Time Machine: C.R. patrolman in 1957 killed man wanted for writing bad checks

Marion Reed grew up on his family's poultry hatchery on 42nd Street NE. He married Janet Smith in 1951 while he worked as manager of McLeod Springs Water Co. in Waterloo. In 1956 Reed passed his exams to become a patrolman in the Cedar Rapids Police Department, joining the department in January.

Dorrance McEnany grew up in Marion. He played bunco (a dice game) at St. Joseph's parish and went to school at St. Berchman's Seminary. Dorrance was almost 14 when his father, Michael, died of pneumonia in February 1938. After lettering in track his senior year at Marion High School in 1941, Dorrance joined the Navy.

He served overseas during World War II and, at the end of his tour of duty, returned home to his mother, Margaret's, nursing home at 896 Fifth Ave. in Marion. Margaret died in 1947, and Dorrance's older brother Dale and his wife took over the home, finally selling it in October 1954. By then, Dorrance had gotten married, but it was a rocky relationship. His wife, Geraldine, filed for divorce several times before making it final in July 1957.

At about 7 p.m. Aug. 20, 1957, Cedar Rapids Patrolman Marion Reed shot and killed Dorrance McEnary, 33.

Reed, 31, said he was walking along the Fourth Street tracks between Second and Third avenues when he saw a man sitting on the steps of a card room south of the Taft Hotel. Reed said the man resembled a photo posted in the patrolmen's assembly room at the police station. McEnany was wanted for passing a string of bad checks since early July.

Reed approached the suspect and asked if he was McEnany. McEnany said, 'No,” and started walking toward Third Avenue. Reed caught up to him and asked for his identification. McEnany said it was in his hotel room and gestured toward Second Avenue. Reed then grabbed McEnany's arm , turned him around and started walking back toward Second Avenue.

When they reached the alley behind the Hall-Ekfelt store at 400 Third Ave., McEnany broke loose and ran east. Reed gave chase, but McEnany was outdistancing him. Reed pulled his gun and fired a warning shot. McEnany kept running toward Fifth Street.

Reed fired again, this time striking a window 12 feet above the sidewalk on the northwest corner of The Gazette building. McEnany continued down the alley beside the newspaper plant. Reed said he noticed transformers on an overhead bridge and lowered his gun, intending to fire a third warning shot into the ground.

Instead, the gun fired in midair, and the bullet struck McEnany in the back, passed through his body and hit the back of a car parked near the alley on Sixth Street.

Reed called for spectators to get an ambulance. McEnany was gasping for air. The hit was fatal.

An autopsy was performed at about 10 p.m. at St. Luke's hospital by a Dr. Weland. He said the slug pierced a lung and the artery between the lungs and the heart. He concluded the wound caused internal bleeding that resulted in McEnany's death.

A search of the alley by detectives turned up little. The slug was discovered the next night, but newspaper accounts didn't say by whom. The .38 caliber slug was near a car parked at the Sixth Street end of the alley. It was covered in a substance that could have been blood or bodily fluid, but it was not tested in a laboratory. It was assumed to be the one that killed McEnany.

A three-person coroner's jury convened Aug. 21 at the Monahan Funeral Home at 824 First Ave. NE. Twelve witnesses testified. One man at the Taft Hotel saw McEnany break away from Reed and start running. Two others testified that they heard Reed order McEnany to stop several times before the fatal shot was fired. Reed testified that he did not intend to shoot McEnany. 'The shots were meant as warnings,” he said. 'I kept yelling at McEnany to stop.”

The jury deliberated about 20 minutes before declaring Patrolman Marion L. Reed was performing his duty as an officer when he fatally shot McEnany. They ruled the death accidental. Reed had been with the department just eight months.