Pete: First Motorcycle Cop

Stanley Berget Vandament, better known as Pete, was born January 22, 1888, in Lawrenceville, Illinois, to Burgett and Belle Vandament. At age seventeen, a complaint was filed against Stanley and others, for encouraging dog fighting, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

On Sunday afternoon, February 11, 1909, Vandament married Miss Jessie Abe, 21, the daughter of Martha Abe of St. Mary’s, Ohio. The wedding was a very quiet affair at the home of the minister. The bride had been a Lawrenceville resident only a short time, coming from St. Mary’s about two months previously, to accept a position as a piano player at the Star Theatre. The couple made their home with the groom’s mother and his sisters on Depot Street.

Vandament, then the manager of the South Side Pool room in Lawrenceville, was on his way home Tuesday night, February 28, 1911, between eleven and twelve o’clock. When crossing the street at the northeast corner of the Square, he was accosted by two men who relieved him of $32 in money, a check for $5.10, and his Colt automatic revolver. The robbers then went north on Eleventh street. They were later arrested and caused quite a scene when they attempted a jail break.

Two years later on July 14, 1913, E. E. Sayler ran over and killed a bird dog belonging to Vandament. Settlement could not be agreed upon and Vandament brought suit for $75 before Judge Keller, the municipal court judge. Vandament hired T. H. Cunningham, to represent him and Sayler hired R. M. Shaw. After hearing the evidence from the witnesses, the court gave Vandament a judgment in the sum of $50. Later this the case was appealed in Circuit Court, and the jury found in favor of the defendant, E. E. Sayler, reversing the judgment.

April 25, of 1917, Vandament was employed by Lawrenceville and county authorities as the county’s first motorcycle patrolman. He was vested with deputy sheriff powers and his duty was to patrol the road between Lawrenceville and Vincennes and arrest all those who violated the speed limit.  He was paid $50 a month.

When Vandament registered for WWI, he stated that he was of medium height, slender with blue eyes and light hair, and that he was a mechanic and skilled on a motorcycle. Whether he enlisted or was drafted is not known, but the War Department shows his date of enlistment as March 11, 1918.

Vandament was honorably discharged on March 28, 1919. He had achieved the rank of Chauffeur, First Class, and was attached to the Aviation Supply Depot. He ranked the same as an Infantry Sergeant, and his primary duty involved operating motor vehicles used by the Army. On his uniform he wore a patch designed to look like a truck wheel with a curved rocker beneath it.

Little is known about Vandament’s life when he returned from the War. His first marriage ended, and he married Miss Alice McDonald, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. E. McDonald, south of Bridgeport, on August 12, 1929, in Owensboro, Kentucky. Alice was employed as a beautician; Vandament was employed by the Tally Motor Company of Lawrenceville.

In April of 1931, a son, Jimmy Lee was born to the couple. The following year in September the couple had another son, Richard Dale. At that time the family was living at 1113 South 10th Street in Lawrenceville, and Vandament was employed as a mechanic, with the Lawrenceville Battery Service Company, owned by Dick Crusse on S 10th St.

In February of 1936, his health had failed, due to arteriosclerosis and Vandament, the father of two very young sons, was taken to Hines Hospital having been paralyzed by a stroke about a month prior to his admission in the hospital. While his condition had improved somewhat, it was thought he would be helped by treatment at the Chicago hospital. He showed considerable improvement under the treatment at the Veteran’s hospital and returned to Lawrenceville. About three weeks before his death, he suffered a relapse; he died at the home of his mother-in-law, Mrs. John McDonald on West Lexington St, Thursday morning, July 23, 1936. Stanley B. Vandament was 47 years old.

Interment was at the Lawrenceville City Cemetery. American Legion Post 28 of Lawrenceville applied for and received a Veteran’s Headstone to be placed at Vandament’s grave in Lawrenceville Cemetery.