Patrolman John F. Young was killed by a bullet from the gun of a bandit early on the morning of July 13, 1919, when he and Patrolman O.W. Hidinger saw an automobile standing in the middle of the street near Second and Washington Avenues North with the engine running.

Walking over to the side of the machine, Patrolman Young laid his hand on the door, looked at the lone occupant and asked, "What are you doing here?"

No sooner had he spoken than the man in the machine placed an automatic pistol to Young's breast and pulled the trigger. Patrolman Young fell into the arms of Patrolman Hidinger who was standing behind him.

Before Hidinger could place Young on the pavement and draw his own pistol, four men, attracted by the shot, ran from a nearby alley entrance, jumped into the machine, and started it toward Marquette Avenue.

In the meantime, Hidinger had put Patrolman Young down and taken out his pistol. He fired a fusillade of shots at the fleeing machine, which was answered by dozens of shots from the pistols of the men in the escaping automobile.

One of the bandit's bullets struck Young as he lay dying in the street. The automobile, when it cross Marquette Avenue traveling on Washington Avenue South, was going at the rate of about 60 miles an hour, Patrolman Hidinger said.

Four of his bullets, Hidinger said, struck the rear of the machine as it fled down Washington Avenue, and another passed through the windshield. This last bullet, he believed, wounded one of the bandits. Hidinger said he saw one of the men hanging from the machine as though he had been hurt.

Four hours after the shooting, the car was found abandoned in a sand pit opposite 1087 Minnehaha Street in St. Paul. Its body, top and windshield showing evidence of the rain of shots.

Patrolman Young was taken to the city hospital, where he died 20 minutes later from the effect of his two wounds.

Police investigation later divulged that the four men who entered the car after the first shot had been attempting to enter the office of the Minneapolis Packing Company, although they had not succeeded in jimmying the door. It is believed the "lookout" dropped his companions at the entrance to the alley at Third Avenue North, driving around to Second Avenue to wait for them. The packing company safe contained considerable money, police said. A robbery of the place five years ago netted $1,000.00.

"Patrolman Young never had a chance," Chief of Police J.F. Walker declared. "He had no reason to expect trouble, and in the darkness there was no opportunity to do more than he did. He died as a brave man should, in the performance of his duty."

Patrolman Hidinger declared positively that he could identify the man who shot Patrolman Young. Hidinger was close behind Young as the latter approached the automobile from which the shots were fired, and although the automobile was in a dark part of the street, Hidinger saw the driver's face distinctly in the reflection of the headlights, he said. Hidinger described the driver as a heavyset man with a large head but small features.

The shooting death of Patrolman Young by bandits and the holdup of the Windsor Hotel in St. Paul by four men a day later led Minneapolis and St. Paul police to believe the hotel bandits and the murders of Patrolman were the same. "Every effort of the police departments of the Twin Cities are being bent today in an effort to trap the murders," declared Chief Walker. "St. Paul police have cooperated with us in every way possible. Although they guarded every avenue of escape, the men may have gotten away through St. Anthony Park."

St. Paul police chief John J. O'Connor advanced the theory that the murder of Patrolman Young was committed by Chicago gangsmen. A recent clean up of Chicago had driven many men and women of unsavory reputation to other cities, and it was thought possible that the five men came to the Twin Cities together from Chicago.

In spite of a reward of $500.00 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer that was offered by Mayor J.E. Meyers, and the arrest of numerous suspects by both city policy departments, no one was identified or charged with Patrolman Young's murder.

Funds were collected for the benefit of the families of Patrolman Young and Patrolman George F. Woessner, a motorcycle policeman killed in an accident approximately three weeks earlier on June 24th, and deposited at the Midland National Bank.

Patrolman Young was 50 years old and a 26-year veteran of the police department. He lived at 2517 Twenty-eighth Avenue South with his wife and children.

Funeral services for Young took place at his residence, followed by services at Holy Rosary Church. Interment was at St. Mary's cemetery on July 16, 1919. Chief of Police Walker headed a delegation of Minneapolis policeman and detectives who marched in the funeral procession. The pallbearers were all men with whom Young had worked.

More than 1,000 persons attended the services, it was estimated.