By Renee Larr
Local author and historian Phil Dunlap will visit the Carmel Clay Public Library at 7 p.m. May 23 to tell the true story behind a little-known Carmel mystery. His lecture, “Who Actually Killed Cyclone Johnson and Frank Carey?” explores the facts surrounding the death of a criminal and Carmel’s only police officer to fall in the line of duty.
“Cyclone Johnson was kind of a crazy guy back in 1900. I guess he was a street preacher, but he was also roughing people up, so he got arrested. Our police officer, Constable Edward Carey and his deputized brother, Frank Carey, were Carmel’s police force basically. They tried to arrest him and take him off to jail. The legend goes that there was gunfire and two people were dead, Frank Carey and Cyclone Johnson, but no one knows who killed who,” CCPL Communications Manager Beth Jenneman said. “Phil is going to explain who actually killed who and what happened. It’s a mystery not many people know about, but it is true to Carmel history.”
The police officer statue at Main Street and the Monon Trail is in honor of Frank Carey.
“They just put (the statue) back up. It got hit by a drunk driver and damaged, so they had to remove it,” Carmel Clay Historical Society Executive Director Emily Ehrgott said. “We thought in honor of that we would do this lecture.”
Dunlap is partnering with the Carmel Clay Historical Society on the presentation. The event is free to attend. For more information, visit carmel.lib.in.us.
