City Marshal Clarence A. Sanger

Clarence A. Sanger

City Marshal Clarence Sanger was shot and killed when he interrupted two men attempting to break into a garage. When he confronted them they opened fire with a shotgun.

Both suspects were apprehended but released due to a lack of evidence. Both suspects, ages 41 and 42, ex-convicts with lengthy records including one who killed J. L. David a Kansas police detective in Leavenworth on May 19, 1923, had spent most of their lives in Leavenworth and Alcatraz. The suspect who killed Detective David was sentenced to life but had his sentence reduced to 15 years in 1928 and was later released. Both were former members of the Alvin Carpis-Barker gang. On June 18, 1949, both were shot and killed by the Colfax County Sheriff and three Nebraska State Troopers after they forced a jewelry salesman off the road and robbed him of $75,000 in jewels near Howells, Nebraska. The sheriff was shot in both hands.

Marshal Sanger was single and had served as marshal for only six months. He had turned 48 years old the day before being killed.