A dozen of the highwaymen and robbers on whom Wooldridge was waging a
relentless warfare gathered together on the morning of July 4, 1895,
and formed a plot to kill Wooldridge and get him out of the way.
They concluded that the night of July 4, when everyone was firing
off revolvers and celebrating, would afford the best opportunity.
They imagined it would be an easy thing to shoot him from one of the
windows or from a housetop while he was on duty patrolling his post,
and no one would know where the shot came from, as there was shooting
from every direction.
An oath of secrecy was taken by all present, and lots drawn to see
who was to do the deed. In all probability their plan would have been
carried out had it not been for a colored woman, who was watching them
and heard the whole plot, and who went with the information to the
Harrison Street Police Station.
Captain Koch and Lieutenant Laughlin were notified and upon
investigation found the report to be true. They took immediate steps
to protect Wooldridge by placing three additional officers in full
uniform with him, and also placing six men in citizen's clothes on his
post. Every man they met was searched for a gun; every crook, vagrant
and thief that they could lay their hands on was placed under lock
and key in the station, and by 11 o'clock that night there was no
square in the city quieter than the one this officer patrolled, and
in two weeks' time "Coon Hollow" and the whole neighborhood for half
a mile in every direction had undergone the most remarkable change
known to police history, and this change was apparent for a long time
thereafter.
February 11, 1896, Detective Wooldridge, while trying to arrest a
panel-house keeper and three colored hold-up men at 412 Dearborn
street, was fired upon by one of the trio, Kid White, the shot
striking the bar of his watch chain, which was attached to the lower
button of his vest. When the bar was struck the bullet was diverted
from entering Wooldridge's stomach, and it glanced off and passed
through his overcoat.