The $5,000 Stand-off in LaCrosse
An elderly farmer faces a massive, suspended fine after drawing a rifle on a neighbor during a property fence dispute.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
James Fronek of LaCrosse was fined $5,000 by Judge McDonald Wednesday—but the judge suspended execution of the sentence on the spot. The charge against Fronek was threatening last Saturday to shoot James Woodley with a rifle. Both are old, gray-haired men and early settlers. Mr. Woodley had been fixing fences on land near Fronek's, which resulted in him driving off some of Fronek's stock. Saturday, Fronek confronted Woodley, swearing in Bohemian and drawing a bead on him with a rifle while Woodley sat unarmed in his wagon. Mr. Woodley claims this is a long-standing pattern of intimidation. Fronek pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon, but the judge's suspended sentence means the old man effectively walks free unless he causes trouble again.
“He swore in strong Bohemian dialect that he would slaughter him then and there.”
This dispute over fence lines and livestock highlights the thin line between neighborly disagreement and explosive, weapon-fueled conflict in the early agricultural frontier of the Palouse.
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