Description
Central Street in Bangoris shown in a photo taken immediately after the shooting of two Brady Gang members on October 12, 1937. The location is outside Dakin Sporting Goods Company at 25 Central Street.
Everett S. "Shep" Hurd was the owner of Dakin Sporting Goods Co. and he alerted law enforcement authorities to the presence of the Brady Gang in Bangor after he became suspicious when they attempted to purchase a machine gun at the store.
The gang was wanted for multiple robberies and murders in the Midwest. Law enforcement authorities, led by FBI agents, initiated a stakeout on Central Street to attempt to capture the gang when they returned to Dakin Sporting Goods to inquire about the machine gun purchase.
A shootout ensued as a result of this stakeout. Hurd is in the middle of the street at the center-right of the photograph holding a movie camera.
The body of gang leader Al Brady is in the center of the photograph lying perpendicular to the trolley tracks. The body of gang member Clarence Lee Shaffer Jr. is to the left side of the photograph lying parallel to the trolley tracks.
The man at the far left side of the photograph immediately to the right of the street lamp wearing a light-colored jacket is Agent Bill Nitschke of the FBI.
No one other than the two criminals were killed in the incident. The third gang member, James Dalhover, was arrested and returned to Indiana for prosecution. He was convicted and executed a year later.
The Brady Gang had been staying in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and had traveled to Maine to purchase firearms and ammunition where they thought they would not be easily detected. Brady had been declared Public Enemy Number One by the FBI.
Shaffer's body was claimed and returned to Indiana. Brady's was not claimed, and he was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor.
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