Charles Englehart

Charles Englehart
(Courtesy Davenport Times and Democrat)

Homicide

Charles Englehart
70 YOA
700 block of Main Street
Davenport, IA
Scott County
September 22, 1935

Case Summary compiled by Jody Ewing

On Sunday night, September 22, 1935, retired barber Charles Englehart stopped his car in a Davenport alley and was struck twice in the head by an unknown assailant before he could exit the vehicle.

The 70-year-old’s body was found slumped against the steering wheel around 10 p.m. in the 700 block of Main Street and taken to Mercy Hospital, where they found his skull crushed in two places.

Englehart died at 12:10 a.m. from hemorrhaging to the brain caused by the skull fractures.

Englehart, who resided at 215 W. 8th Street, often carried large amounts of cash in his wallet.

Courtesy The Morning Democrat

Charles Englehart’s murder made many headlines due to his status in the community.

Davenport police said his wallet was missing, but the suspect had left behind a diamond ring and stickpin.

Englehart’s murder made headlines as both police and private detectives struggled to identify his killer.

The Morning Democrat wrote on October 14, 1955:

Many murder victims are practically unknowns as far as the general public [is] concerned. But this case was different, for the victim was Charles Englehart, 68, a long-time resident of the city, a member of many local fraternal organizations and a stockholder in a large, successful wholesale firm in Davenport.

In an article published March 27, 2010 in the Quad-Cities Dispatch-Argus, reporter Bill Mayeroff called Englehart’s murder “the oldest of 52 unsolved Quad-Cities area murders discovered during a search of Dispatch/Argus files and of old police records by officers.”

About Charles Englehart

Courtesy photo Jim & Lori Rowe

Charles Englehart is buried in Louisa County’s Grandview Cemetery.

Charles Englehart was born July 7, 1865, to Conrad and Louise (Rexroth) Englehart in Grandview, Iowa.

He was laid to rest September 25, 1935 in his hometown at the Grandview Cemetery.

Information Needed

If you have any information about Charles Englehart’s unsolved murder, please contact the Davenport Police Department at (563) 326-7979.

Sources:

“Struck Down in the Dark — The Charles Englehart Murder,” by The Kitchen Table Historian, johnbrassardjr.com, April 19, 2020
“Cold cases: Unsolved, but not forgotten,” by Brian Wellner, Quad-City Times, June 26, 2011
“Davenport’s unsolved homicides,” Quad-City Times, June 25, 2011
“Murders unsolved but not forgotten,” Quad-Cities Dispatch-Argus, March 27, 2010
“Cold case murders 1935-2009,” Quad-Cities Dispatch-Argus, March 27, 2010
Iowa Certificate of Death for Charles Englehart, issued by the Iowa State Department of Health
“Who Could Have Killed Kindly Charles Englehart?” The Morning Democrat, October 14, 1955
“Killed and Robbed Davenport Man,” The Oelwein Daily Register, Monday, September 23, 1935
“United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch, Charles Englehart in household of Louisa Hummel, Davenport, Scott, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0034, sheet 10A, family 320, line 27, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 681; FHL microfilm 2,340,416.
“United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch, Louisa Hummel, Davenport, Scott, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 0034, sheet 10A, family 320, line 26, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 681; FHL microfilm 2,340,416.
“Iowa State Census, 1915,” database with images, FamilySearch, Charles Englehart, 1915; citing Scott, Iowa, United States, card no. , Iowa State Historical Department, Des Moines; FHL microfilm 1,462,753.