Editor's note: This is the final installment of two articles regarding the Oscar Sommerer family of the Honey Creek area.

Early on a Sunday evening on May 22, 1960, 10-year-old George Sommerer was sitting between a metal bed rail in a room in his house with his hands and feet tied by cloth straps. A short while earlier, two escaped convicts from the Missouri State Penitentiary took his family hostage on their Honey Creek area farm, but had since departed the home in an effort to elude law enforcement.

"While I was sitting tied to the bed rail, I noticed there was a coat hanger within my reach," Sommerer recalled. "Once I had the coat hanger in my tied hands, I used it to reach over to a table where my mother's sewing box was sitting and then opened the latch."

Once open, he was able to hook a pair of scissors with the hanger and pull them within reach of his hands. He then managed to lift his legs and cut the binding around his feet and walk to the adjoining room, where his mother, older brother, father and a neighbor had been similarly bound.

"I handed off the scissors to someone else, who then cut my hands loose," Sommerer said. "Then, I was able to cut everyone else loose. That's when we went and got any guns in the house that the convicts hadn't found and stolen, and then loaded them with shells in case they decided to come back."

The family went and opened the door to the outhouse, where the convicts had earlier locked up Sommerer's 72-year-old grandmother. Finally, they telephoned the Highway Patrol and within about 15 minutes, the first troopers arrived. They explained to the troopers the details of their brief captivity, the theft of the 1954 Chevy and that their neighbor, Mrs. Mary Strobel, had been taken hostage.

Earlier, the convicts shared with the Sommerer family that they were making their getaway to the Kansas City area, asking what roads they should travel in order to elude the authorities. The family offered suggestions and were therefore able to describe to the troopers the most likely route they would be driving.

The call went out on the police radios and the search began for the 1954 Chevy that had been stolen from Sommerer's older brother, Floyd.

"Before being spotted by the patrolman, the car had wound over the back roads in the vicinity of Russellville and other communities in Cole, Moniteau and Miller Counties," reported the May 31, 1960, edition of the St. Louis Globe Democrat.

The newspaper added, "Sgt. F.A. Jones, patrolling a country road near Olean ... spotted a car which looked like the one stolen by the escapees. He approached close enough to check the license number and radioed for verification of the identity."

One of the escapees fired a stolen .22 rifle at the state trooper and the bullet went through the windshield and struck the patrolman on his Sam Brown belt. Fortuitously, the small caliber of bullet along with the window slowing the bullet's speed, in addition to the thick leather of the belt, halted the projectile to the extent that it fell to floor of car without any serious injury to the patrolman.

"It was lucky that we didn't have any higher caliber rifles in the house for the convicts to steal because that probably would have meant the death of Sgt. Jones," Sommerer noted.

Although Jones backed off a short distance in his pursuit, the escapees soon lost control of 1954 Chevy, careening into a ditch and coming to rest against a tree. The two men bolted into the woods to continue their escape, leaving the uninjured Mrs. Strobel in the automobile.

"In later years, Mary Strobel told me that the scariest part of the ordeal was having to cross the field to Sgt. Jones because there was a bull in the field," Sommerer said. "But she was able to make it across without incident."

Next came the Highway Patrol's helicopter and bloodhounds to assist with the backwoods search. Around 11 p.m., the excitement of the day came to an end when the escapees surrendered to authorities after seeking concealment in a cemetery near Olean.

The two escaped convicts, Sommerer's grandmother, father, older brother, mother and their neighbors have all since died. But as Sommerer animatedly explained, the kidnapping of his family became a widespread event that brought them a few moments of unexpected fame.

"My father had a farm truck with his name painted on the side of it and when we would drive into town, people pointed at it because they recognized our name and associated it with the event," he said. "That was quite an experience for me, being I was only 10 years old when all it happened."

Sommerer continued, "Not too long after, we were contacted by Parade magazine and they offered to pay us to share the story."

"We ended up receiving $100 for the story and split it five ways between me, my father, mother, older brother and grandmother," he added, holding up a time-worn copy of Parade dated Aug. 7, 1960.

He concluded, "The year before, there had been a farm family taken hostage and murdered in Kansas. We may have become the talk of the town here locally, but we were very fortunate and appreciative for the quick response of law enforcement in the area."

Jeremy P. Ämick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.

Print Headline: 10-year-old helped thwart hostage situation in 1960

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