Carl Wigglesworth, a former deputy U.S. marshal and security consultant for North Dakota's judicial system, died Sunday in Fargo's MeritCare Hospital after a bout with cancer. He was 71.
As a marshal in 1983, Wigglesworth was one of six lawmen who attempted to arrest tax protester Gordon Kahl near Medina, N.D. The gunbattle that ensued left two marshals dead and four other people injured.
Wigglesworth, in his last public interview in 2003 on the shootout, said the effort was ill-planned and afterward he suffered headaches, insomnia and flashbacks. He was the last living federal agent who participated in the shootout.
He grew up in Paris, Ky., and served 20 years in the Navy before joining the U.S. Marshals Service in 1972. His work as a marshal led him to Washington D.C., where he was assigned to guard presidential counsel John Dean while testifying in the Watergate trials and U.S. District Judge John Sirca.
The Medina shootout is widely considered one of the state's most notorious crimes.
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Gordon Kahl, a Heaton, N.D., farmer convicted for eluding taxes, avoided capture for two years on a warrant for refusing to file probation reports before the Feb. 13, 1983, shootout. He had left a Posse Comitatus meeting at a Medina clinic when authorities caught up with him and others north of town.
The Posse Comitatus, a religious-based group that opposed the banking system, taxes and the federal government, gained national headlines with the events that followed.
U.S. Marshal Kenneth Muir and Deputy Marshal Bob Cheshire were killed during a shootout that followed a 9-minute confrontation. Deputy Marshal James Hopson suffered a brain injury after being struck by a piece of asphalt from a richoceting bullet and died in February 2004. Former Medina police officer Steve Schnabel and Kahl's son, Yorie, suffered bullet wounds.
Kahl escaped by stealing a police car and eluded capture for four months. He died in a shootout four months later at an Arkansas farmhome.
Wigglesworth avoided injury as the shootout started because he chased Scott Faul, one of Kahl's supporters, into a slough. He fell into water up to his knees. Yorie Kahl and Scott Faul were convicted at trial and remain in federal prisons.
Wigglesworth later underwent counseling and talked to history classes to teach students about the shootout.
"That thing will be imprinted in my mind forever," he said prior to the crime's 20th anniversary. "It took a toll on me. I basically lost three partners out there.
"Never a day goes by that I don't think about it. I regret it didn't come out better than it did."
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The worst part of the shootout, he said, is that it could have been prevented.
"There was nothing planned," said Wigglesworth, who rode with Muir from Fargo to bring Kahl into custody. "We were totally outgunned."
The U.S. Marshals Service incorporated lessons learned from the standoff into its training for new recruits.
Wigglesworth is survived by his wife, Diane, who works with the Marshals Service, a son, Brett, and daughter, Megan.
