Horace Levi Dyer (February 24, 1873 – July 3, 1928) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and attorney. He played at the halfback position for the

1894 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1894 college football season. In its first season under head coach William McCauley, the team compiled a 9–1–1 recor ...

and was an attorney assigned to prosecute complex fraud cases from the 1900s to the 1920s.

Early years

Dyer was born in

Louisiana, Missouri Louisiana is a city in Pike County, Missouri, Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,364 at the 2010 census. Louisiana is located in northeast Missouri, on the Mississippi River, south of Hannibal, Missouri, Hannibal. Louisiana ...

, in 1873, the son of

David Patterson Dyer David Patterson Dyer (February 12, 1838 – April 29, 1924) was a United States representative from Missouri and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Education and career Born ...

, a federal judge and member of Congress. He received his preparatory education at the Stoddard School, Clark's Academy, and the Smith Academy, all in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

University of Michigan

Dyer enrolled at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1890 and played as a halfback for the

. He helped lead the team to a 9-1-1 record, the best record in the history of the Michigan football team to that date. He was five feet, seven inches tall and weighed 167 pounds as a football player.

Legal career

After receiving his LL.B. degree from Michigan in 1895, Dyer returned to St. Louis, where he practiced law. He was an assistant city attorney from 1899 to 1902 and an Assistant U.S. Attorney starting in 1902. Dyer developed a reputation for prosecuting significant fraud cases and was often dispatched by the U.S. Department of Justice as a special prosecutor in such cases. Dyer's significant cases include the following: * In 1905, Dyer was assigned to prosecute Joseph R. Burton, a U.S. Senator from Kansas. Burton was charged with accepting compensation from the Rialto Grain & Securities Company (a "get-rich-quick" concern), to represent Rialto before the post office department to prevent the issuance of a fraud order against the company. Dyer secured a conviction of Burton in the second trial of the matter (the first conviction was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court). See Burton v. United States * In 1923, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the United States with the responsibility to prosecute the leaders of the Egan Gang, also known as

Egan's Rats Egan's Rats was an American organized crime gang that exercised considerable power in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1890 to 1924. Its 35 years of criminal activity included bootlegging, labor slugging, voter intimidation, armed robbery, and murder ...

. He led the prosecutions that resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of William Colbeck, "Chippy" Robinson, "Red" Smith, Oliver Dougherty, Stephen Ryan, "Featheredge" Schneider, Roy Tipton, "Red" Lanham, and Leo Cronin. *In 1926, Dyer was appointed as the special prosecutor in connection with an investigation and subsequent prosecution of

Clarence Saunders Clarence Saunders may refer to: * Clarence Saunders (grocer) (1881–1953), American grocer, pioneer of supermarkets * Clarence Saunders (athlete) (born 1963), Bermudian high jumper {{hndis, Saunders, Clarence ...

, the founder of the

Piggly Wiggly Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable f ...

supermarkets, in connection with fraudulent sales of the company's stock. *In 1927, the U.S. Department of Justice sent Dyer to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, to prosecute companies and individuals engaged in fraudulent real estate transactions during the

Florida land boom of the 1920s The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble. This pioneering era of Florida land speculation lasted from 1924 to 1926 and attracted investors from all over the nation. The land boom left behind entirely new, planned ...

. Dyer died at age 56 in July 1928 during the prosecution of Clarence Saunders in the Piggly Wiggly case. The cause of death was heart disease. Following Dyer's death, an order from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, dismissed the case.

Family

Burton married Bettie Edgar in 1899, and she died in 1901. He married Betty Wilcox in 1905, and they had two sons, David (born 1908) and John (born 1913). In a draft registration card completed at the time of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Dyer stated that he was a lawyer with an office in the Central National Bank Building in St. Louis. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, he was living in St. Louis with his wife and two sons, and was employed as an attorney.Census entry for Horace L. Dyer and family. Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census atabase on-line Census Place: St Louis Ward 25, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: T625_961; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 511; Image: 525.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Horace 1873 births 1928 deaths 19th-century players of American football Michigan Wolverines football players Players of American football from St. Louis University of Michigan Law School alumni People from Louisiana, Missouri