Memorial to slain game wardens to be dedicated Monday in New Ulm

• Memorial

A memorial to three Minnesota game wardens slain in the line of duty July 12, 1940, includes the following inscription: “This memorial is dedicated to Minnesota game wardens Dudley P. Brady, A. Melvin Holt, and Marcus Emerson Whipps, who were killed in the line of duty on July 12, 1940. … These wardens died serving the state of Minnesota and protecting our natural resources.”

Talk about it

NEW ULM — Seven decades after a group of unarmed Minnesota game wardens were shot to death over illegal bullhead fishing, the three men will be honored Monday with a ceremony and a memorial in New Ulm.

Dudley P. Brady of Windom, A. Melvin Holt of Worthington and Marcus Whipps of Kasota were all killed in the line of duty July 12, 1940, in Waterville, while investigating an illegal bullhead shipping operation that reached from Des Moines, Iowa, to Sioux Falls, S.D., and points north.

“I grew up with this story,” said Betty McGuire of New London, Holt’s great-niece. “It has been many years since the murders, but I think it is wonderful to know that DNR (Department of Natural Resources) officials and others still care about these three men.”

Only 14 Minnesota conservation officers, once known as “game wardens,” have ever been killed in the line of duty, and only five of those were murdered — three on that single day in July 71 years ago.

The slayings were shocking, both to the communities the men belonged to and to the Department of Natural Resources, then called the Department of Conservation. At that time, game wardens were not required to wear uniforms and were not permitted to carry firearms during the day.

“After this, within a year we were all issued firearms and were required to carry them,” said Greg Abraham, a Minnesota conservation officer stationed in New Ulm. “Within a year, all the wardens were issued uniforms.”

Bootleg bullheads

In the late 1930s, as the U.S. struggled to come out of the Great Depression, bullheads were highly prized as a food. A new law was passed in 1939 restricting the fishing and possession of bullheads to 50 per day, which put a major crimp in commercial bullhead seining and sales.

Illegal bullhead rings sprang up everywhere, and illicitly caught fish were showing up in markets all over the Midwest. The trade was lucrative and the tension between commercial fishermen and game wardens grew dangerously volatile.

“Previous to this, there had been some gun battles between fishermen and wardens up in the county of Itasca, based on the same regulations,” Abraham explained. “It wasn’t just down here. It was a statewide situation.”

According to the Associated Press, Whipps and another warden, W.W. Richardson of Faribault, were leading an investigation into the bootleg bullhead market when Whipps was murdered.

It was Holt, however, that reportedly had uncovered the clues that led to the tragic Waterville trip and the incident that came to be known as “Black Friday.”

Initially, Holt and Brady together visited a commercial fishery operation operated by Bryant Baumgartner off Lake Sakatah, in Waterville. The wardens were ordered off the property, and complied, but later returned with Whipps in order to inspect the fishery. They asked Baumgartner for his records and fishing license, and he went into his home.

Baumgartner came out with an automatic shotgun.

“It’s no use getting smart with that thing, Baumgartner,” said Brady, according to surviving eyewitnesses.

“I’ll show you whether I’ll get smart,” Baumgartner replied, fatally shooting all three unarmed game wardens before he turned the gun on himself.

Remembering the slain

Abraham first heard about the tragedy from his father, a retired state trooper, and learned more about it when he was hired as a conservation officer. Retired game warden Woody Schermann described the tragedy in his book, “Minnesota Game Warden.”

Later, Abraham and Lt. Joe Frear, a conservation officer in Waseca, started making efforts towards a memorial.

The conservation officers raised $6,000 for the memorial, all gathered from officers and DNR employees. The stone memorial in New Ulm includes a bronze plaque with an inscription describing the events that occurred and giving the wardens’ names, along with two stone benches.

“I think it’s the duty of the officers now to recognize and to honor the sacrifice that these wardens and their families went through in service to the state of Minnesota, and to the game warden service,” Abraham said. “I think it’s about time that we formally recognize their dedication and service.”

Abraham and Frear are still searching for Brady’s surviving relatives, though they have found relations of Whipps and Holt, who will attend the memorial Monday.

“We’d like help in trying to find someone, even if it’s too late to attend the memorial,” Abraham said.

Wilma Nadeau, McGuire’s mother and Holt’s niece, is excited about attending the memorial.

At the age of 92, Nadeau still remembers the day her family received news of the tragedy — and she was the one who had to tell her grandparents their son had been killed.

“She said it was one of the hardest things she ever did,” McGuire said.

The plaque and memorial will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Monday at the Minnesota DNR Region 4 headquarters in New Ulm.

Anyone with information about Brady’s surviving relatives may call Abraham at (507) 947-3597, or contact Frear at (507) 835-5516.

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