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DILWORTH, Wendell Fay 1893-1932

DILWORTH, WAIDELY, MCKINZIE, STUEZE, FULTON

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 2/24/2014 at 23:59:38

[Waterloo Daily Courier, Friday, December 16, 1932, Waterloo, Iowa]

DEPUTY SHERIFF W. F. DILWORTH SHOT TO DEATH

Deputies Had Gone to Houses
East of City to Serve
Warrant for Rape

MAN SOUGHT GREETS
COUPLE WITH GUM

Dilworth Shot Thru Head as
He Continues-to Advance
Despite Warning.

One deputy sheriff was killed and another perhaps fatally wounded Friday afternoon when they were fired upon with a pistol as they went to serve a warrant at a small house about one-half mile east of the Waterloo city limits and two-fifths of a mile south of highway 20.

The man killed was W. Fay Dilworth, 45 Mulberry street. His injured companion was H. M. Mitchell, 132 Argyle street.

The two men had gone to the house to serve a warrant, charging rape, on Elmer Brewer. The house is the home of Mr. and ;Mrs. Ernest Frank Graves, Route 5. Brewer and a companion, Patrick Griffith, were lying on a, bed in one of the two rooms of the house. Dilworth went to the kitchen door in the other room, and inquired for Brewer.

Brewer came thru the connecting door with a pistol in his hand.

"Hands up!" he' commanded the officers.

Both complied, but Dilworth kept advancing toward Brewer, who had Griffith at his back.

Brewer, according to witnesses, said, "I'm going to shoot you," and then fired.

The bullet crashed thru Dilworth's left temple, and he died almost instantly. Immediately Brewer shot Mitchell. Two shots entered Mitchell's back. Brewer and Griffith then ran south toward the Cedar River.

Mitchell, bleeding profusely, drove his car to the Cottonwood Inn, about half mile away, and was taken from there to St. Francis Hospital by William Kahn, proprietor. He was placed on the operating table at 3:15 p.m., about an hour after the shooting. At 3:15 Dilworth's body was lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, of the house. Hope was held for Mitchell's recovery.

Dilworth was born at Crab Apple, Neb., May 5, 1893, and obtained his early education in the Nebraska public schools. He enlisted for world war service at Omaha March 18, 1918.

He is survived by Mrs. Dilworth and daughter, Betty Ann, four years. A son by a former marriage also survives. The family resides at 45 Mulberry Street.

Dilworth was employed as a detective until eight years ago when he was appointed a deputy by Sheriff H. T. Wagner. He has remained in that position and acquired a reputation as a fair and impartial law enforcement officer.

He was a prominent member of Becker-Chapman post, American Legion, and sang in that organization's quartet as well as playing in the band and drum corps at different times. .

Dilworth was shot several years ago when he went with Sheriff Wagner and Detective Hugh Crumrine to arrest a fugitive from the Independence State Hospital, at his home several miles north of Waterloo. Dilworth was shot in the abdomen and Crumrine in the shoulder by the escapee, who was himself wounded. All three recovered.

-------------------------
[Waterloo Daily Courier, Sunday, December 18, 1932, Waterloo, Iowa]

Funeral services for W. F. Dilworth will be held in Grave Methodist Episcopal Church at 2 p.m. Monday with Rev. William Hardcastle, pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, officiating. Dilworth was a member of Plymouth Church.

The American Legion will assist in the funeral rites, casket bearers and members of the firing squad being Legion members. Casket bearers will be Dewey Butterfield, Harry Allen, Ralph Travis, Charles McKinstry, Guy French, and Henry Dallman.

The body will be sent at 1:35 a.m. Tuesday by way of the Illinois Central Railroad thru Omaha to Crab Orchard, Neb., Dilworth's birthplace, where burial will be made Tuesday afternoon.

Until the funeral the body will be at the O'Keefe & Towne Funeral Home, where it was taken following the shooting.

Surviving besides the widow and her 6-year-old daughter, Betty Jean, are: his mother, Mrs. Emma Dilworth, and a brother, Rolland, both of Crab Orchard, Neb.; three sisters: Mrs. Pearl McKinzie, Lincoln, Neb.; Mrs. P. F. Stueze, Scotts Bluff, Neb., and Mrs. R. E. Fulton, Casper, Wyo, and a son by a former marriage, Norman Dilworth, Steinauer, Neb.

Dilworth enlisted in the United States Navy at Omaha March 18, 1918, as a yeoman, second class, and was released from active duty in the spring of 1919. He was discharged from the naval reserve Sept. 30, 1921, at the Great Lakes Training station.

Two years ago he served as vice commander in charge of membership for the Becker-Chapman post, American Legion, and he had held other offices in the organization. He had played in the bugle corps and sun in the post's quartet.

Before coming to Waterloo he had served as a railroad detective. He had served as deputy sheriff for eight years under Sheriff Wagner.

-----------------------------
Photograph is the property of Bonnie Fortney
His wife was Nora Esther Waidely Dilworth 1887 - 1972 [Credit Bonnie Fortney]


 

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