Video Transcription
Law enforcement officials play an important role in our communities. They are both part of the community they serve and the government protecting that community. Police officers protect the lives and property of citizens. They maintain order, catch lawbreakers, and work to prevent crimes. Lambton County has a rich history of keeping peace. And nothing is sadder than a police officer who has fallen will in the line of duty.
Constable Jack Lewis of the Sarnia Police force was well like and popular with his colleagues. In December of his first year of service, 1929, he was commended by the Sarnia Police Commission for his smart work causing the arrest of a man convicted of theft.
He later arrested two bandits without backup while they were breaking into a store, earning him another merit mark from the Commission. In June of 1933 he made international news running into a fire to save the property of the store owner.
On the Saturday May 23rd, 1936 Constable Lewis faced hardened criminal Norman J Ryan.
“Red” Ryan as he was known drove to Sarnia from Toronto to carry out the robbery of a liquor store on Christina Street ten minutes before six in the evening. Four officers immediately responded to the call, including Jack Lewis. They arrived when Ryan and his partner were preparing to leave. The officers rushed in and Ryan fired four shots, hitting Jack Lewis in the chest.
Officer Jack Lewis was taken to hospital where he later passed away.
There were 150 cars in the funeral procession. An estimated 2,500 people lined the streets. Police officers from coast to coast had come to the funeral to pay their respects including officers from Port Huron. Officer Lewis was the first officer in Sarnia to lose his life while defending the public.
Officer Lewis had left behind a wife and 2 children.
80 years later a plaque was erected by the Sarnia Historical Society near the corner of Christina and Cromwell streets, the scene of the crime. Officer Lewis gave the ultimate sacrifice for this community.
We Salute Officer Jack Lewis and the many Police officers who help defend out Lambton County…you truly are, our Hometown Heroes.
Additional Information
George Edward John Lewis was born December 24th 1902 to George and Goldie in Sarnia Township. Known widely as Jack by his friends and colleagues Jack Lewis was constable on the 14 man Sarnia police department since April 1st, 1929. Within his first year of service, Constable Lewis was commended by the Sarnia Police Commission for his smart work causing the arrest of a man convicted of theft. Three years later, while patrolling Maxwell Street, he spotted two individuals breaking into the M and P store. Without backup, Lewis arrested them both earning another merit mark from the commission. He even made national news in 1933 when he risked his life running into a burning business to rescue the cash and purse of the proprietor.
Norman J. Ryan, known as Red Ryan from copper coloured hair, was often described as an individual with the face of an angel and the heart of the devil. Ryan was born in Chicago in 1895 and moved to Toronto at a very young age. As a teenager he was running his own street gang, burglarizing homes and businesses. Ultimately, he graduated to bank robberies and armed hold-ups across Southern Ontario, Quebec, and the American Midwest.
The life of crime caught up and he was incarcerated on numerous occasions. During his final stint in jail at Kingston Penitentiary he took on an appearance of sainthood. He was a model prisoner regularly sermonizing to other convicts on the foolishness of a life of crime. His new found goodness was picked up by the Toronto Star, by a reporter who also happened to be a childhood friend, writing about this poor reformed criminal now needlessly confined to prison. When Prime Minister Bennett toured the penitentiary in 1935, he met Ryan who spun a story designed to impress the Prime Minister and also melt his heart. Shortly after, civic leaders, prison reformers and the general public increasingly called for mercy on the prisoner. Red Ryan was released.
He was showered with job offers, photo ops with police chiefs, mayors, and celebrities. He appeared at grand openings and events across the city, even acquiring his own radio show which he used to rail against the tragedy of a life of crime. Essentially, Red Ryan appeared everywhere.
What wasn’t known during this time was that he also quietly reassembled his gang and had resumed burglaries across the province. From October 1935 to May 1936, his gang had committed so many armed robberies that the Toronto police formed a special task force to figure out what was happening.
On Saturday of May long weekend in 1936, Special Constable Jack Lewis was scheduled to be on duty at 6pm in the Sarnia Police station. As Lewis prepared for work that day, Red Ryan and his partner in crime Harry Checkley were on their way to Sarnia dressed as railway men in a stolen oldsmobile to commit another heist.
At 5:58pm, a report came into the police station by William McLean, a taxi driver, about a holdup at liquor store 46. It was shift change time and a number of officers were on hand at the station, either starting their shifts or leaving. Four officers immediately responded, including Jack, who had arrived for his shift early as he regularly liked to do.
They reached the scene in the Police departments only cruiser at the precise moment Ryan and Checkley were leaving with their haul. The liquor store had an In door and Out door both facing Christina Street. Finding that the In door was locked, Officers McGirr, Smith and Lewis rushed in through the out door while Officer Simpkins remained outside guarding both doors. Hearing the commotion, Red Ryan hurried to the stairs, a gun in both hands, and fired four shots, striking the chest of Constable Lewis, who was the lead. Lewis fell and a violent gun battle ensued. Checkley was hit several times and lay near death in the entrance stairwell. Ryan ran for In door, which wouldn’t unlock. Detective McGirr fired a shot hitting him in the leg then officers fired several more, hitting Red Ryan multiple times.
The mortally wounded Jack Lewis was carried through the crowd of onlookers to the police car which took him to Sarnia Hospital. Jack Lewis’s wife Vera met him there and she clung to his side, as doctors worked to save him. Unfortunately they could not. 45 minutes after Constable Jack Lewis reported for work, he died becoming the first officer killed in the line of duty in the history of the Sarnia Police Department.
Early Tuesday afternoon, a private service for Constable Lewis was held at his home followed by a public service at Parker Street United Church. Over 2,500 attended the funeral which spilled into the church basement and grounds. He was laid to rest in Blackwell cemetery and was survived by his wife and two children.
Red Ryan’s body was returned by train to a shocked Toronto. The Toronto Star remained quiet about this event. Ryan was refused the last rights of the Catholic Church. His body was interred at Mount Hope Cemetery.
In 2018, a bronze memorial plaque commemorating Constable Lewis was affixed to the exterior of the building near Christina and Cromwell Streets in Sarnia where the shootout occurred.
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