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Show Officer Strong gunned down by fugitive By ROBERT KIRBY Special to The Daily Herald In the spring of 1899, Provo was being overrun. Riding freight cars or walking, hundreds of jobless men beat their way through the city every week. In the parlance of the day, these men were tramps, hobos or more kindly referred to as "knights of the dust." Most of the tramps kept traveling when they reached Provo. They were moved along by the promise of work elsewhere or at the insistence of local police officers hired to protect businesses and homes. But despite the officers' best efforts, the number of d burglaries and thefts continued to grow. By June, the hobo problem was so bad in Provo that Mayor S.S. Jones and City Marshall Newell Knight decided to hire a number of temporary police officers. The job of these "special officers" would be to make Provo unattractive to the tramp-relate- hobos. Among those hired was William Strong. Routing vagrants was nothing new to Strong. Arriving in Provo from England in 1855. he had served the community for more than 30 years as a city marshal, police officer and deputy sheriff. Strong was married and had four children, the youngest a daughter. On the night of June 26, Strong put on his badge and walked from his home on 500 South between i 0 East to the rail depot, a distance of a few bK k. There he stood guard, making sue that the hobos passing through Provo kept right on going. Working alone in a railyard after dark was a risky job. The mayor initially offered Strong the assistance of another police officer. Strong refused the offci, 'referring to wait for a partner until his John Cummings, returned from a short trip. Strong reassured the mayor that "there was no danger." Shortly after midnight, a westbound freight passed through Provo. When it stopped for a few minutes, a number of hobos slipped off and hid in the bushes. Strong, who had been visiting with the guard at the Z.C.M.I. warehouse, began routing 00-20- son-in-la- them out. Normally, the job was not that dangerous. Although they lived a rough life, most hobos were com-- , mon men down on their luck, looking for work or a place to sleep for the night. The greatest threat they posed to police officers was the fact that the officers might have to run to catch them. Being caught meant a jail term for vagrancy and a few days spent working on the city streets. The night of June 26-2- 7 was different. The train that brought the average hobo to Provo that night also brought Frank Morris and Frank Connors. The two men were armed and on the run from a burin glary they had committed Scofield on June 19. Connors was an who had served time in Deer Lodge. Mont., for burglary and forgery. Almost immediately. Strong discovered Morris hiding his belongings in some bushes near the depot. Strong arrested the man and began escorting him to the jail at 100 South and University Ave. Morris cooperated with the officer for a short distance but then broke and ran. jumping through a set of stationary rail cars. Strong gave chase. Morris got away from Strong but was arrested two hours later near Springville by an armed posse looking for Strong's killer. Morris told his captors that he last saw Strong running through an area where Connors was hiding. Morris was telling the truth. While chasing one hobo. Strong ran into another. He found Connors hiding near some box cars and arrested him. Strong ordered Connors to bring his pack and accompany him to the city jail. Connors complied. Unbeknow nst to Strong, the pack contained loot from the Scofield burglary and a .38 caliber pistol. The two men walked north along University Avenue (then J Street). When they reached 400 South, less than two blocks from Strong's home, Connors pulled the pistol from his pack and struck the officer behind the right ear. The blow knocked Strong down. Dazed, the officer attempted to draw his own pistol. While Strong was on the ground, Connors pressed the muzzle of the gun against the officer's chest and shot him through the heart, killing him instantly. Although it was after midnight, a number of people in downtown Provo heard the shot. One of those was Policeman Frank J. Tucker, on duty in front of the First National Bank at Center and University. Tucker got on his bicycle and raced in the direction of the shot. He discovered Strong's body in the street and gave the alarm. Fire bells and whistles woke Provo out of a sound sleep. Strong was a popular figure in the community and his murder enraged everyone. Hundreds of armed men quickly sealed every road leading out of town. Others patrolled the fields and river banks. Within an hour, Utah had County Sheriff George A. Stotrs sent the following telegram throughout Utah: "Policeman Strong murdered. Arrest and hold all transients. Notify us." More than 50 hobos w ere rounded up in the Provo area alone. All were summarily thrown in jail. When words came that the man seen running from the murder scene had a dark complexion, attention focused on black hobos. In Lehi. a black hobo eating supper at a restaurant was chased through town by officers firing at him as they ran. The man was eventually caught but cleared of any connection in Strong's murder. One of the hobos arrested was Morris. Returned to Provo, he started talking and gradually the circumstances of Strong's murder began to emerge. Morris told officers about Connors and the burglary in Scofield. Officers began to see a motive for the killing. Connors remained at large until the evening of June 27. Shortly before dark. George Cook, a farmer living about a mile west of Provo, went out to his cow barn for chores and discovered Connors hiding there. Cook suspected that Connors was Strong's killer and tried to arrest him by threatening him with a club. But Connors pulled a pistol. When Cook backed down, Connors lied. The incident served to alert guards in the area. Shortly after p.m., two guards stationed at the intersection of Center Street and the railroad tracks observed Connors creeping along the edge of the road. F.W. Smart and Amos Holdaway trained their rifles on Connors and the hunt for Strong's killer was over. When he was arrested, Connors tossed a small bundle into the bushes. The bundle was recovered and found to contain a recently fired .38 caliber pistol with two empty chambers. Connors first claimed that the gun wasn't his and then later told officers that he had fired the pistol at a rat. He said he was innocent of shooting Strong. Initially, there was little to hold Connors on in connection with the murder. In a legal maneuver to keep him in custody while authorities finished gathering evidence against him, Connors was initially charged with assaulting Cook. He pled guilty and received 90 days in jail. He also admitted his guilt in the Scofield burglary. Meanwhile, Provo buried its fallen officer. Funeral services for Strong were held June 29 in the Provo Tabernacle. LDS apostle John II. Smith first eulogized Strong and then commended Provo for the restraint the community showed in not lynching Connors outright. Strong's body was conveyed to the Provo City Cemetery by an honor guard of the officer's comrades from the Blackhawk War. He was buried a short distance from (See STRONG, Page 76) WE HAVE THE POWER ...GARDEN COUNTRY... r J GARDEN COUNTRY i ! 224-488- OREM 450 S. 1325 W. 8 I J 73 |