Wreath being placed at memorial for PA state trooper killed in 1929

SHENANGO TWP. ― At noon Dec. 27, Lawrence County Commissioner Dan Vogler and county President Judge Dominick Motto will place a wreath at the monument of state police Cpl. Brady Paul.

They will be joined by state and local police officers, both current and retired. The public is welcome to attend.

For more than 10 years, the two men have held the brief ceremony every year on the anniversary of Paul being shot in the line of duty.

At noon on Dec. 27, 1929, Paul was shot at that spot on the Butler Road in Shenango Township by Irene Schroeder and Glenn Dague. Paul was dead on arrival at the Jameson Memorial Hospital in New Castle. A source reported Paul told witnesses to “tell the boys I did my duty,” and died moments later.

He was buried in Mount Prospect Cemetery, Hickory Township, and was survived by his mother of Washington Township.

The Butler Road was renamed Old Butler Road when new U.S. Route 422 was constructed.

Vogler said he and Motto share an interest in Lawrence County history and did not want Paul's sacrifice to be forgotten.

"We thought that perhaps his monument was becoming overlooked and forgotten. We believe it's appropriate for the two of us, along with law enforcement officials and members of the public to honor the memory of his sacrifice," he said.

On Nov. 7, 1900, Paul was born in Hickory, Washington County. Paul was 6'2" tall and 25 years old when he became a member of the State Highway Patrol in 1926.

At 11:50 a.m. on Dec. 27, 1929, Paul and Patrolman Ernest Moore set up a roadblock on the Butler Highway 3 miles east of New Castle to stop a Chevrolet sedan bearing Ohio registration plates involved in robberies in Butler. The officers stopped the suspect vehicle, driven by Glenn Dague. With Dague were Irene Schroeder and her 5-year-old son and her brother Tom Crawford. When Paul asked Dague to step out of the car, Schroeder came around from the passenger side and fired shots at both officers. Moore recovered from his wounds. The killers sped off, stole a new car at gunpoint, and fled, leaving Schroeder's brother and son behind.

Dague and Schroeder were apprehended 19 days later in a shoot-out with a sheriff's posse in Arizona. They were extradited to Pennsylvania to face murder charges. A special prosecutor, Charles J. Margiotti, handled the Commonwealth's case that drew nationwide attention.

"The fact that the trials for Irene Schroeder and Glenn Dague took place in the original courtroom of the Lawrence County Courthouse and attracted national attention in 1930 is intriguing to me and Judge Motto. Also, Judge Motto recently spearheaded the restoration of that courtroom so now it looks very much like it would have in 1930," Vogler said.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Ceremony planned to remember state trooper killed 94 years ago in Lawrence County