1930

September 20, 1930
Gunfire at Milam @ Anita

DOB – 02/01/1903 Age 27
Badge –
Final Resting Place – Barbers Hill Cemetery, Barbers Hill, TX

Edward D. Fitzgerald, 27, motorcycle officer, was almost instantly killed when three bullets passed through his left lung. The Touchy Store robbery took place shortly before 9 p.m., when two well-dressed unmasked white men held up the store, took $317 from the cash register and safe, forced the manager, T.P. Clark, into a car and dropped him out two blocks from the store. After the bandits released Clark, he rushed to a nearby garage and telephoned police a description of the bandits and their car.

J.J. Maple, 35, was arrested Sunday by officers, who intercepted his wife as she entered her apartment to get extra clothing for herself, her husband and their daughter. They had been hiding out in a church behind Evergreen Cemetery on the banks of Brays Bayou since the shooting. Mrs. Maple led the police officers to her husband, where he was apprehended by several officers.

E.F. Grimes, 34, was arrested later in the day after Mrs. Maple gave her statement identifying him as her husband's partner on other robbery cases. Both men confessed their part in the Saturday night holdup.

In the gentle light of the Morse Funeral Chapel, Houston said farewell Monday afternoon, September 22, 1930, to one of her gallant police officers, Edward Davis Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's death cast a pall of gloom over the entire city as well as the police department. He had been a police officer since February, 1927, and was considered to be one of the most efficient officers the police department had, taking pride in every part of his job.

Friday morning, November 28, 1930, J.J. Maple was electrocuted in Huntsville. He was pronounced dead in the electric chair at 12:13 a.m., eight minutes after the current started hurling through his body. "Nations pay tributes of respect to those who lay down their lives for their county in war. Far more should, we respect this man who laid down his life for us in time of peace."
Officer E.D. Fitzgerald was survived by his mother, Mrs. Louise E. Fitzgerald; two sisters, Mrs. Connie Eckman and Miss Virginia Fitzgerald; grandfather, F.M. Fitzgerald; and grandmother, Mrs. Edith A. Davis. Officer Fitzgerald was buried at Barbers Hill Cemetery.

Source – Houston Police Department Museum Files