Fred Widmann, Waterloo Police Officer Killed, 1908, In The Line of Duty
Tombstone restored for
first Waterloo officer
killed on job
Rick Chase/ Courier Staff Photographer
Story by Jeff Reinitz
As appeared in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier January 1, 2002
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Waterloo police officers helped restore the grave marker of slain policeman Fred Widmann, the first Waterloo police officer to be killed in the line of duty when he was slain 93 years ago. |
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Waterloo police honored one of their
fallen brothers recently by restoring his tombstone. Burglars
armed with a handgun cut down night patrolman Friedrich "Fred"
P. Widmann, 30, as he walked his beat Oc. 11, 1908.
His funeral was a citywide affair that packed the church. Stores
closed for the day in memorial, and a tall stone was erected in
Fairview Cemetery to mark the grave of the tall lawman.
But almost 100 years of wind, rain and snow weathered the
headstone. The name and dates of bird and death carved into the
rock are still legible, but the rest of the inscriptions - a
design at the top and passages in German on the sides - faded
until they were unreadable.
"It bothered me so because his headstone was such a mess," said
Eunice Wilson, 78, of Waterloo.
Widmann died unmarried and without children. Wilson, a niece
born after his death, is his death, is his only relative still
living in the area.
A tree sprouted next to Widmann's resting place, and, as it
grew, it tilted the headstone. The tree's roots entangled
smaller grave markers of other Wiemann relatives nearby. Wilson,
the family historian, couldn't afford to fix the damage herself.
"My golly, if I wanted to get that done, it would cost almost
$1,000 for the headstone and digging it up," she said, "The
roots from a tree were all up around it and the two little
headstones beside it were buried in roots. What do you do?"
Without enough money to repair or replace the stone, Wilson came
up with the idea of placing a metal plaque on the rock. It was
the only thing she could think of that would keep.
Wilson approached Capt. Eric Gunderson of the Waterloo Police
Department to inquire about metal signs in front of the station.
She said she just wanted to know where to buy a similar one.
After hearing about the condition of Widmann's headstone, the
captain brought the matter up with the Waterloo Police
Protective Association, the officers' union. Union members voted
to pay for the plaque.
"I went there and asked them how much I owed for it, They said
don't worry about it," she said.
Gunderson said the plaque is special because it notes that
Widmann died in the line of duty. The original headstone didn't
mention this, or if it did, the writing has worn off.
Fairview Cemetery staff also helped with the restoration.
They took out the tree and ground up the roots before adjusting
the headstones so they were level.
Waterloo officers are planning a memorial service later this
year to mark Widmann's death and officially unveil the plaque,
Gunderson said.
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Mystery surrounds
officer's 1908 shooting |
click on image to view a full
size map |
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Fred Widmann was gunned down in October 1908 after apparently
surprising burglars at work in a downtown alley. He was the
first Waterloo officer to die in the line of duty. Below is an
account pieced together from newspaper clips from the Courier
archives and the private collection of Eunice Wilson, Widmann's
niece. Bleeding and lying on the ground in a back alley, Night
Patrolman Frederick "Fred" P. Widmann inched up the revolver and
fired blindly in the direction of his unseen attackers.
His police whistle - the turn-of-the-century equivalent of
today's police radio - and his flashlight broken by the bullets
that seconds earlier toppled him by surprise, the 30-year-old
tower of a lawman crawled south out of the moonlit alley and
onto Layette Street.
It was 3:10 a.m., and at police headquarters a few blocks away,
Emergency Policeman Tom Harman and Watchman J.K. McQuilkin heard
moaning. They followed the sound to the wounded officer
reclining on one elbow.
"I am getting cold, and I have awful pain in my stomach,"
Widmann said, according to newspaper accounts at the time.
A quick examination at the police station determined the wounds
would be fatal.
"Tell the other fellows that I wish them good luck, though I
have had bad luck," Widmann told then Police Chief E.A. Leighton
from his hospital bed.
And so 11 hours later, on Oct. 11, 1908, Widmann passed away at
Presbyterian Hospital. He was the first police officer in
Waterloo killed in the line of duty and only the third person to
be murdered in the city since it incorporated in 1868.
More than 90 years later; the killing remains a mystery.
Although they likely have met their own end with the passage of
time, Widmann's killers escaped and were never brought to
justice.
Investigative records of the shooting are no longer around. The
alley, which runs parallel to Park Avenue and East Fourth Street
between Mulberry and Layette streets, is still there, although
some of its buildings and the tenants have since changed.
Widmann, an overgrown man his a boyish charm, came from a German
family. He grew up in Fox Township and a farm near Raymond and
was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church. He worked in the coal
business and spent six years at Wangler Drug Co. before joining
the police department in 1906. The Waterloo Police Department
had 13 regular officers and on special agent.
Widmann walked the night beat, responsible for an area from East
Fourth Street between Water and Mulberry streets and northwest
into the residential district. Most nights a bulldog named
Togo accompanied Widmann on his rounds. Togo belonged to a
wealthy family and often slipped from his kennel to tag along.
But Togo wasn't around on Widmann's last patrol. Police at the
time speculated the outcome of the ambush might have been
different had the four-legged partner been on the beat and
smelled the criminals or attacked, marking them with bite marks
for later identification. Instead, Togo's owner had sent the dog
to a friend in Osage to break it of the habit of hanging around
the police station.
Around 2:30 a.m. on that fatal Sunday, Widmann and Harman, who
had been promoted to emergency policeman months earlier after
holding the night beat taken by Widmann, passed through the
alley behind Coburn & Son - an East Fourth Street gun and
bicycle shop - and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
At 3 a.m., the two stopped to eat at a restaurant two blocks
away on Sycamore Street. Hartman talked about continuing rounds
with Widmann, but finished eating first, and they ended up going
in different directions.
Widmann apparently retraced his path and returned to the alley
behind Coburn & Son. Harman patrolled the alley between
East Fourth and Fifth streets in the direction of City Hall. He
was at City Hall only a short time when he heard Widmann's
moans.
In the haze of pain and surprise, Widmann thought he squeezed
off two shots at his assailants, but he had emptied all six
chambers of his .38-caliber Colt revolver. People nearby
reported hearing as many as a dozen shots ring out. The mortally
wounded officer didn't see the gunmen who ambushed him, and all
of his shots apparently went wild.
Police believe Widmann stumbled across a pair of burglars trying
to break in the back door of Coburn's store.
One of the thieves had drilled a square 5-inch hole in the door
with a brace and bit. Authorities speculated the second man -
the shooter - was acting as lookout between piano boxed in a
blind area of the L-shaped alley and ambushed Widmann.
Another theory was that the lookout escaped to the north at the
first sign of the officer, and the driller hid in the boxes and
opened fire when he thought he was cornered.
The gunman was so close the shooting left powder marks in
Widmann's wounds, according to one account. One bullet stuck the
mouthpiece of his whistle and the point of his pencil and then
and entered his left rib. The second shot - the one that proved
fatal - hit his abdomen and pierced his intestines and several
large veins and arteries. A third slug grazed his right hand
between his thumb and finger where he was apparently holding his
flashlight. Doctors recovered a .38-caliber bullet from his
body.
A Cedar Rapids man who was walking from the train depot to a
relative's house reported seeing two men run out of the alley
and cross Mulberry street. From there they continued northwest
through what is now Lincoln Park on to Park Avenue and then to
Franklin Street in the direction of the Illinois Central freight
yards.
Within minutes of the shooting, all Waterloo officers were put
on duty to search for the killers. They were joined by a posse
of citizens, sheriff's deputies and railroad detectives.
Officer Tom Morris took a group and dashed to the San Souci
bridge in hopes of heading off the attackers. They found no one
and worked their way down river looking for possible hiding
places. Over the rest of the day, 15 to 20 tramps and others
were taken to the police station, but most could prove their
alibis.
Mayor R. A. Doty authorized a city reward of $200 and
telegraphed the governor's office in hopes of getting the fund
up to $1,00 to $2,000. Local businesses and residents also
contributed. Alderman Sam Vale started the ball rolling with a
$50 donation, and Hope C Martin added $25, according to
newspaper accounts.
The days followed the shooting were tense for local authorities.
Lawmen kept their weapons at hand and felt obligated to shoot to
punctuate their command to fleeing suspects. On Tuesday an
officer fired at a man running in the area of Commercial and
West Seventh streets. Two of the bullets failed to fire and
three others missed as the man disappeared.
According to one newspaper report, over the following week so
many shots had been fired at suspicious characters ammunition
was in short supply and the chief had ordered more. A few
days after the ambush, an officer tried to stop a suspicious man
early in the morning. Following a brief foot chase, police
caught the man, a 40-year-old ex-convict from St. Louis, and
found a loaded .38-caliber revolver on him. The gun was in a
holster marked "grand jury exhibit, State vs. Joe McKinnie."
Police at that time said they didn't think the Missouri man was
connected to Widmann's death. Officers chased and fired on two
men in Cedar Falls, but they escaped. Authorities stopped three
men in Gladbrook, but they were released after it was determined
they could not have had a role in the crime.
Days turned to weeks, and police were not able to unearth any
clues to reveal the identity of the culprits. Widmann couldn't
give a description of the man who fired at him from the boxes,
and the burglars took their tools and weapons when they fled. |
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