Nationwide Hunt for Cop Killers Ends in Tempe
The 1920’s saw the emergence of a new type of criminal, the motorized gang. These gangs, such as the Dillinger gang, the Ma Barker gang, Bonnie and Clyde, and others robbed and killed over wide areas by using the mobility of the automobile. State and local law enforcement had great difficulty in dealing with this new type of criminal. However, the crime spree of two interstate killers was ended when they were captured by Tempe Constable R. L. McDonald.
William Lawrence was known as being “nutty” after being kicked in the head by a horse in his native town of Muskogee, Oklahoma. After his father died, his mother was unable to control him, and he began committing crimes in the area. By the age of 21, he had served two terms in prison.
In 1920, William married, settled down and became a mechanic at a Muskogee garage.1 But the death of his wife, Nellie,2 in child birth caused him to revert to his old ways of crime.
Will was joined by his teenage brother, Alfred (Babe), and a local “tough guy” in car stealing and rustling. On May 18, 1924 they broke into the county garage but they were caught in the act. Their accomplice was captured, but Will and Babe fled in a stolen police car.3
On May 24th the Muskogee Sheriff was notified that the Lawrence brothers had been apprehended in El Paso. He sent deputies Joe Morgan and John Barger to return them to Muskogee. After picking up the fugitives in El Paso, they began the drive back to Oklahoma in the stolen police car.4 Barger drove. Morgan decided to sit alongside him in the front seat, as the brothers had not committed violent crimes and because of their disagreeable body odor.5
Unexpectedly, Babe reached into the front seat and grabbed Morgan’s gun and shot him in the head. Barger reported, “I didn’t know what happened when I heard the report of the pistol until I heard Bill Lawrence tell me to ‘put em up.’ I put up my hands. Morgan had slumped down in his seat. Blood was flowing from his head.” “He was dead. The car, going at a rate of at least 20 miles an hour, crashed into a fence...mowed down fence posts for 30 or 40 yards, then it stopped.” “The boys forced me to get out [of the car]. They made me put my arms around a tree and placed handcuffs on my wrist.” Then they made their getaway in the police car.6
Bill’s teenage girl friend, Billie Woods, joined the brothers as they fled Oklahoma. They were spotted in Arkansas, and then connected to a series of burglaries in southwest Missouri. In spite of a $2,500 reward on their heads, they eluded capture.7
On the evening of October 24, Will and Babe were in Livingston, Montana. Patrolman Charles Wilson spotted them crawling out of the window of a house. Wilson was shot down by the brothers when he chased them.8 During the chase they dropped a bag with the loot that had the name of Joe Morgan on it.9
The fugitives were next seen in Denver, Colorado, where they traded the Muskogee police car for a Ford coupe. There, they dumped Will’s girl friend Billie because she complained too much.
In January, 1925, word was received that they were hiding at the house of their brother, George in Wewoka, Oklahoma. The Ford coupe was found there, but Will and Babe had left earlier, stealing a 1922 Nash Sport Model car to make their getaway.10
On February 5, 1925, Phoenix Constable Haze Burch was on the night shift. He observed two men siphoning gas from a car in East Phoenix. As he approached the pair, they opened fire on him. As he fell, mortally wounded, he emptied his gun at the pair, but missed.11 On his death bed, Burch identified pictures of the Lawrence brothers as the men who had shot him.12 A Nash automobile was found near the killing. It was the same one that was reported stolen from Wewoka, Oklahoma.13
The brothers fled to Tempe where they began climbing Tempe Butte, although anything moving on the butte is visible to the entire city. They never explained why they had tried to hide in such a conspicuous place. Tempe Resident Bill Wendes commented on their intelligence, “it always seemed strange to me that they would walk up the front side of Tempe Butte in broad daylight, as they did.”14 They were spotted by businessman Cruz Reyes, who reported the sighting to Tempe constable Ralph McDonald. 15
McDonald and Cruz got into the town’s Studebaker patrol car, and appeared to be driving north, out of Tempe. However, they turned east into the Salt River bed and circled the butte.16 “Giving Reyes a pistol, McDonald armed himself with a rifle and the two started up the mountain. They intended to approach the men from the rear, but instead, met them at a side angle.”17”He saw the two men—and they saw him—when he was about a hundred yards away. But he appeared to pay no attention to them, and they, fearful to risk a shot and start a battle at that distance, waited.”18 “The two men were sitting down and when the officer approached they leaped to their feet and reached for their guns.”19 McDonald, a World War I veteran and an experienced peace officer, covered the men with his rifle. Babe unbuckled his belt and let his gun fall to the ground, they raised their hands and Reyes took the pistol.
While descending the butte, McDonald noticed that Will watched him intently the entire distance. When they arrived at the jail and removed Will’s coat, they found a nine inch barreled Colt revolver hidden in the waistband of his pants.20 There is no doubt that Will would not have hesitated to use it on McDonald and Reyes if he had the chance.
A posse of Phoenix officers was called to Tempe and they escorted the prisoners back to Phoenix. There, the courthouse area was swarming with angry friends of Burch. To avert a lynching, Babe and Will were secretly transferred to the Arizona State Prison at Florence that night.21 When the pair was being returned to Phoenix for trial, an escape plan was frustrated when an 18 inch steel bar was found concealed on Will.22
At his trial, Will used a strategy of self defense saying that Burch drew a gun and had fired at him. It is true, that after Will shot him, Burch had emptied his gun at Lawrence.23 The defense did not work as the evidence was overwhelming and Will was found guilty. Judge M. T. Phelps sentenced him to deathin accordance with the Jury’s recommendation.24 On hearing the verdict, Will crossed his legs and grinned at the jury. His mother, Lucy, burst into hysterical sobs and had to be comforted by him.25 Babe was sent to Texas for the murder of Joe Morgan, where he received a sentence of 99 years.26
After an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied, 27 Will tried to escape by ripping a sheet iron ventilator grating off his cell. He was recaptured before he could make his way through the outer gates.28 Another appeal was launched when Will’s sister, Fay, filed an affidavit stating that Babe confessed to her that he had actually committed the murder. Will had admitted to it to protect his younger brother. This appeal was also denied.29
Petitions bearing 6,000 signatures had been received by the Arizona Board of Pardons concerning Will Lawrence. . Local church leaders said that Lawrence did not have a fair trial and asked for commutation of his sentence. Will was now saying that he had not shot Officer Burch, directly contradicting the plea of self defense during his trial.
On January 7, 1926, the last appeal to commute Lawrence’s sentence to life imprisonment was denied by the Arizona board of Pardons. Appeals to Governor Hunt were made, but he did not have the authority to intervene without a recommendation from the Pardon Board. Arrangements were made to hang Lawrence at 5 o’clock the next day.30
On execution day, Will spent the day playing his guitar while singing “Sweetheart” and “Spanish Love Song.”31 When the prison chaplain entered his cell to comfort him, Will respond with a volley of curses. and told the chaplain to “save his prayers for my executioners, they will need them.”32
William Lawrence was hanged at the Arizona State Prison at 5:22 on January 8, 1926. Before his execution he stated that he was not guilty. He then asked several people to kneel with him in a seven minute silent prayer.33
Will’s mother, Lucy Lawrence, issued an appeal in the newspapers for funds for taking her son’s body to Oklahoma for burial. It was Lawrence’s dying wish to be buried near his boyhood home in Muskogee.34
Babe’s sentence of 99 years was commuted by Texas governor Miriam “Ma” Ferguson in her wholesale and corrupt pardoning of over 2,000 prisoners.35
The Lawrence Brothers went on a seven month crime spree that made national headlines.36 They committed a large number of robberies, stole several cars, and murdered three law enforcement officers. In spite of their seemingly limited intelligence, they were able to use the automobile to thwart law enforcement efforts throughout several states. It was only by the brave action of constable McDonald and citizen Reyes that their crime spree was ended.
Notes
1. Morgan, R. D., “Rampage”, http://www.rootsweb.com/~okmuskok/stories/rampage.htm
2. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, United States Census of Population, 1920, Oklahoma, Muskogee, District 63.
3. Morgan, op cit.
4. “John Barger, 77, Former Muskogee Sheriff Succumbs”, Muskogee Daily Phoenix, April 27, 1938.
5. Morgan, ibid.
6. Muskogee Daily Phoenix, April 27, 1938.
7. Morgan, ibid.
8. “Much Loot Found in Satchel Left by Officer’s Killers,” Helena Independent, Helena Montana, November 16, 1924.
9. “Alleged Slayers of Policeman Captured,” The Havre Daily Promoter, Havre, Montana, February 7, 1925.
10. Morgan, ibid.
11. 100 Club Update, Volume 2, Issue 2, April June 2003
12. “Try Bad Man for Death of Officer in Arizona,” Helena Independent, Helena Montana, March 25, 1925.
13. Lincoln State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, February 6, 1925.
14. Windes, Bill, Growing Up in Tempe, typescript, Tempe Public Library, 1982, np, p. 20.
15. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, United States Census of Population, 1920, Arizona, Tempe, Precinct Number 4.
16. Sexton, Grover, E., The Arizona Sheriff, no publisher, 1925, p. 34.
17. Helena Independent, March, 25, 1925, ibid.
18. Sexton, ibid.
19. Helena Independent, ibid
20. Sexton, ibid
21. “Safe Behind prison Wall, Alleged Arizona Slayers to Penitentiary,” Associated Press, February 6, 1925.
22. “Gangsters Raising Funds to Free Cop Slayers,” The Havre Daily Promoter, February 12, 1925.
23. “Lawrence Brothers Testify at Trial,” The Havre Daily Promoter, March 26, 1926.
24. “Getting death Penalty,” Sunday State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, April 5, 1925.
25. “Hears Verdict Without Sign of Emotion,” Sunday Times-
26. “Babe Lawrence Gets 99 Years for Killing Man,” Mexia Daily News, Mexia, Texas, May 3, 1925.
27 “Lawrence Must Hang at Sunrise,” Port Arthur News, Port Arthur Texas, January 7, 1926.
28. “Desperado Flees Death Cell; Caught,” Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, September 21, 1925.
29. “Younger Brother Says He Committed Slaying,” Ironwood Daily Globe, Ironwood Michigan, December 15, 1925.
30. Port Arthur News, ibid.
31. “Penalty of Death Paid at Prison,” Sheboygen Press, Sheboygen, Michigan, January 8, 1926.
32. “He Curses Chaplain At Prayer In His Cell,” Port Arthur News, Port Arthur Texas, January 7, 1926.
33. “William Lawrence, Oklahoma is Hanged, Two others are Electrocuted,” Ironwood Daily News, Ironwood Michigan, January 8, 1926.
34. Lincols Sunday Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, January 10, 1926
35, Wendes, ibid.
36. See the diversity of sources cited above that show the nationwide interest in the crimes and the fate of the Lawrence brothers.
Babe and Will Lawrence
Ralph McDonald
with Will’s pistol
