McGinley, Michael: 1915

On October 12, 1915, Curry, Canan & Co., a wholesale firm in Altoona, had been the scene of a robbery.   Two masked men held up and robbed one of the owners there, George A. Kelchner.  Mr. Kelchner was robbed of his watch and money, and other things were taken from the store.
About noon on October 13, 1915, Frank Wendt was with his younger brother at a spot just outside Altoona known as Slippery Race Woods.  Both of them had revolvers, and later claimed they had gone there to target shoot.
Michael McGinley was a constable for Altoona.  Jack Coyle told him that he had talked with Frank and Walter Wendt at Slippery Race Woods.  The Wendts told him that two men who were in custody and awaiting a hearing for the robbery were innocent.  They knew that because they were the actual criminals, and showed Coyle some of the loot.
Constable McGinley acted at once on this information, and went to the woods to arrest the two men.  He had previously arrested each of the brothers, and they certainly knew him by sight.  He was seen to enter the woods, and about a dozen shots were heard.  Another constable, who was to join Constable McGinley, then entered the woods.  He saw the Wendts, who immediately turned and ran the opposite direction.  He was not able to catch either one of them.
A search was made for Constable McGinley, and in a short amount of time, his body was found concealed in bushes near the spot the Wendts had run from.  The body had six pistol wounds in the front; three immediately above the heart.  There were an additional four wounds in the back.  The constable’s watch and wallet were missing.
The two Wendt brothers had vanished.
The next day, October 14, 1915, John M. Bradley, a special police officer of the Altoona force, searched the home of Hannah Wendt, the mother of Frank and Walter.  He discovered a stolen typewriter, several watches, and some grocery items.  Mrs. Wendt said her sons had brought the items to her home.  The typewriter was identified as belonging to G. A. Zimmers, whose office had been burgalized on October 2nd.  George Kelchner was summoned to the Wendt home and identified his satchel and other goods.
Mrs. Wendt was arrested and appeared in court in March of 1916.  She testified that she did not know the stolen items had been in her home.  She stated her two sons had helped carry water and assisted with her washing, that she had never encouraged her sons to steal, and did not think them guilty of the hold-up of Mr. Kelchner.  Mrs. Wendt was found guilty on two counts of receiving stolen goods.
Walter Wendt, 19, was convicted on February 13, 1917, and sentenced to twenty years in Western State Penitentiary.
Frank Wendt was arrested in Milwaukee.  He claimed his name was Alfred Wendt and that he had never been in Pennsylvania.  He was, however, brought to trial.
At trial, Wendt told a different story.  On the fatal day, he claimed he had been sitting on log, cleaning his gun, when an unknown man approached him.  According to Wendt, his brother, Walter, was standing a few feet away him, and the man fired at him.  Walter Wendt ran and fell about 10 feet from the log Wendt was sitting on.  Wendt said he then turned and saw the man about 80 or 100 feet away, calling, “Stop or I’ll blow your   — head off!”  Wendt claimed the man then shot him, hitting his right arm, and that he started toward the other man, brandishing his .25 caliber gun to intimidate him into stopping firing.
Wendt said as they came together, he was shot again, this time in the right hand.  The two men then struggled until the man, Constable McGinley, dropped.
Wendt’s story was inconsistent with the evidence.  He claimed he did not know how Constable McGinley had been shot four times in the back, all with the .25 caliber.  He claimed to have then recovered his brother, and although Wendt claimed to have been acting in self-defense, that they decided to hide the body.  They dragged the body about five feet by the legs, face down.
In fact, Constable McGinley had gone into the woods unarmed.
Witnesses reported seeing Wendt in Akron and Cleveland the following day with no sign of any wound, although Wendt claimed the hand had been dressed and bandaged there.
Wendt was tried at Hollidaysburg and was defended by W.C. Fletcher and John J. Haberstroh.  The District Attorney was Marion D. Patterson, assisted by George G. Patterson.  Wendt was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death.  The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania heard his appeal May 22, 1917, and upheld the verdict.
Frank Wendt was the first murderer in Blair County to be executed by electrocution rather than hanging.  He was put to death at Rockview State Prison in Centre County, on December 3, 1917.

Constable McGinley was honored on June 19, 2009, at the PA State Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial Service at 6:00 p.m.  His name was added to the Memorial at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, PA.

Blair County Fallen Law Officers Memorial page