Räuber tötet ein anderer Polizist in 1920

On December 10, 1920, eine achte St. Louis Polizist würde sein Leben verlieren, the most officers to die in the line of duty in the history of the St. Louis Police Department. Vier der Offiziere’ Morde in 1920 würde nie gelöst werden. This last murder would be one of the four murders never to be solved.

Charles M. Daly became the eighth St. Louis Police Officer to lose his life, when a robber attempted to hold him up in front of his home at 4021 Forest Park Boulevard. The robber shot Daly in the course of the holdup. His actions would lead to Officer Daly’s death. Daly had recently been assigned as a Special Police Officer at the Magnolia Police Station due to his fine record as a patrol officer at Grand Boulevard and Easton Avenue.

Charles-M-Daly

Daly from the Saturday, Dezember 11, 1920 Ausgabe des St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Special Officer Daly was returning to his home after his shift at 10:30 p.m. am Dienstag, Dezember 7, 1920. As he turned up his sidewalk, a man approached him and told him to “stick ’em up”. Officer Daly was carrying his service revolver in his right coat pocket.

Daly pulled out his revolver but the robber shot him first. The shots struck Daly in the abdomen twice. Officer Daly told his wife Josephine later that he also observed another man across the street hiding in the bushes during the robbery. Officer Daly fired three shots at both men before collapsing to the sidewalk. His wife found him, when she heard the shooting in the front yard.

According to the Wednesday, Dezember 8, 1920 Ausgabe der St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his doctor’s said he had a “fighting chance”. The paper also noted Officer Daly was the son of the late Dan Daly, a local prize-fighter of note. The police arrested several suspects but Daly said he never got a good look at the robber in the dark and did not believe he could identify him if he was brought to him.

Sonderbar, Officer Daly had been attacked by a gang of men a few weeks before the fatal attack. The men followed him after he got off the Sarah Street street car. They jumped him in front of his home but his wife grabbed his service revolver and scared them away.

She said many of the criminal element in the neighborhood he patrolled held a grudge against him because of his diligence in executing his duty. Jedoch, authorities were never able to connect the two attacks nor did they believe this incident was anything more than a robbery.

Am Freitag,, Dezember 10, 1920 bei 06:20 p.m., Daly succumbed to his injuries. Daly, who was born on January 15, 1890 in St. Louis, was 30 Jahre alt. Die St. Louis Police Department lost another brave officer.

daly-house

4021 Forest Park Avenue, the site of the Daly House in 1920 – Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Google Earth

The house at 4021 Forest Park Boulevard, which no longer exists, had a bloody history. According to John Auble’s book A History of St. Louis Gangsters, May Traynor, a local madam was shot by two men there on September 20, 1961. Before she died, Traynor blamed Joe Costello, a local gangster. She died on September 22, 1961 bei 71 Jahren.

1920 was an anomaly in the history of the St. Louis Police Department. Never did so many officers lose their lives in the line of duty. Zum Glück, it has never been repeated.

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überarbeiteter Buchumschlag von 1920

Überarbeitetes Cover von 1920: Der tödlichste Jahr für St. Louis Polizei

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