William Marz, Walter Schmid To Retire From Police Force After 27 Years Each
William Marz, Walter Schmid To Retire From Police Force After 27 Years Each
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By Ken Slocum
Two Ann Arbor police officers, each with 27 years of service to his credit, will retire from the force in the next few days.
Warrant Officer William C. Marz and Parking Meter Repair Officer Walter E. Schmid joined the force within two weeks of each other back in 1926. Marz was 29, Schmid 31.
The two men, both natives of the Ann Arbor area, have seen great changes take place in their many years of police work.
Ann Arbor, populated by 27,000 people in 1926, had its law enforcement problems in those days. Located on the main routes connecting Detroit and Chicago, it had as constant visitors the quick-triggered gangsters of the Prohibition era..
Day Of Long Shift
The police shift, 12 hours, was long, and the life of an officer interfering with the transport of bootleggers' valuable cargo likely to be short.
The police force had 15 men, one Model T Ford prowl car (confiscated from a bootlegger) and plenty of intestinal fortitude. Two of the 15 were Marz and Schmid.
The wild gangsterism of the roaring 20's gave way to law and order. But officers of the law had to suffer in the process. Marz was one of them.
In the gloomy early morning hours of April 15, 1927, operating from a tip on bootleggers, Marz fellow officer stopped a black coupe and ordered it to police headquarters,
Man Opened Fire
Marz was riding on the running board of the coupe, with the other officer following in a police car, when a man riding in the coupe's back seat drew a gun and opened fire at point-blank range.
Five slugs slammed into Marz. Three of them ricocheted off his bullet-proof vest, but the other two tore through his arm and side. He fell to the pavement as the car roared away.
Marz was paralyzed but recovered.
Schmid, too, was severely injured in line of duty. On a night in 1944, he was climbing a long ladder to the loft of the old J. F. Wuerth Furniture Building on E. Washington St. to investigate reported sounds of prowlers. When he was almost to the top, the ladder broke, plunging him to the floor below and breaking bones in both feet. It took six months of hospitalization and repeated operations to effect recovery.
Has Marksman Reputation
Schmid’s reputation as a pistol marksman is substantiated by his numerous trophies won in state competitions. But the juvenile group know “Smitty" best by his popular conduct of police auctions of impounded bicycles. He’s proud of his title of "crookedest auctioneer in town,” earned by the numerous occasions on which he disregarded $20 bids from adults to sell a two-wheeler to a wide-eyed youngster down front for 50 cents.
Schmid served on the regular police beat until 1946, when he became meter repair officer. He helped install every parking meter in Ann Arbor and has been responsible for their operation since then.
Schmid’s home is at 401 S. Revena Blvd., where he lives with his wife, Rowena. His only son was recently discharged from the service. He will leave his job July 1, but will be on accumulated vacation until Aug. 1.
Marz has been assigned to the Traffic Division for Seven years, the last five as warrant officer. Prior to that, he served as a patrolman for 20 years.
Marz and his wife, Verl, live at 800 Gott St. They have a son and a daughter, both married, and two grandchildren.
Career Ends Saturday
Saturday will be his last day on the force.
And what will the two pensioned police force veterans do now? Marz intends to spend the summer up north on the Keweenaw Peninsula, where he owns a cottage. He's an ardent fisherman and intends to devote a lot of time to the sport.
Schmid has another job waiting. He will assume a position on the regular sales staff of the Huron Motor Sales, Inc.
The vacancy left by Warrant Officer Marz will be filled by Patrolman James A. Ogilvy of 512 Potter Ave. Ogilvy, married and the father of two daughters, has been on the force since 1940.