MONTICELLO — In the early morning hours of March 7, 1930, Monticello Marshal Fred Jordan was shot and killed on Main Street by a 17-year-old from Footville.
Now approaching the 90th anniversary of the event, Monticello Police Chief Szvon Conway is determined to find more information on the fallen officer.
“Fred Jordan paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect Monticello and it should never ever be forgotten,” Conway said.
In Jordan’s honor, Monticello police officers will wear an honorary badge in his honor. The family of Fred Jordan also received one. Conway came up with the idea while serving as an officer with the City of Darlington.
Darlington Police Chief Jason King had honorary badges made for a Darlington Police Chief who died in 1933 and presented the badges during Darlington’s sesquicentennial celebration.
In 2013, Chief Conway and his family traveled to Washington, D.C., and found Fred Jordan’s name at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, that honors more than 20,000 law enforcement officers from the United States who have died in the line of duty.
However, finding information surrounding the Jordan family hasn’t been easy. On Jan. 16, Conway turned to social media for help, posting about Jordan’s death and the badges to honor him. He hoped to put a program together on the officer who died at age 59, and really wanted a photo of him.
Fred Jordan paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect Monticello and it should never ever be forgotten.Monticello Police Chief Szvon Conway
Also, included in the post was information that Chief Conway had about the shooting, which was one of only two murders in Green County at the time.
Since the Facebook post, Chief Conway said he has been “connecting the dots.” He was contacted by Patrick Wild from Zurich, Switzerland, who provided detailed information about Jordan’s mother, Anna Rosina Zwicki who was born in Mollis, a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland.
“So far, we are back to 1671 and we are at 2020 with the current family,” Conway said.
A research librarian at the Madison Public Library provided articles from several local newspapers, including the Monroe Evening Times, Janesville Gazette, The Capital Times and several others.
From Fred Jordan’s obituary, and the use of Ancestry and U.S. Census Records, Conway researched Jordan’s children and located where he and other family members were buried in the Highland Cemetery in Monticello.
“Family members have been contacted and we are awaiting a response,” Conway said. “We also will respect their privacy.”
At 10 a.m. on March 7 the Monticello Historical Society will host a program in honor of Marshal Fred Jordan. Conway is creating a display with the pieces of information found and is hopeful that some of Jordan’s family members will attend to accept the honorary badge.
In 1993, Monticello Police Officer Mike Gorham also was intrigued by the Jordan story and “wanted him to be remembered.” To honor Jordan, Gorham accepted funds for a plaque from the Monticello Lions Club, Monticello Town and County Club, Brodhead Police Department Association, Monroe Professional Police Officers, Monticello Professional Police Officers Association, New Glarus Police Officers Association and Green County Sheriff’s Department Association.
As part of Law Enforcement Memorial Day on May 14, he presented the Village of Monticello with a plaque honoring the fallen officer.
Conway has decided to donate the plaque to the Monticello Area Historical Society. Leading up to the program on March 7, the plaque will be displayed in the window of the society’s museum on Main Street.
After the presentation, Conway hopes to publish a book about Marshal Fred Jordan to include the research he has found.
“Chief Conway has done an amazing job with the research,” added Jules Cappelle, a collection archivist for the Monticello Area Historical Society. “We are here to guide him if he needs us.”
There are still more dots to connect.
Anyone with information about Fred Jordan and his line of duty death should contact Conway at 608-938-4320 or conway@monticellopolicewi.com. To read Fred Jordan’s obituary, visit
monticellohistoricalsociety.org.
What we know ...
At 5:20 a.m. March 7, 1930, two shots were fired in downtown Monticello at point blank range from 17-year-old Gottfred Gottier of Footville, who stole a car earlier in Evansville. For about two hours before the shooting, Gottier drove back and forth on Main Street (downtown), honking his horn and shining a spotlight in the windows of local residents attempting to awaken a gas station operator who Gottier planned to rob.
Jordan stopped the car Gottier was driving and allegedly told Gottier that his car had liquor in it. Gottier turned over one of the three revolvers he had in his possession and made a move toward Jordan, who apparently thought Gottier was reaching for the keys to open the trunk of the car. Instead, Gottier pulled a second gun and shot Jordan below the right collar, followed by a second bullet in the center of the chest bone. The car then took off north toward New Glarus.
Dr. Edward Blumer, who earlier had notified Fred Jordan of the disturbance, rushed outside of his house after witnessing the shooting to treat Fred Jordan who was taking his last gasp as Blumer got to him. Blumer contracted pneumonia after running into the street when Fred Jordan was shot and died several weeks later.
An armed posse coming from New Glarus just missed Gottier, who turned around and headed back through Monticello to Albany, where he was spotted by Marshal T.M. Carver and Merle Frautschy, who took up the chase. At 7 a.m., Gottier stopped at the A.D. Jones garage in Footville for gas, where the Albany duo quickly captured him.
By this time Sheriff Myron West was in Monticello and he and Deputy M.D. West, A.E. Mitchell, and Sam Jones of Monroe left to meet Gottier at the Schlitter farm two miles southeast of Monticello. He was then taken through Monticello to jail in Monroe.
According to an interview of Gottier, he was enthralled with the idea of being a robber. He said he spent evenings at home reading novels about the Old West because his parents, “didn’t want him running around.” The novels spurred the idea of becoming a robber. A friend, Irving Willing, helped Gottier plan his adventure in crime.
Gottier acquired three revolvers on credit, planning to use the proceeds from the robberies he would commit to pay them off. Willing helped Gottier practice with the guns. Willing was with him for a short time during Gottier’s one infamous night of crime.
A Main Street (downtown) resident Yolanda Richards, heard the shots. The Village of Monticello thought it had died because they lost both their doctor and officer. Elise and Gertrude Wyss were called in as witnesses.
Gottier was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced 15 to 20 years in prison.
Fred Jordan married Vola Tone (Belleville) in 1894, they were eloped by Rev. J. Williams.
