Herbert E. Marlow, Officer
Dewey Police Department
At 3:30 A.M. on Saturday, November 11, 1922, Officers Marlow and Ralston
while patrolling observed two men inside a clothing store putting clothes in
suitcases. Marlow sent Ralston, who was unarmed, for the other armed officer on
duty while Marlow stood by an open door of the store. Officer Marlow was unaware
that the street light back lighted him. A third man acting as look out shot
Officer Marlow in the left lung with a rifle with the bullet then traveling
downward. Officer Marlow fired all five rounds in his revolver before he
collapsed. The returning officers pursued the suspects but they escaped. The two
officers then returned and found Officer Marlow to be dead.
Walter Lee Mull, Chief of Police
Dewey Police Department
On Sunday afternoon, August 11, 1918, Chief Mull, 45, responded to an address on the predominantly black West side of Dewey in response to a report of a man beating a woman. Upon arrival the Chief spoke with the occupants of the house, Aaron Wardlow, Lucy Hazelrigg and another man. While Chief Mull was discussing the situation with the people, Wardlow began cursing him. Chief Mull placed him under arrest. Wardlow was in front of the Chief as they were leaving the house. Wardlow stepped through the door, spun around and slammed the door shut in the Chief’s face while at the same time he drew a .45 revolver and fired through the door. The bullet struck Chief Mull in the heart and killed him instantly. Wardlow escaped but was arrested later that evening and taken to Bartleville for safe keeping. That night, a frustrated lynch mob burned at least twenty black families’ homes on the west side of Dewey. Chief Mull was buried next to his wife in the Dewey Cemetery.