St. Louis Police Nab Robber of Policeman

Pada hari Senin, Maret 5, 1900, St. Louis Police Officers Thomas Meagher and Thomas Degnan apprehended men who robbed an East St. Louis Officer of his gun. Ed Sullivan, sebuah 22 year-old transient, robbed an East St. Louis Police Officer of his gun, jewelry and possessions in late February 1900.

Officer Thomas Meagher observed Sullivan and Harry Davis walking near Olive and 4th Streets. Meagher’s actions would lead to the arrest of both men but it almost cost him his life.

Officer Meagher of the Central District was patrolling his beat when he observed Sullivan and Davis. When the men observed Officer Meagher, they tried to “slink off” according to the March 6, 1900 edisi St. Republik Louis. Officer Meagher ordered them to halt.

If Officer Meagher had searched Sullivan first, he would not have been shot but he had no way of knowing if one or both of them were armed. Meagher searched Davis first. While Meagher was searching Davis, Ed Sullivan pulled a .38 caliber revolver from his shirt and shot Meagher through the shoulder.

Sullivan and Davis fled as Meagher although seriously wounded fired his service revolver at them. Meagher continued to chase them. Officer Degnan was at Second and Locust when he heard the shots.

Running towards Olive on Third Street, he ran directly into Sullivan and Davis at the corner of Third and Olive. All three men were surprised but Degnan quickly knocked the gun from Sullivan’s hand with his night stick.

Sullivan put up his fists to fight but was subdued by a single strike to the head from Degnan’s night stick. Private Watchman Frank McTigue had been walking with Degnan and pulled his revolver on Davis who surrendered without a fight.

Even though Officer Meagher was seriously injured, he insisted on walking the men to the call box at 3rd Street and Washington Avenue. After a patrol wagon picked up Sullivan and Davis, Meagher rested at the neighboring firehouse. An ambulance took Meagher to City Hospital for treatment.

Chief of Detectives William Desmond questioned Ed Sullivan, who admitted to robbing East St. Louis Sergeant Cooney, a private watchman and another man over the past several months. Sullivan did not implicate Davis in any of these crimes. Davis claimed to be from Toronto, Canada and only visiting St. Louis.

Officer Meagher survived the shooting and would work himself up to Special Officer by 1905. Officer Meagher was the officer who discovered the American Tent and Awning Fire that took the lives of several St. Louis Firemen. Officer Meagher was born on March 9, 1868. He spent his 34th birthday recovering from a bullet wound at his home on N. Ninth Street.

Officer Meagher lived to October 4, 1926. Officer Meagher died of a ruptured appendix at 58 tahun. Chief Desmond would solve many more crimes before the end of his career.

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