McCLURE, Wallace (Deputy murdered)
Source: Lafayette Journal and Courier Tue Feb 21, 1928 p 14
Lafayette Aug 29 – Sheriff Arthur Eversole, Tippecanoe County and John Kluth, Lafayette police chief left today for Albuquerque, NM with extradition papers for Samuel Baxter, murder suspect. Baxter will face trial on charges of slaying Deputies John P. Grove and Wallace McClure in 1928. He was wounded when Albuquerque police captured him Thursday but was expected to recover sufficiently to be brought here within a few days.
Lafayette, Sept 2- Extradition papers from Indiana for the return of Samuel Baxter from Albuquerque, NM to Lafayette have been honored by the New Mexico governor, it was revealed in a telegram from John Kluth, police chief and Arthur Eversole, Tippecanoe County sheriff. Kluth and Eversole will bring Baxter here immediately for trial on a charge of slaying deputies John Grove and Wallace McClure more than three years ago. Kluth said he learned from Baxter that he had a wife and seven month old baby. Baxter is recovering from a bullet wound inflicted by police when he attempted to escape arrest.
Brazil, Ind Feb 24 – When Curtis Siegelin and Robert Strobel, two Brazil youths left for parts unknown to find adventure, change of scenery, a different environment, new country and strange faces, they little thought they would realize all these hopes through a case of mistaken identity. The boys left here sometime ago in an antiquated Ford belonging to the Siegelin youth with intentions of going as far as the automobile would carry them. Arriving in Dallas, Texas, a few days ago the boys put their car in a garage and went to a hotel. The next morning, on entering the garage for the car, they were met by a detachment of police who took the boys to the city jail where they were held as suspects for the murder of two Lafayette Ind deputy sheriffs, John Grove and Wallace McClure whose bodies were found near Covington, Ind recently. After being held for five hours, the youths were released by identification through travelers checks, fraternity pins and letters they chanced to have in their pockets.
Lafayette, Ind May 21 – John Burns, captured here today in the Nationwide search for the slayers of Deputy sheriffs, Wallace McClure and John Groves last Feb denied any connection with the actual murdering of the two officers. Subjected to severe grilling by police, Burns related a disconnected story of the ill-fated ride with the deputies and the killing but clung to his denial of the slaying. The two officers disappeared last Feb 7 after leaving here to take Burns and Samuel Baxter to the State Reformatory at Pendleton. The bodies of the deputies were found several weeks later in a woods near Foster, Ind 45 miles south of here. After more than three months of liberty since the crime, Burns was surprised early today at the home of relatives in West Lafayette. He submitted to arrest without a struggle. Burns showed a willingness to talk today after repeatedly being charged with the crime. Always in his talk there was the denial that Baxter and he killed the officers. Burns’ story: Baxter and I were handcuffed when we left here for the Reformatory on Feb 7. We drove out of town and nothing happened for several miles. But suddenly a large car pulled alongside of us. It carried three men. Two of them with drawn guns stood on the running board and forced McClure to the ditch. McClure and Groves were forced to surrender their guns and two of the unidentified men got in with us, telling Groves to drive on. Guns were held on the two officers who were in the front seat. “I noticed McClure fumbling in the seat behind him and suddenly he wheeled with a gun and started shooting. It was a bad play because he was covere3d and filled with bullets before he even started though he did fire a few shots. Groves was shot, too and the automobile stopped. “Both officers were still alive and I was told to drive the car. The other automobile remained behind and I drove nearly to Veedersburg. There the deputies’ bodies were transferred to the other automobile and Baxter and I were told to beat it. I don’t believe Groves and McClure were dead at the time. That’s the last time I saw them” Burns said he and Baxter drove from Veedersburg to Danville and thence to Decatur, Ill where they left the officers’ automobile. “Then we went to East St. Louis, Kansas City, Parsons, Kas, Muscogee, Okla, McAlester, Okla, and then to Atoka, Oka. There we were arrested and spent 36 days in jail for carrying firearms. When we got out we walked to Tulsa and parted. I havaen’t seen Baxter since. I went to Montoe, LA and worked until May 15. I wanted to come home and got back here Sunday morning. It has been the supposition here that in some manner the prisoners freed themselves and attacked the two officers from the back. A state wide search was begun for the officers when they failed to arrive at Pendleton. Scores of posses were organized and attempted to trace the car from here. A Federal search was instigated when indictments were returned against Burns and Baxter at Indianapolis for violation of the Dyer Act in transporting a stone car across the State line and for other auto thefts. In the national search that followed, a number of suspects were arrested but of no avail. A farmer tramping through a woods near the Illinois-Indiana State line stumbled onto the bodies of the two missing officers. Both officers had been shot to death and concealed in the underbrush under a blanket.
The trial of John Burns, age 21, West Lafayette for the murder of John P. Grove and Wallace McClure, Tippecanoe County deputy sheriffs, Feb 7 was started Monday in the circuit court at Lafayette before Judge Hennegar. Burns and Samuel Baxter escaped for the custody of the two deputies while enroute to the state reformatory at Pendleton, Ind and Baxter still is at large. The bodies of Grove and McClure were found in a field near Foster, Ind some weeks later. Burns, who has been held at the Indiana State prison at Michigan City since his capture at the home of an uncle at Lafayette two weeks ago was brought to Lafayette Sunday afternoon. After his arrest Burns told police that three Chicago gangsters were responsible for killing the deputies.
Lafayette, Ind June 6 – John Burns was armed with a revolver when he left here Feb 7 with deputy sheriffs Wallace McClure and John Grove for the state reformatory to which he had been sentenced state witness in his trial for murder of the officers in Tippecanoe County circuit court here declared. The witness, some of them prisoners in the local jail with Burns and Samuel Baxter, his partner who is still at large said the two planned to shoot their way to liberty. Burns declared he would never serve his sentence at the reformatory, they said. He and Baxter were sentenced on banditry charges.
Lafayette, Ind June 7 – Unshaken in his story of the murder of Deputy Sheriffs Wallace McClure and John Grove, the 20-year-old youth accused as their slayer, John Burns from the witness stand in Tippecanoe Circuit Court here declared he was unarmed and had never had a revolver in his possession while in the county jail here. Burns asserted he and Samuel Baxter while being transferred to the State reformatory at Pendleton to serve terms for banditry, lay on the floor of an automobile while the two officers were slain and that he did not know who fired the fatal shots. This is the same story told by Burns during 11 hours of questioning following his arrest May 21. Baxter is still missing.
Lafayette, Ind June 14 – A sentence of life imprisonment was imposed on John Burns, 21-year-old West Lafayette youth who Friday night was found guilty of first degree murder by a jury in the Tippecanoe circuit court. The jury which deliberated three hours, recommended life imprisonment in place of the death penalty asked by the state. Burns was tried for the murder of Deputy Sheriffs Wallace McClure and John P. Grove of Tippecanoe County both of whom were found slain near Foster, Ind Feb 19. The two officers were taking Samuel Baxter and Burns to the state reformatory at Pendleton to serve sentences imposed in connection with a restaurant holdup when the quartet mysteriously disappeared. After an intensive search Burns was captured several weeks after the departure for Pendleton. Baxter, who also was indicted for the two murder has never been apprehended. The trial came to a conclusion Friday after the state and defense presented their final arguments. Francis J. Murphy, chief of the counsel of defense, contended that the state did not have sufficient evidence to convict Burns. AK Sills, special prosecutor opened the argument for the state with a review of the case and demanded the jury sentence Burns to death. Burns held to his plea of not guilty throughout the trial, staunchly holding to his story that neither he nor Baxter had anything to do with the murders. Two men whom they met on the way to Pendleton killed the officers, he said. Burns was taken to Michigan City to begin his sentence the first part of the week.
Funeral services for Wallace McClure were held from the West Point ME Church at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, Rev. WD Archibald officiated. Burial was in the Marks cemetery. Services for John P. Grove, the other deputy were conducted last Saturday afternoon. The McClure services were postponed from last Saturday because of the blizzard that visited this section of the country last Friday night.
Source: Chronicle Tribune Fr Feb 10, 1928 p 1
Kokomo, Ind Feb 10 – All quarries here are covered with ice 10” thick Sheriff John Spearman reported today after a return from an exploring trip which exploded the tip contained in an anonymous letter that the two missing Lafayette Ind deputy sheriffs were slain and their bodies hidden in the Kokomo quarries. “I think the letter was just a hoax,” Sheriff Spearman said. The letter “Johwritten apparently at Frankfort, Ind and mailed at Marion, Ind reached Sheriff CM Johnston of Tippecanoe County at Lafayette early today. It stated in printed character, written partly in red and partly in black ink: “U will find the bodies of the two missing deputies in a stone quarry at Kokomo. U will never find us.” The letter referred to deputy sheriffs John P. Grove and Wallace (Bill) McClure who dropped mysteriously from sight last Tuesday morning after they left Lafayette in an automobile to take two “hard boiled” prisoners, Samuel Baxter and John Burns to the Pendleton reformatory. A party of 7 of us, four officers, two reporters and one photographer, drove to the Capitol quarry, two miles west of here first, “Sheriff Spearman said. “We found th is quarry completely frozen over and no sign of any disturbance anywhere. Then we drove to the Defenbaugh quarry about a miles and a quarter southeast of this city along Home Avenue. This quarry, too was frozen over. The ice appeared to be at least 10” thick. My guess is that they will find the missing deputy sheriffs in the woods somewhere between Lafayette Ind and Danville, Ill. This letter business was just someone’s joke.” Sheriff Spearman said the letter was received at Lafayette before 6 o’clock this morning and was taken by the postmaster immediately to Sheriff Johnston. The latter than got in touch with Sheriff Spearman at once.
Note: this is part of a lengthier article
Source: Lafayette Journal and Courier Fri Feb 17, 1928 p 17
The bodies of Grove and McClure were brought to the city from Williamsport, late last night. Ted Grove, a son, EL Miller, a brother-in-law, Sheriff CM Johnston, Lt. Ralph Fisher of the state police and Prosecutor Lawrence Davison went to Williamsport after the bodies were taken there Thursday. The examination of the bodies was not begun until Prosecutor Davison arrived. John P. Grove was the regular deputy sheriff, having succeeded William A. Campbell who died Dec 8, 1927 from injuries received when he was struck by an automobile a few days before. McClure was an extra deputy, serving in cases of emergency. John P. Grove, was born in March 1871, near Knoxville, Tenn. He lived there for a number of years and came to Lafayette in the late 90s. His first employment was on the Hatke farm east of Lafayette. He next engaged in the grocery business at 16th & Kossuth streets and operated it for a number of year. Disposing of the grocery he sold automobiles for a short time and then with Thomas L. Haywood and Charles Wiseman opened the Vernon clothing store. His next employment was as a deputy sheriff and he was making his first trip to the state reformatory when he met death. Surviving Mr. Grove is his widow, Sarah Biser Grove to whom he was married in 1902. He is also survived by a son, Don Grove of Sweetwater, Tenn by a former marriage; Ted Grove, of Aurora, Ill, a son, Mrs. WM Hamilton of VanBuren O a daughter and Edward and Robert Grove residing at home. His stepmother, Mrs. Lucy Grove of Seymour, Tenn also survives together with the following sisters: Mrs. Nora Zachary of Flagpond, Tenn; Mrs. Mary Biser of Selma, Ala and Mrs. Ada Rogers of Seymour, Tenn. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge.
Mr. McClure was the son of John and Martin Ellen McClure and was born May 17, 1870 near Elizabethtown, Ky. He had resided in Lafayette for nearly 50 years. During that time he was employed as a laborer and worked at various places. He also served as a policeman at Columbian Park under the Ross administration for a short time. Since then he has served as an extra deputy sheriff. His wife died 26 years ago and since that time he made his home with his sister, Mrs. Harry Erickson who resides at 631 S 16th Street. Besides his sister a brother, Smith McClure of Lafayette survives.
Source: The Times-Mail (Bedford, Indiana) Thursday 16 Feb 1928 p 1
Foster, Ind, Feb 16 – The bodies of the two missing deputies who were kidnapped by two prisoners more than a week ago from Lafayette were found upon a farm here this afternoon bound hand and foot. The bodies were discovered on the farm of Charles P. Abdill. The hands and feet of both men had been tied. The bodies were badly decomposed. The deputies, John P. Grove and Wallace McClure were taking two prisoner, Samuel Baxter and John Burns to the state reformatory at Pendelton in an automobile. Nothing was seen of the four until today when Sheriff Samuel Cole was notified today to rush to the farm of Abdill which is ¼ of a mile north of the Dixie highway. The manner in which the two men met death is unknown pending the arrival and investigation of Coroner Van V. Hamilton. The men were bound with heavy ropes. From the appearances of the bodies, it is believed they met death shortly after they started for the reformatory. The bodies were covered with a blanket. The automobile in which the deputies had started for Pendleton was discovered in a Decatur, Ill garage bullet-riddled indicating the policemen had put up a desperate battle with the two criminals before they were killed. No trace of the convicts has been found. With the knowledge the bodies had been found, Sheriff Cole renewed his hunt for the two criminals. Posses were immediately dispatched to all parts of the farm of Abdill to search for clues. Abdill stumbled across the bodies while searching for a trace of a wealthy farmer of Covington, Ind who had mysteriously disappeared yesterday. The bodies were to be taken to Williamsport, Ind for an examination and for the inquest. Abdill upon finding the bodies in a woods upon his farm, notified Chief of Police Charles E. Ray of Covington who notified Sheriff Cole at Williamsport, county seat of Warren County. The chief, Sheriff Cole and Coroner Hamilton left immediately for the farm. They found the bodies lying side by side with hands and feet bound with a rope. A blanket from Deputy Groves’ automobile had been slung unceremoniously over the prostrate forms. Deputy Grove was married and the father of four children. McClure was single. Sheriff Mose Johnson of Tippecanoe County left Lafayette to join in the investigation. The Abdill farm is located three miles west of Covington, Ind and 11 miles east of Danville, Ill. The thicket where the bodies were found was about ¾ of a mile south from State Road 34 (136?) which connects Crawfordsville, Ind and Danville, Ill.
Source: Attica-Fountain-and-Warren-Democrat Nov 2, 1893 p 3
Joshua Anderson, one of the oldest and most highly esteemed residents of the vicinity of Walnut Grove died Monday night. He leaves a wife and five children to mourn his loss. Mr. Anderson was aged about 80 years, old age being the cause of his demise. The funeral services occurred yesterday and the remains were interred in Brisco cemetery near Walnut Grove.
Source: Decatur Daily Democrat 5 Sept 1931
Lafayette, Sept 5 – A detailed account of the murder of deputies John Grove and Wallace McClure was obtained from Samuel Baxter, 23, police announced. The confession was given as Baxter lay in a hospital recovering from gunshot wounds suffered as he attempted to avert arrest in Albuquerque, NM. The deputies were slain Feb 7, 1928 en route to the reformatory with Baxter and John Burns. Both had been convicted on a charge of robbing a West Point restaurant. Burns was soon captured, confessed and was sentenced to life imprisonment in state prison at Michigan City. According to Baxter’s confession he and Burns were riding in the back seat of the automobile Baxter using a wrench he found there, struck the officers on the head after which Burns took McClure’s gun and shot both deputies, Baxter said. As McClure tried to battle with them, Burns shot again, Baxter said adding that Burns fired one more shot when McClure began to regain consciousness. He told police of hiding the bodies near Veedersburg where they were not found for 10 days. Baxter was married recently and is the father of a seven-month old child.
Source: The
Times-Mail (Bedford, Indiana) Thursday 16 Feb 1928 p 1
Foster, Ind, Feb 16 – The bodies of the two missing deputies who were kidnapped by two prisoners more than a week ago from Lafayette were found upon a farm here this afternoon bound hand and foot. The bodies were discovered on the farm of Charles P. Abdill. The hands and feet of both men had been tied. The bodies were badly decomposed. The deputies, John P. Grove and Wallace McClure were taking two prisoners, Samuel Baxter and John Burns to the state reformatory at Pendelton in an automobile. Nothing was seen of the four until today when Sheriff Samuel Cole was notified today to rush to the farm of Abdill which is ¼ of a mile north of the Dixie highway. The manner in which the two men met death is unknown pending the arrival and investigation of Coroner Van V. Hamilton. The men were bound with heavy ropes. From the appearances of the bodies, it is believed they met death shortly after they started for the reformatory. The bodies were covered with a blanket. The automobile in which the deputies had started for Pendleton was discovered in a Decatur, Ill garage bullet-riddled indicating the policemen had put up a desperate battle with the two criminals before they were killed. No trace of the convicts has been found. With the knowledge the bodies had been found, Sheriff Cole renewed his hunt for the two criminals. Posses were immediately dispatched to all parts of the farm of Abdill to search for clues. Abdill stumbled across the bodies while searching for a trace of a wealthy farmer of Covington, Ind who had mysteriously disappeared yesterday. The bodies were to be taken to Williamsport, Ind for an examination and for the inquest. Abdill upon finding the bodies in a woods upon his farm, notified Chief of Police Charles E. Ray of Covington w ho notified Sheriff Cole at Williamsport, county seat of Warren County. The chief, Sheriff Cole and Coroner Hamilton left immediately for the farm. They found the bodies lying side by side with hands and feet bound with a rope. A blanket from Deputy Groves’ automobile had been slung unceremoniously over the prostrate forms. Deputy Grove was married and the father of four children. McClure was single. Sheriff Mose Johnson of Tippecanoe County left Lafayette to join in the investigation. The Abdill farm is located three miles west of Covington, Ind and 11 miles east of Danville, Ill. The thicket where the bodies were found was about ¾ of a mile south from State Road 34 (136?) which connects Crawfordsville, Ind and Danville, Ill. - kbz
Foster, Ind, Feb 16 – The bodies of the two missing deputies who were kidnapped by two prisoners more than a week ago from Lafayette were found upon a farm here this afternoon bound hand and foot. The bodies were discovered on the farm of Charles P. Abdill. The hands and feet of both men had been tied. The bodies were badly decomposed. The deputies, John P. Grove and Wallace McClure were taking two prisoners, Samuel Baxter and John Burns to the state reformatory at Pendelton in an automobile. Nothing was seen of the four until today when Sheriff Samuel Cole was notified today to rush to the farm of Abdill which is ¼ of a mile north of the Dixie highway. The manner in which the two men met death is unknown pending the arrival and investigation of Coroner Van V. Hamilton. The men were bound with heavy ropes. From the appearances of the bodies, it is believed they met death shortly after they started for the reformatory. The bodies were covered with a blanket. The automobile in which the deputies had started for Pendleton was discovered in a Decatur, Ill garage bullet-riddled indicating the policemen had put up a desperate battle with the two criminals before they were killed. No trace of the convicts has been found. With the knowledge the bodies had been found, Sheriff Cole renewed his hunt for the two criminals. Posses were immediately dispatched to all parts of the farm of Abdill to search for clues. Abdill stumbled across the bodies while searching for a trace of a wealthy farmer of Covington, Ind who had mysteriously disappeared yesterday. The bodies were to be taken to Williamsport, Ind for an examination and for the inquest. Abdill upon finding the bodies in a woods upon his farm, notified Chief of Police Charles E. Ray of Covington w ho notified Sheriff Cole at Williamsport, county seat of Warren County. The chief, Sheriff Cole and Coroner Hamilton left immediately for the farm. They found the bodies lying side by side with hands and feet bound with a rope. A blanket from Deputy Groves’ automobile had been slung unceremoniously over the prostrate forms. Deputy Grove was married and the father of four children. McClure was single. Sheriff Mose Johnson of Tippecanoe County left Lafayette to join in the investigation. The Abdill farm is located three miles west of Covington, Ind and 11 miles east of Danville, Ill. The thicket where the bodies were found was about ¾ of a mile south from State Road 34 (136?) which connects Crawfordsville, Ind and Danville, Ill. - kbz
Source: Decatur Daily Democrat 29 August 1931 p 2
Lafayette Aug 29 – Sheriff Arthur Eversole, Tippecanoe County and John Kluth, Lafayette police chief left today for Albuquerque, NM with extradition papers for Samuel Baxter, murder suspect. Baxter will face trial on charges of slaying Deputies John P. Grove and Wallace McClure in 1928. He was wounded when Albuquerque police captured him Thursday but was expected to recover sufficiently to be brought here within a few days.
Source: Decatur Daily Democrat 2 Sept 1931 p 1
Lafayette, Sept 2- Extradition papers from Indiana for the return of Samuel Baxter from Albuquerque, NM to Lafayette have been honored by the New Mexico governor, it was revealed in a telegram from John Kluth, police chief and Arthur Eversole, Tippecanoe County sheriff. Kluth and Eversole will bring Baxter here immediately for trial on a charge of slaying deputies John Grove and Wallace McClure more than three years ago. Kluth said he learned from Baxter that he had a wife and seven month old baby. Baxter is recovering from a bullet wound inflicted by police when he attempted to escape arrest.
Source: Indianapolis Times 24 Feb 1928 p 7
Brazil, Ind Feb 24 – When Curtis Siegelin and Robert Strobel, two Brazil youths left for parts unknown to find adventure, change of scenery, a different environment, new country and strange faces, they little thought they would realize all these hopes through a case of mistaken identity. The boys left here sometime ago in an antiquated Ford belonging to the Siegelin youth with intentions of going as far as the automobile would carry them. Arriving in Dallas, Texas, a few days ago the boys put their car in a garage and went to a hotel. The next morning, on entering the garage for the car, they were met by a detachment of police who took the boys to the city jail where they were held as suspects for the murder of two Lafayette Ind deputy sheriffs, John Grove and Wallace McClure whose bodies were found near Covington, Ind recently. After being held for five hours, the youths were released by identification through travelers checks, fraternity pins and letters they chanced to have in their pockets.
Source: Indianapolis Times 21 May 1928 p 1
Lafayette, Ind May 21 – John Burns, captured here today in the Nationwide search for the slayers of Deputy sheriffs, Wallace McClure and John Groves last Feb denied any connection with the actual murdering of the two officers. Subjected to severe grilling by police, Burns related a disconnected story of the ill-fated ride with the deputies and the killing but clung to his denial of the slaying. The two officers disappeared last Feb 7 after leaving here to take Burns and Samuel Baxter to the State Reformatory at Pendleton. The bodies of the deputies were found several weeks later in a woods near Foster, Ind 45 miles south of here. After more than three months of liberty since the crime, Burns was surprised early today at the home of relatives in West Lafayette. He submitted to arrest without a struggle. Burns showed a willingness to talk today after repeatedly being charged with the crime. Always in his talk there was the denial that Baxter and he killed the officers. Burns’ story: Baxter and I were handcuffed when we left here for the Reformatory on Feb 7. We drove out of town and nothing happened for several miles. But suddenly a large car pulled alongside of us. It carried three men. Two of them with drawn guns stood on the running board and forced McClure to the ditch. McClure and Groves were forced to surrender their guns and two of the unidentified men got in with us, telling Groves to drive on. Guns were held on the two officers who were in the front seat. “I noticed McClure fumbling in the seat behind him and suddenly he wheeled with a gun and started shooting. It was a bad play because he was covere3d and filled with bullets before he even started though he did fire a few shots. Groves was shot, too and the automobile stopped. “Both officers were still alive and I was told to drive the car. The other automobile remained behind and I drove nearly to Veedersburg. There the deputies’ bodies were transferred to the other automobile and Baxter and I were told to beat it. I don’t believe Groves and McClure were dead at the time. That’s the last time I saw them” Burns said he and Baxter drove from Veedersburg to Danville and thence to Decatur, Ill where they left the officers’ automobile. “Then we went to East St. Louis, Kansas City, Parsons, Kas, Muscogee, Okla, McAlester, Okla, and then to Atoka, Oka. There we were arrested and spent 36 days in jail for carrying firearms. When we got out we walked to Tulsa and parted. I havaen’t seen Baxter since. I went to Montoe, LA and worked until May 15. I wanted to come home and got back here Sunday morning. It has been the supposition here that in some manner the prisoners freed themselves and attacked the two officers from the back. A state wide search was begun for the officers when they failed to arrive at Pendleton. Scores of posses were organized and attempted to trace the car from here. A Federal search was instigated when indictments were returned against Burns and Baxter at Indianapolis for violation of the Dyer Act in transporting a stone car across the State line and for other auto thefts. In the national search that followed, a number of suspects were arrested but of no avail. A farmer tramping through a woods near the Illinois-Indiana State line stumbled onto the bodies of the two missing officers. Both officers had been shot to death and concealed in the underbrush under a blanket.
Source: Nappanee Advance-News, Elkhart County 7 June 1928 p 8
The trial of John Burns, age 21, West Lafayette for the murder of John P. Grove and Wallace McClure, Tippecanoe County deputy sheriffs, Feb 7 was started Monday in the circuit court at Lafayette before Judge Hennegar. Burns and Samuel Baxter escaped for the custody of the two deputies while enroute to the state reformatory at Pendleton, Ind and Baxter still is at large. The bodies of Grove and McClure were found in a field near Foster, Ind some weeks later. Burns, who has been held at the Indiana State prison at Michigan City since his capture at the home of an uncle at Lafayette two weeks ago was brought to Lafayette Sunday afternoon. After his arrest Burns told police that three Chicago gangsters were responsible for killing the deputies.
Source: Decatur Daily Democrat 6 June 1928 p 6
Lafayette, Ind June 6 – John Burns was armed with a revolver when he left here Feb 7 with deputy sheriffs Wallace McClure and John Grove for the state reformatory to which he had been sentenced state witness in his trial for murder of the officers in Tippecanoe County circuit court here declared. The witness, some of them prisoners in the local jail with Burns and Samuel Baxter, his partner who is still at large said the two planned to shoot their way to liberty. Burns declared he would never serve his sentence at the reformatory, they said. He and Baxter were sentenced on banditry charges.
Source: Indianapolis Times 7 June 1928 p 3
Lafayette, Ind June 7 – Unshaken in his story of the murder of Deputy Sheriffs Wallace McClure and John Grove, the 20-year-old youth accused as their slayer, John Burns from the witness stand in Tippecanoe Circuit Court here declared he was unarmed and had never had a revolver in his possession while in the county jail here. Burns asserted he and Samuel Baxter while being transferred to the State reformatory at Pendleton to serve terms for banditry, lay on the floor of an automobile while the two officers were slain and that he did not know who fired the fatal shots. This is the same story told by Burns during 11 hours of questioning following his arrest May 21. Baxter is still missing.
Source: Nappanee Advance-News, 14 June 1928 p 1
Lafayette, Ind June 14 – A sentence of life imprisonment was imposed on John Burns, 21-year-old West Lafayette youth who Friday night was found guilty of first degree murder by a jury in the Tippecanoe circuit court. The jury which deliberated three hours, recommended life imprisonment in place of the death penalty asked by the state. Burns was tried for the murder of Deputy Sheriffs Wallace McClure and John P. Grove of Tippecanoe County both of whom were found slain near Foster, Ind Feb 19. The two officers were taking Samuel Baxter and Burns to the state reformatory at Pendleton to serve sentences imposed in connection with a restaurant holdup when the quartet mysteriously disappeared. After an intensive search Burns was captured several weeks after the departure for Pendleton. Baxter, who also was indicted for the two murder has never been apprehended. The trial came to a conclusion Friday after the state and defense presented their final arguments. Francis J. Murphy, chief of the counsel of defense, contended that the state did not have sufficient evidence to convict Burns. AK Sills, special prosecutor opened the argument for the state with a review of the case and demanded the jury sentence Burns to death. Burns held to his plea of not guilty throughout the trial, staunchly holding to his story that neither he nor Baxter had anything to do with the murders. Two men whom they met on the way to Pendleton killed the officers, he said. Burns was taken to Michigan City to begin his sentence the first part of the week.
Source: Greencastle Daily Banner 9 Nov 1931 p 1
Lafayette, Ind Nov 9 – Sheriff Arthur Eversole started for the Indiana state reformatory at Pendleton today with Samuel Baxter, 23, charged with the murder of two deputy sheriffs here in 1928. Baxter was to begin serving a 5-21 year term imposed shortly before the slayings. It is alleged that Baxter and John Burns, who is serving a life term killed the deputies, John Grove and Wallace McClure while the latter were taking them to the reformatory. Baxter will be returned here for trial on the murder charge next January 4.
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Source: Greencastle Daily Banner 9 Jan 1932 p 1
Lafayette, Ind Jan 9 – Samuel Baxter, 23 was convicted by a jury last night on a charge of murdering two deputy sheriffs in 1928. It was expected that special judge Branton DeVol of Frankfort would mete Baxter a life imprisonment term. The jury which convicted Baxter after a five-day trial deliberated approximately seven hours. Baxter was accused of slaying John Grove and Wallace McClure as the deputies were taking him and John Burns to the state reformatory.