| Notater |
- On Friday, July 12,1940 Officer Melvin Holt and Dudley Brady had gone to Bryant Baumgartner's house to question him about illegal shipments of bullheads (fish) to Iowa. Baumgartner ordered the officers off his property and told them not to return without warrants. They left and returned in the afternoon with Officer Marcus Whipps. Baumgartner was getting a shipment of fish ready to ship but when he returned to his home, he found two of the wardens. He again asked for warrants and ordered them off his property. As they left the barn, Whipps asked Baumgartner for his license to handle fish commercially. Baumgartner said he would get the license but he returned instead with a 12-gauge shotgun. Whipps said, "It's no use trying to get smart with that thing, Baumgartner." Baumgartner replied, "I'll show you whether I'll get smart." He then fired three shots and hit all three officers. Whipps was shot in the chest and fell to the ground. Holt was shot in the chest and Brady was shot in the back as he tried to run. All of them died instantly. Baumgartner, 60, then walked over to a picket fence and turned the gun on himself.
Officer Brady was 50 years old, born August 28, 1889. He had been with the DNR since September 1, 1923, serving the Windom area. From 1907-1918 he was a salesman but he worked part time as a deputy warden. He had served as chief game warden and a supervisor of twelve counties from August 1, 1927 to August 1, 1933, but then returned to being a game warden. He was survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Brady, and brothers and sisters, Mrs. Myrtle Cooper, Mrs. Edward Jennings, Mabel, Harry, Stanley, William and Clarence. His funeral was held Monday, July 15 in Windom at the Presbyterian Church. He was buried in Lakeview Cemetery.
Officer Whipps was a game warden for three years in the Kasota area. Prior to that he was a police officer in Kasota. He was born February, 1895, and was 45 years old. He was survived by his wife, Caroline, and three children. His funeral was held at the Presbyterian Church in Kasota on July 15. He is buried in the Greenwood Woodlawn Cemetery south of LeCenter.
Officer Holt was 55 years old. He had worked in the Worthington area since March of 1940 and had been with the DNR since 1926. He was survived by his wife and two children, Rolland and Dorothy. His funeral was held Tuesday, July 16 in Lake City at St. Johns Lutheran Church.
(The above Article was taken from a website honoring Fallen Officers of Minnesota.)
MEMORIAL HONORS THREE FALLEN CONSERVATION OFFICERS
The passing of 71 years hasn't softened the pain for Wayne Whipps.
His dad, Marcus, was one of three unarmed Minnesota conservation officers gunned down on the shore of Lake Sakatah in Waterville, Minn., by a commercial fisherman whose license they were checking. It remains one of the worst tragedies in state law enforcement history.
"It ruined our family, it did," said Wayne Whipps, 80, of Owatonna, who was 9 when his dad was gunned down.
But now, all these years later, the Department of Natural Resources is honoring the fallen men with a memorial outside its offices in New Ulm. The state Conservation Officers Association and DNR enforcement supervisors and managers chipped in $6,000 for the memorial. Wayne Whipps and his family will be at the dedication June 13.
"I'm happy to see it, but I'm sorry something wasn't done sooner,'' Whipps said.
Jim Konrad, DNR enforcement chief and a field officer for 22 years, is among those who pushed for the memorial.
"I thought it was something we should do,'' he said. The triple slaying prompted the state to give officers uniforms and revolvers. Today, conservation officers are full-fledged peace officers.
Said conservation officer Mike Scott of Duluth, who also spearheaded the memorial effort: "This was a critical turning point for the department, and it made us who we are today.''
Not only were the murders a sad chapter in state history, Scott said, but so too was the lack of recognition over the decades for men who died protecting the state's natural resources.
"I think we forgot about them, and it's sad,'' he said.
Marcus Whipps, 45, A. Melvin Holt, 55, of Worthington and Dudley Brady, 50, of Windom were murdered on July 12, 1940, with single 12-gauge shotgun blasts after asking to see the commercial fishing license of Bryant Baumgartner, 54. After felling the three officers, Baumgartner then turned his shotgun on himself. At least five people were nearby cleaning fish.
Only one other time in state history have three Minnesota law officers been killed in a single incident. The three wardens are among five Minnesota conservation officers murdered in the line of duty. One was stabbed in 1897 and another was shot in 1930.
While Wayne Whipps is grateful his dad and the other two officers will be honored with a memorial, he remains bitter, saying the tragedy could have been avoided. Though newspaper accounts suggest the officers never expected the confrontation with Baumgartner, Wayne Whipps said everyone knew trouble was brewing.
It was a different era, when game wardens didn't wear uniforms and generally only carried weapons at night, and the nation was still struggling through a depression. At the time, bullheads were netted and sold for food. But in 1939, the Conservation Department (predecessor to the DNR) restricted possession and transportation of bullheads to no more than 50 per day -- a move resented by some.
"It was the Depression, and people were hard up," Whipps said. "They figured they had a right to seine fish illegally and ship them out."
Shots had been fired elsewhere at game wardens, and Whipps said state officials expected trouble at Baumgartner's. "He kept talking in town that he was going to shoot every game warden and every sheriff that came,'' Whipps said. But Whipps said state officials wouldn't allow the officers to be armed when they confronted Baumgartner.
"I always felt the state was just as guilty of pulling the trigger as this guy was," he said.
While newspaper accounts say the officers were unarmed, Whipps believes his dad was packing a small pistol in his back pocket, one he wasn't able to use to defend himself.
And he said not everyone was aghast at the murders.
"When they drove us over to the morgue, an hour after the shooting, there were 1,000 people downtown. And some of the thugs spit on our cars as we went by and they hollered at us as we got out, 'They got what they deserved.'''
The emotions from those days remain raw.
Whipps said he would have preferred the memorial be placed in nearby Le Center, where his dad was born and where he is buried. He didn't want it in Waterville. Konrad had suggested the memorial be placed on a state trail at Waterville near the shootings.
"I want nothing to do with that town," Whipps said. "There's still too much animosity there.''
His mother died in 1980. Wayne Whipps is the last of her three children still alive. She never remarried. "We barely made it,'' Whipps said.
Konrad said the DNR doesn't know if any family members of Brady and Holt are alive. Scott said an unknown number of conservation and other law enforcement officers will attend the memorial ceremony, along with DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr.
Meanwhile, Wayne Whipps still tends to his father's grave at the small, well-manicured cemetery surrounded by farm fields near Le Center.
"I keep it up,'' he said.
(Above Article from Star Tribune)
SLAIN DNR OFFICERS HONORED
Plaque dedication draws state officials, large crowd
NEW ULM - A memorial service for three slain Minnesota conservation officers, 71 years in the making, took place Monday at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) region office near New Ulm.
The ceremony was for the dedication of a plaque that honors the officers. More than 150 people attended the ceremony, including many police and conservation officers
The honored game wardens were Marcus Whipps, Dudley Brady and A. Melvin Holt. They were murdered on July 12, 1940, in Waterville while enforcing a state regulation. The incident is the worse single killing of conservation officers in Minnesota's history. It resulted in changes to how Minnesota conservation officers perform their duties, including the requirement that officers carry firearms and wear uniforms.
The plaque is part of a recent movement by DNR officials to raise awareness about the risks its officers face each day.
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said that working for the Minnesota DNR was a way of life that took tremendous personal sacrifice from its members. He said he personally appreciated all the hard work conservation officers performed over the years.
He also highlighted the uniqueness of the monument.
"This is the only monument of its kind in the state, and possibly in the country. That's very fitting," said Landwehr.
DNR Enforcement Division Director Jim Konrad also praised the personal sacrifices of conservation officers. He said that he hoped the monument would help to bring closure to the tragic event.
"Officers know that there is no guarantee they will return at the end of the day. But, officers are still willing to put on the uniform each day," said Konrad.
DNR Southern Region Director Dennis Frederickson said the regional office was honored to have the plaque on its grounds and that it would serve as a reminder for all about the value of conservation officers' work.
The ceremony featured a procession of DNR officers marching to the monument and a presentation of the flags by the Honor Guard of the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association.
Following the ceremony, Wayne Whipps, son of slain officer Marcus Whipps, said he appreciated that there is finally recognition for his father.
"[The ceremony] was very nice. A little late but very nice," said Whipps.
Whipps said publicity about the memorial plaque helped him regain one of his father's guns. Following his father's murder, several of his guns were sold off for profit by an uncle who took advantage of his mother's situation. He expected the guns to be lost forever.
However, gun collector Roger King read a news article previewing the plaque ceremony and realized a rare 1937 Belgium Browning shotgun he owned must have belonged to the older Whipps. King contacted Wayne Whipps and returned the gun to him after determining it had belonged to his father.
"I have a distinct memory of that gun and my father holding it," said Whipps.
Whipps said the gun brought up mixed feelings for him. He said that it brought him happiness because he regained a piece of his father, but it also stirred up sad memory about the incident. He said that he intends to give the gun to his son, whom he hopes will then pass it on to his son.
"I feel that if it wasn't for [the memorial], I never would have been able to get the gun back," said Whipps.
Landwehr said that he was glad to see the plaque installed, and that he would like to see a statewide monument to all the DNR officers who have died while serving. He said he didn't know when that would happen, but that he hoped to start working towards it soon.
(Above article from the New Ulm Journal 6/14/2011)
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The following is from the July 15, 1940 Daily Globe.
A. M. Holt, 52, veteran game warden stationed at Worthington for the past four months, met sudden death in the line of duty Friday evening when he and two other wardens were shot to death by a crazed fisherman at Waterville, northeast of Mankato. The other wardens who died in the attack were D. P. Brady, Windom warden well known here, and Marcus Whipps of Kasota.
The murderer, Bryant Baumgartner, operator of a fish market at Waterville, shot the three men to death with an automatic shotgun and then turned the gun on himself, accounting for four deaths in the space of a minute.
First word of the tragedy came Friday evening in a phone call from Dr. J.J. Kolars, LeSuer county coroner, to Chief C.E. Murphy, directing him to inform Mrs. Holt that her husband had been killed. A few minutes later the Associated Press phoned particulars to the Daily Globe. Murphy moved to bring into action Station KNHD at Redwood Falls in an effort to locate Rolland Holt, son of the victim.
The body of Holt lies in state here today at the Hanson funeral home. Services and burial will be Tuesday at Lake City. As escort from Worthington to Lake City will include members of the Worthington Sportsmen's club who will be acting pall bearers. The Rev. Rudolph Bloomquist will conduct the service.
Adolph Melvin Holt was born July 26, 1888, at Preston, in Fillmore county, son of Otto N. and Johanna Olson Holt, and spent the early years of his life around LeRoy.
He was married in Minneapolis June 1, 1914, to Jeanette Schefstad, and a year later moved back to LeRoy, where he operated a confectionery for six years. In 1921 he moved to Bagley, where, after operating a confectionery for one year, he entered the state forestry service.
In 1925 he transferred to the game and fish division as a warden, during the administration of Jay Gould, and continued in that work in Clearwater county until March 1, this year, when he was transferred to Worthington.
He is survived by his widow and two children, Rolland, a civil engineer at Bagley, and Dorothy, an assistant surgical supervisor at Seattle, Wash. Others surviving include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. O.N. Holt of Lake City, three sisters, Mrs. R.D. Quade, Lake Center, Mrs. William Thorie, Red Wing, and Mrs. A.U. Gelhar, Rochester, and one brother, A.O. Holt of Lake City.
Children:
Rolland Holt (born 11/17/1916)
Dorothy Ellen Jeanette Holt (born 8/13/1917 in Mower Co., MN)
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Daily Globe News on Jun 10, 2011
NEW ULM -- Seven decades after a group of unarmed Minnesota game wardens were shot to death over illegal bullhead fishing, the three men will be honored Monday with a ceremony and a memorial in New Ulm.
Dudley P. Brady of Windom, A. Melvin Holt of Worthington and Marcus Whipps of Kasota were all killed in the line of duty July 12, 1940, in Waterville, while investigating an illegal bullhead shipping operation that reached from Des Moines, Iowa, to Sioux Falls, S.D., and points north.
"I grew up with this story," said Betty McGuire of New London, Holt's great-niece. "It has been many years since the murders, but I think it is wonderful to know that DNR (Department of Natural Resources) officials and others still care about these three men."
Only 14 Minnesota conservation officers, once known as "game wardens," have ever been killed in the line of duty, and only five of those were murdered -- three on that single day in July 71 years ago.
The slayings were shocking, both to the communities the men belonged to and to the Department of Natural Resources, then called the Department of Conservation. At that time, game wardens were not required to wear uniforms and were not permitted to carry firearms during the day.
"After this, within a year we were all issued firearms and were required to carry them," said Greg Abraham, a Minnesota conservation officer stationed in New Ulm. "Within a year, all the wardens were issued uniforms."
Bootleg bullheads
In the late 1930s, as the U.S. struggled to come out of the Great Depression, bullheads were highly prized as a food. A new law was passed in 1939 restricting the fishing and possession of bullheads to 50 per day, which put a major crimp in commercial bullhead seining and sales.
Illegal bullhead rings sprang up everywhere, and illicitly caught fish were showing up in markets all over the Midwest. The trade was lucrative and the tension between commercial fishermen and game wardens grew dangerously volatile.
"Previous to this, there had been some gun battles between fishermen and wardens up in the county of Itasca, based on the same regulations," Abraham explained. "It wasn't just down here. It was a statewide situation."
According to the Associated Press, Whipps and another warden, W.W. Richardson of Faribault, were leading an investigation into the bootleg bullhead market when Whipps was murdered.
It was Holt, however, that reportedly had uncovered the clues that led to the tragic Waterville trip and the incident that came to be known as "Black Friday."
Initially, Holt and Brady together visited a commercial fishery operation operated by Bryant Baumgartner off Lake Sakatah, in Waterville. The wardens were ordered off the property, and complied, but later returned with Whipps in order to inspect the fishery. They asked Baumgartner for his records and fishing license, and he went into his home.
Baumgartner came out with an automatic shotgun.
"It's no use getting smart with that thing, Baumgartner," said Brady, according to surviving eyewitnesses.
"I'll show you whether I'll get smart," Baumgartner replied, fatally shooting all three unarmed game wardens before he turned the gun on himself.
Remembering the slain
Abraham first heard about the tragedy from his father, a retired state trooper, and learned more about it when he was hired as a conservation officer. Retired game warden Woody Schermann described the tragedy in his book, "Minnesota Game Warden."
Later, Abraham and Lt. Joe Frear, a conservation officer in Waseca, started making efforts towards a memorial.
The conservation officers raised $6,000 for the memorial, all gathered from officers and DNR employees. The stone memorial in New Ulm includes a bronze plaque with an inscription describing the events that occurred and giving the wardens' names, along with two stone benches.
"I think it's the duty of the officers now to recognize and to honor the sacrifice that these wardens and their families went through in service to the state of Minnesota, and to the game warden service," Abraham said. "I think it's about time that we formally recognize their dedication and service."
Abraham and Frear are still searching for Brady's surviving relatives, though they have found relations of Whipps and Holt, who will attend the memorial Monday.
"We'd like help in trying to find someone, even if it's too late to attend the memorial," Abraham said.
Wilma Nadeau, McGuire's mother and Holt's niece, is excited about attending the memorial.
At the age of 92, Nadeau still remembers the day her family received news of the tragedy -- and she was the one who had to tell her grandparents their son had been killed.
"She said it was one of the hardest things she ever did," McGuire said.
The plaque and memorial will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Monday at the Minnesota DNR Region 4 headquarters in New Ulm. [2]
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1881 - 1940 (58 år)
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