The Cleveland Police Museum is honored to tell the stories of our fallen officers on the anniversaries of their End of Watch.
Elmer P. Glaefke was appointed to the Cleveland Police Department in November, 1909. He was assigned to plain clothes duty and worked out of the Broadway/Jones Road Station.
Patrolmen Elmer Glaefke and John Walsh stopped three suspicious men at the corner of Seager Avenue and East 86th and lined them up, searching for hidden weapons. When Walsh searched one of the men, the other two drew pistols and fired past Walsh at Glaefke. Glaefke fell to the ground, shot in the head, heart and abdomen, he died almost immediately.
All three men fled, pursued by Walsh. Walsh emptied his revolver at the fleeing men and claimed to have struck one of them. The suspect fell to the ground but was carried off by the other two fleeing men. Walsh lost track of the three suspects in the area of East 93rd and Cannon.
A short time later police arrested two of the suspects. Walsh identified the two men and issued first degree murder warrants against them. The third suspect was eventually arrested and also charged with murder.
Elmer P. Glaefke was survived by his wife, Anna, and two children, Norman, 8, and Eleanor, 3. On September 15, 1917, Elmer Glaefke was laid to rest at the Harvard Grove Cemetery.