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The Chadwick Posse On February 9, 1926, news was flashed in Chadwick that a car carrying 3 bandits who had assisted in the rescue of Alfred Fairfield and John Redman from Clinton, Iowa police while on their way from the courthouse after being sentenced to a 25-year prison term for a payroll robbery, had crossed the high wooden bridge leading from Clinton to Fulton and were headed either toward Thomson or Savanna. Members of the Chadwick Home Guard secured a truck and H.L. Spealman, Roy J. Hartman, Ward Weber, W.J. Schreiner, C.M. Kingery and John O. Kerch started out to intercept the bandits. At Holy Corners, 1.25 miles west of town, the car was seen approaching. The guards stopped their truck and forced the bandits to do likewise. The bandits left their car and opened fire. The guards returned the fire and Harry Marks of Chicago was shot dead. Harry Williams had his jaw shot away and was badly wounded. Realizing the fight was useless the bandits surrendered. |
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Photo of The Chadwick Posse Roger Potter found this photo among his mother’s collection of local history. As Roger remembers - "The posse captured some bad guys and is chronicled in the Chadwick Centennial as the major event in the village history. One of the posse members is Ward Weber whose son, Gene, might still be living in Chadwick and can identify all the others, one of which is Roy Hartman, who should be the taller of the two men standing. Another was the local pharmacist, "Old Skinny Spealman", whose first name was Harvey. He would be the shorter of the two men in front with the rifle. The large man on the right is Ward Weber, who truly was a big man. The man kneeling in front on the left should be W.J. Schriener. |
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1926 Capture Of Chicago Gangsters by Chadwick Home Guard From Alice Horner - There was a payroll robbery in Clinton, Iowa in the fall of 1925 and the bad guys were captured. But when their trial was being held in February 1926, some Chicago gangsters showed up and helped them escape. That’s when the Chadwick Home Guard sprang into action. The gangsters, in their 1926 Buick Brougham Master 6, (pictured above with a bullet hole visible above the rear window to the right), took a shortcut through Carroll County on the Argo Fay Road. About a mile west of Chadwick, near the George Holy farm, they were met by the Chadwick Home Guard volunteers, where a shootout ensued and the robbers were apprehended. The driver of the gangster’s car, Harry Marks, was killed, and another was wounded. Members of the Chadwick Home Guard were: Far right: Ward Weber; driver of the Model T truck, kneeling: Bill Schreiner; left: president of the Farmer’s State Bank; and Chadwick druggist Harv Spealman. Standing left: Roy Hartman, left, and John Kertz. None of the Chadwick men was injured but the lower left front window has a bullet hole in it. |
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