Memorial to Frederick W. Bauer

End of Watch: June 6, 1930
Rank: Officer, Badge No. N/A
Years of Service: 7 years
Age: 40
Location of Death: George Washington Hospital

Circumstance:

Officer Bauer was a member of a raiding party of a “number” establishment. While on-duty, he suffered an injury attempting to lift a metal floor safe. He crushed two vertebrae and died three months later from complications.

Biography:

Officer Bauer had been with the agency for seven years and was survived by his wife and three children.

Articles from the Washington Post – transcribed by Dave Richardson, MPD/Ret.
OFFICER BAUER DIED FROM BACK INJURIES SUSTAINED WHEN HE LIFTED A FLOOR SAFE.
A WASHINGTON POST ARCHIVE SEARCH DID NOT PRODUCE ANY ARTICLES CONCERNING THE DEATH OF OFFICER FREDERICK W. BAUER OTHER THAN A DEATH NOTICE. THE BELOW INFORMATION COMES FROM “THE OFFICER DOWN MEMORIAL PAGE”
Officer Bauer succumbed to serious back injuries received three months earlier while acting as a member of a raiding party on a “number” establishment. While attempting to lift a heavy floor safe he crushed two vertebra in his back.

THE BELOW ARTICLE PROVIDES A GLIMPSE INTO AN UNRELATED INCIDENT OFFICER BAUER WAS INVOLVED IN THE YEAR BEFORE HIS DEATH, AND THE EXTRAORDINARY GOOD LUCK THAT SAVED HIM FROM A KILLER’S BULLET

WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE DATED MARCH 2, 1929, PAGE 22
POLICEMAN SHOOTS SLAYER OF WOMAN
Kills Man Who Attacked Two After Quarrel; Wounded Girl in Hospital.
“BAD MAN’S “ GUN FAILED

After shooting and killing a woman and wounding a girl, Ernest Henderson, self-styled “bad man,” yesterday was slain by Policeman Frederick W. Bauer, of the Tenth Precinct. The policeman reported that he fired in self-defense after Henderson had snapped his pistol at him.

The victims of Henderson’s pistol included a girl and her mother. The mother, Emma Brown, is dead., while the daughter, Jeannette Rice, is at Casualty Hospital with a bullet wound in the lung. The triple shooting was staged in the house at 34 Logan Place, NW, the home of the two women.

Bauer had just placed William Milton Potts, 15 years old, of 26 Logan Place, NW, under arrest in connection with the theft of an automobile when he heard shots in the house nearby. He told his prisoner to wait and investigated. He found Emma Brown lying in a pool of blood on the front steps and the Rice girl unconscious on the floor of a back room.

As the policeman entered, Henderson turned the revolver upon him and pulled the trigger. It snapped on a faulty cartridge. Before Henderson could make another attempt to fire, Bauer shot him three times.

Henderson and the Brown woman were pronounced dead by William Ryan, of Sibley Hospital.

Neighbors said that Henderson had quarreled with the Rice girl Thursday night and had threatened to shoot her, leaving only when driven away. He returned yesterday morning and renewed the argument, after which the shooting occurred.
Henderson was employed as a janitor at the Park View School.