bios - Meyer, Oscar and Clark, John; Eagle County, Colorado Joann Potter Riggle May 07, 2000 From the Eagle paper, Used with permission. ------------------------- Oscar Meyer and John Clark Local law enforcement officers, killed in the line of duty, to be honored on Colorado memorial by Kathy Heicher Daily Trail staff Although Oscar Meyer of Red Cliff and John Clark of Eagle died almost 25 years apart, they share a dark spot in Eagle County's history. Both men were Eagle County law officers, charged with keeping the peace in a rural community. Both were gunned down in the line of duty by disturbed young men. Those murders rocked the local community and triggered county-wide man hunts. Each of those young killers gained notoriety in later years, by escaping prison and again striking fear into the heart of the community. This week, a decision in Denver will add one more link to Clark's and Meyer's stories. Thanks to the efforts of a state law enforcement historian, a former Eagle County resident, and the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, the names of both fallen officers will appear on a memorial in Golden, Colo. commemorating lawmen who have died in the line of duty. "Absolutely those names should be included on the monument," says Sgt. Ken Wilson of the Eagle County Sheriff's Office. Wilson sent a letter to the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial Committee last month requesting the honor. That action was prompted by Ordway resident John Luby, a man who was born and raised in Eagle (his father was District Judge William H. Luby), and who maintains a keen interest in Eagle Valley history. Last year Luby read an article in the Rocky Ford Gazette regarding the fallen officer's monument. He fired off an e-mail to the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, expressing concern that perhaps Meyer's and Clark's names had been overlooked. Actually, John Clark's name has been on the memorial since the monument was dedicated in 1979. However, Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial Historian Keith Dameron had some vague knowledge of Meyer, but not the kind of confirmation he needed to get the that name inscribed on the granite memorial. Luby's e-mail eventually prompted Wilson to pull together the necessary information for the Sheriff's Office to submit a formal request for inclusion of Meyer's name on the monument. Wednesday, that request was approved. At a special dedication ceremony on May 5th in Golden, Oscar Meyer's name will be added to the memorial."Oscar Meyer is more than overdue. There is no question in my mind that he would qualify for the monument," said Dameron, whose business card reads "Colorado Law Enforcement History Buff". The requirements for placement of the name on the monument specify that the officer died in the line of duty. Dameron says the causes of death range the gauntlet from car accidents to shootings. "Some are felonious. Some are accidental. Some are just tragic," he notes. The stories of Oscar Meyer and John Clark fit in two of those three categories. Oscar Meyer "Boy Bandit Escapes After Shooting Down Oscar Meyer on Tennessee Pass" screamed the headlines of the Eagle Valley Enterprise on Nov. 5, 1937. Meyer, 49, of Red Cliff, was a licensed mortician, and a deputy sheriff. "Oscar Meyer was a fearless law officer. He had kept the peace at Red Cliff for many years where others failed. He was rarely armed, never carried a gun, but would wade into a pack of drunken fighting men armed with knives and clubs barehanded and straighten out the trouble," reported the Enterprise. In fact, Meyer was unarmed on Nov. 2 when he answered a law enforcement call on Tennessee Pass. As he lay bleeding to death on the road, Meyer told a passing motorist who had shot him: 17-year-old Red Cliff resident Jim Sherbondy. Described by newspapers as a "slight, good-looking boy", Sherbondy was a troubled young man. Wayne Trujillo of Denver, a great-great nephew of Oscar Meyer, says it is possible that Sherbondy and Meyer had a sort of running feud. Once captured, Sherbondy reportedly told officers that his dislike for Meyer dated back to his school days, when Meyer was the truant officer and forced his parents to send him to school. Sherbondy also accused Meyer of being a "tough cop" who subdued drunken men by beating them over the head with a gun. Meyer did have a reputation for being tough. Regardless of which picture of Meyer is accurate, there is no doubt that "boy bandit" was already in trouble on the day Meyer died. Sherbondy, the son of Shirl Sherbondy, who worked for the New Jersey Zinc Mine at Gilman, was a suspect in an armed robbery in Chicago. Eagle County law officers had been alerted, and were on the lookout for the boy. Indeed, Sherbondy was hiding out with his family in Red Cliff. On Tuesday, Nov. 2, his mother, Nannie, loaded up her three sons and the family's belongings in a Ford Pickup, and drove out of town, headed for Arkansas. However, as they pulled out of town, a high school girl saw Jim Sherbondy, and told Oscar Meyer. At Sherbondy's trial, Meyer's wife, Ollie Graham Meyer, a music teacher, testified that her husband hurriedly left the house in his "laboring clothes", without a coat, and left both of his guns at home in a dresser drawer. According to newspaper reports, Meyer quickly overtook the Sherbondy vehicle a mile and a half west of the Tennessee Pass summit, crowded the truck over to the side of the road, and stopped it. Stepping out of his car, Meyer informed Sherbondy that he was under arrest, and ordered him to surrender. Jim Sherbondy stepped out with a gun and fired, hitting Meyer twice in the chest. Sherbondy then jumped in Meyer's car, and fled the scene, leaving Meyer and his family behind. A few minutes later, a passing motorist stopped. The dying Meyer named Sherbondy as his killer. The town reacted to news of Meyer's death with seething anger. Posses were organized, and hills along Tennessee Pass were searched. The Enterprise reported that "had he (Sherbondy) been found that night, his treatment would have been anything but gentle". Oscar Meyer was buried in the Red Cliff Cemetery in the midst of a blizzard. An estimated 600 people attended the services. The casket was surrounded by 135 bouquets of flowers. Judge Luby, an army buddy of Meyer, was one of the pall bearers. Sherbondy remained at large for three weeks., apparently spending nearly a week walking from Tennessee Pass to Wolcott, where he hid in a haystack, then jumped a train at State Bridge. He was eventually arrested in Hastings, Neb. when officers recognized his face from a wanted poster. Eagle County Sheriff Murray Wilson brought Sherbondy back to jail. Meanwhile, officers learned that Sherbondy was wanted in Denver and Chicago on charges of aggravated robbery; and wanted in Pueblo for car theft. Wilson later described Sherbondy to the newspaper as a "cold-blooded, heartless" young man, who boasted of his crimes, and showed no remorse. Sherbondy reportedly had a "sardonic grin" on his face when he pleaded guilty to Oscar Meyer's murder in early December. Testifying at his own sentencing hearing, Sherbondy denied any intent in the murder. Rather, the boy said he was so "scared and excited" that he did not know what he was doing. He said he thought Meyer was reaching for a gun when he shot him. Calling Sherbondy a "depraved and wicked killer, like a wild and vicious animal", a visiting District Judge sentenced him to life in prison. It was two days before Sherbondy's 18th birthday. Trujillo suspects, judging from stories that have been passed down through the family, that Meyer was probably a cocky law enforcement officer, who never expected Sherbondy to actually shoot him. The escapes Much of Sherbondy's prison years were spent in solitary confinement. In prison, he earned the nickname "Mad Dog". On New Year's Eve, 1947, Sherbondy was one of a dozen inmates who escaped the State Prison in Canon City. He made his way to a nearby farm, where he held a family hostage. However, when the one of the hostages, a seven-year-old boy, developed appendicitis, Sherbondy surrendered quietly so the boy could be treated. Hollywood eventually made a movie called "Canon City", based on the incident. Sherbondy's second attempt at escape in 1952 failed. He attempted suicide, then, for the next decade, was a model prisoner, who tutored kids at the state reformatory in Buena Vista. In 1962, he was paroled to Eagle County, at age 43. However, that freedom lasted only 10 months, when a parole violation (armed robbery and possession of explosives), put him back in prison. Again, Sherbondy assumed the role of a model prisoner. In late October, 1969, he walked away from a prison honor camp at Buckley Air National Guard Center in Denver. On Nov. 28, Denver police officers spotted Sherbondy driving in downtown Denver. After a car chase, Sherbondy jumped out in front of the Denver Post newspaper offices, between California and Welton Streets. When Sherbondy pulled out a pistol and fired it, the police fired back. Sherbondy died on the sidewalk. Afterwards, police found two homemade pipe bombs in the bag that Sherbondy was carrying. Trujillo notes that Sherbondy made headlines and kept a legend going for years beyond his original crime. "I think he was Eagle County's 1930's answer to Chicago's gangsters. Even though Sherbondy was no Dillinger, he was the nearest Eagle County came to it," says Trujillo. John Clark The Enterprise headlines on July 13, 1961, were hauntingly similar to those that heralded Oscar Meyer's death. "Crazed Gunman Killed John Clark". The Granby Sky Hi News, printed a day later, yielded more information about a rampage that involved the shootings of four law officers. "Two Dead, Two Seriously Wounded", screamed the headlines. A sub-head added "Blood Hounds, Airplanes Hunt Mad Killer". By the accounts of those who remember him, John Clark of Eagle was a kind man, with a neighborly nature. A resident of Eagle County for about 45 years, Clark had ranched in Gypsum and Brush Creek. He was a popular square dance caller. A prominent political leader in the county, he served a term as a county commissioner after retiring from ranching. In the fall of 1960, after his commissioner term expired, Eagle County Sheriff Hank Knuth appointed Clark as his Undersheriff. The 69-year-old Clark had been a law enforcement officer for less than a year when he was gunned down on the Trough Road near State Bridge. "He was too old for that job...but he loved it," recalls his daughter, Johnnie Greve, 80, who now lives in Grand Junction. "The trail of death began Tuesday afternoon in Grand County, continued into Eagle County, and is almost sure to end in more bloodshed and death," reported the Enterprise. On that July 12th afternoon, the first man to contact the suspect, 25-year-old Delmar Spooner of Storm Lake, Iowa, was biologist Robert Hoover of the State Game and Fish Department. Late in the afternoon, a short distance east of Kremmling, Hoover stopped to assist a motorist whose 1953 Dodge was parked alongside of road. Noticing a rifle and an unusual amount of ammunition on the back seat, Hoover began to suspect the car was stolen. He radioed to Kremmling to have the car and motorist checked out. State Patrol Lt. Hiram Short and Grand County Sheriff Chancy Van Pelt responded. Newspaper reports indicated the officers were about to place the gunman in the Sheriff's patrol car when Spooner pulled out a gun, lined all three men up against a dirt bank, shot them, then fled towards State Bridge on the Trough Road. Newspapers later described Spooner as a "baby-faced, one man crime wave". A passing tourist found the wounded men, and helped Van Pelt to his patrol car, where he radioed for help. Eagle County Sheriff Knuth heard the call, and he and Undersheriff Clark set out to set up a road block on the Trough Road. Spooner's car was spotted in the Radium area. Apparently, upon encountering Knuth and Clark's vehicle about two miles east of State Bridge, Spooner swerved his car into the side of the mountain, jumped out, and using his car for a barricade, opened fire as the law officers came out of the car, shooting their own guns. After flushing the suspect out from behind the car, Knuth turned to his vehicle for more ammunition when he heard a shot. He turned around to see John Clark drop to the ground, wounded in the jaw. Spooner fled. Eagle resident Rolland Randall, 93, was the State Patrol dispatcher who handled radio traffic that day. He heard the call from Van Pelt, then the later call from Knuth. "It was quite a shock to me...it was a shock to the county. We just didn't think anything like that could happen," he recalls. Van Pelt, Hoover, and Short were taken to the Kremmling Memorial Hospital, where Short died from abdominal wounds. Van Pelt and Hoover were later taken to Denver for treatment of extensive wounds. An ambulance from Eagle was summoned for John Clark. Volunteers Bob Shelton and John Beasley drove the ambulance. They initially took Clark to Kremmling, only to find that the small hospital there was full of wounded men, and out of blood. Doctors there indicated that Clark's condition was not critical, and advised taking the man to Leadville. Once there, doctors again indicated that Clark's wounds were not critical. The ambulance drivers departed. Clark died moments later. Doctors later speculated that the fatal bullet had lodged in Clark's brain. Greve remembers that she and her family had spent the day picnicking on Independence Pass, and had stopped in Leadville to watch the Eagle team play ball when a neighbor came by and reported that her father had just been shot. The family was devastated. Clark's granddaughter, Arnetta Eaton of Eagle, recalls that her family was living in California at the time of the shooting. Her father heard of the killing from a radio report while driving in Manhattan Beach, California. The manhunt As news of the shootings spread, local law enforcement officers headed to State Bridge. The shootings of the four lawmen drew officers and volunteers from all over the state. The first evening's search centered in the State Bridge area. The following morning, bloodhounds picked up the trail and followed it downstream. The search centered in the Bond area. Newspapers reported that one to two hundred men roamed the hills, looking for Spooner. Law enforcement airplanes droned overhead, searching from the skies. No offer of help was rejected. A cadre of Eagle women quickly organized meals for the giant-sized posse. The escaped murderer and ensuing man hunt struck fear into residents of the area. Families were warned to stay indoors at night, behind locked doors. Road Blocks were set up at strategic spots. Eagle Valley Enterprise correspondent Gene Simpson of Bond reported that Bond was an "armed camp". Simpson wrote that two Bond women spent the night together while their husbands were out on night shifts with the posse. The women barricaded the back door with table and chairs. When the front door, which they thought was locked, blew open, they got the scare of their lives. Another Bond resident took a different tactic, leaving food on the table and keys in the car, in hopes that if the killer wandered her way, he would take the food and transportation and leave without bothering her. Meanwhile, John Clark was buried in Eagle. Again, the memorial services were crowded. An honor guard of 30 Colorado Highway Patrolmen, members of the Glenwood Springs Sheriff Posse, and the Department of Revenue Port of Entry officers stood at attention at the church as Clark's casket began the journey to the cemetery. On Friday afternoon, four days after the shootings, an engineer for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad spotted Spooner walking near the Railroad tracks along the Moffat Line near Copper Spur. He radioed that information ahead. A D&RG track inspector and a State Patrol Corporal from Golden found the suspect crouched behind a rock near Copper Spur. Spooner, described a slight young man about 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a sandy complexion and bushy blonde hair, surrendered, and was brought into Bond handcuffed to a railroad handcar. The only explanation Spooner ever offered for his actions was "I just didn't want to go to jail". Citing concerns about security, Spooner was taken to the airport at Eagle, and was flown to Craig in Moffat County. Newspaper reports indicate that action was a sore point with Eagle County Sheriff Knuth, who was trying to get to the airfield with the local District Attorney before the plane took off. Knuth later complained that Eagle County's authority was being undermined. Court-appointed defense attorneys successfully pleaded for the trial to be held in Craig. Randall remembers that local feelings were running high. "Probably somebody would have killed him if they had let him (Spooner) out," he says. Sketchy records indicate Spooner was sent to the state mental hospital for evaluation. Doctors there found him to be insane. Ultimately, Spooner was scheduled for trial in the death of Patrolman Short. He was never tried for Clark's murder. Clark's grandson, Robert McIlveen Jr. of Avon, recalls the legal strategy was to try the suspect for one crime at a time. If the first trial failed to yield an acceptable sentence, a second trial would have been scheduled for the second murder. The case was tried in December. A jury deliberated only five hours before rendering a guilty verdict. Spooner was sentenced to life in prison. At prison, Spooner developed a reputation for being a self-taught individual with a photographic mind for details. In September, 1981 Spooner created headlines when he escaped from a minimum security facility, and remained at large for 24 days before being captured by two elk hunters in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains near Westcliffe. At that time, it was reported that the 46-year-old prisoner had long, stringy hair, and a full beard when he was brought out of the mountains. At the time Spooner was sentenced, Colorado laws allowed parole after 10 years of a life sentence were served. Spooner applied for parole numerous times over the years, but State Patrol officers showed up at each of his parole hearings to protest; and he was never released. Clark's widow, Callie, kept a careful scrapbook of clippings from not only the killing, but also Spooner's parole attempts. Presumably, Spooner made headlines for the last time last December, when he died of cancer at age 64 in the prison's "Old Max" infirmary. At that time, he was described as "the man who had been in a Colorado prison longer than anybody else." Although over the years, Spooner got some sympathetic treatment from the press, local history buff John Luby remained skeptical about the convicted murderer. "Thank God for his 'full' sentence. He shot at five officers. Two died. Don't cry for him," suggests Luby. Posthumously, John Clark was honored by the National Police Officers for "outstanding heroism, valor, and meritorious service above and beyond the call of duty. His widow, Callie, received $12,598 in death benefits, and some funeral expenses were paid through the Workmen's Compensation Act. The Memorial At a special ceremony at the Police Officers Memorial on May 5th, Oscar Meyer's name will be added to the roles of law officers killed in the line of duty. John Clark's name is already there, listed just below Hiram Short's name. Had the Meyer or Spooner initiated their crime sprees in this day and age, their stories would have likely been different. Law enforcement officers receive much more sophisticated training these days; and there are new approaches to dealing with troubled young people. Still, Meyer and Spooner undeniably gave up their lives in the line of duty. Eagle County Sheriff's Sgt. Ken Wilson says he plans to take a contingent of officers to Golden for the ceremony. Oscar Meyer's' great-great-nephew, Trujillo, is also working at organizing relatives to attend the ceremony. "At least we got the names of both (fallen officers from Eagle County) on the memorial. Hopefully, there won't be any more," says Wilson. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.