May 4, 1917 – According to St. Paul
Police Chief John J. O’Connor today, rapid developments in the Alice McQuillan
Dunn and Patrolman George Connery murder cases, originally considered separate
crimes, link the murders into a double slaying more startling than any other
crime in the history of St. Paul.
O’Connor says he believes the two murders were done by the same person: Joseph
L. Redenbaugh, alias G. E. Loucks, 19, alleged youthful desperado.
Joseph
L. Redenbaugh1
O’Connor
received a photo and short history of Redenbaugh, who was wanted for robbing a
bank in broad daylight at University Place, Neb., Feb. 17, 1917. Redenbough’s
photo was recognized by the officers at the Prior Ave. police station in St.
Paul and by the Minneapolis policemen who later arrested Redenbaugh, as being
that of the man who was arrested for speeding.
The police theorize that Redenbaugh did not want to take a chance on being
recognized as the man wanted in Neb., which would be likely if he were locked
up in Minneapolis when not able to furnish bail. This, and the fact that his
arrest would interfere with Mrs. Dunn’s murder, the chief says, caused
Redenbaugh to do away with Connery.
When O’Connor’s astounding announcement was made, the St. Paul police had only
the following connections to the two murders: the photo of Rendenbaugh, and on
the step of the Studebaker car in which Redenbaugh was riding when arrested for
speeding, was a footprint that corresponded with a footprint found in the
McQuillan yard the morning of the murder.
Later this evening, word was received that fingerprints found on a window that
was used by the gunman to enter the McQuillan home the night Alice McQuillan
Dunn was killed, matched exactly with those of Redenaugh. While the Minneapolis
police had not originally believed O’Conner’s theory that the two murders were
both done by Redenbaugh, this new discovery made the theory hard to refute, but
Minneapolis Police Chief Harthill was still not committed to the idea.
Flyers and photos of Redenbaugh were sent to the police chiefs of every large
city in the United States. O’Connor feels the wide net he has extended is so
tight, Redenbaugh will be caught in the next couple of days.
Though the media did not expose it, at this time, the O’Connor Layover Agreement was in use in St. Paul. “The agreement allowed criminals safe travels within the city limits of St. Paul as long as they followed three very simple rules; they checked in with the police upon arrival, committed no serious criminal activity within the borders of the city, and paid all of the necessary bribes. As long as these three things happened city officials turned a blind eye to their misdeeds. The police force even went as far as protecting returning criminals that committed crimes outside of St. Paul - even from federal agents, who lacked the jurisdiction to try these kinds of cases until the mid-1930s.”2
St. Paul Police Chief
John O’Connor3
In hindsight, it is obvious why O’Connor wanted to personally oversee the Alice McQuillan Dunn murder. First, it happened in St. Paul, where his layover agreement specifically disallowed serious criminal activity; second, it was most likely embarrassing for him that such a media frenzied murder could happen under his watch; and third, O’Connor had many contacts within the criminal community who could gather information for him.
Through his criminal network, O’Connor had learned that Michael J. Moore, a bartender at C. W. Chickrett’s Saloon, 210 W. 7th St., had seen Dunn meet with Redenbaugh several times in the saloon having long conversations. Moore was now in police custody, being held as a witness.
Mrs. F. E. Brown, previously known as Madam D., in a statement given out by the police, corroborated the story told by her former husband, Al Brown and S. C. Ferdig of Mont., of a plot for the murder of Alice McQuillan Dunn, which preceded the actual killing by nearly two years. Ferdig, she said, told her of the plot first, and later Brown, then her husband, admitted it.
Mrs. F. E. Brown, aka Madam D.4
Mrs. Brown said she was too terrified to reveal the
alleged plot, though now she regrets not having done so. She was divorced from
Brown in Roundup, Mont., in Oct. 1915, she said.
Frank J. Dunn, his attorney said, would make no attempt to be released from
jail, where he has been held since the killing. Brown and Ferdig, the police
explained, while held under close surveillance, technically are not under
arrest.
St.
Paul Daily News; “Footprints Reveal Slayer, Says O’Connor;
Joe Redenbaugh, Former St. Paul Man, Hunted by Police of Many Cities as
Perpetrator of Two Foul Offenses. Killed
Policeman Connery To Be Free For Dunn Crime; Meetings of Desperate Criminal and
Mrs. Dunn’s Husband Revealed by Bartender in Buffet Where Killing Was Plotted.”
May 4, 1917; pp. 1 & 2.
The Bismarck Tribune; “New Angle In Dunn Murder Case Visible; Police of
Pacific Coast Cities Asked to Locate Joe Redenbaugh, a Criminal; Believed He
Misled Missing Officer Connery; Hunted Man Said to Have Had $10,000 Thought
Paid Him for Killing Mrs. Dunn.”; Bismarck, N.D.; May 4, 1917; p. 1.
1St. Paul Daily News; May
16, 1917; p. 1.
2http://www.streetsofsaintpaul.com/2012/09/john-oconnor-and-oconnor-layover-system.html
3http://www.mnopedia.org/thing/oconnor-layover-agreement
4St. Paul Daily News; May
3, 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
St.
Paul Police Chief John O’Connor tells reporters he expects to arrest a man he
thinks was paid a large sum to murder Alice McQuillan Dunn.; see April 27, 2015 blog
More
than 1,000 volunteers join Minneapolis police in the search for missing
patrolman; see April 28, 2015 blog
Two St. Paul detectives are in Mont. interviewing people
who knew Mrs. Dunn when she worked there; see April 29, 2015 blog
Two
Montana men claim Dunn paid them to kill his wife; see May 1, 2015 blog
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