HF 3394

as introduced - 92nd Legislature (2021 - 2022) Posted on 05/19/2022 05:36pm

A resolution
memorializing Congress to name the South St. Paul Post Office in honor of Officer
Leo Pavlak.

WHEREAS, Officer Leo Pavlak was killed by members of the infamous Barker-Karpis Gang
during a payroll robbery that occurred outside the South St. Paul Post Office on August 30, 1933;
and

WHEREAS, Officer Leo Pavlak was escorting two 21-year-old messengers for Stockyards
National Bank, Herbert Cheyene and Joseph Hamilton, from the South St. Paul Railway Station to
pick up payroll money for Swift and Company that had been shipped via train from the Federal
Reserve Bank in Minneapolis; and

WHEREAS, Officer Pavlak and the two messengers brought the payroll to the South St. Paul
Post Office where they put the envelopes of money into bags and set off for Swift and Company;
and

WHEREAS, at 9:45 a.m., just as the messengers left the post office carrying the money, a
black car with a siren blaring and smoke coming from the back of the car drove up to the post office.
Two men with guns jumped out the car and approached Officer Pavlak and yelled, "Stick 'em up!"
Pavlak threw up his hands and the two messengers dropped the bags of money; and

WHEREAS Officer Pavlak and another officer who arrived on the scene, Officer John
Yeaman, were both shot by the bandits. Officer Pavlak was killed instantly while Officer Yeaman
eventually recovered from his injuries; and

WHEREAS, Officer Pavlak had only been with the South St. Paul Police Department for
five months before his death at the age of 38, leaving behind his wife, Pauline, and two children,
Eleanor and Robert. His funeral was held September 1, 1933, at St. Augustine's Church and he was
buried at Calvary Cemetery; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it requests that the
President and the Congress of the United States name the South St. Paul Post Office in memory of
Officer Leo Pavlak.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the
President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.