In 1938 Marlo Heinz was convicted of molesting and murdering his 6 yr old nephew David.david was found floating in a pond on the family farm. At first, Heinz denied any involvement.But Sheriff Thomas Ryder,my grampa and County Attorney John Duffy grilled Heinz from 11 pm until noon the next day. The 2 men even went so far as to take Heinz to view the autopsy of the poor boy.We assume Ryder was carrying his service revolver, a SW registered mag. Eventually Heinz cracked and confessed,stating -I did an awful thing. Confessing is the honorable thing to do.In a 1939 published decision, the Iowa Supreme Ct upheld the confession and the conviction.according to Iowa state professor Dick Haws article on capital punishment,Duffy was haunted by the execution:I don't think he got a fair trial and I am not proud of the role I had in his hanging.Iowa ended the death penalty in 1965.Haws article mentions that wardens and sheriffs had trouble carrying out the executions.The county Sheriff was responsible for carrying out and overseeing the execution.sheriff Ryder died in 1947,long before I was born.As I write this, I recall Gramma Edith telling us about grampa and executions.She died on my wedding day.We were very close.Grampa also staked out Dillinger with Thompson machine guns.I don't he had his RM yet. I am honored to be the custodian of his service revolver, one of the finest handguns ever made!still researching Dillinger-chapter 2 !

Great history!!!

Interesting post. Dillinger was part of a bank robbery in Mason City IA and Sioux Falls SD during the first half of 1934 as the gang was in need of lots of money to help some members in jail. Dillinger died in the summer of 1934.

Does "staked out" mean laid in wait for a possible Dillinger appearance?

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

And photo's are where?

Great, great story, BUT, we need some photos!!! Details about the RM would also be interesting. I have 2 LEO owned RMs and love the history. Thanks for sharing.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

Thank you gents.thegun made its appearance on July 3 in a post entitled I have a registered magnum, under my name. I knew it was special but not like this.there are pics of gun , box,tools, factory certificate,badges, etc. it's hard for me to post pics so I refer you to what I posted previously.The Feds would call and advise that Dillinger had robbed a Chicago bank. My grampa and his deputies were assigned to cover 2 bridges over the Missippi. The Feds suspected that Dillinger hideout was in Iowa. Dillinger would head into Wisc,over to Minn and south into Iowa to avoid capture. I have gotten very fine advise from the guys on the forum. If you read the responses they love the gun.i don't think he ever saw Dillinger but the family was sure excited/worried. They were equipt with Thompson machine guns.the Gun has been a closet queen since 1947 when grampa died

Probably the best salesmen for the Thompson were the famous bandits of the Depression era. Many police/sheriff departments of all sizes bought a Tommy Gun just on the chance that Bonnie and Clyde or John Dillinger might show up at the local bank, and they wanted to be prepared.

His post on the RM is here: I have a 357 reg magnum with certificate ... and here are his photos from post 6 in that thread:

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

Thanks for bringing those pictures across Richard. What a beautiful, interesting, and complete package including terrific provenance! Sheriff Ryder obviously prized his Magnum!


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Terry Lester

Thank you again Richard .when my education is further along, I have ? s for the forum. I'm on pg 21 of all the rm threads. 10 threads per page !ps I love your posts and your guns.the engraved guns are works of art ON works of art