St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Missouri
End of Watch: Sunday, January 31, 1915
Age: 31
Tour of Duty: 4 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: January 10, 1915
Weapon Used: Handgun; .32 caliber
Suspect Info: Sentenced to 99 years
Police Officer Edward Spilcker succumbed to wounds suffered three weeks earlier when he attempted to arrest two robbery suspects of a drugstore at Lucas Street and 11th Street.
As he searched one of the suspects the other shot him with a .32 caliber automatic pistol. The two suspects were apprehended in Alton, Illinois, returned to St. Louis, and identified by Officer Spilcker before his death. Both were connected and admitted to police that they had committed at least 10 store and saloon robberies in the past five weeks since coming to St. Louis. In each robbery they locked the individual they robbed in an icebox.
On March 17, 1915, both suspects, 34 and 25, were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life. The oldest died in prison on September 1, 1942. The other subject escaped on February 23, 1935. No further information about him.
Officer Spilcker had been with the agency for four years and was survived by his wife and two children.