Colonel Lynn E. Black
Little is actually known about the early life of Lynn Ernest
Black. According to the best sources, he was born on October 9, 1897, in Glenville,
West Virginia. He was a member of a large family and probably had very little
formal schooling. He joined the U. S. Navy during World War I and was a Fireman
1st Class at the time of his discharge. From there, he took a job as a payroll
clerk with a mining company in West Virginia, then as a railroad fireman.
Also during this time, Black attained some degree of success playing baseball,
first with local semi-professional teams and later with Fairmont and Morgantown
in the Mid-Atlantic League.
In January 1922, his younger brother, Lane Black of the West Virginia State Police, was critically wounded in a gun battle and not expected to live. Hoping for retribution, Lynn Black and another brother enlisted in the force. The brother was rejected, but Lynn, described as having blue eyes, light brown hair, and a fair complexion, was added to the ranks of the WVSP on February 24, 1922.
Black served in the WVSP until October 24, 1924, when he was "discharged at his own request." From there he served as a deputy sheriff in West Virginia, and later in St. Clairsville, Ohio. His first big opportunity came in 1927 when he helped organize the Indian Hill Rangers. The Rangers, founded by wealthy families to guard their neighborhood, are today a regular police force.
During his successful tenure at Indian Hill, Black caught the attention of Sheriff Asa Butterfield of Hamilton County and, in 1931, he was appointed to a captaincy in the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. Black commanded the "county patrol," a permanent force of deputies who performed all types of police work but specialized in traffic problems. During his tenure in the county patrol, Black motorized and modernized his force, and was involved in several high-profile cases, earning considerable local fame for his cunning and bravery.
In late 1931, a six-year-old girl was found brutally assaulted and murdered in the basement of a Cincinnati tenement. The man who discovered the body was considered the prime suspect, but investigators were unable to obtain sufficient evidence or a confession after nearly a month of intensive grilling. It was finally Black who, pretending to be arrested and severely beaten by police, was able to convince the killer to confess.
The following year, Black enjoyed considerable success in cleaning up the tough river gangs of Cincinnati, broke up a major auto theft ring, and located a wanted murderer. Black's career as a lawman -- as well as his life -- nearly came to an end when he was shot leading a raid against a fugitive. In November 1932, a man wanted in the killing of Rush County (Indiana) Sheriff Roy Compton was traced to a residence in the Brown County town of Mt. Orab. Brown County Sheriff John Nue approached Lynn Black to obtain a machine gun and tear gas for the raid, and Black, along with three of his deputies, volunteered to aid in the capture. Following an exchange of gunfire, Black rushed the building, kicked open the door, and fired a tear gas canister into the house. As he stepped away from the door, he was hit in the groin by a single .38 caliber round. He staggered back to his patrol car, refusing to fall or sit down, saying only, "He shot me, boys." Though hampered by a bout of double pneumonia during his convalescence, Black was back on the job in less than two months.
It was with this background that Captain Lynn Black took the helm of the Ohio State Highway Patrol on September 20, 1933.
On October 3, 1933, a scant two weeks after the official announcement of his appointment, Captain Black arrived at Camp Perry to begin training the 125 Ohio State Highway patrol recruits.
Throughout his 11 years as superintendent, Colonel Black continued to publicly espouse his most fundamental principles -- no political interference with the inner workings of the division, no bullying or enforcement traps by his force, and continued modernization and progress. He enjoyed traveling the state with his beloved dog "Arthur," who was his constant companion. He was a popular public speaker, winning many friends with his dry sense of humor.
The dynamic era of Colonel Lynn Black came to an end on April 26, 1944, when a kidney ailment attributed to his 12-year-old gunshot wound ended his life at the age of 46. Among those at his bedside when he died was his brother Lane, the very person whose critical wounding nearly 20 years earlier had inspired young Lynn Black to become a lawman.
Editorials hailed the passing of our first chief, with The
Columbus Dispatch noting:
As a result of Colonel Black's policies, there is nowhere in the nation
a state police force more cognizant of the last detail of its duties and
responsibilities,
more considerate of the public it polices, more polite in its approach to
its many times unpleasant duties, or more efficient in carrying out to the
last item of instruction the tasks laid before it.
The Flying Wheel magazine, which went around the world to reach Patrol officers stationed in all theaters of the war, said it more simply: We are his living memorial of a job well done. May his tradition be our standard.