Henry Buckner, Sheriff

Adair County Sheriff's Office

The evening of Saturday, June 12, 1954, Sheriff Buckner and his wife Clemmie were at home playing canasta with friends, Bill and Betty Barker and Robert and Jewell Scruggs when the sheriff received a call on a drunken disturbance at the Gonzalis residence in Stilwell. Chester Lee Gonzalis, 21, had come home drunk and did not like what his sister Margaret was cooking for dinner and threw the food out. Margaret hit Chester with a frying pan and said she was calling the Sheriff. Chester left with an unloaded 12-gauge shotgun. He borrowed some shells for the shotgun from a neighbor. A short time later Sheriff Buckner found Gonzalis walking on Fogg Hollow Road. As the Sheriff approached him, Gonzalis fired at Buckner. One of the pellets struck Buckner in the heart killing him instantly. The Buckners had seven children.

Lee Russell, Deputy Sheriff 

Adair County Sheriff’s Office

Late afternoon on Saturday, December 18, 1915, Deputy Sheriff Russell came across Bennie Taylor and Thornton Williams in the Ewing Chapel area of Adair County. The men were in possession of illegal liquor. When Russell indicated his intent to arrest them, Taylor shot the deputy with a shotgun. Russell shot Taylor five times with his Winchester rifle. Williams then pretended to surrender until he lured the deputy off his guard. Williams then drew an automatic pistol and shot the deputy five times. Williams then picked up the fallen Taylor’s shotgun and fled.

Deputy Russell, although mortally wounded with his right arm shattered, managed to walk to his home a short distance away. Bennie Taylor died at 10 p.m. that night and Deputy Russell died on the next morning, December 19, 1915. Thornton Williams was arrested a few days later hiding in a cave near Evansville, AR.  He was returned to Adair County and charged with the deputy’s murder.