Lima Police Department 125th Anniversary

125yearsLima Police Department

“To have the courage to do what is right even at personal sacrifice. To have the courage to stand up

for those who cannot stand up for themselves. To be brave and

persevere in the face of danger. To have the courage to admit

when we are wrong.”

The Lima News SECTION G

Sunday, June 17, 2012

1887 – 2012

L IMA POLICE • 125 YEARSG2 Sunday, June 17, 2012 The Lima News

From Sheriff Samuel A. Crish & all of the employees at The Allen County Sheriff’s Office.

Congratulations to everyone at the

Lima PoLice DePartment on 125 years of outstanding service to this Community!

INDEXCelebrating 125 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G3

Notable case: Chuck Conner shooting . . . . . G4

Davenport: Lima’s first black police chief . .G4-5

Jackson: Lima’s first black policeman . . . . . G7

The slaying of Jess Sarber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G8

Officers killed in the line of duty . . . . . . . . . . G9

Notable case: Kay’s Jewelry Store robberies . G9

Police chiefs through the years . . . . . . . .G12-13

Notable case: Woods, Trusedale killings . . G14

Notable case: Grand avenue murders . . . . . G17

Notable case: Baby Tolbert kidnapping . . . G17

Notable case: Kidnapping, chase,arrest . . . G17

Notable case: Tarika Wilson death . . . . . . . . G17

Technology changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G18

ABOUT THE COVERPhotos courtesy of the Allen County Historical Society:

• 1842: The first Lima Police Station was part of the first Allen County Courthouse built in 1831.

• 1887: Lima’s first police officers: (front, from left) Patrolman Conelius Rousch, Chief James P. Harley and Patrolman Joel B. Crabb; (back, from left) Patrolmen Thomas A. O’Brien, Augustus Miller, Sam Meeks and Daniel Corcoran.

• 125th anniversary Lima Police badge• Excerpt from the Lima Police Department Mission StatementCover design by Connie Ruhe, The Lima News

The Lima Police

Station as seen June 8

on the corner of Market and Union

streets. The station was

built in 1969.

LINDSAY BROWN

• The Lima News

L IMA POLICE • 125 YEARSThe Lima News Sunday, June 17, 2012 G3

Rhodes State CollegeCongratulates the Lima Police Departmenton 125 Years of Excellence Your Education PartnerFor the last years,

4240 Campus DriveLima, OH 45804

www.RhodesState.edu/StartsHere 419-995-8320

By ADRIENNE [email protected]

419-993-2072

LIMA — The Lima Police Depart-ment is celebrating its 125th anni-versary this year. To answer a few questions about its history, I turned to the history written by Joe Bowsher, “Lima, Ohio, Police Department: A Century of Service.” Bowsher started at the Lima Police Department in 1966 and retired in 1992.

The history is vast, but here are a few details:

• The first station was in 1831 in the 100 block of South Main Street. It was the headquarters for city and county offices in addition to the town marshal. Lima’s law enforcement was officially organized with the naming

of Amos Clutter as town marshal in 1842. They used their own guns.

• The Lima Police Department began with seven officers in 1887. Lima had expanded with the oil boom, and a more formal law enforcement presence was needed. Officers were paid $60 a month for working every day in the early 1900s, and at that time they were issued a gun, a badge, a whistle, a flashlight and a set of keys.

• The first African-American officer was William A. Jackson, a Detroit native who started in 1891. He served four years, retiring in 1895, but was reappointed in 1898. There were many other African-Americans who served continuing from that era.

• A new station was built to house the Police and Fire departments at East High Street and North Central Avenue in 1907. It was built at a cost of $135,000. There were about 18 police officers at the time, and there were nine cells in the jail. The vacated space later became the Leader Store.

• The department first bought a vehicle — a paddy wagon — in 1915. Motorcycles came onto the force five years before that for traffic control, and Model Ts and Model As were

later added. In the 1930s, automobiles were ordered with bulletproof glass and gunports. Before the department had vehicles, officers used street cars.

• In 1923, Sgt. William Keller orga-nized the identification bureau. He organized files with fingerprints and mug shots of everyone incarcerated in the city jail. Before fingerprints, offi-cers used the Bertillon system, using measurements of a person’s head and body to identify him.

• The Fraternal Order of Police No. 21 was chartered in 1935. The meet-ings were held in various members’ garages until grocers Howard and Ray Pangle provided land at 750 W. Robb Ave. and a lodge was built in 1966.

• The first juvenile officer was Patrolman Earl Cox, who took the post in 1948.

• Equipment firsts include the Speedmeter in 1955, a speed-detecting system using air hoses laid across a roadway. The Alcometer was used at this time also, but its results weren’t the best and officers instead relied on blood tests done at the hospitals. In 1968, officers were given two-way portable radios so they could com-municate with the station, and radios

were installed in cruisers in 1970. The Breathalyzer and the polygraph came into use in the early 1970s.

• A new station was finished in the 100 block of East Market Street in 1969, replacing the building at 117 E. High St., which had served as head-quarters for some 60 years before that. The Lima House Hotel and Sarno’s Restaurant and Lounge had to be purchased and razed so the new station could go in.

• Major changes came with the 1970s. New in this decade were the vice squad, meter maids, bomb squad, SWAT, Safety City, guns, female offi-cer. Lima Technical College opened during this era also and offered an associate degree in law enforcement, allowing officers to be on the force and work toward their degree at the same time. (Officers were first required by the state to have struc-tured training in the mid-1960s.)

• The 1980s saw more improve-ments. Wire barriers were first used in cars between front and back seats. A plan for 911 was started in 1986, and it became operational in 1989. A com-puter system was installed just two years before that.

Celebrating 125 years

G4 Sunday, June 17, 2012 The Lima News

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• Eyewitnesses testified that they were present when Ralph Forsythe shot Chuck Conner right between the eyes at his birthday celebration in August 1957. Yet no one could find the body or the murder weapon.

And when a jury of Lima residents convicted Ralph Forsythe of man-slaughter in 1957, it marked one of the first times in this country that such a conviction was handed out without a murder weapon, or a body, being found.

On Aug. 10, 1957, Conner was cel-ebrating his 37th birthday. To mark the occasion, a group of buddies were throwing back whiskeys at the 224 E. McKibben St. home of Ralph and June Forsythe.

Forsythe was charged with first-degree murder after detectives found Forsythe’s black Ford delivery truck, believed to be used in the crime. The local paper claimed that “Inspector (A.H.) Grady thinks Forsythe took Con-ner’s body away from his house in his paneled truck.” The wet carpet was tested, and the hardness in the water linked it to Cadiz. A caretaker at a park

there spotted the vehicle and noted its license plate, thinking it suspicious.

Knowing they had the killer, police still needed a body. A $10,000 reward was offered for anyone who could find the remains of Conner.

It was less than two months after the supposed crime had taken place that Forsythe was entering a plea of not guilty on charges of killing Conner. “I’m not a killer,” the 41-year-old Forsythe told the packed courtroom.

During a 20-day trial — the longest to date in Allen County — residents were treated to a variety of breathless moments. There was the time the court-room went silent as people believed Conner walked into the courtroom, only to find it was his brother, there to testify on Conner’s behalf.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a Cleveland neurosur-geon, Sam Shepherd, accused of killing his wife, because of pretrial public-ity. Forsythe’s attorneys claimed the local man could also not get a fair trial because of similar publicity. As a result, Forsythe was released from prison.

After his release, Forsythe returned to Lima where he led a quiet life as a commercial artist, and owner of Kai Fine Art. One day prior to the 26th anni-versary of the crime, Forsythe died and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

NOTABLE CASE: 1957Chuck Conner shooting

L IMA POLICE • 125 YEARS

Staff reports

LIMA — William Kennedy Davenport was born Feb. 24, 1915, in Greencastle, Pa. When he was 3 months old, his fam-ily moved to Lima. And by doing so, they set him on a path that would make him the first African-American police chief in Lima and likely the first African-American police chief in the nation.

His beginnings were rocky. When he was 3 years old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live for the next three years with his great-aunt Deborah Harger in Anna. He came to Allen County at age 9. His house-hold was filled with youngsters, and his father, William Edward, worked at the Rentz Bakery and in factories in town.

Davenport was a Central High School graduate of 1934. By his own admission, he didn’t try very hard at first but in his later years found motivation with teacher Zahlia Sundfor.

“She motivated me. ... She let me know there were things one could have if you were willing to work for them. That stayed with me,” he said in a newspaper interview from May 1, 1968.

He worked all sorts of odd jobs after graduation, thinking of pursuing college but never getting there. He was a custo-dian’s helper at a city building, a busboy at the Argonne, a custodian at a dress shop, a helper at a garage. He married a girl he met at church, but a career was not apparent — until he ran into a classmate who was on the Lima Police Department.

“I decided this was for me. It was a job offering better pay ... something I could live decently on,” he said in that 1968 interview.

He started as a patrolman April 1, 1942. He said in that 1968 story he walked a beat that first year from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.,

with his wife worried sick at home but trying to pretend like she wasn’t. But wor-rying aside, police work suited Davenport.

“I realized I was responsible for more than myself. I felt I had to set the pace for others, to try to motivate other individu-als,” he said. “When I became a Christian, I started looking at life from a Christian point of view. I saw my role more clearly and the importance of my work to others.”

Davenport was promoted to detective May 6, 1950. Just a few months earlier, he had unsuccessfully sued an employee at the Ranger movie theater for allegedly requiring he sit in the back.

William Kennedy Davenport: Lima’s first black police chief

See DAVENPORT • G5

William K. Davenport

1974 FILE photo • The Lima News

The Lima News Sunday, June 17, 2012 G5

American Township Police Dept.102 Pioneer Road ∙ Elida, Ohio 45807

Bus. (419) 331-6788 ∙ Fax (419) 222-8134

American Township TrusteesLynn Mohler

Paul BasingerLarry Vandemark

Their employees and residents congratulate the Lima Police Department for 125 years of continuing service.

He was in the papers in 1951 again for a terrible incident in the line of duty. He and his partner, Det. Charles Hefner, responded to a call for a help at a Lima home. The homeowner, Frank Adkins, was waving a gun and threatening the family, and his wife called in. As soon as they arrived, there was a physical struggle. In the fight, Adkins hit Daven-port in his eye with his revolver, and a stray shot from Davenport hit Hefner in the face. Hefner was paralyzed and died about a month later. Davenport also shot Adkins, killing him instantly.

Davenport gave a statement to Police Chief Kermit Westbay, who declared everything above board.

“A man with a gun in his hand, who has threatened his wife, can be expected to use it,” Westbay was quoted as saying on Feb. 2, 1951. “Both detectives Hefner and Davenport exhibited the cool brav-ery to be expected of police officers.”

Davenport also spoke to the press, giving a description of the incident in “halting, broken terms,” a Feb. 2, 1951, story reported.

But Davenport did not break under the pressure and remained on the force. He was promoted to sergeant Feb. 15, 1955. He made lieutenant Feb. 15, 1959. On April 1, 1966, he was given the rank of inspector. The only next step was chief — and he achieved it May 1, 1968.

He had been acting chief for a month, replacing the retired Chief Donald F. Miller. His civil service exam score was highest. After 26 years on the depart-ment, he began to lead the 75 on duty officers at the time. Davenport’s attitude certainly helped him along the way. He was well-known as an intelligent person with strong character.

“Being a policeman is more than put-ting people in jail. It is helping people, a lot of people,” he said in a May 1, 1968, story. “This is the agency people often turn to when they need help. Sometimes they just want someone to talk with and quite often we can’t be of much help except just to listen, to let them unbur-den themselves.

“We must reverse the thinking of the public. We must project a positive image and seek the public’s support. We need the help — it is physically impossible to do the job alone,” he said.

Davenport certainly felt the mood

changing in Lima at that time. His contin-ued help with community organizations as representative or speaker put him in touch with nearly everyone — and racial tensions were about to explode. The late 1960s and early 1970s were years marked by unrest, violence and distrust in Lima. People marched often, with the National Guard being called in to help at one point, and the attitudes turned into physical fighting among youth at Lima Senior, too. The Black Panthers had a storefront and a strong presence. Police-men were shot by unseen snipers. An African-American woman was shot and killed by a policeman in an altercation on the south side.

But through all this, Davenport helped steer the Lima Police Department through best he could. He nearly quit in 1969 after disagreeing with the mayor strongly, but he stayed.

His opinions were clear during an address to a father-son banquet in 1969:

“Black is beautiful only if black action is beautiful action,” he said. “The actions of some of today’s Negroes can only be likened to the Ku Klux Klan.” He said these actions are “designed to mali-ciously harass the community by unpro-voked verbal and physical attacks on others, and the desire to destroy that which they do not own.

“These actions are destroying the climate in which significant civil rights gains can be made. ... A rock through a window or a firebomb may look like the answer when the problem seems unsolvable and frustration tends to dull the senses as to what is right. However, they are not the answer, but only pile on new problems which complicate any attempt toward an acceptable solu-tion.”

Davenport continued to lead the depart-ment into the late 1970s. By December 1977, he had twice delayed his retire-ment date at the request of Mayor Harry Moyer. But Davenport stuck to it and retired at the beginning of 1978. It was more than a job for him.

“I don’t feel I could have been any-thing else that would have given me the same sense of personal satisfaction or as much opportunity to do good in the community,” he said in 1968.

Davenport died March 23, 1999, at 84 years old.


DAVENPORT • from G4 –––––––––––––––––––––

“Being a policeman is more than putting people in jail. It is helping people, a lot of people.”

— William K. Davenport Lima police chief, 1968

• Courtesy Allen County Historical Society

The Lima Police Department in 1919. Front row: Sgt. Alexander C. Edwards, Sgt. Charles McCoy, Sgt. Harry Grant and Capt. George Strick. On first step: Patrolmen Albert Stewart, Charles Hamilton, Michael Sullivan, Earl Jennings, Edward Wallace, Walter Clapper and James Ramsey. On second step: Patrolmem Bruce Godfrey, Bruce Sodders, Elmer James, Raymond Blair, and Webb Harrison

• Courtesy Allen County Historical Society

An early photo of the Lima Police Department taken around 1915 shows members (from left) Grant, Edwards, Justus Dotson, unidentified, Houtz and Webb.

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G6 Sunday, June 17, 2012 The Lima NewsL IMA POLICE • 125 YEARS

Staff reports

LIMA — Did Lima hire the nation’s first black officer?

As it turns out, no.As the Lima Police Department prepared

events for the celebration of its 125th anni-versary, one of the LPD’s current officers, Jeff Jacomet, was doing research when he came upon William A. Jackson, the depart-ment’s first black officer.

“I had been doing some digging and found out we hired William A. Jackson in 1891,” he said.

Jackson’s history was intriguing to Jacomet, especially considering it wasn’t too long after the Civil War. Blacks strug-gled daily to make it in a time when some blacks still were lynched in other cities.

“In that time and era, I know he had to have it tough,” Jacomet said.

Curiosity kept him going, and Jacomet kept digging, especially after he remem-bered the New York City Police Depart-ment made the claim its agency hired the first black officer in the country in 1891, the same year Lima hired Jackson. Jacomet was curious to find out whether Lima’s officer was hired first.

Jacomet contacted the NYPD Museum in New York City to obtain information the NYPD’s first black officer, Wiley Overton. He still is waiting on a call back with a date of hire, if it can be found.

As it turns out, Washington, D.C., hired its first African-American officer some 20 years prior.

Lima had the first black police chief in the state, William K. Davenport in 1968.

Like any good police investigator, Jacomet decided to hit the pavement. He ended up at the office at Woodlawn Ceme-tery, where he learned Jackson was buried there but did not have a grave marker, for whatever reason.

“When I went out there and saw he didn’t have a stone, I thought this isn’t going to work. He has to have something,” Jacomet said. “It was a severe injustice that I knew we had to correct immediately.”

Jacomet approached the Tri State Gun Collectors, which provided various sup-port, including money, to help Lima Police celebrate the 125th anniversary. Officials at that association agreed to pay for $400 for a granite grave marker, and the ceme-tery agreed to pay for the base the marker sits on.

The grave marker is expected to be completed soon. Once it’s done, Lima Police officials plan a special ceremony at Jackson’s grave.

The treasurer of the gun collector’s group, Tom Baeumel, said it was a no-brainer to support the police department and one of its former officers. The group has a soft spot for police agencies, as well as many other charities. The group raises money through its gun shows at the local fairgrounds and gives away all money over its operating costs, he said.

Jacomet discovered Jackson worked for Lima’s department for four years, left the profession and then returned to the job in 1898.

Back in the late 1800s when Jackson worked, officers didn’t make much money. There were only about a dozen officers, and turnover was common. It appeared most were chosen for the profession based on their size and ability to keep the peace.

A history book on the Lima Police Department from 1909 still shows he was an officer, Jacomet said.

Anna Selfridge, of the Allen County Museum, found a 1910 city directory that listed Jackson’s profession as a “moulder,” so he probably worked at one of the local foundries, she said.

Jacomet is looking for living relatives. From Jackson’s obituary, he discovered Jackson had two sons, Ernest Jackson, of Lima, and Roy Jackson, of Indianapolis. He also learned Jackson lived on South Main Street and died at home in 1919 at the age of 58 from a gall bladder obstruc-tion. Selfridge also found a record that showed his wife’s first name was Melvina, and he was born in Michigan.

Jacomet also learned Jackson was a well-respected officer despite the strug-gles he likely faced with his race. Not once was his race mentioned in police records or the history book.

“It was matter of fact. He was one of the guys. He wasn’t singled out by his race,” Jacomet said.

The Lima News

Congratulations Lima Police Department

Celebrating 125 years of service

to the City of Lima

The Lima News Sunday, June 17, 2012 G7 L IMA POLICE • 125 YEARS

Lima African-American policeman not first in country

William A. Jackson

L I M A P O L I C E 1 2 5 t hG8 Sunday, June 17, 2012 The Lima News

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Let Us Show You The Difference

Staff reports

It was the most notorious crime of the day, and when it happened in Allen County it changed life here forever. After that Oct. 12, 1933, evening, when John Dillinger’s gang rode into town and killed Sheriff Jess Sarber, life would never again be innocent.

Crime was big news, and names such as Bonnie and Clyde and Pretty Boy Floyd were common in the papers. But that was somewhere else. Not in Lima.

In Allen County, the law included the popular sheriff, Jess L. Sarber, his wife Lucy who served as matron of the jail, and four deputies, including Sarber’s son, Don. That had always been enough.

But in September 1933, the John Dill-inger gang robbed a bank in Bluffton and was captured in Dayton. Dillinger was taken to Lima for questioning via Lima Police cruiser. And it was a killing here, after supper one quiet Thursday night, that changed how area residents viewed their safety.

Sheriff Sarber and his wife were sitting at the desk in the office of the jail. Deputy Wilbur Sharp was sitting on an adjacent couch when three men entered the jail claiming to be from the Indiana State Prison, there to question Dillinger.

Sharp recounted the story to The Lima News, saying “the sheriff asked for their credentials, and the big man whipped out his pistol and said, ‘here are our creden-tials.’ Sarber made a move for his gun and (Harry) Pierpont shot him. The sheriff fell to the floor.”

The other two gunmen covered Sharp and demanded he produce the keys to the jail. Sharp denied knowing where they were. “They evidently took me at my word, for they again turned on the Sheriff,” Sharp said.

Sarber was asked for the keys but did

not answer. Two more shots were fired, both missing Sarber. The gang leader then struck the prostrate sheriff on the head with his pistol. Mrs. Sarber shouted, “Don’t hurt him anymore. I’ll get the keys and turn out Dillinger.”

At that, the three men went into the jail, where they freed Dillinger. His cellmate at the time, Art Miller, who was facing charges of second degree murder, said he and Dillinger were playing pinochle when the shooting began. They both stood and went to the jail door, where Dillinger waited on Pierpont to open it. “Dillinger turned to me, shook me by the hand and said goodbye and good luck,” Miller said.

The shooters forced Mrs. Sarber and Sharp into the same cell from which they took Dillinger. Mrs. Sarber said “He (Jess) had been so kind and considerate to the prisoners. Dillinger had received the best of treatment. As he walked past me, escorted by the gunmen, Dillinger kept his head down and avoided my gaze.” He then walked with his gang through the Sarber household and outside to a waiting car.

Other deputies and police were quickly on the scene, with Sarber rushed to Lima Memorial Hospital, where he died at 8:15 p.m., just 90 minutes after the ordeal began.

After that incident, Dillinger was named by the FBI as “Public Enemy No. 1.” The three who had freed him were identified as his henchmen, Harry Pierpont, Russell Clark and Charles Makeley. Eventually all were captured and brought back to Lima for trial.

In the meantime, Dillinger had escaped from a prison in Indiana and was on the lam. Locals were fearful that he would return to Lima and free his buddies, who had done the same for him.

The Ohio National Guard and a beefed-up local law enforcement squad sat with

machine guns ready at the trials for the three. Lima Police officers helping with extra security were Herbert Simmons, Koe Reed, Elmer James, Bernard J. Roney, James Goodwin, Al Mills and Clyde Dixon. Sgt. E. Harry Grant also helped. Don Sar-ber, who had succeeded his father as county sheriff, coordinated security.

After the death sentence was pro-nounced against Pierpont and Makeley, the local newspaper reported the two were having great fun biding their time in the local jail, with Pierpont called “almost hilarious.” Both the civil and military police were wondering “if the carefree attitude of Makeley and Pierpont might be prompted by a secret message sent by their kill-crazy chieftain.”

Sarber was quoted as saying, “Let Dill-inger come if he thinks he can free Pier-pont, Makeley and Clark. We are prepared for him and when the smoke clears away, the three men still will be in jail and the nationwide search for Dillinger will be at an end.”

As it turned out, the search for Dillinger ended July 21, 1934, when he was shot and killed by the law outside a movie theater in Chicago, Ill.

But the mark he made in the quiet town of Lima lives to this day.

Harry Pierpont received the death pen-alty for his part in the Sarber murder. It was he who was identified as firing the shot that killed Sarber. At 6 foot 2 inches

tall, the 32-year-old man was very cautious about keeping his face from public view, choosing to be photographed at all times looking down. He reportedly smiled at his sentencing and showed no remorse during the trial. He claimed that on the night of the Sarber murder, he was eat-ing a birthday supper at the home of his mother in Leipsic. At his sentencing, Judge E.E. Everett gave him the execution date of Friday, July 13, 1943. When asked by reporters if he was superstitious about the number 13, Pierpont replied, “I should say not. I was born Friday, Oct. 13, and the let-ters of my name count up to 13.” Pierpont died in the electric chair on Oct. 17, 1934 ... three months after Dillinger died.

Russell Clark was the only one of the three fugitives who did not receive the death penalty for his part in the Sarber slaying; instead he received a life sentence. The 35-year-old man, who stood 6 foot 2 inches tall, claimed he was attending a birthday party at the home of his sister in Detroit on the night of the Jess Sarber murder.

Charles Makeley was sentenced by an Allen County jury to die in the electric chair for his part in the murder of Jess Sarber. The 44-year-old man, who stood 5 foot 8 inches tall, argued at trial that on the night of the murder, he had been at the home of his brother Fred in St. Marys. Makeley was killed in an attempted prison escape from the Ohio State Penitentiary.

The slaying of Jess SarberDillinger gang changed life in Allen County

Replicas of Sheriff Jess Sarber and John Dillinger are on display in the Allen County Museum’s John Dillinger exhibit.

LINDSAY BROWN • The Lima News

Staff reports

Five Lima Police offi-cers have been killed in the line of duty. Here is an overview:

• Patrolman Philip Goebel responded with another patrol-man, Mike Sullivan, to a call of an attempted robbery on June 6, 1900, to the north yard of the C.H.&D. railroad crossing on Vine Street. Three suspects started shooting at them. Goe-bel was hit by a bullet in his kidney, but he made a recovery — or so they thought. About two years later, he died of kidney failure. Brothers August and Theodore Monnin and Louis Breckman were the suspects. Theodore Monin was shot and killed at the scene, and the other two served at the Ohio Peni-tentiary.

• Patrolman Phillip Droesch was shot after confronting a man he thought was drunk on Oct. 24, 1918. The man actu-ally was shot in the head after earlier being caught robbing a pawn shop by

its owner. He ran — but Droesch saw him sitting on a curb later. Not knowing the circumstance, he and another officer were walking the wounded man to the station when the wounded Thomas S. McKenna shot Droesch. Droesch died the next morning, McKenna served time for various sentences and died in 1948 in an Indiana prison.

• Detective Charles E. Hefner was shot while responding to a domestic argument on Feb. 1, 1951. Frank Adkins was drunk and threatening his family with a gun. Det. William Davenport and Hefner arrived, and the situation escalated. In a physical struggle, Hefner was shot in the throat and died about a month later.

• Patrolman Charles C. Bozeman was killed igniting a bomb as part of a mock air alert Dec. 9, 1951. Bozeman was one of nine offi-cers scheduled to set off the mortars at a set time, and he did so in the vacant lot across from his North Metcalf Street home. He was

burned and hurt badly in the ensuing explosion. The theory is the fuses were timed poorly and gave him no chance to back away to a safe distance. He died Dec. 10, 1951.

• Patrolman William F. Brown went into a gas station at Robb and Cole streets on Jan. 5, 1974. It was being robbed at the time. Brown confronted the man with a gun, who responded by shooting Brown four times. He was able to call for help using the radio in his car, but he was dead by the time an ambulance arrived. The shooter and an accomplice were later convicted.Source: “Lima, Ohio, Police Department: A Century of Service” by Joe Bowsher


Congratulations to the Lima Police Department

on 125 years of service to the community


Officers killed in the line of duty

Goebel Droesch Hefner Bozeman Brown

NOTABLE CASES: 1936Kay’s Jewelry Store robberies

• On March 19, 1936, Kay’s Jewelry Store at 129 N. Main St. was robbed by three men of about $10,000 worth of goods. The store manager tried to defend his property, and six shots were fired but didn’t connect.

Officers A.C. Edwards and Edward Swaney saw the scuffle and gave pur-suit, but the robbers escaped.

On April 27, another group robbed the store, holding Patrolman Jess Ford at gunpoint while doing so. Ford’s partner started shooting, and a shootout ensued. But the robbers grabbed sacks and got into their car. A witness said one robber was hit.

Ford and Swaney gave chase through town, but the cruiser hit a civilian-driven car and put an end to that. Everyone involved recovered from their injuries.

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L IMA POLICE • 125 YEARSG10 Sunday, June 17, 2012 The Lima News


A display of Lima police badges are on exhibit at the Allen County Museum.

• Courtesy the Allen County Historical Society

Lima olice 1918: Charles F. Hamilton and E. Webb Harrison


Lima olice motorcycle squad, circa 1940s: (third from left) Louis P. Julien

East High Street Station, circa 1940s

• The Lima News archive


A patrol car leaves the Lima Police Headquarters in 1969.

lima .com

L IMA POLICE • 125 YEARS The Lima News Sunday, June 17, 2012 G11


The Lima Police Department exhibit at the Allen County Museum shows the changes in technology used by the police through the years.

1960 school cruiser


Patrolman Frank Hefner poses on the

first motorcycle purchased by

the Lima Police Department. It

was also the first motorized vehicle of any

kind for the police.



The second building to house the Lima Police Department. City offices were located on the second floor.


The communications room at the present Lima police station as it was in 1972.

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Police chiefs through the years

Colvin Harley Wingate Phalen Mills Bell Heffern

Westbay Taylor Miller Davenport Catlett Garlock Goodwin


Police chiefs through the years

Vermillion McKinney Rousch Lanker Kipker Beall Cook

James HarleyMay 1, 1887 to April 1889William R. ColvinApril 1889 to April 1891William R. AplasApril 1891 to April 1892John G. StocktonApril 1892 to April 1894John N. HallerApril 1894 to May 1896Frank M. BellMay 1896 to May 1898John E. WattsMay 1898 to May 29, 1899John F. Wingate

May 30, 1899, to July 7, 1899Thomas PhalenJuly 18, 1899, to May 25, 1900James HarleyMay 26, 1900, to Sept. 21, 1901Walter S. MillsSept. 22, 1901, to Feb. 28, 1908Joseph M. HeffernMarch 1, 1908, to Dec. 11, 1909Marion VermillionDec. 12, 1909, to Jan. 20, 1913S. Andrew EarnestJan. 21, 1913, to Dec. 2, 1913Edwin BlankDec. 3, 1913, to April 15, 1914

Joseph M. HeffernApril 16, 1914, to Feb. 14, 1915John W. BeallFeb. 15, 1915, to Feb. 28, 1916Rolla H. McKinneyMarch 1, 1916, to Sept. 25, 1917Oscar J. RouschSept. 26, 1917, to Dec. 14, 1921Morton F. DawsonDec. 15, 1921, to March 31, 1922Thomas A. LankerApril 1, 1922, to Jan. 12, 1926Willis M. KipkerJan. 13, 1926, to Jan. 13, 1932John Wesley Cook

Jan. 14, 1932, to Dec. 31, 1932Ward P. TaylorJan. 1, 1933, to Nov. 30, 1939James C. GoodwinDec. 1, 1939, to Oct. 25, 1943Kermit L. WestbayOct. 26, 1943, to Oct. 1, 1954Donald F. MillerOct. 2, 1954, to April 30, 1968William K. DavenportMay 1, 1968, to Feb. 2, 1978Frank L. CatlettFeb. 3, 1978, to Aug. 22, 1997Greg GarlockAug. 23, 1997, to April 14, 2011 Martin

• On Memorial Day weekend in 1931, Lima’s young people knew summer fun was only days away. Most were counting down the days until McCullough Park opened on May 30 for dancing and rides.

For 17-year-old Thelma Woods, the Saturday night dance would be her first date with a new suitor, Earl Truesdale.

It was 11 p.m. when the dance ended. The two took a drive around Lima but didn’t return home.

Within a few hours, Donald Truesdale’s car — the one he had loaned his son — was discovered at the edge of an abandoned stone quarry near Hover Lake. The head-lights were still burning, but the ignition keys had been removed.

A plan was hatched to dynamite the quarry to bring any bodies to the top of the water, and citizens tried to drain the quarry.

On June 12, the body of Thelma Woods was found in 13 feet of water. Her hands and feet had been bound with 11 feet of clothesline cord, and a 30-pound rock was fastened around her waist. She was fully clothed. A coroner said she had been hit in the back of the head by a blunt instrument, perhaps a hammer. She was then thrown into the quarry, where she drowned.

Truesdale’s body was found about 150 feet from where Thelma had been located. Like her, Truesdale had been hit in the back of the head with a blunt instrument, and his body tossed in the quarry. And like her, his body had been weighted down by stones. In his pocket were the keys to his car.

The public was shocked on Sept. 2, 1932, when Earl Truesdale’s older brother, Loren, confessed to the killings. He said he was jealous that his brother was always “stealing” the girls he was sweet on. But then he recanted, explaining that he was deaf and he didn’t understand the confession police held him to. He was found not guilty, and the murders remain a mystery.

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Allen County Children Services thanks the men and women of the Lima Police Department for 125 years of protecting our community’s children...


NOTABLE CASE: 1931Woods, Truesdale killings

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• 1972 FILE photos

Meter maids dressed for the weather in 1972.

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• On Jan. 4, 2008, Sgt. Joe Chavalia, a 31-year veteran of the Lima Police Department, was among those clear-ing a Third Street house during a drug raid. He shot and killed Tarika Wilson, 26, and also shot and injured one of Wilson’s six children, Sincere Wilson, at the time a year old.

Race was immediately injected into the situation, with a white officer shooting the biracial girlfriend of a suspected drug dealer. Community anger boiled at meetings with City Council, the Lima chapter of the National Association for the Advance-ment of Colored People and then-Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and Saturday night protest marches in bitter cold, but it did not boil over into violence as many feared it would.

The shooting polarized, with some rallying around Chavalia and others calling him a murderer. Ministers and African-American leaders walked a line between pleading for calm and

asking for answers.Anthony Terry, the man police were

focused on with their raid, eventu-ally pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Terry’s attacking dogs were shot by police during the raid, leading Chavalia to believe he was being fired at.

Chavalia was charged with, and later acquitted of, two misdemeanors, neg-ligent homicide and negligent assault. Again race entered the conversation, as an all-white jury took three hours to return a not guilty verdict. An indepen-dent review of the case by the Mont-gomery County Sheriff’s Office also cleared Chavalia. The officer returned to work with administrative duties.

The day after Chavalia’s acquittal, Wilson’s family filed a civil lawsuit in federal court. Her six children received $2.5 million in a settlement with the city.

Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharp-

ton and nationally syndicated radio host Warren Ballentine called for a 50,000-person march, but it never materialized. And the Rev. Jesse Jack-son spent the day in Lima, support-ing pastors, registering high school students to vote, meeting with city officials and preaching at Philippian Missionary Baptist Church about Wil-son’s death.

The shooting resulted in far-reach-ing conversations and reactions. Among the topics: increasing diver-sity in the city’s workforce, a need for unity among different groups, the treatment of African-Americans in the judicial system, an improved police force and policy changes.

The city responded with community roundtable meetings, in which hun-dreds of residents gave their thoughts about how to improve the Police Department and other organizations. That work is continuing and will for years.

• Two-month-old Jameil Ramon Tolbert was set to be released from St. Rita’s Hospital April 11, 1976, after having hernia surgery. The day before his release, he was kidnapped from the hospital. Police interviewed nurses, but there were no leads.

The FBI started investigating the next day, and there was a break — the hospital received an anonymous call saying the baby was at 618 1/2 S. Cen-tral Ave.

Officers were let in the home by Bruce Banks, who said his longtime girlfriend, Maryann Francis Jones, brought a baby home. Banks said she told him she had twins in March. The girl died, but the boy had to stay in the hospital because of an infection. The boy was found, no worse for wear, and returned to his family. Jones served time for this crime.


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NOTABLE CASE: 2008Tarika Wilson death

NOTABLE CASE: 1981Grand Avenue murders

NOTABLE CASE: 1963Kidnapping chase and arrest

NOTABLE CASE: 1976Baby Tolbert kidnapping

• On March 15, 1981, two men stopped by a residence at 128 E. Grand Ave. to buy drugs. When there was no answer at the door, one man peeked in to see the whole household murdered — save for one little boy. They called police.

Two days earlier, police had stopped by that house to look for a burglary suspect. The suspect was there, hiding, and he thought he had been turned in. He and a friend killed the people living there and tossed the gun in a pond. The gun was later recovered by the Toledo fire Depart-ment Dive Team and used to convict the two men.

• Two men and a woman from Cali-fornia were wanted for a kidnapping in Toledo in 1963. On June 16, 1963, officers William E. Williams and Eugene Foster spotted their vehicle and gave chase. A second cruiser joined in, and shots were fired. A roadblock at Diller Road and what is now state Route 309 resulted in a crash, and the two male kidnappers came out of the car with their hands up. The woman was later arrested. Police found seven guns in the car, and the group was wanted on a wide-ranging crime spree.

Source: “Lima, Ohio, Police Department: A Century of Service” by Joe Bowsher, The Lima News archives


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Technology changesStaff reports

Bertillon Officers were the first identification people on the force, dating to the turn of the last century. Alphonse Bertillon was a Frenchman who theorized that everyone had different body measurements — how their face is shaped, etc. — and calipers were used to measure people.

Bertillon recommended 11 measurements on a per-son’s anatomy: height, reach, trunk, length and width of head, length of right ear, width of right ear, length of left foot, length of left middle and little fingers and length of the left forearm.

Using this system was tricky, as different officers often came up with different measurements.

In the late 1920s, fingerprinting came into use. Sgt. William Keller organized the Identification Bureau in 1923, with files of fingerprints and mugshots of every-one arrested and held at the city jail.

Fingerprinting included everything from taking the actual prints from a person as he was booked to testify-ing in court. These officers also handled photography duties, including crime scenes.

Other tools included the Alcometer, first used by the department in the 1950s. It was a predecessor to the Breathalyzer and was questionable in court, so officers instead had blood samples taken at the hospital.

The Breathalyzer came into use in early 1970. This machine involved a person passing air from his lungs through a solution that changed color when exposed to alcohol. A light was then passed through the sample and an unopened sample solution to get a reading. Sgt. Don Stratton was the first officer to do state training on the machine.

The Speedmeter involved two air hoses across a lane of traffic. The hoses were spaced 66 feet apart. They were connected to an electrical cord, which connected to a stop watch. An officer would flip switches as a car drove through this zone to measure its speed. Drivers paying attention, however, could brake suddenly and avoid penalty. Officers took measures to hide the lines, placing them in shadows or sprinkling leaves over them.

It was first used in December 1955 by Faurot School on West Elm Street. Warnings were handed out to more than 1,000 drivers that day, the first day that the speed was lowered to 10 mph around the school.Source: Lima Lodge No. 21 Fraternal Order of Police 1982 Yearbook


A display at the Allen County Museum shows some of the technological devices used by Lima police through the years.

An Alcometer is on display in the Allen County Museum Lima Police Depart-ment exhibit. Alcometers are an early version of a Breathalyzer.


1974 FILE photo • The Lima News

Richard Rapp examines the rifling marks on a pair of bullets with a comparison microscope.

• Lima F.O.P.

Bertillion’s system of bodily measurements, called anthropom-etry, as used in the U.S. in the early 1900s.

RealAmericanStrength

Lima Police Dept. - 125th AnniversaryCelebrating the history and all those brave men and women, past and present, who have helped to protect the City of Lima...Congratulations Lima Police Department for 125 years of service!

We also celebrate who we are...We are more than a city, more than a county, we are a place that’s more than the simple sum of all its people and places. Here, our strength comes from our Midwestern work ethic and values. Our productivity, culture and way of life are sacred gifts passed down to us from those who came before. They’re the kinds of things all Americans want - but few actually possess.


Congratulations on 125 Years of Dedicated Service!

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FOP AGENCIESAllen County Sheriff ’s OfficeAllen County Adult Probation AuthorityAllen County Juvenile Court and DetentionAllen County Prosecutor’s OfficeAmerican Township Police DepartmentBluffton Police DepartmentDelphos Police DepartmentDepartment of Defense PoliceFederal Bureau of InvestigationJohnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park DistrictLima Police DepartmentLima City Park RangersLima City Prosecutor’s OfficeOhio State Highway PatrolPerry Township Police DepartmentShawnee Township Police DepartmentState of Ohio Adult Parole Authority

Fraternal Order of Police Associates, George B. Quatman Lodge #8President-H. F. MoatsVice President-C. BaconSecretary/Treasurer-J. CorkenImm. P. Pres. & Chaplain/J. LoshSergeant-At-Arms D. McDaniel

3-Year Trustee-J. Casey2-Year Trustee-V. Sloan1 Year Trustee-J. Somerville

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Fraternal Order of Police, Lima Lodge #21President-M. WatkinsVice President-D. MorganFinancial Secretary-A. MefferdRecording Secretary-M. WhiteTreasurer-B. CarrollImm. P. Pres.-R. HammellChaplain-D. BallSecond VP-B. Baty

Sergeant-At-Arms-R. DeVelbissTrustee-P. WogermanTrustee-L. CampbellTrustee-J.D. Parker


Documents

Lima Police Department 125th Anniversary