Officer Edward Richard Pflaume

Edward Richard Pflaume

Officer Edward Pflaume was shot and killed as he and other officers attempted to arrest two men suspected of committing a robbery earlier in the day. The suspects opened fire on the officers, killing Officer Pflaume and wounding a second officer. One of the suspects was killed and the other was wounded as he attempted to flee.

The wounded suspect, William ''Three-Fingered Jack'' White, one of Al Capone's top lieutenants, was convicted of Officer Pflaume's murder and sentenced to life on January 21, 1927. In February 1929, he won a reversal in the supreme court which held that it had not been proved that Officer Pflaume and the other officers had the right to arrest him. At his new trial he was again found guilty of Officer Pflaume's murder but was only sentenced to 14 years in prison on March 14, 1931. He was paroled a short time later, but on January 23, 1934, he was shot and killed by rival gangsters in Chicago.

Officer Pflaume had served with the Forest Park Police Department for one year. He was survived by his expectant wife.