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Note: News Story in August 10, 1938 (Wednesday) Courier-News, Elgin, IL
RICHARD SANDEWAY SHOT DEAD BY WOUNDED OFFICER
Former Elginite Battles Police at Mason, Mich.
Richard Clarence Sandeway, 50 years old, a resident of Elgin until three years ago and father of three local women, was shot and killed by a Mason, Mich. policeman and who he had fatally wounded early Saturday morning in the Mason business district it was learned here today.
Sandeway opened fire on the police officer, James Raymond Hinkley, 52 years old, when he saw him escorting his estranged wife, Blanche, home from a restaurant where she was employed.
As Hinkley fell to the pavement, fatally wounded by Sandeway's bullet, he opened fire with his service revolver and killed the former Elgin man. Hinkley died a few minutes after he was taken to a Mason hospital.
Sandeway, a resident of Elgin for 12 years during which time he was employed as a stonecutter at the Elgin Granite Works had been estranged from his wife for several weeks.
When questioned by Mason authorities she said she was afraid of her husband as he had threatened her life. She said that Sandeway visited the restaurant where she was employed early in the evening and threatened her life. He later telephoned her but she refused to talk to him.
As she finished work, she met patrolman Hinkley. She explained to the officer that she was afraid of her husband and feared that he intended to carry out his threats. She asked Patrolman Hinkley to walk home with her and he consented, her residence being only a short distance from the cafe.
Mrs. Sandeway and Patrolman Hinkley had walked only a short distance from the restaurant when Mason police claim Sandeway stepped out from a doorway and opened fire. Hinkley was struck by several of the bullets and fell to the pavement. As he lay in the street he pulled his own gun and returned Sandeway's fire.
Mrs. Sandeway escaped uninjured in the gun battle. She told police that her husband was extremely jealous of her and had accused her of going out with other men. She claimed that his suspicions were without foundation.
Sandeway was buried in Mason Monday. Born in Hollan October 22, 1878, Sandeway came to the United States with his parents when he was 11 years old, settling in Morrison, IL. His firs wife, Myrtle Elsey of Chicago, died in 1931.
Besides the widow, he is survived by four daughters, Mrs. Edna Cheperka, 304 Dundee Ave., Mrs. Irene Henry, 456 Dundee Ave, Mrs. Lillian Gould, rural route 3, Elgin and Lena Sandeway, whose present whereabouts are unknown. Miss Sandeway disappeared from Elgin about four years ago. It first was believed that she had been slain near Chicago when the body of an unidentified girl was discovered in a ditch near Favinia Park. Relatives went there to view the body but found that it was not the missing Elgin girl. No trace has ever been found of Miss Sandeway, however.
Sandeway also is survived by a brother, Harry, of Rock Island, IL. News story in the Ingham County News (EXTRA) Mason, Michigan, Saturday, August 6, 1938
TWO KILLED IN GUNFIRE
Nightwatch and Drunk-Crazed Man Fight it Out
Husband was jealous of attention given to wife by local policeman
James Ray Hinkley, 52, Mason Policeman, and Richard Sandway, 58, dueled to death at the corner of Jefferson and Ash streets at 2:25 Saturday morning. Sandway killed the policeman with a 12-gage shotgun. Hinkley slew Sandway with four shots from a 38-caliber Colt's police special revolver. The duel was fought at a range of four feet. The victims fell side by side, their blood mingling on the sidewalk and oozing into the gutter.
Mrs. Blanch Sandway, estranged wife of one of the victims, was unharmed. Just before the shooting she ran screaming down West Ash street and had reached the alley between the C.W. Browne and the Dart National bank buildings when the five shots were fired in almost one burst.
According to Mrs. Sandway, Norval Jones and Douglas MacDonald, son of Sheriff Allan A. MacDonald, the first shot was from the shotgun. If their impressions are correct, Hinkley fired four shots as he was falling to the sidewalk.
The policeman received the shotgun charge in the pit of the stomach. Hinkley killed Sandway with four shots, one through each lung, one in the side of the head and one through the right wrist. The men died almost instantly. As she reached the alley, Mrs. Sandway turned back. Beneath the street light she saw the prostrate forms of her husband and the officer. In fright she raced back to the corner, paused momentarily to see Hinkley move his hand and heard him groan. Then she ran north down Jefferson street with the intention of returning to Harvey's restaurant when she was met by people running to the scene of the shooting. She stopped and retraced her steps to the entrance to the Dart Bank building where she remained until the bodies were removed.
Sandway was crazed with drink and with jealousy which Mrs. Sandway claims was without foundation. Mrs. Sandway is employed as night cook in the Fred Harvey restaurant. Twice during the night her husband, with whom she had been separated since Sunday, was in the restaurant. A half-hour before the restaurant and beer parlor was closed at two o'clock Sandway had tried to telephone his wife. She would not talk with him over the telephone and did not talk with him when he visited the restaurant. She was in the kitchen and did not enter the dining room while her husband was being served. He had three or four glasses of beer on his two visits to the place.
HUSBAND HAD THREATENED
Hinkley came along just as Mrs. Sandway was leaving the restaurant, Mrs. Sandway said, and offered to escort her tot he Fannie Henderson apartment at 521 South Jefferson Where Mrs. Sandway had taken residence Monday after leaving her husband.
As the policeman and Mrs. Sandway reached the corner of Maple and Jefferson Sandway drove his car slowly past them. Mrs. Sandway ran to the stairs leading to the Lathrop studio. Hinkley grabbed her arm and said, "No running now. Get hold of yourself and walk along."
As Hinkley and Mrs. Sandway were in front of Salibury's hardware they saw a man standing at the corner of the bank. It was Sandway. He had driven his car down Jefferson to Ash and then had driven west to the Modern Cleaners, where his car was found after the shooting. Norval Jones shouted a warning from across the street.
It was not until they were within 10 feet of Sandway that the policeman and Mrs. Sandway recognized the man. As they walked past him they saw he had a shotgun at his side. Just as they passed him he said, "Jim, see here."
The policeman, according to Mrs. Sandway, turned and saw Sandway with his gun to his shoulder. The officer shouted, "No, Dick, no". Then Mrs. Sandway ran west on Ash and before she reached the alley the shooting was done and the two men were gasping out their last breaths.
Hinkley is survived by his wife who was visiting in Ann Arbor Thursday and Friday. She was expected home Saturday morning. Two brothers, Ralph and Neil, also remain. Sandway is survived by his wife and by three daughters who reside in Elgin, Illinois. Another daughter disappeared 10 years ago.
HARD DRINKER
Sandway came to Mason four years ago. He was an expert stone cutter and came here to accept employment with Leo L. Kelly. Mrs. Sandway was formerly Mrs. Lewis G. Dietrick. Mr. and Mrs. Dietrick separated and divorce was granted in 1933. The following year Sandway came to Mason. he was a widower. On June 27, 1936, Mrs. Dietrick became the wife of Sandway. They were married by the Rev. James Fowker in the Methodist parsonage. They lived in Mason about a year and then moved to Williamson where Sandway was employed by Carlton Hunter. Last November, following several periods of drunkenness, Hunter discharged Sandway.
Mrs. Sandway said that on the night Sandway was discharged he spent the night searching for Hunter to gain revenge. She said her husband left the house with his revolver and fired several shots, then pocketed the weapon and started for Mason to seek out Hunter. The employer was not found and Sandway returned to Williamston the next morning in a drunken stupor and cast his loaded revolver into a pile of rubbish in the basement.
In January Mr. and Mrs. Sandway returned to Mason where the husband again joined the Kelly firm. The Sandways made their home in the Penberthy apartments on Sycamore Street. For several months Sandway had been going on periodic sprees, Mrs. Sandway said.
"When Dick was sober there was no better natured man," said Mrs. Sandway, "but when he was drunk he was ugly. My regard for him was lost with the booze. Sunday I decided to leave. I couldn't stand any more."
Mrs. Sandway rented an apartment of Mrs. Fannie Hendes and moved in Monday night.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights Hinkley escorted Mrs. Sandway to her home. She was afraid of her husband. In the sheriff's office after the shooting, Mrs. Sandway declared there was no romance between her and the officer. She said Hinkley escorted her home because he knew she was afraid to go home alone. On several occasions while she was living with her husband, the officer had taken her home, she said. When Sandway was sober he made no objections to the officer's attention to his wife, she declared, but in his cups he accused her of unfaithfulness.
On Friday Mrs. Henderson attended the Fowlerville fair. When she returned to Mason Friday night she went to the restaurant to tell Mrs. Sandway that the porch light above the entrance would be turned on so Mrs. Sandway would not be frightened at the darkness.
The night policeman usually ate a lunch at Harvey's restaurant about one o'clock in the morning. He was in the restaurant Saturday morning about his usual hour but was not in the establishment while Sandway was present.
Officer Hinkley had foreseen trouble with Sandway. Several nights before the shooting he had stopped at the sheriff's office and told them that he would have to bring in Sandway for drunkenness within a few nights. The city officer said Sandway was disorderly night after night. However, Leo Kelly said Sandway was sober Thursday and Friday and that on Friday Sandway had remained at the shop until six o'clock getting out work.
On Monday night Sandway was drunk. He was sitting in front of the Kelly office on Park street and shouting to Nelson Brown to find Attorney Raymond McLean. As the men were engaged in conversation the attorney appeared. Questioned by reporters Saturday morning, Mrs. McLean said that Sandway told him he has been locked out of his house by his wife.
Sandway is a veteran of the Spanish-American War. He served in the Philippines. Hinkley served in the state constabulary, the forerunner of the Michigan state police during the World War. He was a blacksmith for a number of years and then was employed by the county road commission. He was appointed nightwatch in December of 1936.
Norvall Jones notified Fred Fry, jail turnkey of the shooting. Fry had been awakened by the shots and was in the office when Jones rushed in. Douglas MacDonald, who had returned late from the Holt homecoming, also heard the shots.
Deputies Fry, Jack Lechler and Ora Langham and the sheriff ran to the bank cornier. Coroner Ray Gorsline of Lansing and Justice William S. Seelye were summoned. Dr. LeMoyne Snyder, medical-legal examiner of the state police also viewed the bodies. At four o'clock the bodies were taken to he Jewett funeral home.
Sundays morning's murder was the first in Mason in at least 30 years.
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