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Officer Arnold Borson
Born: October 7, 1902
Died - August 22, 1936
Officer Borson was shot on Tuesday, August 18, 1936 and died on August 22, 1936.
From the Brainerd Daily Dispatch - August 18, 1936
Ghent, MN - Authorities to Southwestern Minnesota and Northwestern Iowa today were warned to be on the lookout for two bandits who wounded Arnold Borson, Ghent, policeman, during an exchange of gunfire early today.
It was believed a shotgun blast fired at the bandits by Borson when he surprised them in the act of rifling the Dierickx garage took effect of one of them.
Hospitals and physicians were requested to report anyone requesting treatment for shotgun wounds.
Arnold Borson, town marshal, was shot through the neck when one of the bandits whipped out a small revolver as he was taken into custody.
Burglar alarm connections from the garage strongbox to the Derickx home brought Borson and John VanKeulon, his brother-in-law to the scene with the proprietor. Through a window two men were seen inside the garage.
As Borson shouted "You're covered," one of the burglars crashed through a garage window, Derickx fired his shotgun at the man and bloodstains found later on a sidewalk indicated the bandit was wounded.
The second burglar was "covered" by Borson and Van Keulon during the scuffle and marched onto the street. Then VanKeulon returned to the garage to see if anyone else was within.
The bandit guarded by Borson fired a small revolver at the officer, the bullet entering his neck, and he then bolted to freedom. Borson was taken to a Marshall, Minn., hospital ten miles east where his condition was serious.
Authorities expressed the belief the first burglar was concealing himself in a roadside ditch near the village limits and a hunt was instituted.
Mother: Olive Borson and
Florence VanAltovorst-Borson
On May 16, 2008, WCCO reporter Heather Brown did a story on Officer Borson. http://wcco.com/local/officer.shot.arnold.2.725584.html
Through her research she found that the police department is now gone but the spot where Borson was shot still stands. It's an empty store front - a memory Mildred DeCramer remembers well. DeCramer was only 12 at the time of the shooting. Months after the shooting a local man stood trial. DeCramer's dad and uncle identified him as the shooter, but after 19 hours of deliberations, the jury acquitted him. Borson's grad-nephew is a police officer in Colorado.