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As we learned in yesterday’s blog, Sarah B. Schaeffer was a prominent woman of the early Minneapolis Police Department.

Mrs. Schaeffer was preceded in her role by Emma Louise Paine who was City Jail Matron from 1889 – 1901. Additionally, Mary McGuire was appointed as the Minneapolis Workhouse Matron in 1892 and served in that capacity for several years.

In the photograph above are pictured the three women of the 1921 Minneapolis Police Department, from left to right: Detective Etta Tollefson; an unidentified officer whose name is currently under research by the museum; and Officer Georgiana Sharrot.

Detective Etta Tollefson (left) was appointed by Chief J. F. Walker. She was in command of the “Street Mothers” as women officers were sometimes titled in the early 20th Century when their duties were primarily concentrated on the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Officer Georgiana Sharrot (right) served in the role of “Street Mother” from 1914 until her death in 1938 when she succumbed to injuries received while on duty five months earlier. At the time of her death, Officer Sharrot was the fourth woman in law enforcement in the United States to have been killed in the line of duty.

Photograph courtesy of the National Police Journal: August 1921, Volume 8

Here are two photographs of Mrs. Sarah B. Schaeffer: one upon her appointment to the Minneapolis Police Department and one upon her retirement.

Mrs. Schaeffer was appointed by Mayor A. A. Ames to the role of Police Matron in 1901 at the salary of $726 per year.

She served at the City Jail, located on the top floor of the Minneapolis City Hall.

As Police Matron, Mrs. Schaeffer had responsibility for women, and juvenile girls and boys.

Mrs Schaeffer retired from the Minneapolis Police Department, during Mayor Leach’s term, in 1927.

When asked about her plans for retirement she stated that she was looking forward to retiring to her bungalow and tending her garden.

Top photograph courtesy of Policewomen: A History by Kerry Segrave

Bottom photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library

Those were the words of John L. Lynch, President of the Minneapolis Retailers’ Association on September 16, 1922

Mr. Lynch was speaking of the Minneapolis Merchants Fashion Show.

The show took place over three evenings and drew more than 500,000 attendees. It was considered an innovation and attracted attention throughout the country, especially in the larger East Coast cities, as a model to be followed.

Of the Minneapolis Police Department, Mr. Lynch said: “Great commendation is due the police of Minneapolis for their handling of the large crowds and the traffic problems engendered. It was the best example of police cooperation I have ever seen or heard of.”

Story from the Minneapolis Morning Tribune of September 16, 1922

Photograph of Minneapolis Motorcycle Police Officers from 1921 courtesy of Hennepin County Library

Just what were the salaries of the members of the Minneapolis Police Department in 1884?

A glance into the Proceedings of the City Council shows annual salaries for 1884 to be:

• Chief – $1800
• Captain – $1200
• Lieutenant – $1100
• Sergeant – $1000
• Detective – $1200
• Patrol Officer First Year – $828
• Patrol Officer Second Year and Above – $900
• Mounted Patrol Officer – $260 Additional for Maintenance of Horse
• Patrol Officer Serving Civil Papers including Horse Hire – $960

To give some additional perspective, here are the costs for some common items in 1884:

• Total Coal for the Minneapolis Police Department for one year – $2,151
  • 175 tons of Lasalle lump coal for the Department @ $3.40 per ton = $595
  • 80 tons of Anthracite stove coal for the Department @ $8.25 per ton = $660
  • 200 tons of Youghiagheny lump coal for the Department @ $4.48 per ton = $896

• To buy a large lot and an 8 room house on Washington Avenue North and 15th Street – $3200
• To rent a 10 room house off 6th Avenue – $50 per month
• To rent a 2 room apartment at 608-13th Avenue South – $11 per month
• To rent a 2 room apartment at 1229-6th Street South – $5 per month
• To rent a one room office at 26 Washington Avenue South – $8 per month

• Flour – 3 cents per pound
• Beef and Pork – 10 cents per pound
• Sugar – 7 cents per pound
• Molasses – 60 cents per gallon
• Coffee – 28 cents per pound
• Milk – 6 cents per quart

Salary information taken from the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Minneapolis, April 1884 – April 1885

Throughout its history, the Minneapolis Police Department has valued its many excellent civilian employees for their contributions to the smooth operations of the Department. One such esteemed employee was W.G. Barber.

W.G. Barber was born in Somerset, New Jersey on January 16, 1846. He enlisted in the 38th New Jersey regiment commanded by Col. William J. Sewall (who was afterwords for several terms United States Senator from New Jersey). Mr Barber served in the Army of the James and was stationed in front of Richmond until the close of the Civil War. He was mustered out of the service on July 15, 1865. Soon afterwards, he moved west and settled in Illinois, living first at Fairview and later at Peoria.

Mr. Barber came to Minneapolis in 1879, entering the employment of the Washburn-Crosby Milling Company, where he remained for eight years. He was a conductor on the Minneapolis streetcar line for several months, and then became the Health Inspector for the Fifth Ward for two years.

In 1891 Mr. Barber was appointed as a Telephone Operator at the Minneapolis Police Headquarters by Mayor Winston. We have no records of Mr. Barber after 1900, but we know that in 1899 he was still serving as a Telephone Operator at the salary of $900 per year.

Mr. Barber was married on October 29, 1872, to Miss Alice Stoddard, of Illinois, and was living with his wife and their two children at 3104 Stevens Avenue in 1899.

He was a member of the Morgan Post of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R) which was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the Civil War. 

Engraving of W.G. Barber taken from History of the Fire and Police Departments of the Twin Cities published by American Land & Title Register Association, 1899.

Detective John E. Morrisey was born on a farm near Albany, New York on March 12, 1858 and moved with his family to a farm near Brownsville, Minnesota in 1866. He came to Minneapolis in 1881 where he first worked as a streetcar driver.

On May 1, 1886, he was appointed Patrolman by Mayor A.A. Ames and assigned to duty at the Central Station. In June of 1892, Mayor Eustis appointed him to the detective force where he served for the remainder of his career.

Detective Morrisey was one of the detectives on the Ozark Flats Murder case. In its day, it was the most spectacular murder-for-hire trial Minnesota had ever seen and it was featured in newspapers across the country.

If you would like to read Detective Morrisey’s court testimony as it appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune on February 9, 1895, just click on the link below and scroll down to page four.

https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/viewer.jsp?doc_id=mnhi0005%2F1DFC5F59%2F95020901&query1=&recoffset=0&collection_filter=1a9ae500-bb04-4cc1-b561-375dde8926af&collection_name=4a0c6900-28ec-40e6-bafa-8705a70f68f8&sort_col=relevance&objRsltIdx=3&CurSearchNum=6&recOffset=0

Minneapolis Tribune courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society

In doing research for an upcoming feature on Early Detectives, we discovered an article in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune of February 28, 1915 which may be of interest to many.

Here is an excerpt from the article called “Behind the Scenes in the City Adminstration – Day’s Work of Real City Detective”.

“It was 8:30 am when two adventurers, one of whom desired to see how a real detective works, strolled into the detectives’ room at Police Headquarters. One of the pair had had considerable experience with police ways and police methods. He knew how much, how little, similarity there is between the average day’s work of a reel detective and a real detective.

About a dozen detectives were sitting around the room at headquarters when the two adventurers arrived. They were waiting for the regular morning roll call. Some were making reports of the previous day’s work, others were studying circulars giving pictures, names and descriptions of men wanted by the police in various parts of the country. Still others were merely smoking and talking in order kill time until they received instructions for the day.

The visitors who came in search of excitement picked Detective Frank Colwell as the man whom they would follow during the day. With Colwell was Detective Joe Berry, his partner. Most of the detectives work in pairs. Colwell, although friendly enough, did not appear particularly anxious to have company for the day. Contrary to expectations he seemed to be a bit reluctant. “Well, I suppose you’ll have to come,” he said. “Wait a couple of minutes until roll call is over and we’ll see what we’ve got to do.”

John Galvan, the day captain of police, came into the room shortly afterward and gave out the orders for the day. There were general orders for all of the detectives, descriptions of out-of-town men wanted by the police who were likely to be in the city, reports of persons missing and also descriptions of two men wanted in connection with a series of holdups. Besides these instructions, which were taken by the entire squad, each of them received special assignments”….

If you are interested in learning more about what the day held for the two detectives and their guests here is a link to the story. Just scroll to page 32 to read the article in its entirety.

https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/viewer.jsp?doc_id=mnhi0005/1DFC5G5B/15022801&query1=&recoffset=0&collection_filter=All&collection_name=addabf07-f848-43e3-a488-2782562f220d&sort_col=relevance&objRsltIdx=32&CurSearchNum=1&recOffset=0

Minneapolis Morning Tribune courtesy Minnesota Historical Society