Friday, May 15, 2009

Peace, Officer

Today is Peace Officers' Memorial Day. As you can see from the photo of the Des Moines memorial, this city has lost its share of police officers. But at one time there was a long run in which no officers were killed in the line of duty - between 1935 and 1977. Here's the tale of Captain Steven Tabor Howard. On March 2nd 1935, he visited the Unique beer tavern at 1832 East University Avenue with his friend Oscar Hughes, for a dinner of oyster stew. He was "leaving the tavern at 2:40 AM with Mr.Hughes and the proprieter, Roy Carlson, who had just turned out the lights. Captain Howard had just stepped out the door when he was shot at close range. The bandits took $54 from Mr. Hughes and the day's receipts from from Mr. Carlson". Captain Howard died on March 11th from a blood clot caused by the gunshot to his lungs.
For more stories of our local fallen officers, visit the Officer Down Memorial Page for the Des Moines Police Department

Source: Des Moines Register 3/12/35 p. 1
Photo courtesy Gerry Rowland

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like that you can click on the photo for a larger image that clearly shows the names of the officers