By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - When 362 names were added Thursday to the nation's memorial honoring police officers killed in the line of duty, the city of Hamilton was all too well represented.

Six Hamilton officers were honored. Yet Hamilton has not lost a police officer since 1938.

The names are of officers who died between 1916 and 1938, part of a time when Hamilton was known as "Little Chicago" for wildness and Mafia activity, according to Sgt. Dave Crawford, the department's spokesman.

The belated honors are the culmination of a five-year effort by a history buff police chief and community members who raised the money to send a police delegation to this week's ceremonies in Washington.

Why so much effort to honor officers who died so long ago?

"The simplest answer is because they're entitled to be there," said Hamilton Police Chief Neil Ferdelman.

Of the 362 names added this year, 145 were killed in the line of duty in 2003. The other 217 are historical, like the Hamilton names, said Bruce R. Mendelsohn, spokesman for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Ferdelman said he'd been determined to get the Hamilton officers' names added to the memorial since he became chief five years ago. The process took so long because of the research needed to establish what happened in each case.

Much of the research was done by Jim Blount, a local historian and retired editor of the Hamilton Journal News.

"History's an important part of the department," said Ferdelman, whose father was also a Hamilton police officer.

He also has been digging out old photos of police officers, enlarging them, and hanging them up at the police station to let today's officers know they are part of a larger and historic family.

Hamilton's police department was created in 1875. It has 130 officers.

Ferdelman and seven other Hamilton police officers are in Washington to attend ceremonies that include a candlelight vigil and a speech by President Bush.

The cost of the $4,000 trip is being paid by the Hamilton Community Foundation, local funeral homes and other businesses.

Names of the following six Hamilton police officers were added this week to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. They are:

•  Inspector Arthur Walke, killed July 3, 1916, when a drunk man hit him and knocked his head on cement.

•  Patrolman George A. Lentz, shot Aug. 6, 1918, by a drunk man from whom Lentz had seized a hammer.

•  Desk Sgt. Charles Stegemann, shot June 25, 1920, responding to a call about a domestic fight.

• Sub-patrolman Earl Grubb, shot on New Year's Day 1935 by a man Grubb arrested at a dance.

• Patrolman Arthur E. Sponsel, shot April 12, 1936, when he surprised burglars in a restaurant.

• Patrolman Aaron Laubach, shot Jan. 27, 1938, when he tried to stop an armed robbery at a gas station.