WILD!! ca 1890 First Issue Ithaca NY Police Badge #13 Used in a Prohibition era Crime!!
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WILD!! ca 1890 First Issue Ithaca NY Police Badge #13 Used in a Prohibition era Crime!!

Code: pdgny00013ica

$875.00




Product Description

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ARTIFACT:

This is a beautiful, Probably First Issue, Ithaca New York Police Badge #13 in the Circle Cut Out Stra Shield style, from the late 1880's. But it also has ties to later "use", in a crime, during Prohibition!

Often times, a name scratched on the back of a badge will only lead to a dead end, sometimes, if one is lucky, one may find a quick mention of the officer. Well, this time, it did NOT lead to an officer: it led to a PERPETRATOR!! 

K. Dackett was scratched onto the back of this early Ithaca NY Police Badge. Not a common name, so I put Dackett into the Newspapers.com search engine, along with a date range of 1880 to 1940, and Ithaca New York.

Instead of finding the expected possible mention of a Police Officer with that name, I found out that the name scratched on back was that of a Perpetrator, Kenneth Dackett of Pennsylvania, who used the badge in a crime, called hi-jacking at the time, but also called what we would call today "shaking down" victims, while portraying himself as an officer of the law! I'm not sure if Dackett put his name on the badge, to claim ownership, or a court officer put it there to mark the evidence, but the prohibition era, 11 February 1925, Ithaca Journal newspaper article mentions that Dackett was using an older style Ithaca Police Badge (the Department would have used something much more modern, perhaps even an NYC design badge by this time) while he and his accomplice would search victims for contraband alcohol, and then try to extract a bribe for their silence about the affair. Follow up articles on 12 & 13 February, which was a Friday, Dackett and his accomplice were quickly arrested, and Dackett ended up service 10 days in county jail for his crimes. 

VINTAGE: Late 1880S.

SIZE: Approximately 2-1/8" in height x 1-13/16" in width.

MATERIALS / CONSTRUCTION: Nickel plated nickel badge with Nickel findings. Tiny remnants of Jeweler's Black in Lettering.

ATTACHMENT: Vertical kick pin with C catch.

MARKINGS: "K.DACKETT"

ITEM NOTES: This is from a police and law enforcement collection which we will be listing more of over the next few months. KAEJM21 LHGEX05/02/23

CONDITION: 7+ (Very Fine): The badge shows minor wear, and beautiful stamp work on it, overall, it is in very fine condition.

GUARANTEE: As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.