Oswell Ovid “Joe” Rowden, Chief
Cushing Police Department
On July
30, 1968, Chief Rowden, 60, was transporting two unhand cuffed prisoners by car
from Cushing to the Payne County Jail in Stillwater along with Payne County
Deputy Sheriff Jerry Beall. Shortly after 3:00 P.M., approximately six miles
east of Stillwater on Highway 51, one of the prisoners, Marvin R. Gibson, Jr.,
19, attacked Deputy Beall, who was driving, wrenching the steering wheel
sideways. The car crossed over the centerline hitting an oncoming car head-on.
Both officers were killed. Beall was pinned by the steering wheel and Rowden was
thrown through the windshield. Both prisoners received minor injuries but did
not escape. Driver of the other car survived his injuries. A wife and two sons
survived Chief Rowden. His son John had served as an Oklahoma City police
officer and was an agent with the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
in Atlanta, Georgia when his father was killed.
William A. West, Patrolman Cushing Police
Department
Just after
midnight on Saturday, July 18, 1931, two men broke into the home of Phil Estes,
the manager of the Pla-More Poolhall,. in Cushing. Estes was bound, gagged and
robbed of the daily take from the poolhall, which he had taken home with him
that night. Estes was able to get loose and call the police after the suspects
fled. He told police that he had seen the men go into a nearby garage. Officers
William “Billy” West and Corbett Ritter, went to the garage to question the
night watchman. West entered and went to a lighted office at the back of the
garage. Upon entering the office, West was shot twice in the heart and leg by a
man hiding under the desk. West was able to return fire before he fell and died
at the scene. J.B. Carnell was arrested in Lawton two days later and Harold
Harris surrendered himself the next day. J.B. Carnell was given 99 years in
prison for murdering Officer West. Officer West was survived by his wife and one
son.