Jun. 9—Wilkes-Barre Police Chief John Jones assigned nearly half the police force to investigate the fatal shooting of bricklayer John Baltes on June 9, 1903.

Baltes was walking to his home at 35 Edison St. with Benedict Kessler and John Weidman, both of Altoona, who were in Wilkes-Barre to attend a German banquet at Memorial Hall on South Franklin Street.

As Baltes and his two companions reached Wood and Sambourne streets, they were robbed by two armed highwaymen.

The taller desperado had two revolvers aimed at the trio while the shorter desperado rummaged through their clothes, removing $16 and two train tickets. When Baltes made a move, the taller desperado fired five shots, striking Baltes in the chest and Kessler in the right knee. Weidman took cover behind a tree.

Baltes was carried to nearby Mercy Hospital where he died during surgery.

“One-half of the police force, assisted by several detectives and two newspaper, were at work the entire day on the vague clues left from the atrocious shooting affray at the corner of Wood and Sambourne streets at 12:35 o’clock this morning,” the Wilkes-Barre Leader reported June 9, 1903.

Those investigating the shooting believed they made a quick arrest when a policeman arrested John Plunkett, of Elm Street, Pittston, buying a shirt at Jos. S. Coons & Co. on Public Square hours after Baltes was shot.

Only Plunkett was released from custody when the policeman later learned he was not in Wilkes-Barre at the time of the shooting.

Information came that two suspects were hiding in old Indian caves near Mountain View Park near today’s Seven Tubs State Park in Plains Township. Policemen converged at the park only to retreat when they encountered a mama bear and three cubs on June 11, 1903.

As the investigation continued without arrests in the ensuing weeks, Wilkes-Barre Council and Luzerne County commissioners agreed upon a shared reward of $1,500 in hopes of attracting private detectives to solve the case.

“One by one the clues suggested to the police in connection with the murder of John Baltes have been run down without finding anything that would lead to capture of the criminals,” the Wilkes-Barre Leader reported June 12, 1903.

As many as seven men were detained but released when Kessler was not able to make a positive identification.

The investigation dwindled and was taken over by county detective Richard Jones.

Detective Jones believed he solved the case when he took Kessler to the Columbia County Prison where Joseph Ruane and William Murdock, both of Wilkes-Barre, were detained for an armed robbery in Bloomsburg on July 27, 1903.

“The moment Mr. Kessler saw Ruane he explained, ‘That is the man that took the money from Baltes.’ Ruane flushed at this statement but never uttered a word,” the Wilkes-Barre Times reported Oct. 23, 1903.

Kessler was then taken to the next cell and identified Murdock as the shooter, the Times reported.

While Ruane and Murdock were charged with the Baltes killing, they were never brought to trial at the Luzerne County Courthouse due to having no confessions or incriminating statements.

“Police gave up and the Baltes murder was written as one of the city’s mysteries. At no place and at no time have the authorities been able to gain new evidence to throw on the case,” the Evening News reported Feb. 17, 1911.

Ruane and Murdock were sent to the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia to each serve a three year sentence for the Bloomsburg robbery.

Baltes was buried in the German St. Nicholas Cemetery on Darling Street, Wilkes-Barre.