Klemme Murder 1951 |
Hunt Painter for Killing at Waukon - Posse, Bloodhounds Find no Trace
Waukon - A Waukon housewife was shot to death Friday night and a statewide alarm was given after a posse with bloodhounds futilely hunted the Waukon area for the woman's husband who is wanted for questioning in the case. Sheriff Will Huffman of Allamakee county said Mrs. Art Klemme, about 55, wife of a Waukon painter, died within about 15 minutes after the shooting which occurred on the street near the Klemme home at about 11 p.m.
Mrs. Clarence Klemme, about 22, who had been living with her parents-in-law while her husband is in service, was hospitalized with critical wounds. The sheriff said she was shot down as she ran to get help after her mother-in-law was wounded. She was in an oxygen tent and was being given transfusions Saturday. The younger Klemme was reported enroute home to his wife's bedside from Camp Pickett, Va.
The sheriff said Klemme, his wife and daughter-in-law had been downtown together during the evening. He said he had found no direct witnesses to the shooting. A mortician told the sheriff he had seen Art Klemme during the evening and that the painter jokingly remarked he might have some business for him.
Sheriff Huffman said it is believed Klemme may have been given a ride by a passing motorist following the shooting. He said a night-long search, with bloodhounds was made in Waukon and its immediate vicinity.
The elder couple had been divorced once several years ago, Huffman said, but had been remarried. There were reports that they did not get along well, he added.Husband Flees After Shooting Spree at Night
Waukon - A middle-aged husband "with a violent temper" fled before law officers today after he shot and killed his wife and critically wounded his daughter-in-law, Allamakee County Sheriff William Huffman reported.
Huffman said Art Klemme, 55, a painter and paperhanger, shot his wife with a .32 calibre revolver last night just as they pulled up in front of the Klemme home in the family car. Mrs. Clarence Klemme, 22, who was sitting beside her mother-in-law, jumped from the car, screaming, and ran for a neighbor's home.
"He shot her down in the street," Huffman said. "She was hit several times, once in the chest." The young woman was taken to Waukon hospital in critical condition.
Huffman said Klemme and the two women had been drinking in a downtown Waukon tavern before the shooting. The Sheriff said Klemme walked up to Waukon undertaker Howard Anderson just before leaving the tavern. "Maybe I can drum up some business for you," Huffman quoted Klemme as saying. Anderson said later that "I didn't think anything of it, I thought he was kidding."
The Sheriff said Klemme fled on foot after the shooting, apparently into the south part of town. A posse, using bloodhounds, pursued him but to no advantage. "The bloodhounds couldn't get a track" Huffman said. "I believe Klemme got picked up by someone or had someone waiting for him."
The Sheriff said Klemme was known to have a "violent temper," and that he had been involved in a local shooting fracas "sometime ago" but no charges were brought against him. A statewide alarm was sounded immediately, and highway patrolmen throughout the state were alerted. The shootings occurred late last night, Huffman said, and "woke up the entire neighborhood."Wife Killer Shot to Death
Waukon, Ia. - Allamakee County Coroner R.W. Pateman says he plans to hold an inquest into the death of a middle-aged house painter who was shot and killed Sunday by a state agent.
Art Klemme, 51, against whom a murder information was issued Saturday after he killed his wife, Amelia, 48, and critically wounded his daughter-in-law Friday night, was shot to death in his own bedroom by state agent Bob Blair. Blair said he fired three shots when Klemme reached for a revolver. One bullet struck Klemme in the right temple and two hit him in the body. He died almost instantly.
Officers said the weapon Klemme was reaching for was the same one used in the killing of Klemme's wife, and wounding of Mrs. Clarence Klemme, 18, his daughter-in-law. The younger Mrs. Klemme is in serious condition in Waukon hospital.
Fresh footprints near the Klemme dwelling led to his discovery.
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~sources: Mason City Globe-Gazette, Saturday May 19,
1951; Oelwein Daily Register, Saturday May 19, 1951
& Waterloo Daily Courier, Monday May 21, 1951
~articles transcribed by S. Ferrall