After 4 Years On the Run, Yoder Gets Drunk and Is Captured, 1916

“Yoder Captured By Officers at Last,” from the Hickory Daily Record, Oct. 31, 1916

Make (Mike?) Yoder, for four years a fugitive from justice, is once again in the hands of the law, thanks to some mean corn liquor, Chief Lentz, Sergeant Sigmon and other agencies and elements that will be enumerated later. The capture occurred on the old Brookford road and was done so rapidly that Yoder, who is regarded as a desperate character, had little time in which to flee. Sheriff Isenhower, who was attending the speaking, was notified and he and several deputies got busy at once, but the Hickory officers had their man before the sheriff could reach the scene. The sheriff carried the prisoner with him to Newton Monday night and he is in jail there.

Yoder was sentenced to 18 months by Recorder Russell something like four years ago for breaking into a Southern Railway freight car, and escaped from the roads. At intervals he has shown up at his old home and near Brookford, much to the dismay of neighbors who feared him as they would a plague. A few months ago his father died and the estate was being settled this week. In company with Bill Deitz he had gone in a buggy to sign a deed, and both the men, it is said, imbibed too freely on liquor.

They got drunk and fell out. Yoder brought out his trusty knife and aside from hopping on his friend, cut the lines and ran Deitz out of the buggy. Chief Lentz was telephoned for and he and Sergeant Sigmon set out to track him. It seems that Yoder became lost and doubled on his trail, this fact enabling the Hickory officers to reach him before the sheriff and his deputies could reach the scene.

Chief Lentz drew his big gun on the man and ordered him to throw up his hands. The hands wouldn’t go up, and while the chief covered Yoder, Sergeant Sigmon embraced him about the neck, while Mr. Lentz placed the nippers. Mr. Jules Stafford accompanied the officers, and was ready to render assistance after the fellow had been handcuffed, the chief laughingly declared.

Yoder has been a source of trouble to neighbors and has eluded capture many times. His fall from the water wagon was responsible for his undoing this time, and many telephone messages of congratulations reached the officers during the night.