“Did you get Purvis? I must talk to Purvis before I die.”
Sam Cowley, hard-charger.
From perhaps the bloodiest article to ever run in the New Era. After being machine-gunned by “Baby Face” Nelson (and killing Nelson in return) at the Battle of Barrington, LDS FBI Inspector Sam Cowley refused to undergo surgery until he could pass along critical intelligence to his boss, Agent Melvin Purvis.
Steve Evans pointed me to the trailer for an upcoming John Dillinger movie, and it brought to mind our own LDS hero who was one of the agents that ambushed him outside the Biograph theater in Lincoln Park. Missionary to Hawaii, Utah State Aggie, George Washington U. law grad, devoted husband, father of two, and certified hard.
Director Hoover: “Sam Cowley’s courage was beyond heroics. He was brave enough to be scrupulously honest in little things as well as big things. He didn’t accept the easy way out by a half-truth, a white lie, or a turned head. … So in one murderous moment, the FBI lost two of its finest men. And what is my point? My point is that this sacrifice was not just a magnificent demonstration of momentary heroism. It was the culmination of that greatest of all adventures in moral courage—a truly moral life.”
Filed under: Birkenhead Drill,Deseret Review | Tags: LDS G-men
Adam Greenwood
April 9, 2009
Damn straight. May Christ sit him at his right hand.
madhousewife
April 9, 2009
That’s awesome.
Mark Brown
April 9, 2009
gst,
Are you trying to tell me that the New Era actually quoted that tutu-wearing nancy-boy J. Edgar Hoover? Shame on you for even implying that. I question your orthodoxy.
GST
April 9, 2009
That rumor is unsubstantiated, and I don’t accept its validity.
Ray
April 9, 2009
“My point is that this sacrifice was not just a magnificent demonstration of momentary heroism. It was the culmination of that greatest of all adventures in moral courage—a truly moral life.”
I hope that can be said of me when I die.
gsj
April 10, 2009
His was truly an inspiring life. His brother and future Apostle, Matthew gave one of the prayers and was the public defender in SLC before being called to be mission president in New Zealand. His Father Matthias was also an Apostle who was removed from the quorum for continuing to perform polygamous marriages after the manifesto. Matthew said that for 33 years his father was only allowed to partaked of the sacrament but unable to use his priesthood, but when Matthew was in law school in DC and wrote of his intentions to marry there, his father who had limited means wired the money to come to SLC and be married in the temple and escorted the couple to the doors of the temple, being unable to enter himself.