Marking the 100th anniversary: Marshall George Williams gunned down
by Trinity Gruenberg
This July marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Marshall George Williams, the only law enforcement officer to ever be killed in the line of duty in Todd County.
The events that led to his untimely demise began with a robbery at the First State Bank of Hewitt shortly after midnight on Saturday, July 29, 1922. Based on the evidence, there were three robbers. They cut all the telephone and telegraph wires that they could find that led out of town. They missed the long-distance line to the south. They were well equipped, bringing two acetylene gas tanks and torch equipment stolen from the garage in Hewitt to cut through the safe and the vault, as well as various other tools, files, saws, a shovel and pick axe.
One of the robbers was a lookout and was startled by people returning from a dance in Wadena. Ed Lundhagen, Rex Hawley, George Denny, Herb Thrall and a man named “King”, saw the lookout and yelled at him in a friendly manner. It scared the lookout who ran back to the bank and warned his companions. They all quickly loaded their equipment and fled south.
The getaway vehicle was a seven passenger Buick car with a Wisconsin license plate in front and an Iowa license plate on the back. It was presumably a stolen car...