On the night of October 7, 1900, 29-year-old male Patrolman Raphael A. Girard of the Hannibal Police Department was patrolling the Burlington Railroad yards in Hannibal, Missouri. Accompanied by a friend named William Martin, Girard was searching for two men suspected of burglarizing a local jewelry store earlier that day. As the pair moved alongside a train of cars, they suddenly encountered two men near the engine who were brandishing revolvers in each hand. The suspects ordered the officer and his companion to raise their hands, but Girard instead reached for his own weapon. The gunmen opened fire, striking Girard three times in the lung, hip, and spine, instantly paralyzing him.
The investigation revealed that the assailants were Richard Logan and Edward Burns, notorious fugitives who had recently escaped from the Bowling Green Jail in Pike County on September 27. The two men had been awaiting trial for the murder of another lawman, Policeman Lowell Pew of Louisiana, Missouri, who had been shot to death in a rail yard on February 14, 1900. Logan and Burns had managed to tunnel out of their cell into a sewer system to gain their freedom before making their way to Hannibal, where they were once again interrupted by police while engaging in criminal activity.
Patrolman Girard lingered in a paralyzed state for over two months before succumbing to his injuries on December 16, 1900. Despite a manhunt and their identification by the dying officer, Richard Logan and Edward Burns were never apprehended for the murder of Raphael Girard. Historical records indicate that after fleeing the scene in the rail yards, the two fugitives vanished and were likely never heard from again, leaving the deaths of both Missouri officers unavenged by their capture. A third accomplice involved in the earlier murder of Policeman Pew, Edward Weaver, was the only member of the group to face trial, though charges against him were eventually discontinued.
