The Deseret News
Salt Lake City, Utah
Monday, 5 September 1921
Father Slain by 15-year-old Son at Home
Charles W. Bueter Victim of Shot Fired by Boy He Threatened With Beating – Story of Cruelty Told.
Charles W. Bueter, 56, was shot and instantly killed by his son, Harry Bueter, 15, at the door of a barn in the rear of the Bueter home, 822 Fourth East Street, shortly after 10 o’clock Sunday morning. A severe beating administered by the father to a younger brother, Stanley, 13, and threats to beat Harry are said to have caused the shooting. A .22 calibre rifle was used by the boy patricide. The boy is being held at the police station without charge, pending the verdict of a coroner’s inquest, which will be held Tuesday morning.
According to the story told by the boy to W. B. Kelly, assistant county attorney, and police officers, the shooting was the culmination of a long series of cruelties on the part of the father. This story was borne out by the boy’s mother, his aunt, Mrs. Lucy Walker, 1038 South Second West Street, his brother, Stanley, his sister, La Verne, and by numerous neighbors. The police were told that the dead man had an insane temper, and that he was in the habit of beating the children on little or no provocation.
Occurred Early in Morning
The shooting occurred shortly after the father arose. He went from the bedroom into the kitchen, where the mother, daughter, and two young sons were preparing to eat breakfast, it was said, and after looking the gathering over, proceeded to the bathroom where he obtained a heavy razor strap. He then took the younger boy to the barn and administered a beating, the police were told, and when he returned to the house he said he was going to see that Harry “got it, too.”
“He took Stanley to the barn and beat him with the razor strap,” said Harry yesterday. “He said I was going to get it, too. I heard him say this when I went out into the yard, near the barn, and I told him that some day I’d be big enough to get him. Mother got my shoes and stockings then and told me to put them on and go over to Aunt Lucy’s. Then father came after me when I was putting on my shoes. I ran to the barn, but could not lock the door, because a string latch that had been on it had been broken. He started coming after me and when I saw I couldn’t lock the door I didn’t know what to do. Then I saw the rifle on a bench, about a yard from where I was standing.
“I picked up the rifle. I don’t think it was cocked, but in my excitement I must have pulled back the hammer. Father was just coming in the door. He had his hands raised as if he were about to hit me with the razor strap. I pointed the gun at him to frighten him and it went off. Father was about to hit me when the gun went off.”
Says Father Disliked Him
“Father yelled for help when the gun went off,” said the boy. “I think he said, ‘Help! Murder!’ I stayed with mother, who was crying. After father fell, I think he murmured something but I couldn’t tell what it was. He hadn’t hit me at the time the gun went off.
“Father never did like me,” Harry told the assistant county attorney when he was asked if he knew the reason the father attempted to administer punishment. “Every chance he got he beat me up. He beat Stanley and he beat mother. Friday evening sister had some boy friends on the porch and father said this morning that they made too much noise. He called sister names and threatened to beat her, and when mother said something he threatened to beat her.”
Mrs. Lucy Walker, aunt of the boy, told Mr. Kelly that the father had always been brutal. She related the incident of the mother’s broken ankle, saying she had been called to the Bueter home at the time and that when she asked her sister how it had happened, Bueter said, “I did it.”
“He had an insane temper,” Mrs. Walker said.
“Bueter was of a quarrelsome disposition, Dr. Root said. “He nearly killed a neighbor, a man named Frank Brown, several years ago. He beat him up with an iron bar.”
Officers Believe Boy
Officers said they believed the statements of the boy, his relatives, the neighbors, and Dr. E. F. Root, who has been the Bueter family physician for several years would absolve the boy from a charge of murder in any degree and perhaps from a charge of voluntary manslaughter even.
The body of the dead man was taken to the O’Donnell undertaking establishment. Examination by Dr. John K. Galligan city physician showed the bullet entered the body between the throat and neck and lodged in one of the vertebrae. No autopsy will be held Dr. Galligan said unless the coroner’s jury demands it.
Had Trouble Saturday
Investigation by city detectives revealed the fact that Mr. Bueter had had trouble with his wife and one of the boys Saturday, according to Chief of Detectives Riley M. Beckstead. At the time the father is said to have picked Stanley up and thrown him bodily from one room into another. When the mother interfered Bueter is reported to have knocked her down and stood over her in a raging passion, declaring he would stomp her into the floor if she said anything.