Keifer Police

The afternoon of Monday, August 16, 1909, two men dressed as cowboys arrived in Kiefer. Their actions of looking over the Kiefer State Bank aroused the suspicion of Marshal Swinford. Bank officials were notified that their bank might be robbed (burglarized) later that night. Bank cashier Palmer Wedding, a Dr. Jones and a man named R. Bailey quietly entered the bank that evening. About 10 P.M. Cashier Wedding and one of the other men went outside to look around. They noticed the two men setting on a pile of bricks in a building under construction next door. When the two men saw the other men they left the building. Marshal Swinford was notified. About 11 P.M. Swinford located the two men on a side street near the bank and drew his gun on them ordering them to surrender. One of the men stepped back into a darkened area. Cashier Wedding seeing the marshal ran to his assistance. Before Wedding reached Swinford a shot rang out from the darkened area and the Marshal fell dead with a shot to his head. Just as Wedding got to the marshal’s body he was shot in the back. Wedding was put on a train to Tulsa for treatment of his wound. The body of Marshal Swinford was taken to Sapulpa for burial.

Sergeant Wilmott, 54, was in charge of training for the Kiefer Police Department as well as Commander of their Reserve Officers Program. Just after midnight the morning of Thursday, May 29, 2008, Sgt. Wilmott was on his way home from a training exercise where he was the instructor and was a couple miles from his home in Oolagah. Sgt. Wilmott was driving north on US Highway 169 when his patrol car ran into the back end of a tractor-trailer at State Highway 88. Sgt. Wilmott died at the scene from his injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer and his passenger were not injured. Sgt. Wilmott had been in law enforcement for 30 years, serving as Chief of Police of Inola and Beggs before joining the Kiefer Police Department. Sgt. Wilmott was survived by his wife Jerri Anne, their three children Jake, Matt and Robyn and two grandchildren. Son Jake was serving as a Deputy Sheriff with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office when his father was killed.