Wire Thieves Kill Policeman

Before Friday, April 7, 1916, was over, the Lewis brothers would kill two St. Louis Police Officers, John McKenna and William Dillon. McKenna was the first to fall, when he interrupted the brothers attempts to steal wire, a valuable commodity during World War I. The brothers would kill Dillon, while he investigated McKenna’s murder.

The St. Louis Police Department assigned McKenna to look for the wire thieves, who had been stealing from the area near today’s Central West End. McKenna observed the Lewis Brothers, Ora and Roy, park their stolen vehicle, in the alley behind 4178 Delmar Boulevard. When McKenna went to speak with the Lewis brothers, they attempted to flee. McKenna pulled his revolver on the Lewis brothers and stopped them at 4172 Delmar Boulevard.

McKenna took a pistol off the taller of the two men and placed it in his pocket. McKenna then put his own revolver away and walked the Lewis brothers to the Motor Car Gasoline Co. at 618 N. Whittier Street. The gas station remained a gas station until 1997, when it was torn down. McKenna asked George Fisher, an employee of the company, to call the police station.

McKenna then began to search the larger man. Roy Lewis, the taller brother, distracted McKenna allowing Ora Lewis to walk behind McKenna. Ora Lewis pulled a pistol that McKenna missed during his initial search of the brothers.

Ora Lewis fired a single shot into McKenna’s skull. The bullet killed McKenna two hours later. St. Louis Detectives learned that Ora Lewis asked for a drink of water. When McKenna gave him permission, Ora Lewis walked behind McKenna and shot him in the back of the head.

Fisher heard the shot and turned to see McKenna falling. The Lewis brothers ran back to their automobile and fled down the alley at a high rate of speed. A milk truck driver and another citizen attempted to follow the brothers, but they lost the fleeing felons at the intersection of Vandeventer and Delmar Boulevards.

A citizen saw the brothers abandon the mud-spattered car at Belleview and College Avenues. The Lewis brothers transferred bundles from the stolen Ford into a Hudson. The brothers stole the Ford from Palm Street on March 21, 1916.

The proprietor of 4172 Delmar Boulevard, where McKenna stopped the brothers said the description of the murderers matched two men, who were renting her garage. They claimed to be from Springfield, Illinois. They had been coming in and out with different automobiles during the past two months.

The brothers lived in the 4200 block of Athlone Avenue. It would be there that they killed their second police officer in 24 hours.  William Dillon recognized the description as that of the Lewis Brothers, also known as the DeMorris boys after their stepfather, Dillon decided to head to the DeMorris home and investigate.

McKenna was born on September 10, 1886, and was 29 years old. He left a widow. He was the son and nephew of St. Louis Police Officers. His father, mother and sister were at his bedside, when McKenna passed.

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