I will follow up this article with another article with many more details of the murder Officer Louis Massey of the Evansville Police Department on July 3, 1903. But first, I thought it would be interesting to give a little history of the City of Evansville and the Evansville Police Department. Keep in mind that the Civil War between the North and South took place from 1861 to 1865. President Lincoln was shot on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 while attending the play, “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. and he died in the early morning hours of April 15th. On May 9, 1865, the Confederate States of America officially surrendered. Today, Evansville has a population of 120,000 and the EPD has 287 sworn police officers. The metropolitan area of Evansville has approximately 270,000 people (Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Posey Counties). HISTORY OF EVANSVILLE AND EVANSVILLE POLICE DEPATMENT The land encompassing Evansville was formally relinquished by Delaware in 1805 to General William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory. French hunters and trappers were among the first Europeans to come to the area, using Vincennes as a base of operations. On March 27, 1812, Hugh McGary Jr. purchased about 441 acres and named it McGarys Landing. In 1814, to attract more people, McGary renamed his village, Evansville, in honor of Colonel Robert Morgan Evans. Evansville incorporated in 1817 and became a county seat on January 7, 1818. The county was named for Henry Vanderburgh, a deceased chief judge of the Indiana territorial Supreme Court. TIMELINE: Evansville, Indiana was founded in 1812. Evansville received a village charter from the State in 1819. Law enforcement in Evansville began in 1818 and from 1818 to 1847 law enforcement was the responsibility of the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department. On January 29, 1847 Evansville was granted a charter by the State, becoming an incorporated city with a population of 4,000 and the City Marshal and his Constables had sole law enforcement jurisdiction until 1863 when the Police Department was established (Birth of the Evansville Police Department – 1863). ***On April 14, 1862 Constable John Welsh became the first Evansville law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty. Miles Ogle shot him with a shotgun on a flatboat on the riverfront. This occurred one year before the Evansville Police Department was established. The Evansville Police Department was created in 1863 as a night watch to supplement the City Marshal’s staff, which still held primary law enforcement responsibility within the city. The City Marshal was the daytime law enforcement agency and the Police Department was the nighttime law enforcement agency and was considered to be the “door shakers” throughout the City. ***The first black officer, Robert Nichols, was appointed to the police department on September 7, 1874. By 1880 Evansville’s population had reached 29,280. In 1883 the Marshal’s Office was consolidated with the police department by the Metropolitan Police Act by the Indiana Legislature. The city’s population stood at 30,000 and there were 40 officers on the department. In 1883 the Metropolitan Police System was implemented. This system changed the Chief’s title to “Superintendent of Police.” It created a 3-member commission to oversee the police department. The Metropolitan Police Act’s main benefit was the creation of a single law enforcement agency for the city. This eliminated the duplicity of the City Marshal’s Office and the Police Department. ***On January 29, 1884 Addie Maddox, one of the first policewomen hired and the only one of the original policewomen who would remain on the department until retirement. She was born in Morton’s Gap, Kentucky and her father was Town Marshal of Morton’s Gap. The population of Evansville reached 45,000 in 1885. The Evansville Police Department became one of the founding law enforcement agencies of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in 1894. Chief Covey attended the charter meeting of the IACP, which was held in St. Louis on May 8, 1894. The organization was initially known as the “National Police Chiefs Union.” By 1900 Evansville’s population had increased to 59,000 (doubling in 20 years). The police department had increased in number to 63. On Friday, July 3, 1903 Officer Louis Massey was shot and killed by Lee Brown. The First Evansville Police Officer to be killed by gunfire. The next article will contain the intriguing details of the murder of Officer Louis Massey and the incredible aftermath. Guy Minnis WARRIOR DYNAMICS
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 20:24:00 +0000
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