Police Seek Gang In Fatal Beating

A gang of about ten youths up to 20 years of age, all members of either the Eureka Valley or Noe Street gangs, haunting the tunnels and bunkers of Fort Funston, was being traced by a seven-man detail of San Francisco police today, in connection with a fatal beating.

Lt. Barney O’Leary said the youths may be responsible for the death of James Neal Stoltz, a Bechtel Corp. clerk who was found unconscious Sunday and died of his wounds Tuesday at San Francisco General Hospital.

A witness said Stoltz was attacked and brutally beaten to death with tire chains by a gang of chain-swinging youths, as he walked near Ocean Beach on January 22. He died two days later of massive head injuries. Autopsy showed Stoltz, 35, was beaten to death. It was the latest in a series of attacks on strollers along the beach. Police said the youths  had harassed and victimized men for more than a month before Stoltz was found fatally beaten.

Stoltz, a bachelor, who lived in San Francisco, suffered extensive head injuries in the beating. A graduate of Richland County High School in Olney, Illinois, Stoltz attended Southern Illinois University and after leaving college, he worked for a construction company and lived in Washington and Montreal before settling in San Francisco three years ago.

His body is being shipped to Olney for funeral services

Oakland Tribune (CA) – Friday, January 27, 1967 & The Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA) – Monday, January 30, 1967

James Neal Stoltz, age 35, a former resident of Richland County, passed away Tuesday morning,  January 24, 1967 at the San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California.

According to reports from the office of the Coroner in San Francisco, Mr. Stoltz suffered severe head injuries inflicted by an unknown source.  He was found unconscious on the beach area and was taken to San Francisco General Hospital where death occurred.

Mr. Stoltz was born July 4, 1931 here, and was the son of C.E. (Cotton) Stoltz and Jennie Mowrer Stoltz.  He was an Air Force veteran of the Korean War and served four years as an Airman 1Class and a member of the 3201st Air Force Group.  Mr. Stoltz was an accountant.

He leaves his father, C.E. Stoltz of Tucson, Ariz. and the following brothers and sisters:  Warren J. Stoltz of Fenton, Mo., Mrs. Leo (Guinevere) Hessen of North Miami Fla., H. Cliff Stoltz of London, Ky., Mrs Joseph (Caroline) Schmidt of Ingraham, Mrs. George (Shirley) Stout of Claremont and a twin brother, Jack Stoltz of Olney.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)