Patrolman Stuart N. Dean | Star #72

Patrolman Stuart N. Dean, Star #72, aged 59 years, was a 28 year, 10 month, 8 day veteran of the Chicago Police Department, assigned to District 18, 29th Precinct – Warren.

On July 18th, 1916, at 5:10 a.m., Officer Dean was shot and killed in a standoff with a mentally unstable man, Henry MacIntyre.

At 4:30 a.m. the same day, Henry McIntyre, who lived in an apartment located at 320 North Irving Avenue (present day Bell Avenue) went outside into his backyard carrying a rifle. A neighbor, Mrs. Bedford, had also exited her home and had observed McIntyre outside with the rifle. She thought it was strange, but carried on with her business, as she set it down to his eccentricities. When McIntyre laid eyes on her, he raised the rifle and fired at point blank range across the fence. The bullet grazed Mrs. Bedford’s arm and she ran into the house screaming. At this time, another neighbor, Mrs. Shaw, living in the same building as McIntyre stepped outside to see what the screaming was about. McIntyre then fired at her but missed. McIntyre then walked to the front of the apartment building and was joined by his wife who was also carrying a shotgun. Mrs. Shaw now inside her home peered out the window and observed McIntyre chanting as he gazed around looking for someone to kill. Seeing no one around in the early morning hours, he began to fire at random through the windows of his neighbor’s homes.

Hampton Knox, whom lived two doors north, was awakened by the shooting and got up to see what was going on. He went to his front door and opened it. While standing in the doorway, with his wife directly behind him, McIntyre caught sight of him and fired. Mr. Knox was shot through the chest, collapsed to the floor and died instantly. His wife seeing what had just happened, attempted to pull him into the house and as she turned she was struck by a bullet in the back. A minute later, C. W. Matthews who lived three doors down from McIntyre, was standing at his front door when a bullet struck him in the head. At the same time Michael Doladee, a night watchman for the Vulcan Iron Works across the way, phoned “Main 13” to call for police help. Patrolman Chris Hemmick was working his beat when the shooting started and narrowly escaped being hit. Officer Hemmick ran to a patrol box and notified the Warren Avenue Station of what was taking place. A signal service wagon was the first to arrive on scene being dispatched after Mr. Doladee’s call. The wagon drove by the McIntyre’s home as it responded and was fired upon by McIntyre. McIntyre hit a horse and the side of the wagon. The policeman driving withdrew from the wagon and prepared for an attack.

At this time, McIntyre stepped to the rear of a house located at 315 North Oakley Avenue. Mrs. Josephine Overmeyer had been awakened by her baby and was about to bathe the child when she stepped out onto her back porch to investigate. McIntyre saw her on the porch and fired. She was struck through the throat and died. It was at this time that Captain Wesley H. Westbrook of the Warren Avenue Station arrived on scene and called for more men from neighboring stations. By the end of the incident more than 150 officers will have responded to the scene. Police had set up a cordon around the building as McIntyre and his wife barricaded themselves inside the residence.

As officers arrived on scene they took heavy fire from the front window of the residence. Captain Westbrook assembled eight men, Patrolmen Patrick Cassidy, Stuart Dean, Frank Freemuth, John Lavin, John Moran and Sergeants Edward Clements, John Coghlan and Grover Crabtree. Captain Westbrook decided that a rear entry would give them a better advantage and proceeded to the rear with his men. Once there they fired more than fifty rounds through the rear door. The Officer Lavin stepped up and using an axe smashed the door in, which opened to the kitchen. They found the kitchen to be empty as well as a hallway where another closed door separated them from a bedroom where McIntyre and his wife were. The fired another fusillade of bullets through the door. When all was quiet Officer McMahon took the axe and smashed in the door. The door fell onto a heavy dresser, which had been pushed up against the door. Captain Westbrook stepped in and began to move the dresser when the muzzle of a rifle appeared from behind a curtain that covered a closet to the right of the door. It was only a few feet away from his head when he screamed “Drop.” All of the officers had dropped except for Officer Dean who walked across the kitchen just as McIntyre began firing. Officer Dean was shot in the chest and collapsed.

Captain Westbrook ordered the officers to fallback and said, “One is enough. Take it easy.“ Officers Crabtree and Freemuth pulled back carrying Dean’s body and as Officer Clements stepped out of the back door he was shot in the back and thigh. Once the officers made it to the yard, Officer Crabtree was struck in the arm and leg. As the officers’ fell back, the McIntyre’s were able to prop the broken door back into place and fortify it with various pieces of furniture. By this time more calls for backup were sent to First Deputy Schuettler’s office and the Detective Bureau. Fifty men responded and another fifty civilian volunteers were organized into a posse and stationed at various points around the building. A number of officer took up positions in the second story windows of the Vulcan Iron Works building.

After waiting a long while for McIntyre to show his face, Captain Westbrook made the decision to force them out of the house. Westbrook phoned General Superintendent Charles C. Healy and asked permission to blow up the house. Superintendent Healy authorized the action and the superintendent at the Artesian Stone Quarry, Allen Foley, located at Grand and California Avenues, supplied ten sticks of dynamite along with two explosive technicians. The explosive technicians and the Captain with a squad of men made their way to the apartment above McIntyres. Once there they met Mr. Amos, his wife and four children who were hiding. The officers quietly slipped them out the back while officers surrounding the building evacuated everyone within 150 yards of the building. The officers then set off several three different charges of dynamite. After the third explosion Patrolman Ed Hughes, who was off duty at the time, said, “I’m going to get the guy” and rushed the house along with Officer Freemuth. Once inside they found Mrs. McIntyre’s body lying just outside the barricaded door. Her body was riddled with bullets, some of which had blown away part of her skull. Mr. McIntyre was still standing, but was disoriented from the explosions. Still, he attempted to raise his weapon and take aim at the police. In response Officer Hughes fired at point blank range and mortally wounded him before he could get a shot off. McIntyre was then taken to Washington Boulevard hospital where he died shortly after arriving.

Henry McIntyre, age 38, was born in Cairo Illinois. He worked as a stationary engineer and had purchased the rifle he used in the standoff a year prior from Charles Heinreich of 750 South State Street for $12.00. McIntyre had a history of mental instability and had threatened to kill Judge and had previously served six month in jail. A warrant for his arrest was issued the day before the incident. His neighbor, Mr. Henry Bedford, whose wife was shot by McIntyre during the incident, swore it out. The police had come looking for him the night before, but he was not home. After the shooting a cartridge belt was found around the waist of McIntyre and his wife. McIntyre left a note that read, “I’m following a direct order from God to start sending people home to him.“

Officer Dean was waked at his residence located at 3338 West Fulton Street. His funeral mass was held at Warren Avenue Congressional Church was laid to rest on July 20, 1916 in Arlington Cemetery, 401 East Lake Street, Elmhurst, Illinois.

Patrolman Stuart N. Dean, born September 6, 1856, received his Probationary Appointment to the Chicago Police Department on September 10, 1887.

Officer Dean was a member of the Chicago Policemen’s Benevolent & Welfare Association, Illinois Humane Society and Illinois Welcome Lodge No. 1 Knights of Pythias. He was survived by his wife, Mary A. (nee Snowden) and siblings: Anna Church and Legrand.

Incident Recorded under Chicago Police Department homicide file, Case #3418.