Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Owen Orson Wiard was looking for a place of safety and anonymity. As a highly effective detective in western Pennsylvania, he helped shut down a branch of the notorious Black Hand gang of the Mafia. He feared for his safety.
He and his wife, Lavida, settled on Winona Lake, Indiana. They purchased a house named “Maplehurst” on 12th Street, and settled in. They established an automotive business at the entrance to Winona Lake that featured car repairs and sold autos under the brands of Star, Durant and Locomobile. They offered Grey Goose motor oil free with an oil change.
A June 1926 invoice from the Wiard Garage “In Winona Lake, Indiana, on the Yellowstone Trail” shows the charge for “bringing in car and rebuilding starting system” to be $3.50. A sprawling message “Paid” is signed by “O. O. Wiard.” The receipt is in the Winona History Center.
Going on the
Speaker Circuit
But the love of the detective life soon lured Wiard back. He became a certified speaker with the Fidelity Lyceum Bureau and launched into the speaking circuit with his wife Lavida, advertising their services as “Civic Revivals,” “Dry Campaigns” and labeling themselves “Moral Survey and Law Enforcement Specialists.”
Wiard (1867-1934) was a man of many interests and many talents. He became a minister in the Erie Conference of the United Brethren in Christ Church from 1887 to 1891, although there is no record of his ever having pastored a local congregation. He was married four times. His first wife, Della, died in 1890. Gertrude (Curtiss) Wiard was his second wife. They were married in 1894 and Gertrude died May 9, 1903. Lavida Dalmage Wiard was his third wife. They were married in 1905 and Lavida died July 25, 1927. Lulu M. (Galloway) Wiard was his fourth wife and she died in 1946.
Wiard was born in Crawford County in northwestern Pennsylvania, where the county seat is Meadville. When he lectured as a detective, his publicity flyers said he “led in the battles against municipal corruption in several cities and he led in the battle of authorities against the Black Hand bandits in the Pittsburgh District.”
The Black Hand Mafia, also known as “La Mano Nera,” terrorized Italian-American communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through extortion and violence. Originating in Southern Italy, this criminal organization used fear to control and exploit immigrants.
The late 19th century influx of Italian immigrants brought Black Hand extortion rings to the United States and to the Pittsburgh area circa 1904. As practiced in their native land, extortionists delivered letters to their intended victims that threatened arson, kidnapping or murder unless large sums of cash were paid. Black ink drawings of hands, daggers or guns appeared on the letters to instill fear in the unfortunate recipients. Initially, victims were wealthier members of the Italian community, but grew to include non-Italians.
The Black Hand were notorious and powerful in large cities like New York and Chicago. Another source identifies Wiard as helping to dismantle a Black Hand unit that operated out of Butler, Pennsylvania, and specialized in training operatives to commit murder with stilettos.
Wiard’s publicity further identifies him as the superintendent of Wiard’s National Detective Bureau, and president of the National Association of Licensed Detectives. It says he is “an earnest worker against the saloon and in behalf of good citizenship.” And he has “founded, successfully edited, and sold two newspapers.”
Owen Orson Wiard’s father was named the reverse — “Orson Owen Wiard.” A branch of the family established the well-known Wiard Plow company in Batavia, New York. The luxurious Wiard family homestead in Beverly, Massachusetts, became the summer vacation residence of 27th President William Howard Taft.
Wiard, the detective/minister/editor/lecturer, died May 12, 1934, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery on Pike Lake.
