Police Arrest Transit Detective

This post is an exerpt from the second edition of St. Louis’ Civil War: The Streetcar Strike of 1900 (Second Edition).

Saint Louis Police arrested transit security officer Ora Havill for the third time in a week on Sunday, June 3, 1900. Havill shot multiple men in two previous incidents. Havill claimed self-defense on both occasions.

Havill fired six to eight shots at strike sympathizers on Park Avenue near Grand Avenue. Havill claimed that a man jumped out from behind a tree and tried to assault Havill. However, Saint Louis police officer Fisher had been observing Harvill the entire time. No one attempted to assault Havill before Havill started shooting into the crowd.

Havill first came to authorities’ attention when he was riding in the broken-down streetcar with no lights on May 24, 1900. Saint Louis Police believed Havill, a transit detective, to be one of the men on the darkened streetcar who shot into the crowd without provocation. Saint Louis Police arrested Havill for three shootings in less than a week. It would not be the last time Havill ran afoul of Saint Louis Police.

On Friday, June 22, 1900, Havill reported to General Manager George Baumhoff that Havill overheard two men plotting to blow up the Delmar streetcar bridge in Saint Louis County. Baumhoff sent a motor operator named Clarence M. Smith to assist Havill in interrupting the plot, while Baumhoff notified the Saint Louis Police. However, Baumhoff neglected to tell the police that he sent two men to interrupt the plot.

Havill and Smith arrived searched the bushes by the bridge. The Saint Louis Police arrived a little while later and detained Havill and Smith. After Havill and Smith satisfied the police officers that Baumhoff had sent them, the police pulled back but kept a watch on the two men. The police officers were still suspicious of the pair.

After about an hour of searching, Havill found two sticks of dynamite by the bridge. The police took both men into custody but released Smith a short time later. Saint Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond questioned Havill and doubted his story. Desmond kept Havill in custody.

Havill’s father was the chief clerk of the 4th District Court in Illinois. Possibly through his father’s connections, Ora Havill secured the chief clerk’s position for the Illinois penitentiary at Chester, Illinois.

Havill served in the position until January 1897. When Havill resigned, an audit revealed that $6,009.00 was missing from the accounts. Prosecutors charged Havill with embezzlement. Havill’s father paid $2,000 to bail out his son.

Havill, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, traveled to Saint Louis after the start of the strike to serve as a security guard for the transit company. The transit company promoted Havill to detective.

While Havill sat in the city jail, his wife came to Saint Louis from their home in Mount Carmel, Illinois on Tuesday, July 3, 1900. His wife told Chief Desmond that the pair married in Dixon, Illinois on November 10, 1887. The couple had one child, a son.
Havill abandoned his family after completing training for the Spanish-American War. She did not know where he was until she read about the charges against Ora Havill in the Illinois newspapers.

Ora Havill refused to answer his wife but did not deny her accusations. His wife would have the dubious honor of reconciling with her wayward husband in three weeks’ time.

Havill pled guilty to possession of explosives and concealed weapons on Monday, July 23, 1900. Havill agreed to leave town if the court only fined him in the case. Judge Clark of the circuit court fined Havill $251, which his father Captain Frank Havill paid. Havill left Saint Louis for Mount Carmel with his father that evening. After shooting innocent bystanders and faking a bombing, Havill got off quite lightly.

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