Tears to Go Around in 1930

I've been researching a little more on the murder of John Siebels in Tyro, Kansas, in 1930. This tragic act of violence was perpetrated by a gang of young adults who had been on a crime spree in Missouri and Kansas in late 1930. Siebels was not the first victim.

And while I realize the girls were probably in tears as the headline below indicates, I can only imagine the deeper pain felt by John's parents Berend and Marie (Habben) Siebels who were left to mourn their son's death.

Date: Friday, December 12, 1930  

Paper: Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)

  obtained on  Genealogybank.com

They were caught in Dallas, Texas, but had been running from the law for some time having killed John Siebels near Tyro, Kansas, earlier in December. The gang of young offenders were all in the mid-twenties or younger--with several girls in their mid-teens.

Date: Thursday, December 18, 1930  

Paper: Omaha World Herald (Omaha, NE)

 -obtained on Genealogybank.com

The Omaha paper above indicates that seven were arrested, including Everett Haldemann--whose name is spelled a variety of ways in various newspaper references. The Omaha paper continues...

Date: Thursday, December 18, 1930  

Paper: Omaha World Herald (Omaha, NE)

  obtained on Genealogybank.com

Siebels was not the only murder victim. William Price was killed as well in a separate incident before the Siebels murder.

I'm not certain what happened to all the young adults involved. At least one of the girls married and is now deceased but left several descendants.

Siebels is buried in Tyro, Montgomery County, Kansas. His grave can be found on FindaGrave. John's mother Maria (Habben) Siebels is a first cousin of my great-grandfather Fred Ufkes.