Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about police history with special emphasis on St. Louis police history.
Before reading Gangs of St. Louis: Men of Respect by Daniel Waugh, I knew and wrote about Robert Creed and his brother Thomas murdering St. Louis Police Officer George Geisler on Halloween Day 1920. What I didn’t know was Robert Creed was a member of the Cuckoo Gang, an ultra violent criminal organization in the 1920s. Robert Creed was the
On November 10, 1924, Mrs. A.W. Stickney was leaving the St. Louis Country Club, when she was approached by two African-American men. The lighter skinned man told Mrs. Stickney to turn over her jewels or he would take them from her. Fearing for her safety, Mrs. Stickney handed the man her jewelry, valued at $17,000.00, and $85.00 in cash. Mrs.
During the last week of December 1902, William Rudolph, a recently returned miner to Franklin County, and George Collins robbed the Union Bank in Union, MO. They robbed it overnight, when no one was present by blowing up the safe. Rudolph returned to his parents’ cabin in Stanton, MO. He and his accomplice hid out until the Franklin County Sheriff
On February 10, 1897, 60-year-old William H. Stewart, a civil engineer, died in St. Louis City Hospital. Stewart passed away from a morphine overdose. St. Louis Police originally thought it was a case of suicide or accidental overdose. Stewart lived with his son-in-law F.C. Bennett at 2634 Dickson Street. Mr. Bennett categorically denied Mr. Stewart used drugs of any kind.
On the morning of Wednesday, July 8, 1885, the Coroner’s Clerk Jimmy Spaulding rushed into the Police Court at the Four Courts building. Spaulding announced one of the jail inmates waiting in the holding pen had just escaped. While most of the members of court sat stunned, Detective Billy Desmond jumped to his feet and rushed out of the courtroom.
In 1934, Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd ended his criminal career in an East Liverpool, Ohio corn field after a shoot out with FBI agents and local law enforcement officers. However, in December 1925, he was inmate number 29078 at the Missouri Penitentiary. The 21-year-old Floyd had just been convicted of robbing the Kroeger Grocery and Baking Company main office
The Tuesday Evening, February 18, 1919, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch detailed the arrest of two men and two women for the theft of numerous luxury items. Aware that a shoplifting ring was working a couple of the local jewelry stores, the St. Louis Police Department assigned several undercover police women to follow the suspects. Their work resulted in the
St. Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond was known for his ability to gain confessions from criminals. Unlike other detectives, who would sometimes use physical intimidation, Desmond eschewed the “third degree”. Chief Desmond believed information obtained by beating suspects was completely unreliable. Desmond would start a discussion with the suspect. After putting him or her at ease, Desmond would let
On Saturday, May 5, 1900 at 11:30 p.m., the explosion of the Suburban Line at the Wabash and Sarah Street railroad crossing marked the beginning of the St. Louis Street Car Strike of 1900. Before the strike was over in September 1900, the streets of St. Louis would be a battle ground between rich and poor with the St. Louis
Thief. Liar. Bigamist. Con Man. Murderer. All accurate labels for one of the greatest charlatans to operate in St. Louis. “Lord F. Seymour Barrington” was a bit of a local celebrity, if an extremely disreputable one, during 1903. After conducting a bigamist marriage on the East Coast, “Lord Barrington” stole his wife’s trousseau and headed to St. Louis. When Barrington