In the early morning hours of August 5, 1939, Louis Fischer, proprietor of the Riverview Golf Club, called his brother, Deputy Sheriff Rudolph Fischer, to report a burglary in progress. Deputy Fischer and his partner, Joe Heinen, arrested two burglars at the golf club. The prisoners were transported to the Dakota County Jail in Hastings for booking.
Once at the jail, Deputy Heinen, who was seated at a desk, began gathering information from the arrested burglary suspects. One of the suspects took Deputy Heinen's weapon and shot Deputy Fischer in the chest. Once outside of the jail, one of the suspects shot at Jailer Lawrence Dunn, narrowly missing him. The two suspects then escaped toward the east side of Hastings.
Within six hours, both suspects were apprehended by assisting officers and local town people, including Deputy Fischer's brother, Louis.
Rudolph Fischer died on August 5, 1939. He was a 19-year veteran of the Dakota County Sheriff's Office. He was also a veteran of World War I, where he was wounded in Dermancout by shrapnel and gassed at Verdun while serving with the 33rd Infantry Division.
The two suspects, Harold Wilder and Dewey Sharpe, gave written confessions to the then County Attorney Harold E. Stassen. On August 19, 1939, District Judge W. A. Schultz sentenced Wilder and Sharpe to life sentences in the Stillwater State Penitentiary after they pled guilty to the second degree murder of Deputy Fischer.
Deputy Rudolph A. Fischer was born on January 11, 1894. He married Elsie Louis Genz in 1924. He was survived by his wife, three daughters, and one son, who was born three months after his death.