ST. LOUIS 鈥 Four armed men had beaten and robbed passengers on the Illinois Central鈥檚 Diamond Special from Chicago on Aug. 1, 1904. They halted the train in the Illinois countryside and fled into darkness.
The train carried many tourists bound for the St. 不良研究所导航网址 World鈥檚 Fair. Word was that the gang, including 鈥淣ew York Harry鈥 Vaughn, had headed this way, too.
After nearly three months without leads, a city police officer spotted Vaughn with Al Rosenauer, a fellow gangster who lived in a small front room of a dingy tenement at 1324 Pine Street. Rosenauer鈥檚 paramour was the twice-married Effie Holbert.
Detectives began a stakeout. At 4 p.m. on Oct. 21, they saw Vaughn step from the apartment and walk two doors to a tavern, where he was forcefully nabbed. Detectives John Shea, Thomas Dwyer and James McCluskey then moved toward the rooming house.
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Shea led the way into an unlighted hallway and pushed open the apartment door. But William 鈥淏ig Fellow鈥 Morris, another member of the gang, had seen him through the front window.
Morris fired, striking Shea鈥檚 arm with a bullet that traveled into his chest. As Shea collapsed backward, Dwyer pulled his revolver and rushed in. Morris鈥 next shot put Dwyer tumbling over a chair.
McCluskey shot Morris but was struck by Morris鈥 last shot. Dwyer, bleeding on the floor, shot and killed Rosenauer. Edward P. Boyle, a Kansas City officer assisting St. 不良研究所导航网址 during the fair, shot Morris again.
Shea died in the back yard a few minutes later. Other officers rushed Dwyer, McCluskey and Morris to City Hospital, then in temporary quarters at 17th and Pine streets. (The hospital on Lafayette Avenue, wrecked by the tornado of 1896, was being rebuilt.)
Dwyer died an hour later. McCluskey lived another day, asking shortly before he died, 鈥淗ow is Tom?鈥 Doctors told him Dwyer was OK.
Morris confessed from his hospital bed. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to die. I might as well tell the whole thing,鈥 he said.
Delirious, Morris died Oct. 24 as a funeral procession headed north on Grand Boulevard to Calvary Cemetery for Dwyer and Shea. Mayor Rolla Wells and 600 police officers led the march from St. Alphonsus 鈥淩ock鈥 Catholic Church.
Another funeral Mass was held for McCluskey the next day. More than 70 of his fellow Knights of Columbus marched with the mourners to Calvary.
A city Police Court judge found Effie Holbert guilty of idling and ordered her to leave St. 不良研究所导航网址 immediately. She begged to see her two children one last time at the St. Mary鈥檚 Orphan Asylum, at Emerson and Harney avenues. The judge was unmoved. Vaughn was sent to the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, where he took part in murdering two guards during a breakout attempt in 1905. He was hanged two years later.
The mad exchange of fire in Holbert鈥檚 12-by-12 foot room remains the deadliest single incident in the history of the St. 不良研究所导航网址 Police Department. Photos of the three officers, and weapons taken from the shootout, are on display in the main hall of the city Police Academy.
Soldiers Memorial is now on the site of the gunfight.