In a revolver battle at close range, Jerry McCarty, escaped convict and known as one of the most desperate criminals in America, and Patrolman Joseph Ollinger killed each other on July 11, 1911 at Central and Twenty-fifth Avenues N.E. The hunted man, cornered, did just what the policeman expected him to do, opened the first fire. Patrolman Ollinger fired almost at the same instant. McCarty fell first and Ollinger, with six bullets in his body, fell on him.
The battle, which eclipses any in the annals of the Minneapolis police, was fought alone by the two men, watched at a distance by bystanders who had been warned away by the policeman.
The death of the two men ends a search for McCarty which had extended throughout the United States, while McCarty, who had escaped from Stillwater penitentiary on March 4, 1911, continued his career of robbery.
The gunfight with Patrolman Ollinger strangely resembled one which preceded the capture of McCarty in October, 1909, when he shot at Patrolman Jonas Jonassen, but missed fire and wounded himself in the hip. It was for the attack on Jonassen that he was serving the Stillwater sentence when he last escaped.

Patrolman Ollinger had seen McCarty hanging about pool rooms in the New Boston district for several days. Early on July 10, 1911, after a conference with Ollinger, Captain of Detectives Nick Smith said Ollinger had the right man.

Kissing his wife goodbye, Patrolman Ollinger said as he left home on July 11th, "There may be something doing tonight," and then left to go on his night watch. From that moment on he was after McCarty. He saw McCarty at Central Avenue and Twenty-fourth Avenue and followed him slowly to Twenty-Fifth Avenue. There McCarty turned and walked along Twenty-fifth Avenue to the rear of the drugstore. The fugitive stopped at the rear entrance and Patrolman Ollinger turned into the store.

"McCarty is at your back door and I'm going to get him," said Ollinger to the druggist. "Anyway, there's going to be trouble." Then Ollinger left the drugstore and walked straight around to the rear door, where McCarty stood in the shadow.

As he walked toward McCarty, Ollinger met a friend from the fire department, who had just passed McCarty. He told his friend to get back onto Central Avenue. "There is going to be some shooting here in a minute and I want you to be out of the way," he said in a whisper as he passed the fireman.

Then he walked straight to McCarty.

The proprietor of a poolroom at 2502 Central Avenue heard Patrolman Ollinger say: "McCarty, I've got you now or you've got me."

Then McCarty opened fire and Ollinger followed. Each man emptied the chambers of his revolver almost in a second. Just as the firing ceased, McCarty fell with a bullet through is heart and Patrolman Ollinger, shot six times through the body, fell on him.

When they were still, several men who witnessed the fight ran to them. McCarty was dead, but Ollinger still lived.

Police headquarters was at once notified and the patrol and police ambulances were sent. Patrolman Ollinger was rushed to the city hospital where he died at 1 a.m. on July 11th. McCarty's body was taken to the morgue.

Detectives at once went to the morgue to identify the body and Captain Nick Smith and Captain Frank Ferm both positively identified the body as that of McCarty.

At the hospital the physicians tried to save Patrolman Ollinger's life but their efforts were fruitless. Every bullet in McCarty's gun had taken effect. Five entered his abdomen and one went through his neck.

Ollinger's aim too, had been almost perfect, for his first shot is thought to have caused McCarty's death. One bullet went through McCarty's heart and another entered his head near his left eye. An autopsy on his body showed that the aorta, the largest artery in the body, had been severed by Ollinger's bullet. The bullet entered the left side and passed downward through the intestines.

That the two men clinched, the police are certain, although the place where they fought was dark and the combatants could not be seen plainly. McCarty's nose was broken and his head was badly bruised as though the policeman had beaten him.

A district businessman had come out of his store at 2500 Central Avenue just as the battle began. "At 11:45 I started to close my store," he said. "I was locking the rear door when I heard a pistol shot, and, glancing across the street, saw two men kneeling on the sidewalk alongside the building. I ran out and heard Patrolman Ollinger's voice. "Shoot again, shoot again," he repeated to the man under him and after each exclamation another shot was fired. I think there were seven shots. As I walked up I saw that Ollinger was sitting upright on the other man's chest. 'I got you, partner, but I guess you got me,' said the officer and then he began to groan and sway from side to side."

At this point a crowd of young men, attracted by the shooting, rushed out of the barber shop and poolroom at 2502 Central Avenue. The first man to reach Patrolman Ollinger and McCarty said the policeman asked him for assistance. "The policeman was sitting on the other man and as he turned, pointed his revolver directly at me and I started to run," he explained. "Hurry up and get a doctor," he said, and then he fell forward. Others approached at that time and the wounded officer was carried into the drugstore. The doctor who attended him said he seemed to rally and asked that his wife be called.

Ever since McCarty escaped from the penitentiary at Stillwater, reports had come to the police that McCarty was still keeping at his old trade. These rumors were in part substantiated when his clothing was searched. In the clothing was a diamond stickpin, $55 in cash, two large revolvers, ammunition and small articles of jewelry.

Chief of Police Michael Mealey said that many crimes had been charged to McCarty whose record was as long as that of any criminal in the world. While he had served but four prison terms he had been arrested many times and charged with crimes which could not be proven. Many of the crimes charged were spectacular. Chief Mealey also believes that McCarty intended to rob the pharmacy on Central Avenue, which would have been closed within a few minutes, had he not been waylaid by Patrolman Ollinger.

Patrolman Ollinger was an experienced policeman, and had a good record in the department. He was 52 years old, married and lived at 800 19th Avenue N.E. He was six foot three inches tall and his physique made him an adversary worthy of the powerfully built McCarty.

Every member of the police force that could be spared attended the funeral of Patrolman Ollinger on July 18, 1911. The service was held at his home, then a platoon of horse mounted police and a squad of policemen on foot escorted the body to St. Clement's church, Twenty-fifth Avenue N.E. and Quincy Street. After the principal services there, the divisions of police escorted the body to St. Anthony cemetery where the interment took place.