Officer James L Gardner

End of Watch : November 1, 1916

OFFICER JAMES L. GARDNER
Osseo Police Department
Died: November 1, 1916

J.L. Gardner, 44 years old was "shot down in cold blood while in attendance of his official duties as marshal of this village." Gardner was shot at about 1:15 A.M. on Friday, October 27, 1916, by Frank Odenbreit. The weapon was a double barrel shotgun which Odenbreit had borrowed a short time before. The discharge entered the officer's intestines. He was taken to Swedish Hospital in Minneapolis where he died on November 1, 1916.

Gardner had feared trouble from Frank Odenbreit on the night of the incident and told another person that should he be called to the Odenbreit home during the evening that he would arrest Frank as it was believed that Frank was not normal and that he just might shoot someone. Odenbreit had a history of mental illness and about six years prior had been confined to the State Hospital for the Insane in Rochester for a several month period before being declared "normal".

On the night of the trouble the marshal had been called twice during the early hours to restore peace. Odenbreit had been drinking and was in an ugly mood. He had broken furniture and Mrs. Annie Odenbreit, a sister-in-law of Odenbreit's, who was the only eye-witness. She is the one who called the officer to the scene and she is the one the officer was trying to protect when the attack was made. The perpetrator had set fire to Mrs. Odenbreit's house and left the scene presumably to get the gun. Annie ran to the police department and called Gardner. He accompanied her back to the house and extinguished the flames. Afterwards she went to the barn to see if her children who had been left there for safety, were safe. She got to the barn as Gardner came out of the house and saw Frank Odenbreit appear from around the corner. Odenbreit called out, "is that you, Gardner?" Gardner answered it was and Frank fired and struck Gardner in the abdomen.

The Sheriff's Office was called and Chief Deputy John Wall and Deputy Charles Budd investigated the scene. They arrested Frank Odenbreit at his home on the north end of town. He was found guilty and served time in Stillwater State Prison.

Nels C Anderson

George Connery