Jail Break and Murder

When William Rudolph broke out of the St. Louis Jail on Independence Day 1903, the newspapers called it an act of unprecedented daring. Kuitenkin, twenty-two years earlier, Frank Fone and John D. Shea broke out of the St. Louis Jail the same way.

Fone and Shea were local criminals, who frequented the Downtown area. Shea was violent, while Fone was a sneak thief. Fone also had a reputation for being able to escape jails and prisons. Marraskuun 7, 1881, St. Louis Police arrested Shea and Fone for earlier thefts.

Perhaps taking Shea and Fone lightly due to their youth, the corrections officer in charge did not chain them together. Shea and Fone took advantage of their free limbs to climb to the skylight on the third floor, kick it out and exit through the opening. Once on the roof, Shea and Fone jumped down twenty feet to the pavement and ran out on Clark Avenue.

Shea and Fone were so overconfident, they returned to their old haunts in Downtown instead of lying low. Noin 9 päälle, Shea and Fone were with a crowd of youths on Eighth and Olive near the Custom House. Shea got in a fight with a group of local youth, ran from the group, threw a rock at one of the participants and fired a pistol in the air.

Officer Finn saw the altercation, walked to the crowd, and placed a hand on Shea’s shoulder to show he was under arrest. Finn did not know he was dealing with an escapee.
Shea struck Finn a hard blow. Finn was slightly staggered but clubbed Shea to the ground. Bleeding from a head wound, Shea fled with Fone as he fired shots at Finn. Finn returned fire.

St. Louis Police Officer Patrick Doran was in Zahn’s Saloon on Seventh Street between St. Charles and Washington Avenue. Doran, an exemplary officer with a good record, heard the running gun battle and exited the saloon. As Doran stepped out onto the pavement, he slipped and almost fell.

As Doran bent over to regain his feet, Shea pointed his gun at Doran as he ran by. Shea shot the officer in the head while Doran bent over at the waist. Doran fell back onto a cellar door. The fatal shot killed Doran died in seconds.

Shea and Fone continued to run. Shea tried to shoot a private security guard named Hill, but his revolver was either empty or misfired. Shea inadvertently ran into a dead-end alley. Officer Finn and Hill were at the end of the alley but hesitant to run in, not knowing how many bullets Shea had left.

Officer Walker arrived, ran into the alley, and fired at the silhouette of Shea. Shea surrendered. Walker, Finn, and Hill dragged the bloody Shea to the Third District Station. Officers carried Doran’s body to his home at 1516 Clark Avenue, where the coroner held a post-mortem.

Shea claimed insanity but no one believed him. Shea was a desperate criminal attempting to escape punishment. Nothing more.

Fone continued to be an escape artist. Fone escaped the St. Louis Jail at least three more times. He did finally serve time in the Missouri Penitentiary from November 1884 to July 1886 after a St. Louis Court convicted Fone for theft. Canadian-born Fone decided to leave St. Louis after his short prison term.

Officer Doran left a wife and family, who lost a husband and father for petty reasons. Sad end for a brave man, St. Louis Police Officer Patrick Doran.

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Sources: The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, Marraskuu 8, 1881, p. 8.

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