Double homicide shakes Laurel residents in 1918

Murder in a small town is always big news but a double homicide comes as a real shocker, especially when one of the victims is a prominent citizen.

On the morning of Friday, June 14, 1918, the people of Laurel were stunned to learn one man had been killed during the night and another fatally wounded in a running gun battle with armed robbers.

The events leading up to the murders began June 12, when two drifters, John R. Francis, 36, and James L. Parker, 21, left Sioux City on a pilfering expedition. The younger man was familiar with Laurel, having worked the previous summer laying drain tile for W.M. Boyle and also for Leo Garvin of Dixon. While passing through Dixon in 1918, the men stole Garvin’s automobile.

Francis and Parker arrived in Laurel after midnight on June 14. They parked the stolen vehicle on Spruce Street east of the Livestock Sales Pavilion, left the headlights on, and made their way uptown. Working by flashlight in the dark alley, they broke into the basement of Roy Lathrop’s jewelry store but found the door leading to the showroom securely bolted. They had more success entering Claude Ankeny’s clothing store where they took $30 from the safe.

The thieves entered Hoile’s store where they found $25 which Hoile had forgotten to remove from the cash register. The robbers were in the process of filling a suitcase with merchandise when they were discovered.

It was about 2:30 a.m. when A.F. Witt was awakened by what he thought was the sound of his cellar door dropping. Witt, who operated a photography studio and also lived in the house that now stands at 204 Oak, went outside to investigate. Finding the door locked, Witt went back inside. But just as he was returning to bed, he noticed a light flickering through therear windows of Hoile’s store directly across the alley.

Suspecting that a crime was in progress, Mr. Witt went back outside and tapped on the bedroom window of the house at 206 Oak until he roused John Newman. Mr. Newman watched the rear of Hoile’s store through the studio’s skylight while Witt rang the telephone office and asked the operator to summon help. Miss Mae Drain dialed Marshal Ed Walters and relayed Witt’s message. She then called members of the Laurel Home Guard and asked them to surround the building.

Marshal Walters grabbed his gun and ran to the front door of Hoile’s store. Finding it locked he hurried to the alley and found the back door locked as well. But believing the burglars were still inside, the marshal broke the silence by firing three shots into the air. The shots, which he later said were intended as a signal for help, alarmed the robbers. Walters then ran back to the front and fired another shot. By this time a small crowd had gathered. Among the spectators were Edwin Behrend and Harold Crownover, two young men who shared a room in the Newman home, and Dr. Claude C. Sackett who lived at 208 Oak.

Alerted by the shots, the two burglars fled through the back of Hoile’s store. Parker ran south flinging a suitcase filled with stolen goods, while Francis ran east through the alley behind what is now the post office.

During the interval it took the men to cover the several blocks separating the crime scene from their stolen vehicle, Dr. Sackett had returned with his automobile. Marshal Ed Walters jumped into the passenger seat; John Newman climbed into the back. As the vehicle passed Eddie Behrend and Harold Crownover, the doctor stopped to pick them up. This was not just a group of vigilantes out to make a citizens’ arrest. As members of the Home Guard, Sackett and Crownover were obligated to assist law enforcement.

Sackett floored his Oldsmobile and the posse pursued the suspects as they fled north. Both vehicles rattled across the Logan Creek bridge then turned east on what is now 870 Road. But after proceeding approximately one half mile in that direction, the bandits’ vehicle came to a sudden stop. Dr. Sackett hit the brakes, killed the engine, and slid to a stop alongside and slightly in front of the stalled vehicle. The two suspects made a run for a nearby field.

Walters’ order to halt was answered by a fusillade of bullets. One struck Crownover in the head; hit Newman’s arm; still another struck Dr. Sackett in the side. The marshal returned fire with a surprising degree of accuracy for a recently appointed lawman. It was later determined Parker had been hit in both legs. Francis had two fingers clipped from his right hand.

Although mortally wounded, Dr. Sackett managed to restart his car and then drove away. After driving about one-half mile east, Sackett pulled over near the top of a hill unable to continue any further. Sackett and Newman were taken to their own homes. Dr. J.C. Hay — Laurel’s other physician — moved from house to house administering aid. As Crownover’s condition was diagnosed as hopeless and Newman’s injuries were not life threatening, Dr. Hay focused his medical skill on his wounded colleague. Dr. Claude C. Sackett died in St. Joseph’s hospital at 2:15 p.m. on June 14.