Convicting the Innocent: Errors of Criminal Justice
(1932)
by Edwin M. Borchard
Case #29
Henry Olson
ILLINOIS
The citizens of Rockford, Illinois, were horrified by the cold-blooded
murder of Floyd Stotler.
Floyd and his father, Orville Stotler, were in charge of the Hart Oil
Station at the corner of Broadway and Kishwaukee Streets in Rockford at
about nine o'clock on the evening of September 6, 1927. Father Stotler had
finally found an opportunity, after nine o'clock, to glance over his daily
paper, only to be startlingly interrupted by two young masked bandits, who,
at pistol points, ordered his son Floyd to "stick them up." Floyd replied,
"Put them down and quit your fooling. What is the joke anyway?" One bandit
snapped back, "Stick them up, we mean it, stick up."
Floyd grabbed for one of the bandits
– a shot was fired, and the bandits disappeared through the door into the
night, deserting the Chrysler roadster in which they had driven up to the
filling station. Floyd slumped to the floor, crumpled and bleeding, in great
agony.
Police Officers Lloyd Fry and John Ott, from headquarters, responded to a
hurry call. They took Floyd to the hospital, where he received immediate
attention. An emergency operation was unsuccessful, and Floyd died.
The Police Department of Rockford and the sheriff of Winnebago County at
once began the search for clues. The only tangible bit of evidence at hand
was the .22-caliber bullet taken from the body. The Chrysler car was found
to have been stolen in Rockford. A number of suspects were picked up and
held for questioning. The night of the murder, police officers called at the
home of Henry Olson, a twenty-six-year-old mechanic who lived only about a
block from the Hart Oil. Station. Henry did not have a good reputation among
the officers of the law, and they investigated him when Orville Stotler's
description of the general build of one of the bandits seemed to fit Olson.
The officers questioned various members of the family concerning Henry
Olson's whereabouts during the evening. The Olson statements, however,
satisfied the police for the time being that Henry had spent the evening at
home with his young wife and other members of his family. Stotler could not
give a complete description because the bandits had worn handkerchief masks,
almost completely covering their faces, except for holes for the eyes.
Various suspects were brought before Father Stotler for identification. Some
he eliminated, but of others he was not sure. These were presented to him a
second and a third time, and he studied them from all angles, with caps on
and caps off. About a week after the shooting, Henry Olson was added to the
group, and Stotler at once identified him as the bandit who had shot his
son. Despite the mask, Stotler said that he could identify Henry by his high
cheek bones, hollow cheeks, light hair, height, and general build.
With this positive identification, the case against Olson was presented by
Prosecutor William D. Knight to a Grand Jury, under the foremanship of
George F. Colton, which heard the testimony of Stotler and Physician Sheehe.
An indictment for murder was returned against Olson on October 7, 1927, and
the case called for trial on October 24, before Judge Arthur E. Fisher in
the Circuit Court of Winnebago County. Olson was defended by Attorney Harry
B. North of Rockford. The newspapers took a great interest in the case and
supplied their readers with sensational news. The community thought Olson
guilty.
Both the prosecution and the defense submitted testimony about the general
location and situation of the oil station. Orville Stotler's positive
identification of Olson was the only evidence connecting Olson with the
murder. Defense Attorney North was convinced of his client's innocence and
made strenuous efforts by cross-examination over the better part of two days
to break down Stotler's identification.
Olson's defense was the alibi that he had spent the evening at home. Mr. and
Mrs. Aaron Sanfordson, neighbors of the Olsons, testified that they had seen
Olson sprinkling his lawn about six o'clock the evening of the tragedy, and
that Mrs. Olson was then out. Emanuel Olson, his father, and Adolph Olson,
his brother, said that they knew that Henry was at home at 8.30 and that
they heard him moving about the
house after nine o'clock, the time of the shooting. Mrs. Sarah Olson, his
mother, said that she had spent the evening on the porch of her home with.
Henry, the defendant, and that shortly after nine o'clock Henry's wife
alighted from a bus across the street. Henry went to meet her. Then they all
sat on the porch for a short time. The testimony of Mrs. Henry Olson's visit
to her aunt, Mrs. Josie Glass, was corroborated by her sister, and by Mrs.
Glass ; and of her return on the bus, arriving at Kishwaukee and Buckbee
Streets just about nine o'clock, by bus driver James Dounett. Mother Olson
also testified that while she, Henry, and his wife were sitting on the porch
Vito Turciano, a flagman at the Illinois Central station on Kishwaukee
Street, came for a drink. Turciano confirmed this and said that when he came
to the Olsons' house it was about 9.15. Shortly after this the family went
to bed. The prosecutor's objection to the testimony of Henry's wife was
sustained by the court so that she was not permitted to take the stand.
According to the defense testimony, the first the Olsons heard of the
tragedy was when the police called to question Henry during the night.
The defense further tried to weaken Stotler's identification by introducing
testimony to show that his description of the bandit just after the murder
varied from that given at the trial and also that for some days he was not
sure which of several suspects, dissimilar in appearance, was the true
culprit.
The case as thus outlined, and after arguments of counsel, was given to the
jury with the Judge's instructions. The jury was locked up for the night. In
the morning, they reported themselves deadlocked
– six to six. Since there
appeared to be no probability of an agreement on a verdict, Judge Fisher
discharged the jury. The defendant was released on bond again until his new
trial, which started on February 13, 1928. The jury this time, under Foreman
Elvidge, found him guilty of murder, as charged in the indictment, upon
practically the same evidence that had been used at the first trial, and
fixed the penalty at life imprisonment in Joliet Penitentiary. Mr. North at
once made a motion for
a new trial, and judge Fisher permitted Olson to remain at liberty under a
$10,000 bond, thus evidencing his doubt of Olson's guilt, despite the
verdict of the jury.
Thereupon, Olson vanished from Rockford. It was learned that he had driven
with his wife in their car to Chicago and from there had telegraphed the
family to come for the car. Henry and his wife disappeared completely. A
nation-wide search was unsuccessful. There were rumors about Rockford that
the second bandit was Olson's wife and that the escape had prevented her
indictment. By the community, Olson's flight was considered an admission of
guilt.
--------------------
Mr. North, firmly believing his client innocent, continued his efforts to solve the mystery, and one day a fruitful lead came to him. A physician in the city reported that a maidservant in his family had stated that Olson was not guilty. The police questioned her, but she denied making the statement or knowing anything about it. Later, she was taken by the police for further questioning. She then admitted that she had made the statement, and said that her eighteenyear-old sweetheart, Maurice Mahan, had boasted to her that he and his eighteen-year-old chum, George Bliss, had held up the filling station and that Bliss had done the shooting. These two boys were arrested and, questioned separately, finally confessed. They gave complete details concerning the facts, each corroborating the other, so that there was no doubt as to the genuineness of the confessions. They were indicted and arraigned and entered pleas of guilty before Judge Edward D. Shurtleff, whereupon Bliss was given a sentence of thirty years and Mahan, fourteen years, in the state penitentiary.
--------------------
Every effort was made to locate Henry Olson and his wife, to give them the
good news. The new developments were broadcast through the press and the
radio with a message to Olson to return borne. After some weeks, Mr. North
received a telegram from Olson in New Orleans, where he had
finally seen the notice in the newspaper. Upon receiving assurances that the
news story was true, the Olsons returned to Rockford. A new trial, his third
within a period of six months, was ordered by Judge Fisher, and Olson was
acquitted on March 16, 1928.
He settled down in Rockford, vindicated before the law and before the
community.
--------------------
This miscarriage of justice was due to mistaken identity. The positive identification by Orville Stotler, a victim of the tragedy, outweighed in the minds of the jury the mass of evidence which indicated that Olson was at home at the time of the shooting. The jury evidently preferred to believe that nearly a dozen people were perjuring themselves rather than admit that Father Stotler could have been mistaken. The fact that Olson "jumped" his bail confirmed the community in its belief that he must have been the murderer. As he left the court room, his emotions were a mixture of happiness and righteous indignation. It is perhaps superfluous to add that he was never compensated by the state of Illinois or anyone else for his ordeal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Records in the cases of: People v. Olson, Case No. 6180; and
People v.
Bliss and Mahan, Case No. 6210, Circuit Court, Winnebago County, Illinois.
2. Acknowledgments: Judge A. E. Fisher, Rockford, Ill.; Mr. H. B. North,
attorney at law, Rockford, Ill.; Mr. Lewis F. Lake, Clerk of the Circuit
Court, Rockford, Ill.; Mr. Edward L. McCleneghan, attorney at law,
Rockford, Ill.