On August 14. 1923, Minneapolis police motorcab inspector Emil Engstrom and L.W. Taylor, president of the Red Top Cab Company, had been tipped off that a William Stauffer, who was a driver for Red Top Cab, was the man who was involved in the holdup of a bakery wagon, where the driver was beaten and robbed.

Acting on this tip, the two men were out cruising around the streets looking for Stauffer. They spotted him walking along Grant Street near Fifth Avenue South, and approached him. Taylor swung his car toward the curb and Patrolman Engstrom leaped out, calling "I want to talk to you" to Stauffer.

As he stepped forward, Stauffer, sensing their mission, whipped out a pistol and fired. Engstrom, fell, mortally wounded.

"I shouted, 'You've killed him,'" Taylor later told police. "Then I jumped toward him. He fired once more, and I fell. I could see him run down the street, waving the pistol in his hand."

The gunman ran toward Fifteenth and Nicollet, dodged behind a passing motorcar and disappeared.

Taylor staggered down the street and was met by a motorcab driver who was passing by. Taylor was able only to point toward Patrolman Engstrom's body, lying on the sidewalk, before he himself collapsed.

The driver lifted Engstrom into his cab, halted a passing car and saw that Taylor was started toward the hospital before he sped Engstrom to the General hospital.

Patrolman Engstrom was shot through the neck and died at the General hospital, three hours after the shooting, when a blood transfusion failed to give him strength. A moment before he died, Engstrom identified Stauffer as the man who shot him.

Taylor was critically wounded with a gunshot in the right side. The bullet lodged near his right lung. Surgeons reported that he had better than an even chance for recovery.

A massive manhunt for Patrolman Engstrom's killer centered in and near the Minneapolis loop district, as citizens and police sought William Stauffer. The police were under orders to "shoot to kill," but found no definite clues to the whereabouts of the murderer.

Patrolmen who worked with Engstrom at the central station collected a fund of $100.00, to be offered as a reward for the capture of the slayer. The Ku Klux Klan announced a contribution of $100.00 toward a fund as a reward for Stauffer's capture.

One hundred cards bearing Stauffer's description and photograph were distributed to precinct stations and surrounding towns. Radio stations broadcast descriptions of the man. Every announcement included the warning "He will shoot to kill if cornered."

Efforts of Captain of Detectives Walter E. Bryant were centered on proving a connection between Stauffer, a disgruntled war veteran and narcotic addict, and the drug-crazed bandit who shot and killed a drug store clerk in front of the Calhoun Pharmacy, 3049 Hennepin Avenue, in an attempted robbery of the pharmacy, two days before the Engstrom murder.

Descriptions of Stauffer and of the man who killed the drug clerk are believed by police to tally exactly. "Stauffer is the most dangerous man ever at large in Minneapolis," Captain Bryant said.

Broken in spirit and near the point of collapse from lack of sleep, William Stauffer surrendered himself and the murder weapon to the police without a fight, declaring "I won't be hunted like a dog." His dramatic arrest brought a wind-up to a thrilling manhunt which had lasted 48 hours and which had brought out every man on the Minneapolis police force.

Stauffer had a long police record which included disorderly conduct, robbery, and intoxication for which he served 90 days in the workhouse. His army record included a number of guardhouse terms. He had previously been discharged as a driver for being intoxicated, and was known as a narcotic addict, according to officials of the U.S. Veterans Bureau. He came to Minneapolis from Des Moines, Iowa in 1921.

Since there were no witnesses to the shooting of Patrolman Engstrom and L.W. Taylor, it was necessary for Taylor to identify the gunman in order to link up evidence against Stauffer.

William Stauffer was held in the city jail without charge, until physicians at General hospital reported that Mr. Taylor had recovered sufficiently to identify him, Police feared that Taylor might not live to appear as a witness in court.

Stauffer was then taken from jail under heavy guard and compelled to face Taylor who identified him as the man who shot them. The wounded man was able to undergo the stressful ordeal.

Funeral services for Patrolman Engstrom were held on August 17, 1923 at the Swedish Tabernacle, Seventh Street and Eighth Avenue South. Motorcycle squads from the police traffic department, of which Engstrom was a member, escorted the body from the tabernacle to Lakewood cemetery chapel, where Masonic services were conducted and burial took place.

Patrolman Engstrom was a special officer for various Minneapolis firms for a number of years. He became a member of the police force January 1, 1923, and was assigned duty in the traffic department. He was 36 years of age, married, and lived at 2615 Ninth Street South, where the reviewal was held.

An autopsy recovered the bullet which killed Engstrom. It passed through his neck, severing a blood vessel, then lodged in the right shoulder.

Capital punishment was urged for William Stauffer, as he was arraigned on murder and attempted murder charges. His lawyers entered a plea of temporary insanity as his defense. Stauffer stated during the trial, "They call me a murderer, but if I have ever killed anyone, I was out of my head with liquor."

Stauffer was convicted of murder and sent to Stillwater Prison for life.