New Book Explores Unsolved Murder of E.C. Police Chief
1920s Eau Claire had more than its share of bank robbers, moonshiners, and jailbreakers
Scott Dyar was first drawn to the unsolved murder of an early Eau Claire police chief by the lure of lost treasure. Early in his days in Eau Claire – where he came to attend UW-Eau Claire and stayed to become a teacher – Dyar heard rumors of a cache of loot somewhere along the Chippewa River.
Those rumors, it turns out, have a historical basis: On July 25, 1921, a masked bandit stole more than $1,000 in fares from Eau Claire’s trolley system and disappeared into the brush along the river. Pursued by police, the bandit shot Chief Elmer Sundby – whose wounds later proved fatal. More than a century later, the killer has never been identified and the stolen money has never been found.
Dyar, who teaches history and other subjects at Eleva-Strum High School, began to research the case in recent years, and his work resulted in a recently published book, Murder on the Chippewa: Homicide, Robbery, and Lost Loot in 1920s Eau Claire. While the volume is a relatively slim 84 pages, it’s undoubtedly the most detailed examination of the case since police puzzled over it a century ago.
Though attracted by tantalizing tales of treasure, Dyar says he stuck with the story because of the man at the center of it: Sundby, a Norwegian immigrant with a hardscrabble upbringing who had no law enforcement training when he joined the police force, but pursued the job with gusto. The author uncovered several instances where Sundby brandished his weapon at lawbreakers or was the target of fire himself.
“There’s recklessness and there’s bravery, and depending on how you want to look at him, he probably had a little bit of both,” Dyar said of Sundby, who was promoted to chief in 1916.
The book also sheds light on life in Eau Claire during the Roaring Twenties. The city of 20,000 people – or at least its underbelly – was a lively place full of bank robbers, moonshiners, jailbreakers, and other criminals. It’s among these that police (and now Dyar) sought for suspects: The book offers profiles of eight men who were either investigated at the time or had either means, motive, or opportunity to commit the crime. Among them are Edward “Shine” Allen, who shot and wounded the new police chief just a month after the Sundby killing, and Gus Saunders and Stanley Russell, a pair of bank robbers who managed to escape from the Eau Claire County Jail just a month before the murder.
Readers are free to draw their own conclusions about whether or not one (or more) of these suspects had a hand in the crime. And whether they solve the puzzle or not, Dyar hopes readers gain a fuller picture of what the city was like more than 100 years ago.
“Eau Claire was just as vibrant and lively as St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Chicago in this period of time,” he said. “It’s not this sleepy backwater town that some people thought. It’s quite alive with danger and drama.”
Murder on the Chippewa by Scott Dyar is available at The Local Store, 205 N. Dewey St., as well as on Amazon.com.
