St. Louis Police Protect World’s Fair

The Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, or 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair as it is more popularly known, is the most significant event in St. Louis, Missouri history.  While St. Louis was the largest city west of the Mississippi River, the World’s Fair put it on the international map.  While the fair would bring notoriety, tourists and increased revenue to the city, it also brought the criminal classes.  Criminals nationwide traveled to the “Gateway to the West” to profit from the Fair.

Standing in the breech to meet this criminal band was the experienced St. Louis Chief of Detectives, William Desmond.  Chief Desmond had sweated a confession out of “Wild Bunch” member Ben Kilpatrick, convicted English criminal “Lord Barrington” of the murder of his benefactor and sent many criminals to long prison sentences in the Missouri penitentiary.

Chief Desmond would need all his skills to deal with the pickpockets, robbers and thieves that made St. Louis a stopping point during the 1904 World’s Fair.  The World’s Fair opened on April 30, 1904.  Before the Fair closed, Chief Desmond and his men arrested 500 criminals.  Chief Desmond “sweated” or interrogated 318 of these criminals.  The rest were sent to other states where they were facing charges.  St. Louis Police took a few too the train station and made them leave on the first available train.

Chief Desmond’s regular contingent of detectives were assisted by detectives from other departments.  The St. Louis Police Department granted these special officers a commission to serve during the World’s Fair.  Two of the special officers were assisting in the arrest of the Alton train robbers.  This arrest led to the death of three St. Louis police detectives and two of the train robbers.

Criminals were sometimes successful in their shady doings but Chief Desmond and his men kept most of the criminal class in check.  As the newspaper articles noted at the time, many criminals left town to tell their criminal associates “stay away from St. Louis and DESMOND!”

The Chief of Detectives continued catching criminals until his retirement in 1907.  Even then he opened a detective agency and continued to catch criminals until his death on Independence Day, July 4, 1916.  The unsung heroes of the World’s Fair were Chief Desmond and his men.

If you liked this post, you might like other similar posts.  You might also be interested in St. Louis’ Civil War: The Streetcar Strike of 1900.

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