETELLS STORY OF GROCER’S MURDER
YOUTH STATE’S STAR WITNESS AS SLAYER’S PLEA OF GUILTY IS HEARD
Robert Clinton Robb, 15-year-old Camp Curtin Junior High School student, today in Dauphin County Court, described in graphic detail the slaying January 9 [1933] of his friend, Asa L. Lantz, manager of the Riverside Grocery, Lewis and Penn Streets.
Robb, a witness to the actual slaying, is the Commonwealth’s principal witness in the case of murder against William F. Stees, 26, Reed Township. Stees has pleaded guilty to the robbery and murder. After completion of testimony, Dauphin judges will decide his fate. It must be, under Pennsylvania law, either death or life imprisonment.
Skillfully, District Attorney Karl E. Richards had the boy describe in detail the store, then he said, “now go ahead and tell what happened.”
Was Getting Milk
The boy said he frequently went to the store to help Lantz fill orders: “I was getting a quart of milk. A man came in about twenty minutes of six. Mr. Lantz said, hello.” I looked up and the man was pointing a gun at Mr. Lantz. The he saw me and told me to go over with Mr. Lantz. I did, and put my hands up and he told me to put them down. He got the money himself from the cash drawer.
“Then he came over and started to search Mr. Lantz. Mr. Lantz swung at him. He ran up the back of the counter and Mr. Lantz followed him. Then Mr. Lantz fell near the door.”
Forgets About Shots
President Judge William M. Hargest, who with Judges Frank B. Wickersham and John E. Fox will decide Stees’ fate, reminded Robb he had forgotten to tell about the shooting. The boy appeared confused and Richards again took him in hand, drawing out the details.
Then he told how, when Lantz had swung at Stees’ Stees started shooting, firing bullet after bullet as he backed toward the door. Lantz pursuing him, the bullets passing directly through his body.
“Where was the man when Mr. Lantz fell? Judge Hargest asked and Robb replied, “He went out the door.”
Finds Lantz in Pool of Blood
Then Robb said, he ran to the office of Dr. S. L. Cadwallader, 3125 North Second Street. He returned to the store, saw his friend in a pool of blood.
Lantz murmured, “open my belt.” Robb did, and Dr. Cadwallader entered, called a Polyclinic Hospital ambulance.
Robb described the clothes worn by Stees and Richards showed him a brown raincoat and tweed cap. Robb agreed they were the clothes.
“Did you see his face?” Richards asked and the boy replied, “yes.” Richards directed Stees to stand up Robb, pointing, said, “that’s the man.”
Wife at Stees’ Side
Stees appeared pale and his mouth twitched nervously throughout the testimony. He was haggard, his eyes blood-shot and large, dark rings encircling them. As Robb described the shooting, his wife, who sat beside him, grasped his arm.
Cross-examination by Homer L. Kreider, associated with Benjamin Levi in the defense, was brief.
He dwelt longest on what Robb had described as Lantz “swinging” and Stees and asked, “Didn’t Stees stagger back a few steps after Lantz swung at him?”
Robb was confused, as he had been on direct examination, when Judge Hargest asked if the blow had landed on Stees. He faltered for an answer, finally admitted, “I don’t know.”
Shooting Follows Blow
The Kreider asked: “You have testified, I believe, there was no shooting until after Lantz swung on Stees?”
“Yes,” the boy said.
Robb told in detail how he had been taken to the police station two days after the shooting. in a room there he saw a man, his hands folded back of his neck, elbows spread wing-like. “That’s him,” he said.
Again the same day, Robb was taken into a large room, where a long line of men stood awaiting him. Each had a slouch hat or cap on his head and an overcoat or raincoat collar partly hiding his face. This is how Stees entered the store.
“Don’t be afraid; there’s plenty of cops around,” Robb said Chief of Police Shoemaker told him.
Identifies Him Again
Robb looked over the men. He walked around them, sizing up each carefully. He stopped in front of Stees and pointed him out again.
“Then Mr. Shoemaker told Stees to hold out his hands and they trembled,” he said.
Couldn’t Name Bandit
Dr. Maurice A. Silver, a physician from the Polyclinic Hospital, told of finding Lantz on the floor, bleeding, mortally wounded. He rushed him to the hospital, en route asking him questions. “He was conscious, breathing rapidly,” he said, adding Lantz could not name the man who had shot him.
He said his examination showed there were four perforating wounds and one penetrating wound in the body. A penetrating wound, he explained, is caused by a bullet that enters the body and stays there; a perforating wound by a bullet that travels entirely through the body. He said that Dr. William Tyler Douglas operated and Lantz emerged from the anesthesia and died at 12:33, just after midnight the morning following the shooting.
Dr. Douglas, in describing the wounds, said: “There were nine holes in the body. I expected him to die almost momentarily. He was bleeding to death.”
Lantz, he said, understood his questions and nodded his head but could not speak. “I explained to him he was in critical condition and that an operation was necessary. I told him what a chance he was taking and he nodded his hear he wanted o do it.”
Describes Wounds
He described the wounds as: (1) entered the upper side of the chest, shattered the shoulder blade and emerged in the rear; (2) entered two inches below the breastbone, through the abdominal wall and “literally tore a patch the side of two fingers” through the liver and emerged; (3) entered near the others, making twelve openings in the small bowel; (4) went entirely through the abdomen and (5) entered the abdomen, struck the pelvic bone, veered and lodged in the upper thigh,” near enough to the skin to be felt.
“He could never have recovered,” Dr. Douglas said.
Richards introduced a bullet into evidence which he said was taken from the body.
City Detective Harry L. Page, said he arrested Stees at a gas station four miles above the Clarks Ferry Bridge and that Stees admitted he had been in Harrisburg the day of the robbery. He showed his revolver.
Stees is said to have confessed later at the police station, after Page and other police took him there.
A number of witnesses were to be heard later toady, although Stees will not be sentenced for several weeks. Final testimony will not be heard until Dr. Thomas E. Bowman, 1541 State Street, vacationing in the South, returns to the city.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 21, 1933:
GROCER’S SLAYER MENTALLY ILL IS FATHER’S BELIEF
TELLS FAMILY HISTORY AS DEFENSE BUILDS A CASE TO ASK MERCY
Isaac Stees, brick contractor, of 1933 State Street, and father of William F. Stees, 26-year-old confessed murderer of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager, today in Dauphin County Court described his son as “mentally ill,” abnormal, obstinate, nervous as a child and reckless, irresponsible and foolish as a grown man, the father of four small children.
For two hours the father explained to the three Dauphin County judges who will decide the fate of his son, the difficulties he has encountered in reading the boy.
Early Troubles
These troubles, he said, started in school, took the boy several times to juvenile court on larceny charges, had him expelled from a private school and dismissed him from several jobs. Then he worked for his father. The climax came on January 9, when the son walked into the grocery, poured five bullets from his automatic revolver into Lantz’ body when the store manager resisted him, and escaped with $29.
The father painted also a background of highly nervous, insane and epileptically inclined maternal ancestry. His wife, Mrs. Jennie May [Tyson] Stees, died several weeks ago, shortly after he son’s arrest.
“What caused her death?” Homer L. Kreider, associated with Benjamin Levi in Stees’ defense, asked.
“I would say grief and shock, although at the time she was weak from an operation,” the witness replied.
Tells of Mother’s Illness
He explained that during her period of motherhood, just prior to William Stees‘ birth, she was nervous and ill and that she later received treatments in a number of hospitals in this city and Philadelphia. Lydia Tyson, a sister of his wife, was epileptic and confined to the Harrisburg State Hospital; John Wilbert, a cousin; Mary Sponsler, the wife’s aunt, and others were similarly described by Mr. Stees.
“Were any of these relatives cured?” Kreider asked and the father replied, “No.”
Was Extremely Nervous
The elder Stees described his son as normal when he entered school but extremely nervous, difficult for teachers. He said this took the form of stubbornness, “shallow-mindedness, not taking things seriously, lack of responsibility.”
He started at Pleasant View School, then went to Edison Junior High, which he left after appearing several times in Juvenile Court for larceny of autos. Then the boy was sent to Franklin and Marshall Academy, where he was expelled for refusing to study, but later reinstated.
He left school and worked in a number of garages and “every place he worked I had reports he was stealing tools. I have paid out $300 of $400 in cases of this kind and when I reprimanded him he merely looked at me stupidly,” Stees said.
At about the age of twelve the father said he discovered Stees was “not normal, so far as realizing the responsibility of good citizenship. He had an uncontrollable temper, was melancholy, was offended at little trifles other children would not bother about.”
Tells of Foolish Risks
The father told of many instances in later life when, as a bricklayer, the boy foolishly risked his life and the lives of others, He described in detail how hi son tried to take down an iron bar projecting over the street eight storied below by sitting on the end of it. Stees met his son on the evening of the murder at the Rockville Bridge after the shooting and reprimanded him for “bumming” a ride to his Reed Township home. Although his mother had been critically ill, the son had not come to see her and was “not excited, totally unconcerned,” the father said.
“My opinion is he is mentally ill,” he summed up.
On cross-examination District Attorney Karl E. Richards sought to show by questioning the father that Stees had progressed regularly with his class in school, was a good workman and dwelt long on the nature of the son’s queerness.
Never Examined.
Finally President Judge William M. Hargest asked: “Did you ever have him examined by a doctor or a mental specialist?” and the parent replied, “No.”
On testimony of neighbors and friends that Stees had “wild ideas” and is “not normal mentally” will probably be based the plea of his defense attorneys, who will ask that his life be spared.
H. W. Kinter, a neighbor and a member of the January Grand Jury which indicted Stees, when asked by defense counsel Homer L. Kreider: “From your observations do you think Bill Stees was of normal mind?” replied, “Well he had wild ideas, kept two cows and four pigs in his chicken house.” “Do you consider him to be not normal?” Kreider asked Mrs. Kinter, and she answered, “I couldn’t consider him normal…. He was going to of a lot of impossible things…. I wasn’t exactly afraid of him but I thought if he ever got cross at one, he might do harm.”
Kreider attempted to show, by cross-examining Chief of Police George J. Shoemaker, that Stees’ .32 automatic revolver could have fired more that one bullet by pulling the trigger only once. Shoemaker denied it could have, unless the gun was defective, and the gun was tested at City Hall. The test showed the trigger must be pulled each time a bullet is fired.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 22, 1933:
MORE WITNESSES DECLARE STEES IS NOT NORMAL
Testimony of Isaac Stees, 1933 State Street, father of William F. Stees, Reed Township, confessed murderer of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager, that his son is not normal mentally, was corroborated late yesterday in Dauphin County Court by a number of William Stees‘ fellow workmen.
Stees has pleaded guilty to murdering Lantz January 9 [1933] at the grocery at Lewis and Penn Streets. He walked into the store, took $29 from the till, and when Lantz protested Stees shot five bullets into his body.
Dr. Edwin H. Hartman, headmaster of the Franklin and Marshall Academy, said Stees was one of the poorest students on record at the academy. His intelligence test grades were far below average, the educator said.
Ernest A. Sible, a driver for the Hope Fire Company, said he worked with Stees as a bricklayer. On one occasion, he said, Stees dropped milk bottles to the street below from the fifth floor to see how near he could come to hitting people.
Carl Beck, former Tech High and college football star, who said he worked with Stees on the new Central Y. M. C. A. building, testified Stees pushed a workman who could not swim into the swimming pool.
Court is closed today in observance of Washington’s Birthday, but Homer L. Kreider, associated with Benjamin Levi in the defense, said he will conclude presenting testimony tomorrow afternoon. The defense will then await return of a final witness, Dr. Thomas E. Bowman, 1541 State Street, from a southern trip. After Dr. Bowman’s testimony is heard the court will hear arguments of Kreider and District Attorney Karl E. Richards before sentencing Stees. Under Pennsylvania law the penalty for first degree murder is either life imprisonment or death in the electric chair.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 23, 1933:
STEES BURIED CATS ALIVE, WIFE INFORMS COURT
‘EXTREMELY CRUEL’ SHE SAYS ABOUT SLAYER OF GROCER
Associates of William F. Stees, 26-year-old Reed Township man, who has confessed the murder of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager, described him as peculiar and said the believe he is not normal mentally.
Benjamin Wingert, Highspire, described many peculiarities of Stees for Defense Counsel Homer L. Kreider, associated with Benjamin Levi.
More than eight years of married life with Stees, during which four children were born, were described by his 29-year-old wife, Mrs. Thelma Stees, the Miss Thelma Isenberg, of Steelton.
Tells of Cruelty to Animals
She characterized her husband as extremely forgetful, dull, morbid, a furious worker with his efforts half of the time aimed in the wrong direction.
She described him as “extremely cruel,” told of how he caught live mice and cut them in small pieces, buried cats alive and killed little kittens by dropping bricks on them. When she protested, he replied: “They have no feeling.”
Kind to family
Here she wept silently, her head buried in a handkerchief and Kreider removed her from the stand. A half-hour later she returned, composed and outwardly calm, and Kreider asked how Stees treated her and the children. “He as always kind to us,” she replied.
Strange things her husband did as a farmer, the wrong feed for cattle, cultivating hilltops instead of moist, fertile low soil, were described, and District Attorney Karl E. Richards objected. Kreider contended it showed Stees’ peculiar and undeveloped habits, but President Judge William M. Hargest ruled, “It simply shows he knows nothing about farming.”
Cross-examined by Richards as to whether or not she had observed her husband’s queerness during their courtship, Mrs. Stees replied, “I thought they were just the foolish tricks of a boy that age.”
Feared Comments
Asked why she hadn’t had her husband examined by mental specialists, Mrs. Stees replied that if she had done so everyone would have called Stees “crazy.” That she said she didn’t want.
“Did you think that yourself?” Richards asked.
“No, I didn’t. I thought that in years to come he would get better,” she answered.
Others who testified were: John Moore, 1911 Mulberry Street; George King, Harrisburg bricklayer; William Kippel, who went to school with Stees; and Isaac Rosenberg, merchant of 19th and Paxton Streets. All told of Stees’ queerness and each concluded with the statement that he did not believe the slayer is normal.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 24, 1933:
ALIENIST, THREE DOCTORS WILL BE HEARD BY JUDGES
STEES DEFENSE IN MURDER PLEA BASED ON MENTAL CONDITION
To the evidence of more than a score of witnesses that William F. Stees, 26-year-old confessed murderer of Reed Township, is not of normal mind will be added the testimony of three physicians and an alienist when Stees’ case is concluded March 1 [1933].
Stees had pleaded guilty to slaying Asa L. Lantz, manager of the Riverside Grocery, January 9, in a holdup that netted him $29. Three Dauphin County Court judges will decide the penalty for the crime.
Stees yesterday was pictured as a wild, irresponsible youth who during his school days always carried a gun, shot through the floor of the school house on one occasion, threw a coal bucket at his teacher on another, gave her a penny he had heated on a stove. The testimony came from Frederick Paine, 2006 Forster Street, a former schoolmate.
Poor Student
The confessed slayer was described as a student whose poor grades were exceeded only by his poorer deportment by Fred O. Smith, 1508 South Twelfth Street, former supervising principal of Susquehanna Township Schools. So unmanageable was Steed, Smith said, that teachers “passed him on” to another grade to get rid of him, although his marks averaged only 30.
A number of contractors and bricklayers who were associated with Stees said they believed he is not normal mentally. They included Roy Denk, Hanover Street; Robert McCreath, 15 North Front Street; Guy Shelley, 1016 Rolleston Street; John Bretz, a neighbor who said Stees is “off in his head;” William Sites, 602 Church Street; Amos Horst, foreman for the S. W. Shoemaker Construction Company; Walter Mumma, Jonestown Road, building supply company, and Thomas E. Stephenson, 318 South Fourteenth Street.
To these will be added next Wednesday testimony of Dr. Max Levin, alienist at the Harrisburg State Hospital; Dr. R. E. Holmes, 18th and State Streets; Dr. D. Ritchie, 2439 North Sixth Street; and Dr. Thomas E. Bowman, 1541 State Street.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, March 1, 1933:
EXPERTS BELIEVE SLAYER VICTIM OF MENTAL DISORDER
TROUBLES INCREASE AS HIS FAMILY IS PLACED UNDER QUARANTINE
Medical experts for both the defense and prosecution today in dauphin County Court described William F. Stees, 26-year-old confessed murderer of Asa L. Lantz, riverside Grocery manager, as “insane” and a “moral imbecile.” More that a score of lay witnesses had previo9usly testified they believe Stees is not normal mentally.
On this testimony is expected to be based the plea of Homer L. Kreider, associated with Benjamin Levi as defense counsel, in behalf of Stees, who has confessed the murder. The penalty under Pennsylvania law is life imprisonment or death in the electric chair.
Troubles Continue
The storm of trouble that has caught up Stees and his family in recent months, lack of work, the death of his mother, the murder, has not abated. His wife, who during each day in court has been his constant companion, was absent from his side today. The family has been quarantined for scarlet fever.
Dr. Max Levin, alienist at the Harrisburg State Hospital, was called by the defense and Kreider asked, “Did you examine William Stees?”
I saw him twice. I observed his general behavior… depressed and preoccupied. He seemed to be of average intelligence and used a good vocabulary. I questioned him about his health and brought out that a year ago he started worrying about his work. I wrote his exact words, ‘I catch myself sitting around in a daze. My wife has to call me three or four times.’ Then he said he started to get periods of giddiness six months ago. He told me, ‘Since the age of ten or eleven I have had the desire to pick things up I had no desire for.’ I questioned him about the crime he had committed and I made a physical examination… and his reflexes and so forth.”
Has Mental Disorder
“What is his mental condition?” asked Kreider.
“I think he has a mental disorder… dementia praecox.”
“Are all people who have that in an asylum?” asked Judge Wickersham.
“No,” the alienist replied.
“Then not all the people are in an asylum who should be,” said President Judge William M. Hargest and he asked Dr. Levin to define dementia praecox.
“It is a deterioration of mind that comes on early in life,” he replied.
“Doctor, on what facts do you base your diagnosis?” asked Judge Hargest.
“On three things: First, abnormal disregard for other people; second, cruelty to animals, and finally, and of particular importance, the fact that three years ago he began to be depressed, careless, with loss of judgment.”
“Doctor, you said Stees is of average intelligence?” asked District Attorney Karl E. Richards on cross-examination.
“It seems average.”
“In other words, he knows right from wrong? Judge Hargest broke in, and Dr. Levin replied, “Yes.”
“When you say he’s insane, you mean in a medical sense and not in a legal sense?” persisted Richards.
“Yes.”
Richards, Dr. Levin Differ
Richards and Dr. Levin then engaged in swift series of questions and answers, the district attorney insisting that the planning of a crime as Stees planned it, his escape, the covering of his trail, etc., is not poor judgment. Dr. Levin was just as insistent it was. All through his testimony he referred to Stees as “insane.”
Dr. C. R. Phillips, called to the stand, testified he had examined Stees at the request of Richards. “I examined him slightly for his mental condition… I felt he was of low mentality, but not very low… I did, however, feel he was not much over the moron type… He showed clearly he was a moral imbecile… his intelligence developed fairly normal, but morally he was a child.” “Doctor, how do you explain a moral imbecile?” asked Richards. “Mentally past the age of 12, but morally at the age of 2 to 7,” Dr. Phillips replied.
Mother Was Hysterical
Dr. Robert D. Holmes, 18th and State Streets, testified that Stees’ mother was “what we call very hysterical” and at the birth was in a “hysterical coma.”
To Kreider’s question, “Doctor, does this condition of the mother’s mind have anything to do with the child’s mind?” he replied. “It certainly does…. A mother can make almost anything of her child she wants to. If she wants him to be a doctor she studies medicine.”
Brain Not Acting Right
In response to Kreider’s question he said, “He has mental disease due to mental lesion. You can’t expect much more of the boy. Mental lesion? That is some part of the brain not acting right.”
“Did you observe William Stees subsequent to his birth?” Richards asked on cross-examination and when Dr. Holmes replied in the negative, adding “I’m not an expert,” Richards moved to have his testimony stricken from the record. It stood.
Warden Francis H. Hoy, of the dauphin County prison, described Stees as moody, refusing to eat, unperturbed by the death of his mother. Testimony was to be concluded late today and argument heard before Stees is sentenced.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, March 2, 1933:
DEFENSE IS BASED ON MENTALITY OF CONFESSED SLAYER
ATTORNEYS TO PLEAD FOR LIFE OF STEES IN GROCERY MURDER
Distinction between normal intelligence and normal mentality was drawn late yesterday in Dauphin County Court as concluding testimony was heard in the guilty plea of William F. Stees, 26-year-old confessed murderer of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager.
After four days of testimony the three Dauphin judges tomorrow will hear argument of defense counsel, Homer L. Kreider and Benjamin Levi, and District Attorney Karl E. Richards. Kreider is expected to plead his client is insane and ask life imprisonment, while the District Attorney may ask the sentence to be death in the electric chair.
Stees, January 9 [1933], walked into the grocery, and when Lantz defended himself, pumped five bullets into his body from an automatic. Stees arrested the next day, confessed.
Frank H. Reiter, director of special education in the State Department of Public Instruction, testified he gave Stees a number of intelligence tests and that the murderer displayed average intelligence. He declined to testify regarding Stees’ mentality.
Dr. Max Levin, alienist at the Harrisburg State Hospital, when asked by Kreider: “Can a man suffering mental disease show good judgment?” replied, “yes, absolutely.” He then drew a distinction between average, or normal intelligence and normal mentality. Previously he had testified Stees is not normal mentally and throughout his testimony referred to him as “insane.”
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, March 3, 1933:
DEATH PENALTY FOR SLAYER OF GROCER ASKED
DEFENSE MAKES LENGTHY PLEA TO SAVE STEES FROM CHAIR
Two extreme pictures, one of an unbalanced, irresponsible, mentally abnormal slayer, the other of a cruel deliberate, cold-blooded killer, were presented today in Dauphin County Court to judges who will decide if William F. Stees, confessed murdered, shall spend the remainder of his life in an institution or shall die in the electric chair.
Stees has pleaded guilty to murdering Asa L. Lantz, riverside Grocery manager, January 9 [1933] when he walked into the store and robbed it of $29. When Lantz turned and struck at him, Stees fired five bullets into the grocer’s body.
Richards’ Argument Brief
Fourteen points on a thirty-six page brief which it was contended showed clearly Stees suffered dementia praecox – mental deterioration – were submitted by defense counsel, Homer L. Kreider, and Benjamin Levi. in sharp contrast, was the brief argument of District Attorney Karl E. Richards, who based his reason for Stees paying the supreme penalty on two sentences from Supreme Court decisions.
Kreider dwelt longest on Stees’ mental abnormality, which some witnesses said reachd the point of insanity. He stressed heredity, and showed those of Stees’ maternal ancestors who suffered mental ailments: cruelty, recklessness of consequences, wild, exaggerated ideas and delusions; physical ailments, behavior and lack of responsibility, stubbornness and absent-mindedness.
“But what of protecting the public?” asked Judge Hargest.
“Public safety demands that this man won’t do this thing again. He won’t if he’s confined to some institution,” answered Kreider.
“It also demands that others should not do it,” retorted Judge Hargest.
Won’t Deter Others
“Others suffering this disease will not be deterred, no matter what the decision in this case, yet those are the ones you want to deter.”
Levi quoted numerous high court decisions to support the defense argument said, “This question is not one of law, but of penology. The defendant is mentally abnormal. We admit by our plea of guilty, that he knew the difference between right and wrong, but was so mentally abnormal as to furnish mitigating circumstances.”
“Calvin Coolidge established a national reputation by remaining silent, but they call this man crazy; George Washington crawled up the natural bridge in Virginia and carved his initials, but this man walked out on a girder and he’s crazy. That’s all I have to say about that testimony. It’s all in the way you look at it,” said Richards.
Richards stressed that a plea that a plea of guilty had been entered, that the difference between legal and mental insanity had been stressed and that Stees, it was admitted, knew right from wrong, the legal test of insanity. He then based his argument on two sentences:
Cites Higher Court
“The Supreme Court has said that when murder is committed in the perpetration of a robbery it is one example of when the death sentence is proper… persons are not below par, subnormal… when considered in relation to criminal acts if they know the difference between right and wrong.”
“Hasn’t that been modified?” asked Judge Fox.
“I think there is no word in any case which mitigates against either of those two sentences. If you can’t punish a superior man more than an average man, then why should you punish the inferior man less than the average man? I’m not blood-thirsty; I hold no resentment. I can find no other law.”
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, March 9, 1933:
SLAYER’S ATTORNEYS PRESENT NEW PLEAS
Homer L. Kreider and Benjamin Levi, defense counsel for William F. Stees, 26-year-old confessed murderer of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager, yesterday filed a 30-page supplemental brief in Dauphin County Court. The new brief covers testimony of medical experts who testified Stees is mentally abnormal.
Stees has pleaded guilty to murdering Lantz during a robbery January 9 [1933] which netted him $29. Upon completion of the transcript of the testimony Dauphin judges will decide Stees’ penalty. Under Pennsylvania law first degree murder is punishable by either life imprisonment or death in the electric chair.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, March 20, 1933:
MENTAL: CONDITION SAVES CONFESSED MURDERER’S LIFE
UNMOVED AS DAUPHIN COUNTY JUDGES GIVE DECISION AND SENTENCE
William F. Stees, confessed murdered of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager, today was sentenced by three judges of the Dauphin County Court to life imprisonment in the Eastern Penitentiary.
Stees, as he was called for sentencing seemed apparently uninterested in the decision. When asked if he had anything to say, he apparently did not hear the question, but continued to stare vacantly. Sheriff George N. Barnes roused him by a shake of the shoulder. He was asked again and replied meekly, scarcely audibly, “No, sir.”
Homer L. Kreider, chief defense counsel, was absent from the city today. His associate, Benjamin Levi, told the court he had no comment to make.
The opinion today followed a week of testimony during which the court heard stories of lay witnesses and alienists for defense and prosecution testify they believe Stees is not normal mentally.
Stees, father of four small children, pleaded guilty to walking into the grocery at Lewis and Penn Streets, January 9 [1933] and holding up Lantz. He rifled the cash drawer of $29 and as he attempted to rob Lantz’s pockets, the grocer turned and struck him. Stees backed from the store, slowly, and fired five bullets into the pursuing grocer’s body.
Lantz died that night in the Polyclinic Hospital.
Schoolboy Sees Murder
Stees ran from the store when Lantz fell to the floor, made his way to North Front Street, two blocks away. He went to his home in Reed Township, where he was arrested the next day. He confessed. The murder was witnessed by one person, Robert Clinton Robb, Camp Curtin Junior High School boy who was in the store at the time. He identified Stees as the murderer.
Stees, the court found, “has dementia praecox (mental illness) but not to the degree which prevents the making of plans or the exercise of some judgment. He has the ability to know the consequences of his acts, and the difference between right and wrong.
“This defendant has not reached the stage where he should be confined to an insane hospital. He is, however, the kind of man who should not be permitted ever again to return to mingle with his fellow men, with the tendencies to criminal conduct which he possesses,” says the opinion written by President Judge William M. Hargest. Judges Frank B. Wickersham and John E. Fox concurred.
We are impelled to find the act in accordance with Dr. Max Levin‘s testimony (that Stees suffers dementia praecox) because the medical authorities describe a rather complete picture of the defendant in defining dementia praecox…. The disease occurs in most cases in the period from twenty to thirty years and the recovery rate is extremely low. It may lead almost to any conceivable crime,” says the opinion.
The many witnesses who testified told of the scores of things the 26-year-old bricklayer has done which they thought indicated insanity; how he needlessly risked his life and the lives of others, recklessness, cruelty, lack of responsibility, morbidity and dullness.
Has Not Lost Reason
In discussing the medical testimony and particularly heredity the court found, “It is for these reasons that we have found that the defendant is suffering from dementia praecox but that he has not lost his memory, reasoning powers, and while his self control may have to some degree lessened it is by no means lost and he has the ability to know the results of his acts and knows the difference between right and wrong. But it does not follow that his will power has not been impaired. It may well be that his self control is impaired to the extent that when criminal tendencies develop he cannot control them.
“He still has a will so weakened that it cannot be asserted to protect him when the impulse to do these particular things comes upon him. So, notwithstanding he was able to, and did, plan the robbery and took the gun and secured the shells for use, if necessary, we are still forced to the conclusion that in committing the act, even in firing the shots when struck by the deceased, he was acting under an impaired will power.
Legislative Intent
“Certainly it was not the intent of the Legislature to impose the extreme penalty upon one so mentally ill as to have impaired will power. If the mental illness had proceeded to the inability to determine right from wrong, or to know the nature and consequences of his acts, it would be a complete defense to homicide. When it has not reached that point, certainly it must be considered and be effective to reduce the penalty to life imprisonment.
“Even though the crime he atrocious if the circumstances show that it was committed by one of a mentality just a shade below the insanity stage it certainly would do violence to the Legislative intention to impose the death penalty on such a person,” the opinion says.
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From the Harrisburg Telegraph, April 11, 1933:
STEES TRANSFERRED TO PENITENTIARY
William F. Stees, 26-year-old bricklayer and confessed murderer of Asa L. Lantz, Riverside Grocery manager, began his life sentence in the Eastern Penitentiary today. He was taken to Philadelphia by Sheriff George N. Barnes.
Stees pleaded guilty to the fatal shooting of Lantz in a holdup January 9 [1933] that netted him $29. His plea of mental illness convinced the three Dauphin judges he is mentally abnormal and the life sentence was imposed.
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