Police Capt. Walter H. Auble was a well-liked cop. He even served for one year as interim police chief. On Sept. 9, 1908, he was shot four times at close range while trying to arrest a suspect at 9th Street and Grand Avenue. As he lay dying in the receiving hospital, throngs gathered in front of the building on First Street to await the end. Officers had tears in their eyes.
The denouement of the episode was startling: The handsome young gunman, Carl Sutherland, fled, but he was trapped by three policemen down on 77th Street, and before he could be taken into custody, he swallowed cyanide; he died quickly. The killer was an articulate writer who penned a farewell note to his wife just before leaving for what he assumed would be a successful burglary, which he said he was undertaking to provide for his spouse and their baby.
Auble had worked the Chinatown beat, and flags flew at half staff there after the popular cop died with his family around him.
He was the third LAPD officer and, I believe, the highest-ranking one to die in the line of duty.
The denouement of the episode was startling: The handsome young gunman, Carl Sutherland, fled, but he was trapped by three policemen down on 77th Street, and before he could be taken into custody, he swallowed cyanide; he died quickly. The killer was an articulate writer who penned a farewell note to his wife just before leaving for what he assumed would be a successful burglary, which he said he was undertaking to provide for his spouse and their baby.
Auble had worked the Chinatown beat, and flags flew at half staff there after the popular cop died with his family around him.
He was the third LAPD officer and, I believe, the highest-ranking one to die in the line of duty.
All this is at
https://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/SpecialReports/Police/Auble.html
Sincerely,
George Garrigues