Lakewood Lore

If mansion could talk, it would tell of brutal murder

Some of Lakewood’s beautiful early century mansions have memorable stories to tell.

One such residence on Edgewater Drive near Homewood Drive was built by Wilfred C. Sly, a prominent industrialist who was slain by payroll robbers on Cleveland’s West Side in 1920.

Sly bought his property, a two-acre plot overlooking Lake Erie, about 1912 and took exceptional pride in the construction of the three-story brick manor, which was completed in 1915. He personally selected the handsome Philippine mahogany used for the central staircase and woodwork and beams of the first-floor rooms.

Since 1910 he had been serving as president of the W.W. Sly Manufacturing Co., founded by his father in 1874 as a supplier of foundry equipment. The plant was on Train Avenue at West 47th Street.

As was customary in those days, the factory paid its workers weekly in cash. Shortly before noon on Friday, Dec. 31, 1920, Sly who was 58 at the time, and his plant superintendent, George K. Fanner, 33, were returning from a bank with a $4,200 payroll.

While they followed their usual route south from Lorain Avenue on West 45th, a Stearns automobile came up from behind and forced their car against the railing of a temporary bridge crossing over the Nickel Plate tracks close to the plant.

Two armed thugs leaped out of the Stearns and were joined by four other gang members who all at once appeared on the scene.

Not immediately recognizing the robbery intention, Sly alighted and attempted to get the names of some witnesses to the accident.

Suddenly the hoodlums opened fire, seized a satchel containing the money and fled to a third car waiting nearby. Sly and Fanner crumpled and fell dead on the bridge.

Because one witness caught five numbers of the getaway car’s six-digit license plate, the police were able to track down three of the desperadoes in short order.

The hunt for the others continued for 15 years, with detectives following leads as far away as California, Mexico and Italy. Eventually, all were apprehended, tried and executed.

According to Sidney Cohen, life-long Cleveland attorney who is now 88, one of the culprits at first was given a life sentence, but then demanded a retrial, which he was accorded. The second trial again found him guilty, after which, ironically, he got the death penalty the same as his confederates.

Leader of the outlaws was a hardened criminal named Frank Motto. He was tried before Judge Florence Allen, marking the first time in this country that a woman presided in a murder case with women sitting on the jury.

When the jury found Motto guilty of first-degree murder, Judge Allen imposed the death sentence, another first for a woman. Later she received threats from the Black Hand, a predecessor name for the Mafia, and was given round-the-clock police protection.

Within a year after the killings, Sly’s widow Marie sold the home. Longest occupant subsequently was the Morgan family, who lived there 56 years, beginning with Harry W. Morgan, landlord of apartments and office buildings who with wife Dora, moved into the place in 1924. During their tenure, they added a conservatory and many other embellishments to the house.

The Morgans’ son Paul and his sweetheart Ruth were married in the tea garden behind the home in the early ‘40s. Paul, a chemical engineer, died three years ago. Ruth, a former Lakewood school teacher, now lives in Rocky River.

Present owners are William Heideloff, who is engaged in finance and investments, and his wife Marla, currently president of the Lakewood Historical Society. The Heideloffs moved there in 1981 from a home in Lakewood’s Clifton Park. The couple have three children.

There are numerous tall oaks and maples on the spacious property and, in the rear, a carriage house, clay tennis court, water lily pond and rose plat. Some of the rose bushes were put in back in the ‘20s, Marla proudly pointed out.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post July 4, 1991. Reprinted with permission.

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