Deputy Sheriff Edwin T. Finn

Edwin T. Finn

Deputy Sheriff Edwin Finn and Sheriff John Webster drowned when their boat capsized in Green Lake.

The two were returning to Ellsworth after interviewing two men at Camp Comfort about a burglary that had occurred at another camp the previous week. Sheriff Webster did not suspect the two men at Camp Comfort, but wanted to interview them for additional information about the area.

Sheriff Webster and Deputy Finn went to the camp on foot and interviewed the men. It is believed that they then borrowed a boat from the men in order to return to Ellsworth, using the lake as a shortcut. The winds on the lake were extremely strong and caused the boat to capsize. The two men in the camp heard the lawmen in distress and attempted to rescue them when their boat also capsized. All four drowned in the lake.

Deputy Finn had been appointed a deputy when Sheriff Webster took office on January 1st, 1911. He had previously served as City Marshal of Ellsworth.