Charles A. Browne

THE NEVADA HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S “THIS WAS NEVADA” SERIES

Oct. 9, 1988

SLAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER’S TO BE REMEMBERED

By Phillip I. Earl

…Charles L. Brown [sic], a member of the Reno Police Department who died on November 10, 1907, two days after a shootout on Commercial Row. A native of Long Valley, Brown [sic] was thirty-five years of age at the time of his death and had been a resident of Reno for some twenty years. He had formerly worked for the Riverside Mill Company and the Flanigan Warehouse and had severed a stint as a city fireman before signing on with the Police Department in May, 1907. Married and the father of five children, his death was one of the most unfortunate and tragic in Reno’s history.

The trouble all began when Train No. 24 was two hours late on the morning of November 8. Among the passengers waiting at the depot waiting at the depot were four young Germans, Edward and Wilhelm Sauter, and Eustach and Carl Farny, all bound for Yerington to join Otto Sauter in a ranching operation. They were coming directly from Germany, spoke no English and carried a note which read “Please direct these men the way to go to Yerington, Nevada.” A well dressed stranger helped them buy their tickets to Wabuska and accompanied them across Commercial row to buy some beer and crackers. When they returned, he persuaded Edward Sauter to accompany him to a nearby hotel to meet some other Germans. At the Toscano Hotel, they went up to the second floor where the young German was confronted by two armed men. They first took the $300 he was carrying, then gave it back to him and forced him to bet the money in a dice game they conducted. The bankroll was gone within ten minutes and he was escorted back to the street.

Running back to the depot, he excitedly told his companions that the money was gone. His shouts, in German, attracted a crowd. He then pulled his gun and fired two shots in the air… The shots attracted Officer Brown [sic], who came running up Lake Street. Seeing Edward Sauter with a gun, he pulled his own and attempted to disarm him. They grappled for a few seconds, But Sauter broke Brown’s [sic] grasp and started to run. Near the corner, with Brown [sic] chasing him, Sauter turned and raised his weapon, but Brown [sic] got off the first shot, hitting him in the left temple. An instant later, Brown tripped on a rail and went down. William Sauter then fell upon the officer. Surprisingly, his brother was still on his feet. He first shot Brown [sic] in the left abdomen, ten fired a second shot which struck Archie Burrus, a railroad car sealer, in the lower back… Edward Sauter then collapsed, but Brown [sic] rose on his elbow and fired two shots at the man’s fleeing brother and the other two Germans before he lost consciousness…

Physicians held out hope for Brown [sic], but found that the bullet had coursed through his stomach and damaged several organs in its passage. They did what they could, but were not able to find the slug. Pneumonia and other complications set in the next day and he died on November 10…

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