Downfall
On the evening of November 20, Adams, along with Foster, Nellie Miles (a local madam and long-time friend of Adams'), George J. McFarland (a local thug and bootlegger) and two alleged prostitutes, were joyriding around Wichita. Another car carrying Fintelman, his wife, Weisberger, P.D. Orcutt, and two unnamed ladies, followed at high speeds. Two motorcycle policemen pulled over the vehicle carrying Adams and a gunshot came from the vehicle - it is unknown whether the shot was fired by Adams or Foster - killing patrolman Robert Fitzpatrick. The outlaws sped away, released the women, and fled south into Cowley County.
Later that night the trio ran out of gas and stopped at a farm, where Adams attempted to steal a vehicle from farmer George Oldham. When Oldham resisted, Adams shot and killed him. Adams and Foster took the car, while McFarland ran away alone into the night. The duo returned to Wichita in the stolen car. The next day, Adams and Billy Fintelman went to McFarland's house to look for him, only to find two officers waiting. Adams shot officer Ray Casner non-fatally while the other policeman hid under a bed. Adams once again escaped.
Adams hid out until the funeral of fallen officer Fitzpatrick on November 22, at which he assumed the bulk of the police force would be present. He had planned to rent a car to leave town for good, but the proprietor of the garage recognized him and contacted police. Three officers arrived on the scene. Adams shot at them, fatally wounding detective Charles Hoffman who pulled the gunman to the ground. Officer Charles Bowman was also hit by gunfire. D.C. Stuckey, hiding behind a pillar, shot Adams three times and killed him.
Eddie Adams' body was publicly displayed in the City Undertaking Parlor in a grisly celebration of the end of a reign of terror. More than 9,000 people viewed the slain outlaw.
In the end, 18 people were arrested as accomplices and hangers-on of Adams. Four were sent to the Kansas Penitentiary, Frank Foster for life.
Adams, dead at age 34, was attributed with seven murders, including three Wichita policemen, in just a little over 14 month's time. He wounded at least a dozen others.
Read more about this topic: Edward J. Adams
Famous quotes containing the word downfall:
“Show me one thing here on earth which has begun well and not ended badly. The proudest palpitations are engulfed in a sewer, where they cease throbbing, as though having reached their natural term: this downfall constitutes the heart’s drama and the negative meaning of history.”
—E.M. Cioran (b. 1911)
“Children demand that their heroes should be fleckless, and easily believe them so: perhaps a first discovery to the contrary is less revolutionary shock to a passionate child than the threatened downfall of habitual beliefs which makes the world seem to totter for us in maturer life.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)