Detroit was suffering a stifling heatwave on September 3, 1927 when
William Gilbreath was driving home at ten p.m. Though somewhat late in the
evening, the sidewalks were still teeming with pedestrians and the streets were
full of cars. During his trip, Gilbreath remembered that he needed to pick
something up from the drug store. Seeing one on the corner he pulled his car to
the curb and hopped out. As he approached the store he heard a voice from
behind, “Get back in that car and don’t make any fuss about it.” He turned to
find a younger man brandishing a gun. Two other men turned the corner and
closed in. They escorted Gilbreath back to his car and ordered him to get
behind the wheel. One of the men climbed in the front seat with him and the other
two hopped in the back. Once they were all in the car, the other two guys drew
thirty-eights from their pockets. To Gilbreath’s shock, none of the numerous
pedestrians who were walking or driving by seemed to notice the kidnapping.
“Drive around the block.” The gunman up front demanded.
Gilbreath followed the order. After a bit, the gunman jammed his thirty
eight into Gilbreath’s side.
“All right, you, stop this car and climb in the back.”
Gilbreath switched places with one of the gunmen and for the next two
hours they drove around searching for a place to rob. The bandits pulled up to
a handful of drug stores with the intention of robbing them but, each time,
decided that there were too many customers inside. At 11:15 they pulled into a
gas station owned and operated by Ted Malm. The driver told Malm to” fill ‘er
up” and, when the proprietor came around to collect payment, instead of cash,
he found the business end of a thirty-eight.
“Get in.” the driver commanded. Malm climbed into the car as two of the
gunmen walked into the station and helped themselves to the cash in the
register.
With their new prisoner, the bandits continued to drive around looking
for opportunities. After a while they decided to rob a pedestrian. Just then
they saw a guy enter the court to an apartment building and two of the gunmen
leapt from the car and approached him. One of them called out to the man,
Edmund Weiner, a mechanic who worked for the Ford Motor Company, as he was about
to enter the building. As Weiner turned to reply the gunman smashed him over
the head with the butt of his gun. Weiner let out a scream and the gunmen proceeded
to beat him as he tried to fight them off. Weiner’s yells filled the air as one
of the bandits continued to beat him over the head with his pistol while dragging
him from the courtyard out to the street. Weiner was pulled to the car and
tossed in the back.
Inside the auto it was discovered that Weiner only had two nickels in
cash. This, and the fact that he wouldn’t stop screaming, led all of the
bandits to start wailing on him again. Pleading for his life, Weiner cried that
he had a wife and two daughters to support. The hoodlums couldn’t have cared
less. They continued to rain blows down upon him as he persisted in his screaming.
A few minutes passed and one of the bandits jumped behind the wheel and pulled
away while another yelled at the wounded man to be quiet.
After a short drive, the bandits pulled over and told their three
captives to get out and lie on the ground. After searching them for anything of
value, one of the gunmen warned the trio that if they got up too soon, they
would “get their damn heads blown off.” The bandits got back in Gilbreath’s car
and drove off. Gilbreath and Malm helped Weiner to a drug store where some
citizens offered to drive him to the hospital. Unfortunately, Weiner took to
many blows to his head; he died of his wounds the following morning.
With the brutal slaying of Wiener, the case became well publicized. All
of the Detroit newspapers demanded police action, which was slow in coming. In
an interview, Gilbreath mentioned that during the ride, they drove past a
couple of beat cops standing on a corner. One of the gunmen said that they
should bump them off, but another stated that he knew one of the cops.
Detroiters wondered why a police officer would be friendly with a gun toting thug.
Within a few days, six ranking police officers were walking a beat for being in
“contact with the criminal element.” Around the same time, the front page of
the Detroit Times quoted Weiner’s
wife as saying, “May God punish the murderers of my husband. I don’t know what
we can do. We are penniless now without his salary. My baby girl keeps asking
where Daddy is but I cannot tell her for she is too young to understand.”
Through the Detroit Times, Gilbreath
set up a fund for Weiner’s family and over the next few weeks donations came pouring
into the Times. In all, Weiner’s widow
was presented with over $5,400. Some folks offered their services. A cobbler
offered free shoe repair for a year and a bakery pledged a free loaf of bread
every day for the same amount of time.
On September 14, Detroit Police got their first break in the case. While
searching for clues regarding a string of drug store robberies, detectives were
canvassing the establishments that had been held up and walked into the Saylor
Drug Store to question the clerks. When two of the detectives entered, (a third
remained in the car) they noticed that no clerks were about. Assuming that they
were in the back whipping up prescriptions, they waited. After a moment a guy
walked out from the rear of the store. As he walked around the counter, he
smiled at the detectives and said, “Well, goodnight boys!” before exiting the
store. The detectives got a bad vibe from him but assumed that the drug store
was doubling as a speakeasy and the guy simply had a drink or two. Moments
later another guy walked out but this one had a gun in his hand and caught the
detectives off guard. “Stick ‘em up, both of you.” He barked.
The detectives complied but since there was about six feet distance
between them, the gunman had to swing his pistol back and forth to cover each
man. At one point his eyes fell on one of the detectives’ pocket watch. Seizing
the opportunity, the other detective drew his gun and fired. The first bullet
hit the bandit under the arm and pierced his chest. The bandit turned and fired
a wild shot as three more slugs slammed into his body. The hoodlum staggered,
reached out and grabbed the pocket watch he had been eyeing and dropped to the
floor. He gave his name as Robert Meyers and died a half hour later at the
hospital. Gilbreath and Malm were brought to the morgue where they identified
Meyers as both the leader of the desperadoes and the driver of the car, the
night of Weiner’s murder.
Gilbreath (L) and Malm (R) Identify Meyers
A week after Meyers got his, police received a tip that two
questionable men were living in a cottage in nearby Gross Pointe Park. After
staking out the joint for the better part of the evening, detectives went in
and arrested both men and their girlfriends. One of the guys arrested turned
out to be the man who exited the drug store saying, “Well, good night boys!”
the other was the getaway driver (Police were unaware that there was a driver
that day. During his confession he stated that, when he saw the detectives pull
up to the drug store, he honked the horn as a warning and took off.)
Both men admitted to being accomplices of Meyers but denied being in on
the Weiner murder. Gilbreath and Malm were brought in and both stated that
neither bandit was involved. The gunmen told detectives that Meyers worked with
a handful of different bandits but they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give any names.
It didn’t matter because the next day another one of the hoodlums fell to
police bullets.
At three-fifteen the following afternoon, a patrol was standing on the
corner when a pedestrian came up and told him that he had been robbed on
September 12, and that he just saw the man who did it. The citizen pointed him
out and the officer started for the suspect. Seeing the officer approach, the
suspect dodged behind a tree and drew a pistol. The officer did likewise and
both men started shooting at each other. After a few volleys the desperado let
out scream and fell to the ground. His cheek had been pierced by a bullet.
Assuming his man was down for good, the officer approached and went to disarm
him. The gunman had some fight left in him however, and the two began to
grapple for control of the cop’s gun. The bandit wrestled it free and shot the
officer in the stomach. As the policeman crumpled to the ground, the gunman ran
off. Two citizens rushed the officer to the hospital where he made a full
recovery.
Meanwhile, cops began combing the neighborhood looking for the gunman
who had ran into a nearby garage. Inside was the homeowner and the hoodlum
forced him into the house at gunpoint. The desperado told him to hide him in a
closet. The homeowner opened a door, “Get into the closet with me.” The gunman
ordered. As the gunman hid himself behind some clothes, a police officer
entered the house. The homeowner jumped from the closet doorway and the cop
pushed the clothes out of the way and fired into the gunman. With a bullet in
his belly, the hoodlum dropped to the floor and began groaning for his mother.
At the hospital the hoodlum identified himself as nineteen- year- old
Joe Subko of Akron, Ohio. Gilbreath and Malm were brought in to take a look at
him. Without hesitation, Gilbreath identified him as the man who had assaulted
Weiner. Although Malm was reasonably certain that Subko was the man, he asked
if he could see him dressed in street clothes to make sure. During this time,
Subko died of his wounds, so they dressed him in his clothes and let Malm take
another look. Once this was done Malm declared him the man.
Subko redressed for identification. Note bullet hole in cheek.
It turned out that Subko was also a mini-crime wave of his own independent
of Meyers. Victims of, who the police called, the “Hitch Hike Bandit” an armed man
who robbed numerous motorist that picked him up, were also called in and
identified Subko as the bandit. Though Gilbreath, Malm and Mrs. Weiner received
some satisfaction in the wiping out of Meyers and Subko, unfortunately for
Justice, the third man involved in the kidnappings and robberies was never
found out.
References
“Snaring Detroit’s Kidnapping Killers” True Detective Mysteries November
1934
“3 Thugs Kidnap W.S. Gilbreath, Slay Another” Detroit Free Press, September
5, 1927
"Familiarity Of Thugs And Cops Under Inquiry"St. Joseph Herald Press September 6, 1927
“Officer Defies Robber’s Gun, Kills Bandit” Detroit Free Pres,
September 15, 1927
“Crook Mental Test Failure Blow To Police” Detroit Free Press,
September 17, 1927
“Hat Identifies Leader of Weiner’s Slayers” Detroit Free Press,
September 18, 1927
“Man Slain, Second Dying After Battles With Policemen”, Detroit Free
Press September 24, 1927
“Second Weiner Slayer Killed By Policeman’s Bullet”, Detroit Free Press
September 25, 1927
