J. C. Wilson, Officer
Weleetka Police Department
About 9 P.M. on Friday, December 30, 1932, J.C. “Dad” Wilson was patrolling his beat as the “extra night man” when he found a broken window in the back of the O.U. Wilcox Grocery. Wilson asked a neighboring businessman to watch the front of the store while he contacted the owner. As Wilson returned to the store, the other merchant yelled to him that the burglar was trying to escape from the rear of the store. Wilson ran around to the back of the store and confronted a black man, later identified as Henry Yates. As the officer shined his flashlight at Yates, Yates fired several shots at him. One shot struck Wilson in the heart, killing him nearly instantly. Two nights later, Henry Yates was arrested by officers in Shawnee. Yates, an ex-convict with multiple arrests for burglary, had just been released on November 12th from his sixth term in the state penitentiary. Yates confessed to the burglary and murder of Wilson. He had taken 56 cents, six packs of cigarettes and a Colt .38 that he sold for $1.50.