Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-10-03
CHIEF AT
BUTTE SUCCUMBS
ARMED MAN FATAL TO WELL
KNOWN OFFICER

Chief of Police Jere j. Murphy died
at the st. James hospital a few days
ago. at Butte, of injuries he sustain
ed while graphing with an armed
man, William Lombardini, "A, in the
offices Of the Montana Power Co.. at
Butte. Chief Murphy sustained a
severe conclusion of the brain and a
fracture of the hip when he seuf-
fled with the nan after L0mbardini
is said to have threatened to shoot
persons i'm the office.
In the struggle Murphy slipped and
fell but chung to Lombardini. AS they
struck the floor Lombarini's gun was
fired twice. Lombardini was Subdued
by power company employees.
Six physicians attended Chief Muir
ply in the last hours. He had been
semiconscious since he was injured. A
blood clot developed in the brain and
ensuing hemorrhages brought on the
grave condition.
Mrs. Murphy, his brother, John j.
Murphy; a son, Ronald of Washing
ton, d. c., and a daughter, Sister Mary
Colma, a u from Sioux Falls, S. D.,
were at the bedside.
Chief Murphy was a native of County
Kilkenny, Ireland. and came to the
United States when he was 16 years of
age. He was ~timekeeper for the New
/ York Central-Hudson River Railway
Co. for several years, completing his
education at the same time.
He came west to Pueblo, Colo, and
then to Montana in 1893. For a while
he was employed at the Anaconda re-
duction plant in Anaconda before NOV
ing his family to Butte.
His first appointment to the Butte
police force came late in 1893. He was
named chief of detectives in 1899 and
was appointed chief of police In 1911,
succeeding Jack Quinn, who resigned to
become a candidate for mayor.
His service before he was named chief
of the department was not continuous.
During the years he wa not a member
of the force he worked a lease in the
vicinity of the st. Lawrence mine and
served as a detective for the Northern
Pacific railroad.
Chief Murphy, called "Jere the Wise"
in late years, had a reputation for more
arrests of men wanted In other states
than any half dozen chiefs in the west
ern states.
Probably one of the outstanding cap
lures made by Chief Murphy and one
having an international angle was that
made in 1927, when he apprehended MIR.
and Mrs. George G. Mcdonald, later
found guilty of Staying Adelard Bouch-
ard, taxi driver at Huntington, Quebec,
in July, 1927. Mcdonald was hanged
at Montreal and his wife, who also was
sentenced to hang, later had her sem
tence committed to life Imprisonment.
In 1919 Murphy broke up n of
the toughest criminal gangs operat-
ing out of st. Paul through the capture
in Butte of Eugene Olson and Donald
Van Derive, two ringleaderS who came
to Butte with the apparent purpose of
starting operations in the Mining city.
The Olson-Van Derive capture follow
ed receipt of information in Butte that
a suitcase consigned to Eugene Olson
in care of a South Main street roOming
house had broken open in transit from
st. Paul and was found to contain Is
automatic pistols. Express company Of
ficials informed the Butte police chief
of the fact and when Olson received
his suitcase he also received Chief
Murphy and Officer Johnny Crouch,
now in Los Angeles.
Murphy and Crouch broke into Oh
sons room after the express company
driver made delivery OF The suitcase,
Olson attempted to draw his gun
but Murphy flattened him with an up
percut while Crouch was taking car
of the younger Van Derive.
After the arrest circulars were sent
out On the pair by Murphy and it was
learned they we're wanted in st. Paul
and Cincinnati. The guns, it was dis
covered, had been stolen from a st.
Paul sporting goods house. Olson and
Van Derive were sent TO prison.
Chief Murphy disdained to use his
gun in making an arrest unless it was
absolutely necessary, depending o
upon his powerful physique and his
ability to land a Knockout punch with
either of his huge fists.
Old-time officers on the force tell
of the time Murphy, working as chief