James Daniel Coffee, Deputy Sheriff
Wilbarger County Texas Sheriff's Office
Between 5 and 6 P.M. on Friday, February 15, 1918, Deputy Coffee and Fargo (TX) Constable Jim Edwards went to the Oklahoma side of the Red River at the Webb Crossing in an attempt to stop and arrest bootleggers who were reported to be bringing whiskey into Oklahoma from Wichita Falls, Texas at this point. Soon after arriving on the north side of the river a car approached with it’s curtains drawn. When the car stopped to pay the toll, Deputy Coffee stepped to the car and drew back a curtain. The two men in the car opened fire on the officers. Deputy Coffee was shot in the abdomen with a double-barrel sawed off shotgun by Charlie Holden, who escaped. The other man in the car were arrested. Deputy Coffee, age 45, died at 3 A.M. the next morning, February 16th. Deputy Coffee was survived by a wife and five young children. Charlie Holden, who was out on bond for the killing of Cleveland County Deputy Sheriff Grover Fulkerson, was later captured and pled guilty to Deputy Coffee’s murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
George M Doolittle, Deputy Sheriff
Lampasas County, Texas
On Wednesday, January 8, 1879, Deputy Doolittle was about 29 years of age and was in the area of Lexington, I.T. to arrest Bluford “Blu” Cox for the 1871 murder of Thomas Gardner in Williamson County, Texas. Cox had been arrested on the murder charge in 1871 but left Texas after his family and friends posted bond for him. Deputy Doolittle was shot to death by Cox when Doolittle attempted to arrest him. It is unknown if Cox was ever arrested and tried for killing Deputy Doolittle. Doolittle was single and had been in law enforcement five years, serving as a Texas Ranger before becoming a Deputy Sheriff. Doolittle is believed to be buried in an unmarked grave near Lexington.
Morris T. Dunn, Constable
Precint 7, Fannin County, Texas
Constable Dunn and a four-man posse trailed a gang of robbers into Indian Territory. The night of Saturday, May 26, 1888, the posse located the gang, consisting of brothers Dick, Jim and Joe Dyer and a man named Williams, in a cabin. When the posse called for the gang to surrender a gunfight broke out. Constable Dunn was fatally wounded but was able to return five shots before he fell dead
W. Jacob "Jake" Giles, Sheriff
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office - Texas
On Friday, March 24, 1916, Sheriff Giles was transporting Paul V. Hadley, 30, by train back to Beaumont, Texas from Kansas City, Missouri, on a warrant for assault with intent to kill. Also traveling with the men was Hadley’s 22-year-old wife, Ida. The sheriff had known the couple for several years and trusted them and therefore had not handcuffed Paul or searched Ida. Just before the train entered Checotah, Oklahoma, Ida Hadley retrieved a pistol she had apparently hidden in the women’s toilet previously. Walking up behind the sheriff, she shot him fatally once in the head. Paul Hadley took the dead sheriff’s gun, forced the train to stop and the pair got off in Checotah. The couple was arrested the next night near Texanna. Paul Hadley was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and Ida was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The day after her trial ended, Ida pled guilty to attempting to aid her husband’s escape and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Sheriff Giles left behind a wife and nine children, ages 4 to 19.
Nimrod Johnson Miller, Sheriff
Burnet County Sheriff's Office (Texas)
In late August of 1881 Sheriff Miller, 37, left Burnet County, Texas for Pauls Valley in the Indian Territory (I.T.) in search of a man named W. P. Brown who was wanted for a murder that occurred in Burnet County in February 1876. Sheriff Miller was last seen on September 1, 1881, in Dennison and Sherman, Texas area headed to the Indian Territory. Shortly after that reports of his death in the Indian Territory were received but his body and the circumstances of his death were never found. In August of 1882, there was an unsubstantiated report of a man named Sam Paul, who was in the Ft. Smith jail, stating that he witnessed the killing of a Sheriff Miller in Chickasaw County (I.T.) by a Sam S. Wood. Sheriff Miller was survived by his wife Pollie and seven children.
William Warfield Roberts, Deputy Sheriff
Comanche County, Texas
On Monday, November 1, 1948, at approximately 8:20 p.m., Deputy Roberts was driving south on U.S. Highway 77, about 5 miles north of Perry, Oklahoma. Deputy Roberts lost control of his vehicle and left the roadway during a light rain. His car overturned and rolled into a telephone pole. Roberts was killed instantly in a one-car accident. Roberts died of a skull fracture.
Deputy Roberts was accompanied by his wife, Edna, and was transporting a prisoner, James W. Duke, 25, from Fairbury, Nebraska back to Comanche County, Texas to face child desertion charges. Mrs. Roberts and prisoner Duke suffered only minor injuries.
Deputy Roberts was survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and five
grandchildren. William Roberts is buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Comanche, Texas.