If You Can't Stand the Heat, Get Out of the Police Station

Curt Garfield's grandfather Seneca Hall was the first police chief of Sudbury, Mass.

Standing in his yard on Boston Post Road, Hall would watch for speeders by seeing how quickly the car passed stripes painted on telephone poles, Garfield writes in "The Parson's Cat."

"Once he was sure that his victim was over the limit, he would sound a blast on his police whistle. The yahoo in question would generally screech to a stop as grandfather put on his hat, pulled his ticket book from the bib pocket of his overall and proceed to write out a speeding violation."

When asked what the police station looked like when he was a boy, Garfield had no problem recalling.

"It was our kitchen." [Link]

Genealogue Challenge #124

Neil Richler thought this might make a good challenge. I agree.

[A] man named Leigh Wilkinson Metcalf joined the Department of Highways in Grimsby, Ontario and became a bike cop. He sadly died on duty at the age of 26, when his cycle was involved in a head-on collision.

Now, more than 80 years later, the Ontario government is planning to honour the fallen officer, but officials have a major problem - after so many years, they can't find any survivors.

What can you find out about Leigh's family?

Dallas Cop Resorts to Genealogy

From The Dallas (Tex.) Morning News:

Police find tough suitcase to crack

Officers seek out the owners of mementos that span a century

November 25, 2005

By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News

The little, flowered green suitcase contains a treasure-trove of fading photos, marriage licenses, land deeds and mementos spanning at least a century. But it's a puzzle how it ended up behind an Oak Lawn mechanic shop this summer.

[snip]

[Dallas police Sgt. Judy] Katz and another property room employee have spent hours poring over the photographs and documents searching for clues. The photos appear to be mostly of three related families: the Pulliams, the Foxes and the Hairs, who have links to Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle town of Olton, about 45 miles outside Lubbock.

[snip]

She tracked down a possible relative in Olton, and that woman believes the people in the photographs might be distant relatives. But otherwise, police have had little success tracking down the owners of the suitcase.

"This is somebody's whole genealogical history," Sgt. Katz said. "I'm going to keep at it as long as I can to try to find family to give it to."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Update (Nov. 29, 2005): The suitcase has been returned to the family.

A Stone-Cold Case in Toledo

From the Toledo (Ohio) Blade of Aug. 24, 2005:

GRAVESTONE FOUND

Police seek clues to marker's home

By CHRISTINA HALL
BLADE STAFF WRITER

It's a case of a missing person.

But all Toledo police have to work with in this caper is a gravestone carved with "Conard Yahn 1876-1898."

"If only it could talk. We could take it home," property room Sgt. Jerry Heer said yesterday as he turned the approximately 80-pound marker over to expose a few grass stains on the bottom.

The modest, unweathered stone was found July 22 in an alley behind 124 West Park St. in North Toledo. The marker - which police believe is made of granite and has a more modern polished face - is being kept in the large-item storage area in the old alarm building on Erie Street downtown.

[snip]

An oddity the marker is. Most items found by police are more practical - safes, bicycles, lawn mowers, license plates, and basketball hoops. Some have serial numbers to help track the owners.

"It's not often property has a person's name on it," Sergeant Heer said.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Update (Aug. 27, 2005): Mystery solved.

Update (Sept. 10, 2005): Marker laid to rest.