Dallas Police Officer J.W.Dieken was born on February 26,
1902 in Grundy Center Iowa. His parents were John and Mary Lingelbach Dieken.
John attended country schools and graduated from Dike High School in 1922.
During the years 1927-28 John tried to become a pilot in the
fledgling Army Air Corps. Like many young men who tried to fly his eyesight was
not what it should have been to pilot an aircraft. He was honorably discharged
in 1928.
When John was 27 he enlisted in the Marine Corps on January
27, 1930. He trained at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa and then completed his training at
San Diego, California.
He was soon sent overseas and served in China for most of
the four years that he was in the Marines. He was honorably discharged on
January 26, 1934 at Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia.
I have a photograph of John in his Marine Corp uniform
probably taken in China. He looks exactly like the painting of the officer that
now hangs in the hallway of the Dallas Police Academy. I also have copy of an
employment card that apparently was used by the DPD in the 1930’s. It indicates
that John communicated to the department by telephone and that he was given a
personal interview. The card also had an unmarked box that was used only if the
appointee was not hired. This was checked if the person wanting to be a Dallas
officer wanted to be “kept on the list.”
It’s not apparent why Dieken came to Dallas from Iowa to
become a police officer. However he did marry the former “Miss Margaret Smith
of Dallas, Texas.” This marriage
happened in Dallas on August 17, 1934, only a month or so after he was hired by
the DPD. One could surmise that Margaret
was the reason for the move south. However it’s not clear if John met her after
he moved here or he knew her before. The obituary lists Margaret’s address
however as 702 N. Collett in Dallas. This is probably her parents address but
again it’s not clear.
It is clear however that he and Margaret bought a house at
821 Pavilion Street. This is the area that is now known as Bryan Place off Ross
Avenue. There is still a structure that has that address, but is not the 1930’s
home that John and his new wife occupied. It was not long after the marriage
that the couple decided to have a child since the baby was born in August,
1935.
I’ve written over the years about the tragic death of
Officer Dieken. He and his motorcycle partner J.C. Dorris were escorting fire
trucks to a three alarm fire in Lakewood at a supermarket on Friday August 9,
1935. Dieken was riding Harley-Davidson police bike “21.” This was actually the
notorious and previously numbered “13” police Harley which was called the
“Widow Maker” by newspapers at the time. DPD Officer Ernest Leonard was killed
on police motorcycle “13”on Tuesday May 28, 1935 riding on S.Denley in Oak
Cliff and while chasing a speeding car. After this accident (not the first on
#13) the bike was re-built, re-painted and re-numbered “21” as if the bad karma
of the motorcycle would disappear without the unlucky “13” attached to it. By
the way, there is no current numbered “13” police bike in the DPD inventory
today, or maybe since the accident.
On Friday, August 9, 1935 Dieken was hit at the intersection
of Parry and Fletcher by a Mrs. Boyd of Brownwood who ran a stop sign and was
later charged with Criminally Negligent Homicide. She was in Dallas visiting
relatives that lived in the area around Fair Park. As we know from DPD legend,
the police bike caught on fire while lying on its side after the accident. The
fire eventually burned off the new paint and the number “13” was exposed. It
created a sort of hoopla in Dallas newspapers at the time that it was only then
that it was discovered by officers that this was actually the old unlucky “13.”
It was implied that officers were upset at the City for putting this unlucky
motorcycle back on the street instead of destroying it as would probably
(hopefully) happen today.
This writer finds it hard to believe that police officers,
including Officer Dieken, being suspicious as they are, did not know that he
was riding the re-built “Widow Maker.” I’ve spoken with Dieken’s relatives
before, and they of course are not sure either. I would think that this might
have been a motorcycle that was not assigned to any particular motor jockey,
but was ridden only when their mount was down for service or repair. At any
rate, Dieken was riding the re-built police bike this day, and again it proved
itself very unlucky indeed.
One last item on this motorcycle. After this accident police
officials told the Dallas Morning News that the motorcycle would (really) be
destroyed this time. However Dieken’s relatives have a photograph of an Officer
Bell riding #8 Harley-Davidson a year or so after the accident. The DMN article
states that Bell had no reservations riding the old “Widow Maker.” It had not
been destroyed by the City after all. Apparently Bell was lucky; no further
mention was made of another accident. Number 8 eventually was assigned to new silver
Texas Centennial 1936 Harley bought by the City to patrol during the big
celebration at Fair Park. I have a photograph of police bike #8 around 1940
with DPD Motorcycle Officer Riddell astride it. He left for the Army soon
after, apparently none the worse for wear for riding the descendent of old, and
possibly possessed… #13. What eventually happened to old #13? I wonder if it
currently resides in say…a garage in Old East Dallas.
Officer Dieken died of injuries at the age of 34 at Baylor
hospital on Saturday afternoon. The DPD dispatcher, as was common in those days
and still is in some departments, broadcast over the police radio “Last call
for Dieken…last call for Dieken…Dieken is now on permanent and forever patrol.”
The funeral for
Officer Dieken was held Sunday afternoon at McKamy-Campbell funeral home on
Ross Avenue. The building still stands today, and is now the Belo mansion.
Chiefs including Robert L. Jones and Inspector J.M. Welch were in attendance,
as well as every available DPD officer including Dieken’s partner two days
before, J.C.Dorris. Dieken’s two brothers drove from Grundy Center, Iowa to
Dallas for the funeral. A police escort then escorted the body to the Houston
Street train station for the journey back to Dieken’s hometown of Grundy
Center. A collection of money was taken up from DPD officers to send two
officers, J.C.Dorris and H.C.Leach to accompany the fallen officer to the
funeral in Iowa, which was held the Tuesday next.
Sadly, Margaret Dieken was not able to attend her husband’s
funeral. She had delivered their son, Jack Willis Dieken Jr. just four days
before, and she was still at St.Paul hospital recovering. Jack later became the
high sheriff in Abilene Texas and has attended the yearly police memorial day
in Dallas in honor of his father that he never knew. Ironically, John Dieken
had taken out a $1000.00 insurance policy on his young son just hours before he
was involved in the accident on that Friday afternoon.
In my papers I have an interesting “Dear Chief,” written by
John that again shows things have not changed much over the years with the DPD
in particular and police work in general. It was written on April 4, 1935 which
shows that Dieken might have immediately become a motorcycle officer after
hiring on. In those days, officers would be hired specifically because they
could ride a motorcycle and as such were hired as an “Apprentice Motorcycle Officer.”
It’s actually not known if Dieken was hired as such, but he started riding soon
it seems. Here is the letter in its entirety with some very minor changes for
clarity. According to other sources, the “rocks” were pieces of concrete and
it’s not known if “crowding and yelling” was a police term at the time…and
notice he was riding motor #10 on the date in question.
Chief S.W.Trammell,
Chief of Police.
Sir;
By direction of Acting Lieutenant J.L. Vaughn I wish to
submit a report as follows for the Chiefs information.
At 9:06 P.M. this date Officer Jacobs and I received a call
and were instructed to go to Hall and Thomas streets and clear traffic that had
the streets blocked.
Upon our arrival we found Hall Street blocked from Ross to
State and Thomas Avenue blocked both ways from Hall Street. These streets were
literally jammed with automobiles and people on foot.
We immediately started to work straightening out the traffic
and I proceeded to Hall and State to start the traffic moving in that direction
when suddenly I heard a commotion about fifty yards North of Thomas on Hall and
saw several people crowding and yelling. I hurried to the scene and as I
approached, the crowd started throwing rocks at me but I pushed on in to where
I found four suspects had Officer Jacobs down and were trying to get his
pistol. I picked up one of the rocks that had struck me and used it to knock
out three of the four suspects that had Jacobs down. I then held the fourth
while Jacobs recovered his pistol and placed the handcuffs on him. All this
time other people were throwing rocks at us and in order to disperse the crowd
and to prevent another attack on us Officer Jacobs fired one time into the air.
As soon as we could get out of the crowd we went to a café in the 2300 block on
Hall and called Headquarters for help.
During the above mentioned scuffle I lost police badge #207.
Did not discover the loss until I arrived at Headquarters with three of the
suspects whom we had arrested. Roosevelt Carroll age 23 of 2816 Allen charged
with Aggravated Assault, Inciting a riot, Resisting Arrest and Disturbing the
Peace. Eurial Brown charged with Aggravated Assault, Resisting Arrest and
Disturbing the Peace. Dixon Alphonso Green charged with Inciting a Riot.
When I returned to my motor I found that someone had cut a
hole in the front tire. This was Motor # 10 which I had been riding on my tour
of duty.
Very respectfully,
J.W.Dieken,
Police Officer
This “Dear Chief” is not unlike thousands of others that
have been written by DPD officers before and since this incident at Hall and
Thomas. It begins with why they were the officers at the location, what
happened, who was arrested and trying to explain the resulting damage and loss
of City property. It’s not known if Dieken had to pay for the badge or the
damaged tire on his “motor.” What’s ironic
however is that John Dieken survived four years in the Marine Corps in China,
and then finds himself and his partner fighting for their lives at an obscure
intersection on an April evening in Dallas. What’s sad too is that in a little
more than four months later, this new father would be killed by a possibly
inattentive driver at another obscure intersection in Dallas.
John Dieken had been a Dallas police officer for a little
over 13 months.
Mrs. Boyd was later no-billed by a Dallas County grand jury.
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