Perry Chuculate, Deputy Sheriff
Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office
The afternoon of Friday, August 27, 1926, Deputy Chuculate was one of a group of four officers searching for a stolen car about three miles west of Sallisaw. The officers saw a car approaching them at a high rate of speed. The officers blocked the highway with their car and the speeding car stopped some distance away. Deputy Chuculate started walking toward the car with a shotgun. The men in the other car, members of the Kimes gang of bank robbers, opened fire on the officers with rifles hitting Chuculate in the right arm and lung. Sixty rounds were exchanged during the gunfight until the officers ran out of ammunition. The gang members then took one of the other officers, who had been wounded, and a passing farmer hostage and left in the officer’s car. The hostages were released near Van Buren, Arkansas. Deputy Chuculate died in the hospital shortly before 6 P.M. that afternoon. A wife, daughter and two sons survived him.
Jason August Edwards, Deputy Sheriff
Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office
On Christmas Eve, 1925, Deputy Edwards and the rural town of Gans’ Constable Luther Lewellen were looking for a man named I. L. Martin, 22, who reportedly was carrying a gun. About 9 P.M. they located Martin with two other men in a buggy west of Gans. When the officers approached the buggy and advised Martin he was under arrest, Martin pulled his gun and shot Deputy Edwards once in the forehead, killing him instantly. Martin escaped on foot but was arrested the next day, Christmas Day, and charged with the murder of Edwards.
Tom Hood, Deputy Sheriff
Sequoyah County Sheriffs Office
The body of Deputy Hood was found in the remote mountainous region of northeastern Sequoyah County about four miles from the town of Short Tuesday morning March 28, 1933. His body was found by his brother who began searching for him after he failed to return home Monday night. Deputy Hood had been shot in the face, head and left shoulder with Number 4 buckshot. Deputy Hood had left his home in Short late Monday afternoon, telling his family he was going to the “bluff” near where his body was found, to look for moonshiners. A family living in the vicinity of the bluff said they heard several shots Monday night. Deputy Hood’s body was near a whiskey still and cache which was within a few hundred yards of the farm home of Jim Tune. Tune and his son Jess were arrested for the murder of Deputy Hood.
Ira Wofford, Undersheriff
Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office
On Friday, December 4,1953, Undersheriff Wofford and Oklahoma State Crime Bureau Agent Leonard Farris were transporting a prisoner, Frank Trotter, from Denver, Colorado back to Oklahoma where he was wanted for burglarizing a service station in Sallisaw. East of Byers, Colorado their vehicle hit an icy spot, went off the road and rolled over several times. Wofford and Farris were ejected and the car rolled on top of them, pinning both officers. Trotter, still handcuffed, crawled out of the wreckage and attempted to lift the car off of the officers. Failing at his attempt, he covered the officers with a blanket from the car and proceeded to flag down a passing motorist and asked them to summon help. Undersheriff Wofford died from his injuries before an ambulance could arrive. Just before he died, Wofford thanked Frank Trotter for trying to help him and asked another officer to remove Trotter’s handcuffs.