A Book of the Saint Paul Police 1838 - 1912 — 3

The history of the Police Department dates almost from this time on, because it was about this time that one of the grand old members of the St. Paul Police Department was born. In the previous history of the St. Paul Police Department published in 1904 the following story will be found which is always of interest to anyone reading the history of the St. Paul Police Department.

“There is one link between the Police Department which is the pride of St. Paul, and which has kept clear the name of our city in these days of municipal reform, and the early days when St. Paul was a struggling town and its Police Department consisted of a man in overalls, who wore a big glittering star on his homespun coat. It reaches back to a glorious autumn day in the early fifties, when St. Paul was a town of about a thousand persons. In one of the homes lived a chubby little fellow who was the leader of all the boys of his age. The air was hazy and the glory of an Indian Summer afternoon enveloped the little village. It was a day ill suited for adventures, but this chubby little fellow had been born for excitement. He suggested to his mates a visit to the jail. His suggestion, in fact, was a dare, and so, little John leading, the boys walked down Robert Street and turned off to the west, and in the outskirts of the town, near the corner of Washington and Fifth Streets, came to the little wooden shed that was known as the jail. Straight up to one of the four barred windows John walked. The other boys wondered at his bravery, and came with reluctant steps. John was no coward. When he did things he did them thoroughly. He seized a window bar in each of his chubby hands, and with eyes wide open, tried to pierce the mysterious gloom of the wooden dungeon. Truth to tell, his heart was fluttering, but he liked heart flutters and cold chills. That was what made him different from the other boys. But all of a sudden his heart gave a jump that nearly threw him over. Out of the gloom emerged a tousled head; a bleared face was thrust almost into his. Heart flutters are all right, but when a fellow’s heart begins to pump like an engine it is too much for human flesh and blood to stand. And so John turned and ran. His followers were seized with consternation, and the whole brave venture wound up with a rout.

But John’s thoughts still turned to the jail and it was probably for that reason that when he was old enough he became a member of the St. Paul Police Department. The only time he ever ran away was on that Autumn day in the early fifties. His name is John Clark, and he is captain of the St. Paul Police Department today.”

Since the above was written Capt. John Clark has again been promoted to Assistant Chief of Police. Capt. Clark is today the last link between the Police Department of the olden days of St. Paul and that wonderful organization which Chief O’Connor has built up which today stands the pride of every citizen of our City. In the days when John Clark was a boy the only real police officer in the whole country was Sheriff Lull who had his hands good and full. His headquarters were at the prison at Fort Snelling. Sheriff Lull had a large territory and the Indians had no trouble getting liquor in one place while the sheriff was guarding another. Fights became common and murders occurred every day. Murder trials took but a few minutes and there was no delay with legal execution, and none of the cases ever went to the Supreme Court. Three murders were committed one Thursday morning before eleven o’clock. Sheriff Lull had sent all three murderers to the Happy Hunting Grounds (all being Indians) before sunrise the next morning, and yet no one at the time complained of anything being done without due process of the law.

In 1851 the first real Chief of Police of St. Paul was elected by the Common Council. He was Alexander Marshall who had a carpenter shop on Pearl Street now known as Grove Street. The carpenter shop stood on Grove Street on the site now occupied by the red brick residence at the corner of what is now Lafayette Avenue. This residence was formerly occupied by Daniel Aberle, Park Commissioner. Marshall was so busy in his carpenter shop that he had no time to take care of the police work, and Sheriff Lull had to do all the work himself. Finally Lull objected to this double burden and he demanded that the City Council elect a real policeman such as he had heard existed in New York and other big cities; so the council elected Warren Chapman, and Warren Woodbury as constables. They served until 1853 when Michael Cummings and John McKastner were chosen their successors. Cummings remained on the police department until the nineties when he died. In 1854 Mrs. Keener, a white woman was murdered by Yu-Ha-See, an Indian. David Olmstead, the first mayor of St. Paul acting as Chief of Police, tried to get his two men to find the murderer who had secreted himself. Sheriff Lull determined that if there was any honor in the capture of the murderer he was going to get it himself, and he went out and located his man. There was a hasty trial and the Indian was hanged by Sheriff Lull who got all the credit for the police work during the murder. Then Mayor Olmstead and the City Council determined that the city must have a constable who could devote all his time to preserving order in the city, and William R. Miller became the first marshall of the city of St. Paul. Miller’s first work was to ask the sanction of the council to the appointment of four patrolmen who were to guard the city day and night, and the city council approved the names of William Spitzer, Smith Macauley, Joseph and John Nagler, and thus in 1854 the first police department of St. Paul became a reality. A sensational murder was committed three weeks after the organization of this force. Wm. W. Hickock, a druggist, had a drug store and blind pig combined on what is now the Boston Store at Sixth and Robert Street. A drayman named Peltier had been told to bring some goods from the wharf at the foot of Robert Street to the drug store. He arrived latter than was expected and words followed Hickock’s calling Peltier to account. No one will ever who know struck the first blow but several were exchanged. Finally, however, Hickock seized a wooden wagon pin and struck Peltier a blow over the eyes, killing him instantly. Hickock hid in his house, the police laid seige and finally Hickock was captured. Hickock put up a big fight and was finally acquitted. It was the first sensational murder trial that St. Paul had ever listened to and it was also the first miscarriage of justice in Ramsey County due to the jury system. In 1854 Alexander Ramsey’s term as governor of the territory of Minnesota expired and the following year he was elected mayor of St. Paul. He no was sooner in office than the city was shaken to its very foundation by a sensational jail delivery. Five prisoners escaping in one night. The town marshall was severely reprimanded by the mayor and the council but he laid the blame upon his subordinates. None of the men were ever seen again. At this time the Chief of Police received four hundred dollars and each patrolman three hundred dollars per year salary, and Judge Orlando Simons, afterwards one of the judges of the District Court, received two hundred and fifty dollars per year as City Justice. The marshall received one hundred dollars more for acting as Chief of Police and also bailiff 0f the City Council. He had to attend all the meetings of the council which had no city hall to meet in and used to gather on occasional evenings in a little room on Third Street and Minnesota over a jewelry store kept by a man named Nathan Spicer. An attempt that year to reduce Miller’s salary to $300 failed. Judge Simon’s court was in the 2nd story of a market building at 7th and Wabasha Street. In September 1855 one more man was added to the force, and on May 30th, 1856, George L. Becker, afterwards Railroad and Warehouse Commissioner of Minnesota, twice a candidate for governor of the state, became mayor and he immediately reorganized the force dividing the force into three districts. The force then consisted of the following: Chief, W. R. Miller; Sol Waters, Capt. of First District; W. H. Spitzer, Smith Macauley, Joseph Fadden, Burt Miller; Captain of second district Wm. Tonika, Andrew Sandberg, Aspinwall Cornwall; James Gooding, captain of the third district, M. C. Hardwig, Henry Calvin, Edward Mayher.