Chief Desmond Sweats Nitro Burglar

On Friday, October 21, 1904, one of the greatest tragedies in St. Louis Police history occurred when two train robbers and three St. Louis Police detectives died in a shootout.  The gunfight occurred in a small hotel room on Pine Street.

Two days later on Sunday, October 23, 1904, a burglar attempted to gain entry to a realty office at 612 Chestnut Street by dropping a bottle of nitroglycerin on the sidewalk.  If not for the first incident, the identity of the perpetrator of the second deed may never have been discovered.

The explosion at Samuel Bowman and Co. was so destructive that it was heard 10 blocks away.  The nitroglycerin injured the burglar as well.  “John Doe” suffered a broken foot, a disintegrated pants leg and several scratches on his face and body.

Doe attempted to escape but his damaged leg made it impossible.  Policeman Tom Quinn ran from his beat on Seventh and Chestnut Streets caught Doe trying to run into the alley.  Doe had a .45 caliber revolver in his waistband.

Doe looked to be about 30 years old but claimed to be “John Doe, 23, shoemaker, single, no home.”  His proclamation before any police questioning betrayed his knowledge of police interrogation methods.  Doe refused to make any other statements.

St. Louis Police Chief of Detectives William Desmond faced many tough interviews in his day.  Desmond “sweated” many suspects in a friendly but disorienting interrogation style.  Even the normally reticent Ben Kilpatrick eventually talked to Desmond.  Doe was proving an exception.

Unfortunately for Doe, train robber Harry Vaughn had been captured outside the Pine Street Hotel where the gunfight occurred.  Vaughn would serve a long sentence for his role in the train robbery, so he was looking for ways to reduce his sentence.

Vaughn sent for Desmond and told him John Doe was actually Jerry Franklin Ferguson.  Ferguson was a member of their gang specializing in bank robbery and business burglary.  Faced with Desmond’s knowledge of his true identity, Doe admitted his name but continued to refuse any knowledge or complicity in the explosion.

During the first week of November 1904, Ferguson’s former girlfriend Agnes Blanc who lived with Ferguson exposed him as a member of Vaughn’s gang, implicated him in the train robbery and also reported that he was one of the 8 prisoners who escaped the Neosho, Missouri Jail in 1903.  Neosho Sheriff’s Deputies caught Ferguson after he blew up a store safe.

Ferguson did not intend to rob the realty office though.  Ferguson was looking for Blanc and her new boyfriend who he intended to kill with the explosives.  They were spared when a drunk Ferguson dropped the bottle and seriously injured himself.

Faced with this overwhelming evidence, Ferguson finally confessed to Chief Desmond.  Desmond sent Ferguson back to Neosho to face the burglary charges.  Eventually, I lose track of Ferguson who did not die in Missouri.

Chief Desmond sweated many criminals in his career but few were harder to break than a common burglar named Jerry Franklin Ferguson.  If you know what eventually become of Ferguson, please scroll down to the comments section and leave a reply.

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