In January of 1936, a 58-year-old Minneapolis grocery store owner named Oscar Odean was shot to death by two armed robbers in his store at 4047 Washington Avenue North.
The robbers shot Mr. Odean as they entered the store and then shot him twice more, killing him, as they left the store.
The shooting was witnessed by 8-year-old Carl G. Benson who was a neighborhood boy and a good friend to Mr. Odean. Carl spent a lot of his spare time at the grocery store visiting with Mr. Odean and other neighbors.
Only two months earlier, while Carl was visiting, the store had been robbed and Mr. Odean had been shot in the hand as he wrestled with the robber after the robber had thrown Carl to the ground.
At that time, Mr. Odean told Carl that if the store should ever be robbed again Carl should observe the details, call the police, and provide as much information as possible.
Carl remembered Mr. Odean’s instructions. As soon as the men left the store, Carl called the police and provided a description of them, what they were wearing, and also the details of their getaway car.
After days of investigation by the Minneapolis Police Detective Squad both suspects were in custody.
Carl bravely identified both suspects for the police and helped send the men who had killed his friend to prison.
Here is a photograph from February 12, 1936 of Carl G. Benson identifying one of the suspects during the Odean Murder Trial. Photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library.
To read more about this story as published in the Camden Community News on January 1, 2010, simply click here: http://www.sitelibrarian.com/news/info.nsf/theLookupByDocumentId/32DB42CAA61ED3B18625769B007F9757?opendocument