They loaned equipment to their neighbors, went to church and kept up with current events.

But they were pacifists, and when the U.S. entered World War I, the sons refused to serve.

"They said that if the war was in this country they would be among the first to volunteer," reported a neighbor.

On Sept. 14, 1918, after the boys ignored their draft notices, deputies tried to arrest them. When they resisted, a mob went out to the farm, fired hundreds of rifle shots into the Krueger home, and burned down the barn.

Before a truce was declared, one vigilante was dead and Frank Krueger was shot in both legs. Leslie Krueger was unhurt and surrendered, but during the confusion the youngest brother, Ennis, escaped. A fourth brother, Louis, was not at home during the attack.

Frank and Leslie spent 15 years in prison for the death of the mob member. Although Gov. Phillip La Follette pardoned them in 1932, by then they had gone insane, and so went from jail into an asylum.

Ennis never dared to return to Wisconsin.

— Wisconsin Historical Society
www.wisconsinhistory.org

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