CREATIVE HISTORY : A CLOSER LOOK : THE PEOPLE : LAWRENCE BASS

LAWRENCE P. BASS

Arriving in Boulder with his family in the early 1880s, Lawrence Bass represents the typical child of parents migrating west looking for new opportunities. Having little choice in the cross-country move, Lawrence made the most of the possibilities his new home had to offer. Perhaps more motivated than the average teenager, he made an strong impression as a young photographer, then at the age of twenty-four, Lawrence began his public service career in Boulder’s police force.

Researching someone who had a life-long presence in the public eye does not necessarily make the task easier. No diaries, letters, records, or police documents about Bass have currently been found, so the biography of Lawrence Bass presented here is an example of how a broad collection of individual records can eventually develop into a narrative.

Predominately an agricultural community, Howard County, Missouri was home to about 17,000 people in 1870. George Thomas and Mary (Withers) Bass were one of many farming families living in the small town of Moniteau Township, near Fayette. On February 13, 1870, George, Mary, their daughter Maggie, and George’s mother Susan, welcomed the birth of the Bass’s first son, Lawrence.

By using Lawrence’s funeral records as a starting point, I found names, dates and places that led me to examine multiple years of out-of-state census records that I used to verify locations, family names, and relationships. Further genealogical research could be done on the Bass family by using the clues in the census to look for family records in Tennessee, the birthplace of George’s father George, and Kentucky, the birthplace of his mother Susan.

It is not known what motivated George and Mary Bass to leave their home around 1880 and move their family nearly 750 miles west. It is believed they stayed in Denver for a short time but soon found their way to Boulder the same year. Over the next several years George might have struggled keeping steady work because after five years in Boulder he was still working as a laborer. There is no way of knowing for certain, but at the age of 49 it might have been difficult for him to find a new line of work other than farming. Lawrence’s sister Maggie helped out the family by working at the local telephone office, and Lawrence, at fifteen years old, considered himself a professional photographer while still attending school. Lawrence’s interest in photography continued, and in 1889 he partnered with I.H. Hosier opening the Hosier & Bass studio. The partnership lasted until 1892.

There is no way of knowing exactly why the Bass family moved west. It would be interesting to do research around Fayette, and Howard County, Missouri to discover if there was a trend of people moving out of the region during the 1880s, or if there were any environmental causes (such as drought) that might have forced farmers to look elsewhere for work. Could there have been medical reasons for their move? Colorado’s dry climate became a haven for people suffering from respiratory ailments such as tuberculosis. Perhaps there are Bass family records that still survive in Howard County that could shed light on their motivations.

Sometime between 1885 and 1892 Lawrence’s father died leaving Lawrence to head the family. Earning a steady living became even more important for Lawrence since he also needed to provide for his new wife Ida M. Darling, whom he married on December 24, 1891. The next year the couple, Lawrence’s younger brother Russell, and their mother, all lived at 1524 Pine Street. The brothers worked in their own photography studio above the Brown Mercantile at 1404-1406 Pearl Street. This was Boulder’s main street where locals, businesses travelers, and visitors passed on a regular basis, making it a potentially beneficial location for the brothers. After striking out on his own, Lawrence remained with photography for several more years taking pictures of people, buildings, and landscapes. One of several photographers at the time of the flood, the images Bass took are still some of the best visual documents of the event.

City directories fill in the gap between the 1885 Colorado census and the 1900 Federal census, showing that Lawrence’s father died sometime within a seven year period. Unfortunately there are no city or county directories available for the years between 1885 and 1892 to provide more details. An obituary, death certificate, or tombstone has not yet been found, but the narrower time frame will make the search a little easier.

Did something change within Lawrence after the eventful days following the May 31, 1894 flood? Later that same year he decided to completely change his career to become a police officer, beginning as a city night watchman. This new line of work suited him since it ultimately turned into a life-long career. However, two brief respites from police work occurred for unknown reasons beginning in the late 1890s. The first took place around 1898 when he returned to photography. Then another roughly between 1902 and 1907 when he spent several years in mining and mill work, only to return to the force in 1907.

Examining newspaper articles during these two time periods might be the only source of information available to answer the questions about Bass’s changing work conditions. The Boulder papers often posted local happenings and short news articles about some its better-known citizens. Perhaps the papers can provide insight into events that directly affected Bass’s ability to work on the police force.

Very few details are known about Bass’s personal life and activities. The handful that is known took place in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In August 1897 Lawrence and Ida’s only child, Harold Lawrence Bass, was born, possibly prompting the move of the entire family (including Bass’s mother) several years later to a house a few blocks away at 1921 Pine Street. Lawrence also started to become quite active in the community, joining the Boulder Hose #1 volunteer firemen in 1898, and later becoming a member of the Blue Lodge of Masonry, the Odd Fellows, and in 1909 the Elks.

Despite the straight forward listing of Bass’s activities, a further investigation of the organization he was involved in could provide a better view into the type of person Bass was. Community and fraternal organizations often take on a variety of functions within the community and knowing these roles might reflect Bass’s personal values.

Returning to police work in 1907, Lawrence quickly earned a promotion to Chief of Police in 1910. Police work appears to have been a good personality match for both Bass and Boulder. The town appreciated and respected his stern yet fair style of order, his devotion to the job, and keeping a high moral standard for the force to minimize corruption. As a well-known and admired member of Boulder, Bass’s sudden and tragic death on March 18, 1920 took people by surprise and shook all levels of the community.

While obituaries often only reflect the positive and good deeds a person accomplished during their lifetime, they are still valuable sources of information about what kind of life someone lived. Unfortunately, Bass’s obituary was the only source that reflected any aspect of how he lived his life. Because of how he died and his status in the community, it might be worthwhile to look for less emotionally charged perspectives about Bass in earlier newspaper articles.

A few days before his death, Chief Bass finally received the police car he had worked for several years to acquire. On the morning of March 18, Fire Chief Emil Johnson gave Bass, and three other passengers in the Buick, driving instructions. During their test drive a fire alarm sounded, but due to the morning’s high winds, a miscommunication about the fire’s location with the passing fire truck put both on a fateful route. Fire Chief Johnson sped down Pearl Street thinking the fire was at 28th and Pearl instead of 28th and Pine, two streets north.

During the initial excitement, Johnson did not notice Joe Salter, a budding journalist and prep student, jumping on the running boards of the car for a ride to the scene. With the fire truck in the lead, the driver made an unexpected wide left turn at 19th Street towards Pine Street not realizing until the last moment that the police car was very close behind. Johnson swerved avoiding a direct impact, but still side swiped the fire truck causing the car to “catapult through the air, turning over and over.” After the crash three of the six passengers in the police car died. Police Chief Lawrence Bass and Joe D. Salter (son of the City Manager) died of their injuries at the hospital, and William Stretcher, Boulder County’s Undersheriff died the following day. William McAllister, former Fire Chief, Emil Johnson, acting Fire Chief, and Lester DeBacker, a prominent Boulder real estate agent, were all injured but recovered on their own at home.

Newspaper reports after the accident currently provide the most detail about how the event happened. It would be interesting to see if any official police reports or other witness accounts can be found to provide a different perspective on the accident.

Lawrence Bass’s death saddened a large portion of Boulder community, making the Chief’s funeral the most highly attended up to that time. The Methodist Church overflowed with mourners to hear the Reverend Dr. C.A. Rowand give a modest but emotional tribute to Lawrence Bass the man and the public servant. With family members present and a large public attendance, Bass was laid to rest Sunday, March 22 at the Green Mountain Cemetery with members of his Masonic lodge presiding over the grave-side services.

Lawrence Bass is still honored today by the Boulder Police Department as one of their brothers who fell in the line of duty.