Monday August 19, 1957
'Local' Trio Hunted in Police Slaying
Robber Suspects
Believed in Hiding
How Police Are Spreading Dragnet for Killers:
Minneapolis police, angered over the killing of one fellow officer and the critical wounding of another, put every effort today into tracking down what they think are "three young, local punks."
All detectives on the Minneapolis force have been ordered to concentrate on the Saturday night south Minneapolis shooting and clues leading to the identity of three escaped gunmen.
Charles Wetherille, inspector of detectives, said today he believes the three fugitives comprise a group that has operated several summers in the Minneapolis area.
He said the Saturday night roadblock system, with the help of suburban and St. Paul police and the state highway patrol, was effective and rapid enough that the wanted men "probably are holed up in the city or suburbs."
Killed in the 8:30 p.m. gun battle at Thirty-ninth Street at Blaisdell Avenue was Robert Fossum, 31, 6043 Vincent Avenue S., a patrolman since 1951, married and father of three young children.
In critical condition at General hospital and still unable to tell fellow officers about the shooting is Ward L. Canfield, 35, 5740 Blaisdell, who was shot in the lower abdomen and then run over and dragged down the street by the escaping gunmen.
His in juries include a crushed chest, broken collarbones, fractured pelvis, dislocated hip and broken right knee.
Canfield, who has received about 20 blood transfusions, is given a "better
than 50-50 chance" by doctors.
Rewards totaling $3,000 and likely to grow larger were offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunmen.
Carl Johnson, president of the Minneapolis Police Officers federation, and the board of directors put up $2,000 at a meeting early today as a fund-starter.
Wayne King, public relations director for KSTP radio and TV announced the station
is offering $1,000.
The safety committee of the city council, meeting during the morning, sent a request to the city attorney for an opinion on whether the city could contribute tax money to the reward fund.
Committee members said that if such a vote were legal they would put the matter before the full council at its next meeting Aug. 30.
Wetherille today explained reasoning that the gang is a "local product."
First, they appear to jibe with descriptions and the style of operation of bandits
who for the last couple summers have struck at drugstores and other small establishments,
getting $300 or $400 in each robbery.
Wetherille said the "drugstore bandits," usually operating in a pair, generally stole the license plates on the getaway car sometime the previous spring.
He said they appeared to believe the police would forget the plates were missing after several weeks, but that Canfield and Fossum must have spotted them. The plates still were listed as stolen on the daily police bulletin the officers used, Wetherille said.
The cars used by the bandits usually were stolen shortly before the holdup attempt.
The Chrysler was stolen Friday afternoon from a parking lot at Tenth street and LaSalle avenue, causing authorities to speculate the trio may have been headed for: a "job" when spotted by the two officers.
The Chrysler was outfitted with three protective armor plates, a sack of roofing tacks presumably to puncture tires of pursuers, some army surplus surgical bandages, knapsack and canteen with water purification pills.
Found also in the car or at the scene were:
A handkerchief with the initials "DLS."
A book of matches from the Chat 'N Nibble drive in, 318 Twenty-eighth Street,
Three ticket stubs from the Hilltop Drive-in Theater, 4711.Central avenue NE.
A 300 caliber Savage rifle and plastic bag containing more than 100 shells.
A box of special .38 caliber armor piercing rifle shells,
Police have picked up approximately two dozen persons for questioning in regard to the shootings. All but two have been released.
The two, held in city jail, are (Suspects identities deleted because they were later cleared of this crime)
The investigation is being organized by Wetherille, E. I. (Pat) Walling, uniform inspector who returned from vacation Saturday and has been working on the case since then, and Chief Milton (Buzz) Winslow.
Winslow, vacationing at Mille Lacs Lake over the weekend, knew nothing of the shooting until Sunday noon when he returned to Minneapolis.
Radio and telephone communications at the lake were knocked out Saturday by a storm.
Three youths were arrested in an upstairs duplex at 1503 Tenth avenue S. at 10:30 a.m. today. They were being questioned by detectives as to their whereabouts Saturday night.
Being held for questioning were a 22-year-old man, his 20-year-old brother and a 16 year-old companion.
Detectives Harold Eggland and Gunnar Kronstrom said arrest of the youths was
"routine"
Police also were searching two automobiles, a green 1952 Studebaker Champion convertible and a 1946 black Pontiac sedan, parked at the intersection of Fifteenth street and Tenth avenue S. beside the Tenth avenue S. dwelling house where the youths were l apprehended.
Both autos had Minnesota plates, and appeared to be dusty. Police said the cars ad not been stolen.
Canfieid and Fossum apparently spotted the stolen, car of the gunmen on Lake street about 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
When they pursued the vehicle, the fugitives fled at high speed south on Blaisdell Avenue to Thirty-ninth Street.
As they approached the intersection the two speeding vehicles passed John G. Woods, 3830 Blaisdell, and Jay French, 3851 Blaisdell, Who were sitting in French's car in front of his house.
Woods and French ran into French's yard and crouched until the shooting ended.
The two cars approached he intersection at 50 or 60 miles am hour, according to witnesses.
The fugitive Chrysler smashed into a parked car in trying to make the turn.
The squad car hit the curb and nearly flipped over as it spun around the street.
When the two officers jumped from their car the three gunmen were waiting, and opened fire.
Orvil Holden, 3855 Blaisiell, was walking home with some groceries. He dropped the sack and hid in some bushes as the shooting started.
When the gunmen left, he tried to help the injured officers until an ambulance arrived. There were bullet holes in the Holden house.
Gene Reagan, 3842 Blaisdell, went onto the lawn as the cars rounded the corner. He flattened onto the grass during the shooting.
Mrs., Stanley MoGovern, 25 W Thirty-ninth Street, heard the crash in front of her house and ran to the window. When the shooting started she ran to her kitchen and hid behind the refrigerator.
As the killers left and her husband called an ambulance, she took towels out to help stop the bleeding of the policemen.
Fossum was killed when he was struck once in the head by an armor-piercing .38
caliber bullet. Canfield was hit in the stomach, falling in front of the gunman's
auto.
Police said the pistols of both officers were emptied in the firing.
Witnesses said one of the killers stood over Fossum and fired a .45 caliber pistol at the dying officer, but missed.
Jumping into the car theirs had struck, the gunmen drove over Canfield, dragging him about 20 feet before his battered body fell free.
At Thirty-ninth Street and Nicollet Avenue, a block away, they abandoned the car and ran to Town's D-X service station, commandeering the car of Mrs. Porter Langford, 3920 Pleasant Avenue.
Gene Burns, 3856 Nicollet Avenue, had come out during he shooting, then hid behind tree. He saw one of the gunmen run into the filling station, pull a woman out of car and drive away.
Within the next few minutes they switched cars several times. One vehicle they took belonged to Alvin Anderson, 9448 Clinton Avenue, Bloomington, who was ordered to the curb by shouts from the fugitive car.
When Anderson ran to call police, the gunmen grabbed Mrs. Anderson and pulled her backed into the car.
She said they blindfolded her and one "kept sticking is fingers in my ears so I couldn't hear what they were talking about."
The trio left the Anderson at Thirty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue S., forcing Mrs. Anderson to get on the floor of another vehicle.
She was thrown out of that car in an alley behind 325 Columbus Avenue.
City and park police kept every available squad car- approximately 100-on the streets though the early hours of Sunday, checking numerous reports by citizens of suspicious men driving south Minneapolis alleys and prowling around parked cars.