Chief of Police Franklin Pierce Culp

Franklin Pierce Culp

Chief Culp succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on May 3, 1934, when he and another officer responded to a bank robbery call at the First National Bank at the intersection of Main Street and Tiffin Street. The bank was being robbed by members of the Dillinger Gang.

As the officers attempted to take cover behind an elevator one of the suspects opened fire with a machine gun, striking Chief Culp in the chest. The suspects took several hostages, completed the bank robbery, and then fled the scene.

Led by John Dillinger, the Dillinger Gang was a notorious group of Midwest bank robbers. Associates of the gang were responsible for the fatal shootings of 13 law enforcement officers in 1933 and 1934.

Two infamous members of the gang, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson, were shot and killed by law enforcement officers in separate incidents.

The other gang members were either murdered by criminals, shot and killed by law enforcement officers, executed for their crimes, or sentenced to time in prison.