BANGOR (AP) – A downtown street came alive Sunday with the popping of guns as actors recreated the gunbattle nearly 70 years ago when Indiana’s Brady Gang was brought down by a dozen G-men and a hail of gunfire.
Some of those who witnessed the shootout on Central Street on Oct. 12, 1937, turned out to see the re-enactment that followed a parade led by a 1937 Buick 8 like the stolen car used by the three gangsters on that fateful day.
Richard Shaw, a Bangor history buff with a longtime fascination with Brady, said the event is not about celebrating gangsters.
“This is just history,” he said. “It’s about good versus evil. We knew who wore the white hats and who wore the black hats in those days.”
Al Brady and his gang including Clarence Lee Shaffer Jr. and James Dalhover met their demise when they came to Bangor in search of guns.
The gang, which was wanted for three murders and a series of grocery store and bank robberies, had heard that guns could be purchased in Bangor with no questions asked.
But they drew attention when they tried to buy a machine gun.
Dalhover arranged to buy the weapon from Everett “Shep” Hurd, the owner of Dakin’s Sporting Goods Co. But Hurd, who told Dalhover to pick up the gun in a week or so, was suspicious. He went to the state police, who alerted the FBI.
A dozen FBI agents quietly assembled in Bangor, and they were ready when Dalhover came back to the store to make his purchase.
Dalhover was captured inside the store.
Outside the store, Shaffer fired through the glass and wounded a federal agent, Walter Walsh, before being shot 23 times and collapsing on the cobblestones outside the store.
With guns drawn, agents approached the stolen Buick double-parked a few doors down from Dakin’s. Brady was gunned down after he pulled out a handgun and fired off four rounds, none of which hit their target.
On Sunday, Center Street was shut down as 50 re-enactors recreated the entire scene, including the last breakfast the men had together before the shootout.
Among those attending the festivities was Walsh, a former FBI sharpshooter, now 100, who posed as a clerk in Dakin’s and helped arrest Dalhover.
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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com
AP-ES-10-07-07 1458EDT
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