Edward Kern (police officer)

Later, in Prescott, Arizona, he was chief of supplies, or "forage master," under General George R. Crook in the Army's campaign against the Indian leader Geronimo.

[6] In 1908 he was reappointed as a director of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and announced that Los Angeles would be the site of the group's next convention.

[7] In a lengthy statement published in the Los Angeles Herald, Kern stressed that "The proposition of handling the Socialist speakers who are contending with the authorities for the right of what they call free speech has not reached the dignity of a problem in my mind."

[10] In January 1909 Kern resigned as police chief and was appointed by Mayor Arthur Harper to the Board of Public Works.

[12] His appointment had been met with such disfavor that it was one of the reasons for a successful recall petition drive that eventually led to Mayor Harper's resignation.

The Los Angeles Times reported that as he was packing for his trip "Kern yesterday presented a pitiful spectacle.

"[2][14][15] The next year, Kern, who had been ill "for months," went to El Paso, Texas, on business, and soon his body was found by a chambermaid on April 20, 1912, in a hotel room bathtub with a bullet through the head.

[16][17] A funeral service was conducted on April 27, 1912, by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in their lodge at 320 South Main Street, Los Angeles.