On This Date in Minnesota History: May 21

May 21, 1907 – Joe and Pearl Redenbaugh arrived in St. Paul this morning with Detectives P. J. Lavalle, St. Paul, and Frank Brunskill and Bert Weare, Minneapolis. The detectives say there is a deep attachment between the couple.

Joe and Pearl Redenbaugh¹

“She is his weakness,” they say, “and she has been duped by him.”

When asked if she would get a divorce, Pearl Redenbaugh said she loved her husband and always will, and has absolutely no plans to divorce him.

Detective Lavalle, however had his own opinion of the admitted murderer. “He’s the kind of fellow one would like to pummel and choke after one has seen a little of him.”  

Redenbaough had no sooner been placed in the jail beneath the same roof as his confessed accomplice in the Patrolman Connery and Mrs. Alice McQuillan murders, Frank McCool, arrested April 29 at North Platte, Neb., three days after the Dunn murder, than the latter was taken to district court.

Frank McCool²

McCool was arraigned shortly after 10 a.m. under an indictment charging first degree murder in connection with the slaying of Patrolman Connery on April 24. He pleaded not guilty, and trial was set for June 4.

Considering that Redenbaugh and McCool have already admitted their parts in both crimes, their trials in Minneapolis are not expected to consume much time.


Meanwhile in St. Paul, the suit McCool is said to have worn when he and Redenbaugh killed Connery has been discovered. Police now have the bloodstained and torn suit.

It was found in the Rossman clothing store where McCool originally purchased the suit and took it to be pressed and cleaned April 27, the day following the murder of Alice McQuillan Dunn, and three days after the Connery killing. 

The finding of the suit forges, the police say, an important link in the case against Redenbaugh and McCool, as the store’s proprietor recognized photos of McCool and Redenbaugh when they were shown to him as two men who had purchased suits at his store about 10 days before the Connery and Dunn murders. 

McCool returned to the store alone the morning of April 27, the day following the murder of Mrs. Dunn, with the suit he had purchased, asking that it be mended, cleaned and pressed. He said he wanted it in a hurry, as he was leaving town that afternoon. The coat was torn in a jagged manner in several places and the trousers bore blood stains, some of which an attempt had been made to wash out.

Redenbaugh said in his confession that Moore paid him and McCool $1,500 each the day after Mrs. Dunn’s murder. The time of the payment and the time McCool took the murder suit to be repaired and cleaned indicates the visit to the clothiers’ was probably two hours after the payment of the Dunn murder money.     


St. Paul Daily News; “Confessed Slayer Arrives For Trial. Joseph Redenbaugh in Mill City Cell—Faces Murder Charges. Wife Held in St. Paul. Frank McCool, Alleged Accomplice, Pleads Not Guilty. Murderer’s Wife Bares Life Story. Murder Suit is Found in St. Paul.”; May 21, 1917; pp. 1 & 2

¹St. Paul Daily News, May 16, 1917; p. 1

²St. Paul Daily News; May 7, 1917; p. 1.


Disappearance of Minneapolis Patrolman George Connery; see April 24, 2015 blog

Car Connery disappeared in found in St. Paul; see April 25, 2015 blog

Murder of Alice McQuillan Dunn; see April 26, 2015 blog

More than 1,000 volunteers join Minneapolis police in the search for missing patrolman; see April 28, 2015 blog

Connery and Dunn murders linked; see May 4, 2015, blog

Anonymous caller tells police where body of Connery is located; see May 5, 2015 blog

Second man in “death car” arrested in Omaha; see May 7, 2015 blog


Patrolman George Connery laid to rest; see May 8, 2015 blog

Frank McCool attacks a jailer when caught trying to escape Omaha jail; see May 10,2015 blog


Eddie Hamilton (aka Joe Redenbaugh) arrested in San Francisco; see May 11, 2015 blog


Eddie Hamilton admits to being Joe Redenbaugh; see May 12, 2015 blog

Joe Redenbaugh confesses to murdering Alice McQuillan Dunn and Minneapolis Patrolman George Connery, and implicates Frank McCool in both crimes; see May15, 2015 blog

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