Where's a copper when you need one...

Frederick William Hamm was a cop. Well he was one for at least 2 years in Duluth. His hiring occurred when a 15 year veteran of the department decided to retire.

October 1906, Duluth newspaper article. William H. Hamm is actually Frederick William Hamm. I know this because the address is the same as my great grandparents in Duluth in 1906.

Duluth Police Department image from 1900. This was the closest I could get to Fred's time in service. But I doubt the uniforms changed much by the time he was hired.

The above newspaper article was printed the day before he was hired which occurred on October 13, 1906. When he became a patrolman they took his statistics which appeared thus in the record:

Fred W.  Hamm, born at Plymouth, Wis., Aug. 16th, 1876, height, 5ft. 11 3/8 ins; weight, 166 lbs.; chest expansion, 3 ins.; occupation, carpenter. Oct. 13th, 1906, appointed patrolman.1

Barely a month after he hit the streets he was wounded in the line of duty:

November 1906, Duluth newspaper article

Possibly because he was a lousy shot, although the newspaper copy is pretty bad there could be a number missing. Well, I certainly hope that is the case:

July 1908, Duluth newspaper article.

November 1907, Duluth newspaper article

There was another entry in his service record at the archives:

Jan. 13th, 1908, by order of Mayor Cullum, suspended from duty for (15) fifteen days without pay for neglect of duty on early morning of Jan. 5, 1908, in not arresting Richard W. Thoreson, Mabel Cullen and Anna O’Hara for drunkenness and disorderly conduct on Raleigh St. in West Duluth, to take effect Feb. 1st, 1908.1

According to his record he was discharged on Nov. 1, 1908, but it must be an error because when he was in court on November 19 for non-support of his family, it was indicated that he was discharged from service at that time. Either way he was definitely no longer a police officer by the end of November and by 1910  he had run away to Montana and was working in the woods there for a few years before heading back to Minnesota.

Fred was possibly using this paddy wagon by 1908. Before that they had the horse pulled wagons.

1 Northeast Minnesota Historical Center Collections, Archives and Special Collections, Library University of Minnesota Duluth. S2272 Duluth Police Department records, Box 4, Personnel Record 1894‐1920, p.213.