There was no witness to the actual shooting and only two persons heard the shots. The body was found by V. Darilek at about 6:30 in the
morning and the Sheriff was immediately notified. He arrived at
eight o’clock together with Co. Att’y. Paul H. Fertsch and
took over the investigation. It
is thought that the thieves contemplated to rob the Luecke and
Miller saloon and were going to put Riske out of the way first. He
was hit over the head by some blunt instrument, which apparently
did not make him unconscious and the trio opened fire. He was hit
twice. One bullet entering at the right hip and emerging at the
left armpit while the other pierced the left shoulder. The
bloodstains show that he was hit on the head out in the street and
when he escaped he was shot on the sidewalk in front of the Luecke-Miller
store. About ten shots were fired in all, only two taking effect. With
but few clues to work with and in view of the five hour start the
bandits had it is probable that Sheriff McElroy can do little
about the killing although every possible lead will be run to
earth. The
irony of the situation is that Mr. Riske had resigned only the day
before and was on duty as a favor to the city of Moulton till
another man could be secured. He was 61 years old and lived in
this county for the past number of years. He was a real true
friend and everyone mourns his sudden death. The
officers are trying to reconstruct the crime. The watchman was
walking evidently his regular beat, until he came to the Luecke
and Miller saloon. There he met one of his attackers who covered
Riske with a gun. Instead of surrendering the watchman bravely
grabbed the bandit’s hand with the gun. That explains the three
bullet marks in the roof over the concrete wall when shots went
wild. Second
attacker below the sidewalk came to help and hit Riske over the
head. That would explain the blow on the forehead and the wrist of
the murdered man. Stunned the watchman let the man go. Almost
simultaneously the second firing started from three guns, within a
few seconds of the first shots. Two found their mark and the
watchman crumpled to the sidewalk mortally wounded. These
shots were heard by Charles Welfl in his residence only about a
block and half direct south of the scene. The first firing woke
him up, then the second shots brought him out on the porch. “Hearing
the shooting, I got up and went out to see what’s the matter,”
says Welfl who is a public weigher in Moulton. “It was a dark
night. From the opposite direction three men were running. A car
came up the road past my house without the lights. Two men jumped
in and the car proceeded towards the highway. Then they
disappeared. I called up the operator but she had no information
as to the shooting.” So
three men did the murdering while the other one or more were in
the car. Anton
Faltysek, living opposite the gasoline station, also heard the
shooting and in the darkness saw the car with the murderers and
heard the third man calling “Hey!” They picked him up and
drove away. What
was the purpose of these night assassins? Did they intend to rob
the Luecke and Miller saloon when the old watchman came upon them
and in trying to overpower him they killed him? Or
were they some enemies which Chas. Riske made himself as a peace
officer who came “to get him?” But against this explanation
stands the fact that the assassins could have shot him from an
ambush without even a struggle. The
first theory appears more plausible, that a robbery was to be
carried out when Chas. Riske came upon it. When he fell, struck by two bullets, they dragged him by the collar of his overcoat around the corner of the building to the vacant lot and left him in a pool of blood by the wall. There he was found by Vladimir Darilek at about seven in the morning when he came to open up the Luecke and Miller saloon where he is employed. His gun was still in the holster and the overcoat unopened. The
young man was first attracted by a hat and flashlight lying on the
street which the murderers left there in their hurry. Then
he noticed the blood on the sidewalk and a bullet hole thru the
door glass which landed in the screen inside the place. Following
the bloody track to the corner of the building, he then saw the
watchman lying crumpled by the wall. When he came to him, he was
dead. The
hat and flashlight are in the hands of authorities. The flashlight
might have been valuable clues, had the fingerprints been
preserved. But too many other hands handled it before the
authorities arrived. The hat may prove of importance as a clue.
Circumstances indicate that the assassins did not come from very
far. Regardless
of what purpose they had, Charles Riske fell bravely in the line
of duty as a defender of the property entrusted to him by the
Moulton merchants. But
the evidence discovered so far is only meager, and it remains to
be seen whether enough evidence can be produced against the
subjects to hold them for the Moulton crime. The clues being so
few, the progress naturally has to be slow. The
two in Oklahoma are held by the postal authorities. Both have
criminal records. The Houston suspect is held for burglary
committed at Galveston. The fourth man is still at large. He also
has a criminal record. Names of the suspects are not given at this
time. Two
days after the slaying of Riske, a bundle of clothes was found
four miles west of Waelder in a pool of water known as “Rocky
Pool.” In a sweater about the angle of the elbow there was a
hole that might have been from a bullet. The sleeve was very
bloody. Does it belong to one of the gunman who was accidentally
shot?
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