Patrolmen of the Cleveland Police Force

a 1898 a Cleveland Police Department tr ; "^ "^-!->;*;-:-•;•-!-;*.?;*| INTRODUCTION: T is with feelings of pride, hard to explain, that the author presents this work to the people of Cleveland. And well might this be so. From the very outset, the utmost difficulty was experienced in obtaining data for the volume. Old police officers who have served on the force for more than three decades, the only persons directly connected with the workings of the Department to whom one would naturally look for information, maintain a reticence only natural to men whose simple modesty is one of their many qualifications as a good officer. Then, too, the older residents of the city, upon whom the writer was compelled to fall back, gave only dis connected stories in reference to the evolution of the Department from the old City Marshals to its present complete condition. Owing to these facts, it became necessary to take the records from the old city journals, a patience-trying, arduous task. This became accentuated when it was found that several of the old journals were missing. The writer has been able, however, to give a complete record of the department from its very infancy when Marshal Kirk, in addition to his duties as a police officer, served in the capacity of city tax collector, down to the present writing, when the force is second to none, and is looked upon with envy and respect by the other departments of the country. The transformation from a little village, six miles north of Newburgh Township, to a city of the first grade, and the ninth in size in the country, makes an interesting tale. In relating this I only tell the police end of it, but it will be noticed that the growth of the Police Department has been identical with that of the city and chronicles many of the important events which have been a part of the city's growth. In looking over the sixty-two years of police history, one finds that there have been three epochs in its growth. Its primary organization and ante-bellum Marshals, the Metropolitan Police, the Present System. Histories galore, painting in variegated colors the events of the last century in regard to Cleveland, have made their appearance from time to time. But this volume will have the distinction of being the first record of any kind relating to the history of the police of Cleveland. In consequence, the writer asserts with confidence that this work will be largely7 read, and, of a necessity, prove a valuable addition to the historical works of Cleveland. The proceeds of the book go to the Pension Fund of the Cleveland Police Department, and in presenting this historical souvenir, the author does so with the hope that its shortcomings, if it has any, may be buried in the glamor of its meritorious object. To those who have contributed towards the financial success of the book, the author and Police Pension Fund officers express their thanks. In chronicling the events set forth in the history, the writer surely has nothing for which to apologize, the following pages, showing for themselves in plain black and white just what kind of a department the Cleveland Police Department is. THOMAS A. KNIGHT. SEPTEMBER I, 1898. CLEVELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT. + +?&* X F. W. GEHRING, President. JACOB KUKBEI^KR, 1st Vice-Prest. ERNST MUEL^KR, 2d Vice-Prest. WM. H. CHAPMAN, Sec'y and Treas. The ^BrancDe$: /f\?7'^ 'J.7r'0;/^r- °.~ The C.E. Gehring Brew'g Co., Cleveland. \t/ Cleveland and The Phoenix Brewing Co., Cleveland. The Cleveland Brewing Co., Cleveland. Sandusky •£^ The Columbia Brewing Co., Cleveland. .#& The Star Brewing Company, Cleveland. j)K The Union Brewing Company, Cleveland. Brewing C^ ^ The Bohemian Brewing Co., Cleveland. o^ The Baehr Brewing Company, Cleveland. ô The Barrett Brewing Company, Cleveland. ^ The Kuebeler-Stang Brew. Co., Sandusky. °>K ^^^ô'ô^0 Long Distance Telephone, Main 1269. 1109=1116 American Trust Building, CLEVELAND, 0. * *§* £ TlLTHOUGH Director of Police E. A. Abbott had no connection among whom were Hayes, McKinley and Rosecranz. He remained J • whatever with the department until April 18, 1895^ when he was with the regiment during the war and returned to Cleveland a captain. appointed to that position by Mayor Robert E. McKisson, he is by no Soon after the war he became a member of the United States Secret means inexperienced as a police officer. And if a record of all his ex Service, having previously served for a short time as Deputy United ploits had been kept, it would have shown instances without number States Marshal. where the Director narrowly escaped with his life, while in the per After serving in this department of the government for a number formance of his duties as a United States Secret Service officer. of years, Mr. Abbott was made chief of the Cleveland division, com E. A. Abbott was born at Andover, Mass., in 1835, and was the son prising Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. Counterfeiters were thicker than honest men in those days, and Chief Abbott always had his hands full. of sturdy New England parents. When he was 17 years old he became Some of the counterfeiting gangs were comprised of as many as forty apprenticed to a cabinet maker. He came to Cleveland in 1854, and men, and on many an occasion Secret Service officers were killed in the worked at his trade until April, 1861, when he enlisted in the army performance of their duty. He remained in the service nineteen years, and was assigned to the 23d Regiment O. V. I., and served in same and when President Cleveland became Chief Executive of the United regiment until it was mustered out in August, 1865. He was promoted States for the second time, Mr. Abbott was removed for political pur to 2d Lieutenant in 1862, and later to 1st Lieutenant, and Captain in poses. He then started a private detective agency, building up a 1864 ; was badly wounded at the battle of Cloyds Mt., May 9, 1864. practice second to none in the city. He was at the head of this when The 23d was the regiment which made Presidents and great men, Mayor McKisson selected him as a member of his cabinet. CLEVELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT. "From Factory to Buyer." The~^*^ . Kimball ILL KIMBALL. ~ STANDARD IQ Name and Quality. • |EF pianos andOrgans ASK YOUR & FRIENDS Second-hand Pianos and Organs w taken in exchange ^r ABOUT 47-49 The Arcade. IT. Terms to Suit Purchaser. FINE TUNING. M. R. Slocum, ,,88=120 Euclid Avenue. SOLE AGENT. The Standard Sewing Machine Co., " Lorain Street. TELEPHONE M. 2243 J. ¥ 6 THE C. F, HUNGER & CO. PHOTOGRAPHS * Successors to JN /JV THIS BOOK 3obn fi. Ryder, 211 SUPERIOR ST. E. DENISON, Pres't & Mgf. H. K. COOKE, Sec'y. Hanan=Mathewson Co., ?fiE«fiOME«SEGURITY«COMPAMY, INCORPORATED RETAILERS OF JEWELERS AND MONEY LOANERS. Tine Shoes. ESTABLISHED 1850. 337 SUPERIOR STREET. Guclid Hve. and Hrcade. CLEVELAND POLICE DEPARTMENT. UPERINTENDENT OF POLICE came an employe of the Cleveland Work S GEORGE E. CORNER, the subject house. On April 20th, 1880, Mr. Corner of this sketch, has the distinction of being was appointed a patrolman. By dint of rated by his contemporaries as being one of hard work and his general aptitude for the best chiefs of police in the United police work, he rose from one position to States. His unfailing devotion to duty ; his another until he was finally appointed keen sensibility of right and wrong; his Superintendent of Police, August 16, 1896. stern, though merciful justice, and his wide The other steps in the ladder mounted by range of experience, all contribute to his Chief Corner are shown as follows : Ap general efficiency as an officer, and have pointed Acting Sergeant, June 7, 1887; made for him a name which is known in Sergeant, January 25, 1892 ; Lieutenant, police circles from Maine to California. July 16, 1892 ; Detective, June 6, 1894; re Not only, however, is Chief Corner's turned to the regular duty as Lieutenant, name known outside of Cleveland, but it is February 2, 1896. During Chief Corner's known and respected by every resident of sixteen years' experience, prior to his ap this city who appreciaies the sterling in pointment as superintendent, he worked on tegrity which is so often lacking in the over a score of murder cases, not to men civic official of to-day. tion other cases, involving arson, forgery, It might be added that he is known to the bigamy, larceny and practically every crime evil doers of Cleveland, who have ample on the calendar. cause to experience of what mettle the Among the more important of these were Chief of the Cleveland Police Department the Foster and Molnar cases, which shows is made. the kind of material of which Chief Corner George E. Corner was born in New is made. In working up the former, Chief York State during the year of 1851. He Corner, then a patrolman, shot and instant received a common school education and ly killed George Foster, leader of the notor commenced his battle with the world when ious Foster gang, who had escaped from he was not yet out of his teens. When a Columbus where he had been sentenced for small boy his parents had moved to Michi fifteen years. gan and it was in this, the Wolverine state, In the Molnar case a body was found on that young Corner commenced to carve out Shaker Heights in the woods, with a num his fortune. ber of bullet wounds in his body, and When quite a* young man he became head.

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