DEATH AWAITS COP KILLERS

"You can't shoot a "cop" in Chico and live!"

This again was proven last night when Elmer Schutrum was dead an hour after murdering C.J. (Dick) Bruce, 36, Chico patrolman, in a case that conjured up memories of the Turchinetz killing October 6, 1934.

Schutrum died within an hour - by his own hand. Turchinetz died less than four hours after shooting down Traffic Officer W.R. McDaniel and Kenneth Davis, garage mechanic. Turchinetz died before the flaming guns of an avenging posse that tracked him to the foothills east of Chico and ended his flight shortly after the sun broke over the hills.

On October 6, 1934, the bodies of the two men were found beside Turchinetz' wrecked car on Mangrove Avenue near the Chinese plot of Chico Cemetery. McDaniel had been seeking the jeweler on reports that he had been driving while intoxicated. Davis was called when the wrecked car was discovered.

Investigators learned that Turchinetz had been hiding in the orchard near the scene of the wreck and from behind an almond tree shot the two men.

A large posse armed with tear gas bombs followed the murderer through Pleasant Valley on a clue furnished by Mrs. John Sudberry.

Chico Record, Feb. 23, 1938