Frank P. Franano
Agency: Kansas City Police Department, MO
Patrolman Franano served with the Kansas City Police Department for four years. Before joining the police department, Officer Frank P. Franano had primarily been known as a musician in the Kansas City area, playing cornet. He had played with a number of orchestras, most often with those who performed for the movie theatres during the silent movie era.
On September 15, 1935, Officers Frank P. Franano, 40, and J.S. Snow were on patrol. They were traveling on Fifteenth Street, when they noticed a car containing two youths go by. The lights of the car were dim, so Patrolman Franano turned the patrol car around and followed them. The passengers of the car realized that the radio was decreasing the power of the headlights, so they turned it off. The officers continued to follow them, so the driver stopped the car at the edge of the train tracks on Fifteenth Street, near Carrington Avenue. Patrolman Franano drew up alongside them, got out, and walked over to talk to the driver. He had just admonished him about driving with no headlights, when someone shouted that the train was coming.
Patrolman Franano called for everyone to back off the tracks. A Missouri Pacific train reached them before either could get out of the way. The patrol car was hit first. It was slammed into the other car and Officer Franano - still between them - was crushed. The cars were picked up by the engine and carried. The car that had been stopped went 26 feet before catching on a switch standard and falling free of the engine. The patrol car was carried 168 feet, and was still stuck to the engine when the train stopped. Everyone involved was injured and Patrolman Franano was killed.
Franano had passed away by the time anyone reached him. In the statements of all three survivors, none could recall hearing the siren although it did sound. Patrolman Franano was 43 at his death and was survived by his wife, Lizzie, and their three sons.
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