Thomas Newt Pearson, Deputy Sheriff
Jack Hunter, Deputy Sheriff
McIntosh County Sheriff's Office
About 8 A.M. on Saturday, May 8, 1920, Deputy Hunter, 43, went to the jail cell of Lester Clark, 27, and Will Davis, to collect their breakfast dishes. Deputy Hunter had served as jailer for ten years. Lester Clark was being held for Seattle, Washington authorities on charges of bigamy and forgery. Will Davis had been arrested for being insane. As the deputy turned to leave with the dishes, Clark told him he forgot something. When Deputy Hunter turned around, Clark shot him in the heart with a .25 automatic pistol. Clark and Davis then escaped over the dead deputy’s body. Deputy Hunter was survived by his wife and four children. Clark’s wife of a recent marriage and a friend, Hale Taylor, were arrested for smuggling the gun into the jail. Clark was shot and killed by officers near Alma, Arkansas when he resisted arrest on May 29th.
Herman Odom, Deputy Sheriff
McIntosh County Sheriff's Office
Near dusk on March 27, 1909, Marshal Baum and Deputy Odom were two of six officers who had gone to arrest a man for larceny. As the officers approached the house shots were fired as several men ran from the house. Marshal Baum was the first officer to be shot down and as Odom went to his aid he also was shot and killed.
Thomas Newt Pearson,
Deputy Sheriff
McIntosh County Sheriffs Office
Deputy Newt Pearson struggled with a black man named Winton Irwin near the railroad depot near the small town of Hoffman on June 12, 1909. He was trying to serve a warrant on Irwin. Irwin managed to get the deputy’s gun and escape. Deputy Pearson formed a posse which included his brother, Lon and General Thomas. On the evening of Sunday, June 13, 1909, they had tracked and found Irwin on an island in the Deep Fork Creek three miles from Hoffman. The deputies waited in ambush for their suspect. As Irwin walked by them, Pearson stood up with a shotgun demanding the suspect surrender. Irwin shot the deputy fatally in the head with the deputy’s gun he had taken from him the previous day. The two possemen opened fire on Irwin, hitting him in the head, right arm, side and abdomen. Despite his wounds, Irwin ran off. He collapsed about a mile away where the officers apprehended him. The deputies marveled that he had made it that far because of the extent of his wounds. Irwin died the next day while being transported to Checotah. Deputy Pearson was survived by his wife, two young children and ten children from a previous marriage.