Postville Night Marshall Elmer J. Lennon
This picture was taken on the eve of his death.

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Milwaukee Man is Under Arrest for Death of Marshal

Postville, Ia. (AP) - Elmer Lennon, Postville night marshal, was wounded fatally today during a gun battle with a man he surprised in a robbery attempt. Officers later captured Carroll Berres, 23, Milwaukee, Wis., who was wounded in the leg and had five revolvers in his possession. The suspect was caught by Frank Ryan, night marshall at Lansing, after the latter had blocked the Mississippi river bridge at Lansing. Berres said the car he was driving had been stolen at Green Bay, Wis. He was taken to Waukon, Ia., for questioning. Lennon discovered the robbery attempt when he investigated a large sedan parked at a filling station. He noticed a gun on the front seat and then saw a man taking gasoline. Lennon pocketed the gun that was on the seat, but the bandit stuck another revolver in his stomach. The marshal ignored orders to "move on" and the shooting followed.

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Marshal is Slain; Suspect Arrested

Postville, Iowa (AP) - Elmer Lennon, night marshal here for the last 15 years, was fatally wounded early today in a gun battle with a burglary suspect. The officer's assailant was wounded in the leg. The suspect was captured about 5 o'clock a.m. at the outskirts of New Albin, Iowa, by Night Marshall Frank Ryan of Lansing, Iowa, who pursued him from the latter town after blocking a toll bridge across the Mississippi river.

Night Marshall Frank Ryan of Lansing

The slain man was shot three times. Sheriff John P. King of Allamakee county said the assailant and Lennon engaged in the gun battle at a filling station here. The sheriff said the man was stealing gasoline. The sheriff identified the suspect as Carroll Berres, 23, of West Allis, Wis. Milwaukee police said Berres escaped from the state reformatory stone quarry at Amberg, Wis. Oct. 14.

Green Bay (AP) - With only six weeks to serve, Carroll Berres, 23, of West Allis, walked away from the state reformatory stone quarry camp at Amberg the night of Oct. 14. He was serving a one-year sentence. Berres was sentenced Jan. 14, 1939, in Forest county for breaking and entering in the night-time and operating an automobile without the owner's consent.

Carroll Berres following his capture

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Wisconsin Fugitive is Facing Grand Jury in Iowa Slaying Case

Waukon, Iowa (AP) - Carroll Berres, 28, Wisconsin State Reformatory fugitive, was bound over to the Allamakee county grand jury late yesterday, on a preliminary information charging him with murder in connection with the slaying of Elmer J. Lennon, Postville, Iowa night marshal. Lennon, 55, was fatally wounded early Thursday in a gun battle with a burglar-suspect at a Postville oil station. County Attorney Arthur Jacobson said Berres had signed a statement admitting that he was in Postville and exchanged shots with an officer there. Berres was captured at New Albin, 48 miles northeast of the scene of the shooting about 5 a.m. by Frank Ryan, night marshal at Lansing, Iowa, who had been notified to be on the lookout for the man. Berres was wounded in the exchange of shots with Lennon and was taken to a state reformatory hospital at Anamosa, Iowa. Jacobson said Berres, whose home was in West Allis, escaped from the Wisconsin State Reformatory stone quarry at Amberg, Oct. 14. [1939]

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West Allis Man is Indicted for Murder in Iowa

Carroll Berres, West Allis, an escaped inmate of the Wisconsin State reformatory has been indicted on a charge of first degree murder at Waukon, Ia., in the fatal shooting of Night Marshal Elmer Lennon at Postville, Ia., last Nov. 9. The man, following his arrest, had confessed burglarizing the Ebert Service station, 1218 N. Badger avenue, Appleton, on Oct. 31. He escaped after he was slightly wounded when shot by the owner who discovered him in the building. Struck by shotgun pettets, Berres, escaped when the station operator went to get help. Berres, brought to Waukon from the Anamosa State reformatory hospital, was taken before the grand jury on a stretcher Saturday, and the indictment was returned Saturday night. He was arrested at Lansing, Ia., a few hours after the shooting of Lennon, his right leg shattered by a bullet which authorities said had been fired by the marshal.

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Wisconsin Man on Trial for Murder

Waukon, Iowa (AP) - The state expected to complete presentation of its testimony today inthe trial of Carroll Berres, 24, of West Allis, Wis., charged with first degree murder in connection with a filling station holdup last Nov. 9. The Wisconsin youth is accused of the fatal shooting of Elmer J. Lennon, Marshal at Postville, Iowa. Mrs. Lennon, widow of the slain man, was among the witnesses heard yesterday by the jury of seven women and five men. Harold Gesell, identification expert from Des Moines, Iowa, testified concerning 40 exhibits allegedly found in Berres' automobile following the holdup. The exhibits included rifles, shotguns, and revolvers. Berres, after his arrest, confessed he attempted to burglarize the Carl Ebert Service station on N. Badger avenue and that he escaped after being slightly wounded when the owner shop at him. The owner found the burglar in the station, but the man escaped from a side window when Ebert under the impression he had seriously wounded the intruder, went to get help.

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Wisconsin Youth Found Guilty of Murder in Theft

Waukon, Ia. (AP) - A district court jury of seven women and five farmers, after deliberating late into the night, early today convicted Carroll Berres, 24, of West Allis, Wis., of first degree murder and recommended life imprisonment in the state prison at Fort Madison. A date for pronouncement of sentence was not set immediately. Berres was accused of shooting Elmer J. Lennon, night marshal at Postville, Iowa, last Nov. 9. The jurors received the case at 4:15 p.m. yesterday after Berres, a fugitive form the Wisconsin State reformatory, testified that he fired in self-defense in the gun battle with Lennon. Berres told the jury that he shot when a man interrupted him as he was stealing gasoline from a filling station pump, that he did not intend to kill and that he did not know it was an officer who accosted him. Berres, following his arrest, confessed breaking into the Carl Ebert Service station on N. Badger avenue. He said he escaped after Ebert surprised him in the station and fired at him. He was slightly wounded, he said, and fled when Ebert went for help.

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Berres to Start His Life Sentence

Waukon, Ia., May 29 (AP) - Refused a new trial, Carroll Berres, 24, of West Allis, Wis., was to be taken to the Iowa state penitentiary at Fort Madison today to serve a life term for the slaying of Elmer J. Lennon, night marshal at Postville. The motion for a re-trial was overruled yesterday by District Judge T.H. Goheen.

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1939 Shooting of Elmer Lennon recalled
His survivors honored by law enforcement officers

(Editor's Note: Last week in honor of National Police Week, Sarah Nelson and James Lennon were presented blue ribbons in memory of their father, Marshal Elmer Lennon who was killed in the line of duty in November of 1939. Sarah recalls being called to the hospital where he father died from the gun shot wounds. Printed below are excerts from the Herald concerning the slaying. Sarah and James also recalled that convict was paroled after serving a partial sentence.)

Elmer J. Lennnon, night marshal at Postville for eight years was fatally wounded last Thursday, November 9 in a gun battle with an escaped convict. Marshal Lennon surprised the gunman about 3 a.m. at the H.J. Schuette Filling Station where he was attempting to help himself to some gas to fill his stolen Chrysler sedan. According to Mr. Lennon's statement at the hospital before he died, he walked around the car and flashed his light on the front seat of the car. Seeing a revolver, he picked it up and put it in his pocket. Lennon's account was like this: "He told me to get going. I walked away and when I got to the front of the car he shot me in the back of the neck. Before I could turn around, he shot me in the hip." "I lunged around and he shot me again before I could fire my revolver. I shot twice, one of the shots hitting him, because he went down." Mr. Lennon ran down the street calling for help. At the ....... the clipping ends here

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Sources:

~Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, issue: November 9, 1939
~Appleton Post Crescent, issues: November 9, 1939; November 10, 1939; March 11, 1940; April 25, 1940 & April 27, 1940.
~Stevens Point Daily Journal: May 29, 1940
~Postville Herald: undated, ca1995 partial clipping; the photo of Marshall Lennon is also from this clipping
~transcribed by S. Ferrall

~November 10, 1939 Des Moines Register: photos of Marshall Ryan and Carrol Berres
~contributed by Katie Hemphill, researcher, Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. http://www.odmp.org

Obits of Marshal Lennon and Carroll Berres
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Sheriff Leonard J. Bulman

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Sheriff Bulman, William Gericke Shooting Victims
Officer Sought to Serve Warrant on Local Man Barricaded in Apartment

While attempting to apprehend William Gericke in the apartment over the Baltz tavern Saturday night at about 7:45 o'clock, Sheriff Leonard J. Bulman of Waukon was shot and killed by Gericke. Accompanying the sheriff were his deputy, Peter Hendrickson of Waukon and Eldo Gericke, Postville town marshal, with whom a complaint had been filed that Gericke was threatening other people in the building. Some of the shot from the gun struck both Hendrickson and Eldo, the latter getting two pellets in the cheek and neck from the blast from his uncle's gun.

Peace Officers Summoned.

A call for help was issued to peace officers and the following responded: State Highway Patrolmen Emery Galloway and Arthur Longstedt of Manchester, Special State Agent Glenn Mueller of Guttenberg, Sheriff Arthur Kutschat and his deputies, Hanson and Blockhus of West Union, Sheriff Murray and his deputy of New Hampton. While awaiting the arrival of the officers, Postville firemen set up their ladders and brought Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hangartner and five children, who occupy another apartment in the building, down to safety, the regular exit from the building being in the path of Gericke's rooms. Tear gas bombs were used in an effort to bring Gericke outdoors, but to no avail. Finally rifle and small arm fire was resorted to and Gericke was killed when he approached the exit carrying his loaded shotgun. It was not until near midnight before the bodies of the dead men could be brought out of the building and during the four hour siege an estimated crowd of two thousand people watched the proceedings.

~source: Postville Herald newspaper clipping, hand dated Jan. 19, 1946
~transcribed by Mary Durr

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Hold Inquests in Two Deaths

Waukon, Ia. -- (Special) -Results of inquests into the deaths of Sheriff Leonard Bulman and William Gerieke*, 75, were announced Tuesday by Dr. Clark Rominger, Allamakee County coroner. It was decided that Bulman's death was due to wounds inflicted by Gerieke Saturday night when the sheriff and Deputy Peter Hendrickson attempted to serve him with an insanity warrant. An inquest into Gerieke's death determined that he had been given ample time to emerge from the room where he had barricaded himself before being killed by cross-fire of the officers present. Rominger said that the inquest showed several volumes of gas had been fired into the room in an attempt to force Gerieke out before the shots were fired. Gerieke was standing up at the time he was hit, according to Rominger. It could not be determined who actually fired the fatal shot. Private funeral services were held for Gerieke Tuesday afternoon.

~source: LaCrosse Tribune, Tuesday, January 22 1946, p.1
~transcribed by LA, December 10, 2007
*note: the correct spelling for Gerieke is Gericke

Obits of Sheriff Bulman and William Gericke
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