Homer C. Wiggins collection

Homer C. Wiggins (ca. 1893–1913), a native of Wilmington, Delaware, was a troubled youth whose delinquent activity made him well-known to that city’s police department. He spent a number of years in reform school, and roughly three years in the New Castle County Workhouse which released him in 1912. Afterwards he went to Philadelphia where he was engaged in a variety of criminal activities, particularly petty theft. On June 26, 1912 he shot and killed a police officer while resisting arrest. Wiggins was sentenced to twenty years in the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia, but managed to escape with another inmate on August 18, 1913. He and his cohort returned to Wilmington and robbed a car barn of the Wilmington and Philadelphia Traction Company on September 10, making off with over $1800 in cash. After drifting for a few weeks, occasionally disguised with a wig and whiskers, he eventually settled in a house on Shipley and Fourth streets in Wilmington where he spent the last five days of his life. The police finally determined his whereabouts on September 28th and attempted to arrest him. A shootout ensued, popularly referred to as the “Battle of Baxter’s Corner,” and in the early morning of the 29th Wiggins took his own life, opting to die rather than be captured and sent back to prison.

The police, who at first were hailed by the public and the press as heroes for bringing down such a dangerous man, soon found themselves sharply criticized as the facts of the case were revealed. Despite the fact that Wiggins had been well-known to many of the officers on the force, that his residence at Shipley Street was only a few blocks from the station, and that he walked the streets of the city often undisguised, the police took almost three weeks to track him down. A lack of communication within the police department, poor exercise of judgement in making decisions, and the failure to obtain and pursue all the facts pertaining to the case were serious issues that had to be addressed. The Wilmington police department had been plagued by these problems in the past, but the sensational nature of the Wiggins case brought them to light and prompted a thorough investigation by the Board of Police Commissioners.

The investigation, headed by commissioners William H. Bowers, Thomas N. Stayton, and I. Pusey Wickersham, as well as City Solicitor William O. Hastings, lasted from early October through early November 1913 and was covered extensively by the Wilmington newspapers throughout that period. The spotlight was focused primarily on Police Chief George Black, who was accused of failing to provide “intelligent direction” in the case, and the testimony of witnesses taken between October 13th and October 21st bore this out. Of particular importance was a controversy over a recently-taken photograph of Wiggins which was in the possession of Police Chief Black but which had not been circulated among the other officers. The officers knew Wiggins only from an outdated photo, and most testified that if they had been readily familiarized with the recent one they probably would have found Wiggins sooner. Nevertheless, despite a harsh recommendation by Wickersham to have several officers suspended without pay and to demand the resignation of Black, the Board of Commissioners ultimately found the police blameless in their handling of the case and took no disciplinary actions.