Campbell - Elza
Source: Crawfordsville Journal-Review Mon April 16, 1934
Elza was shot while he was attempting to escape from Officers Sheldon and Johnson in Shantytown at the foot of Washington Street shortly before 2 o’clock Sunday morning.
Nearly a dozen shotgun slugs and pistol bullets struck Elza, who died at Culver Hospital at 2:45 o’clock Sunday afternoon in spite of medical efforts to save his life.
Also taken to Culver hospital, Campbell died there at 8 o’clock Sunday evening. Campbell was struck by only one bullet which penetrated his chest just under the heart and came out through his back. The bullet, fired from a 32 caliber automatic, struc a wall and dropped into a baby bed after it had passed through Campbell’s body.
Due to the fact that most of the participants in the fatal quarrel had been drinking heavily the officers investigating the shooting encountered great difficulty in obtaining anything like a comprehensive and coherent story of the events leading up to the shootings.
Elza was captured by Officers Sheldon and Johnson in the shanty owned by Woodrow Newlin, 18, in Shantytown near the light plant after he was alleged to have fired two shots at young Newlin.
…
Campbell went back in the house, leaving his wife in the automobile.
Upon returning to the house, Campbell seated himself in the front room only a few feet from the door which is on the west side of the house. Hose was sitting a few feet to the north of him. Mrs. Hose, who was taking care of her baby was in the kitchen. She was not intoxicated, the officers said.
Hose and Campbell had just taken another drink when the front door suddenly swung open, revealing Elza with an automatic pistol in his hands.
“You ain’t going to call me a dirty rat,” yelled Elza, and with a curse on his lips fired directly at Campbell who had turned toward the door.
Campbell slumped to the floor, groaning and Elza fled.
Seeint ath this companion was badly urt, Hose ran to the home
of a neighbor to call for an ambulance and for the police.
Chief Harrison Young, Capt. Fred Grimes and Officer Charles johnson answered the call. When they arrived they found Campbell writhing in agony on the floor. A physician and the ambulance arrived a minute later and Campbell was rushed to the hospital.
Mrs. Campbell hearing the shot and commotion attendant to the shooting ran into the house. She was prostrated and was put to bed.
Capt. Grimes, in looking over the house, found the steel-coated leaden pellet which had penetrated Campbell’s body. The bullet had struck a wall and fallen down into the Hose baby’s crib.
He also found an exploded .32 calibre automatic pistol shell and a shell that had not been exploded. They were lying near the baby’s crib and how they came to be on the side of the room opposite from where the shot was fired could not be determined.
All of the night force of policemen, including the merchant police, were warned at once to be on the lookout for Elza. It was almost might when they received their first tip on the gunman.
Chief Harrison Young and Prosecutor George Brubaker also rushed to the scene of the shooting.
As soon as the ambulance arrived, Elza was rushed to the hospital where ehe was given first aid treatment. It was found that at least seven buckshot form the shotgun and possible as many as a dozen had penetrated Elza’s back and legs. At least one pistol bullet hit him.
The shot which caused Elza’s death, it was believed, was a buckshot which entered near the spine in the small of the back and lodged just under the skin of Elza’s chest just below the heart.
A post mortem examination was held over Elza’s body late Sunday afternoon at the Proffitt & Son Funeral Home where it was taken following his death.
Officers, warned of Elza’s bad reputation had been warned that it might be necessary to shoot him to effect his capture.
Elza, a former student at Wabash College member of the class of 1916 was at one time principal of a high school and later was an instructor in an eastern college, it was said.
He was sentenced from the Montgomery Circuit Court a number of years ago after he was convicted of aiding in the robbery of an old man in the eastern part of the city. About nine years ago Elza was convicted of the robbery of a street car conductor in Peoria, ill officers said and was given a sentence of 10 years at the southern Illinois penitentiary at Menard, Ill. He was paroled about a year ago after serving eight years of the ten-year term. He had lived here most of the time since his release.
Elza was said to have dressed a local youth as a girl to aid him in the Illinois robbery.
The first chapter of the tragic drama apparently was written early Saturday afternoon when Campbell his wife Florence to whom he had bene married only four months, hose, his wife, Pauline and the latter couple’s infant son went to Danville, Ill.
The party it was learned consume considerable liquor during the trip to Danville and back, arriving here some time between 5 and 6 o’clock Saturday afternoon.
The two families went to the Hose home where they stayed for a short time.
Later in the evening, the Campbells and the Hoses and their baby went to a barbecue stand south of the city for supper. While there, they consumed some more beer.
It was at the barbecue stand officers believe, where Elza first became a factor in the evening’s affairs.
According to witnesses, Campbell became quarrelsome and objected to Elza’s alleged attentions to Mrs. Campbell.
About 9 o’clock apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Hose and Mr. and Mrs. Campbell went to the Hose home. Whether or not Elza went with them could not be determined.
On arriving at the Hose home, it was found, Mr. and Mrs. Hose and Campbell went into the house, leaving Mrs. Campbell in Campbel’s automobile which was parked in front of the house.
It was found by the officers that a few minutes later Campbell went outdoors and found Elza talking to Mrs. Campbell. A violent quarrel ensued.
It could not be determined whether the two men came to blows nor where Elza went immediately afterwards. It was learned definitely, however, that
After Campbell was taken to the hospital, he told Chief Young and Prosecutor Brubaker that Elza was the man who had shot him. His condition was such, however, that he was unable to relate any of the details of the shooting at the Hose home.
Every effort was made to save Elza’s life but his wounds were of such nature that nothing could be done for him. Elza was born March 22, 1890 in Crawfordsville the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jewell Elza. The mother and two uncles, William and Harry Elza, survive.
Funeral services for Elza will be held at 2:30 o’clock Tuesday afternoon at Proffitt & Sons Funeral Home where last rites for Campbell will be conducted at ...
Source: Mount Carmel, Ill Daily Republican-Register 16 April 1934 p 1
Crawfordsville, Ind April 1 – Two men were dead of gunshot wounds today, the result of what police said was a drunken argument over the wife of one of the victims. William H. Elza, 44, former Wabash College student and former convict died in a hospital yesterday of wounds inflicted by police who sought to arrest him on a charge of fatally wounding Fred Campbell, 34. Campbell was shot by Elza late Saturday night at the home of Joseph Hose here. Campbell told police he had been shot while protecting his wife from Elza’s advances.