Posts about police history with special emphasis on St. Louis police history.
The picture of Cornelius O’Keefe in the book, In The Line of Duty: St. Louis Police Officers Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice by Barbara Miksicek, David McElreath, and Major Stephen Pollihan, struck me the first time I saw it. With his hair parted down the middle and a big mustache, I could see him walking the streets of Downtown St. Louis […]
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William T. “Willie” Egan took over “Egan’s Rats” on the death of his older brother Tom in 1919. Thomas “Snake” Kinney and his childhood friend and brother-in-law Tom Egan formed St. Louis’ criminal organization in the late 1800s. Both Kinney and Tom Egan were saloon keepers and Democratic politicians. They employed “the Rats” for political slugging and other criminal activities. […]
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On July 26, 1854, the bare knuckle champion John Morrissey met occasional bare knuckle fighter William Poole in a no rules street brawl. What followed would be the worst five minutes of John Morrissey’s life. On October 23, 1853, the 22-year-old Morrissey beat Yankee Sullivan for the world bare knuckle championship in a disputed decision. Sullivan actually knocked Morrissey out […]
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In February 1903, Franz H. Hackmeier passed away. His funeral attracted over 2000 mourners. Special streetcars commissioned for the large funeral took the mourners west of Wellston, Missouri in St. Louis County. St. Louis County officials requested assistance in dealing with possible criminal activity. Chief Desmond of the St. Louis Police detailed two detectives from his office, George Williams and […]
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On Thursday night, May 31, 1900, Albert Koenig, a strike sympathizer with a history of mental illness, shot and killed Patrolman Dennis Crane. Patrolman Crane and several other officers responded to the area due to reports of Koenig menacing other citizens. Koenig entered Eas and Sons Saloon at the southwest corner of S. Broadway and Osage Streets. Koenig may have […]
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The 1900 St. Louis Streetcar Strike was a shooting war between the working class and the upper class. It started as a job action by streetcar workers of the newly consolidated streetcar lines. However, it quickly divided the city with the working class supporting the strike while the upper and professional classes defied the strike. The result was a deadly […]
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William J. Lemp, Sr. owned and operated the Lemp Brewery in St. Louis, Missouri at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Lemp, Sr.’s worth was estimated at 20 to 30 million dollars, a billionaire in today’s money. Tremendous financial success did not stop William J. Lemp, Sr. from taking his own life on Saturday, February 13, 1904. William Lemp inherited […]
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On a cold January night in 1904, when the city of St. Louis was preparing for the World’s Fair which would make it famous, overzealous co-workers killed seven boys and a man. It was 5:45 p.m. on January 13th at the old Brown Shoe Company factory at the corner of Washington Avenue and North Eleventh Street. Time for the men to […]
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On Friday, January 21, 1916, the St. Louis Police Department appointed its first female police officer, Laura M. Kinkead. Officer Kinkead was issued a badge but she was not allowed to carry a gun nor did the department issue her a uniform. The St. Louis Police Department treated the appointment as an experiment. However by 1919, St. Louis Police women […]
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On Friday, March 13, 1903, the Franklin County Judge William Davidson arraigned William Rudolph and George Collins for the robbery of the Union Bank and the murder of Pinkerton Detective Charles Schumacher. Rudolph and Collins plead “not guilty”. Judge Davidson assigned three attorneys to represent Rudolph and Collins. William Rudolph gave a confession to the St. Louis media, which was […]
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