Muskegon's shooting on Halloween night, 99 years later

MUSKEGON, Mich. – Under a fading canopy at Oakwood Cemetery in Muskegon, two headstones are forever intertwined. Worn and weathered, one marks the final resting place of George “Dutch” Anderson, a notorious criminal. The other, who stood proudly, remembers Detective Charles Hammond.

The two men shot each other on Halloween night 1925 in Muskegon. They were later buried a short distance apart. Ninety-nine years later, the Lakeshore Museum Center is retelling the story of the infamous shooting.

“This catapulted Muskegon into the national press,” said Pat Horn, program manager at the museum. “Actually a human story.”

The names on the stones

Born in Ravenna, Charles Hammond began his professional career as a lineman. He later joined the police force and rose to become a detective in Muskegon.

A criminal and a candy bar — Det. Charles Hammond

Meanwhile, George “Dutch” Anderson was no local. Born into a wealthy family in Scandinavia, he graduated from college in Sweden before emigrating to the United States. He then enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, but later dropped out. An educated, outgoing man, he began a life of crime, a life that would lead him to his death.

“The adrenaline rush,” Horn said. “He really chose this life.”

A life of crime

In 1921, Anderson and his partner, Gerald Chapman – who you might call the “Al Capone before Al Capone” – stole $2.4 million worth of jewelry, bonds and other goods from a mail truck. At the time, the heist was the largest in the history of the US Postal Service.

The two were later arrested for the crime and sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, about a year after serving their sentences, they escaped separately through a tunnel dug by imprisoned tuberculosis patients, whose tools included a lunch tray, a trowel and a spoon.

“Almost a celebrity because he’s a criminal,” Horn said of Anderson’s reputation after his and Chapman’s escape. “People saw Dutch Anderson in their city; they have seen them in this city. Within the same week he went from Iowa to Massachusetts. Maybe that’s a lot of ground to cover.”

The Candy Bar

In 1925, on Halloween night in Muskegon, Anderson used a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a candy bar at a confectionery and tea store. The clerk accepted the bill, but had her brother run to a nearby bank to check its validity.

“Twenty dollars in the 2020s is a significant amount of money,” Horn said, referring to inflation. “It’s like getting $100 today.”

The bill was fake. The store called the police, who called Det. Charles Hammond on the case.

“At the time he thought it was a counterfeiter,” Horn said. “He doesn’t really know it’s this wanted criminal.”

A short time later, Hammond spotted Anderson in the area. According to Horn, he escorted him back to the police station, probably leading him with a hand on his shoulder.

In an alley between the police station and the confectionery shop, Anderson tried to escape, during which Hammond was shot in the liver and lung. The detective returned fire.

Although the stories differ, an initial account of the Muskegon Chronicle said Hammond, bleeding profusely, and reported back to the police station with Anderson in tow, saying, “He got me.” He got me.” A later report of the Grand Rapids Press said a second officer showed up at the scene of the shooting and arrested Anderson before helping Hammond.

“A bit of prejudice about the place of residence. They really want to portray him as this glorious hero who gave his life and did this heroic act,” Horn said of the film Chronicle‘s report.

An autopsy would later confirm that it was Hammond’s shot that killed Anderson, although the detective never knew that he had permanently ended someone else’s life of crime.

“This wanted criminal is being taken off the streets. This killer is being taken off the streets,” Horn said. “This catapulted Muskegon into the national press.”

Yet the program director says that there is also a gloomy element in the story. In losing his life, Hammond also left behind a wife and four children.

“Many facets,” Horn said of the legacy of the shooting. “Actually a human story.”

Twice buried

The headstone for Charles Hammond, placed near the center of Oakwood Cemetery in Muskegon, reads that the detective died “in the heroic execution of his duty.”

However, Anderson’s stone did not appear in the cemetery for some time later, as he was originally buried in a potter’s field when no one claimed his body. When a Georgian caught wind of the burial, they offered Muskegon police $1,000 for the body, planning to put it on display and charge admission. Police considered the offer and wanted to donate the money to Hammond’s widow, but declined the offer due to laws preventing the sale.

Later, a lawyer who “came to represent” Anderson had his body exhumed, but when he looked at the body he thought it was the wrong man.

“The lawyer looked at (the body.) He said, ‘No, I don’t think that’s it,’” Horn said.

The confusion led to an engraving that can still be seen on Anderson’s gravestone: a question mark.

“A strange turn of events that these two (Anderson and Hammond) would be so connected in such a short time and then for so long,” Horn said.

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