8/16/57

'BOYS REALLY NOT BAD'

O'Kasicks's Father 'Breaks' on News

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) The gray-haired father of the murderous O'Kasick brothers broke down in police headquarters today and sobbed, "I never thought they would do anything like that."

Michael O'Kasick, small, 58-year-old father of the three brothers who shot it out with lawmen north of the Twin Cities Saturday night said he learned today for the first time that two of his sons are dead and a third critically wounded. "I never thought they would do anything like that." he wept. "My boys have been in trouble before but they have never carried arms or shot anyone. It just isn't like them. "None of my children was really bad."

The elder O'Kasick was arrested for violation of parole early today. He said his only wish now is to see his wounded son, James, 20. Sitting in the police station, his face buried in his hands much of the time, O'Kasick told a reporter how his family "fell apart" when his wife died in Minneapolis five years ago. "I really don't know what caused all the trouble," he murmured, "but it all started when she died. I just don't know what happened."

The father served a term in Stillwater prison for robbery. "I heard about the shootings Saturday night and about the shooting of the policeman last month," he said, "but I never connected them with my boys."O'Kasick, a native of Ely, Minn. saw his family a month ago and remembered some 'arguments involving the three brothers. He left to see relatives in Ely two weeks ago and stopped in Duluth, where he got a job as a hotel porter. He was arrested at the hotel. O'Kasick lived in Ely until 1920, working in the mines there. Then he moved to Minneapolis, married there, and worked as a crane operator. During the depression years the family depended on help from the county welfare program to keep going.

He learned of his sons connection with the Minneapolis shootings from Donovan Jones, a state parole agent who came here to return him to Minneapolis. For some time he showed no extreme emotion. Then he broke into tears and held his head in his hands.