Bio & Incident Details
Age: 40
Tour: Not available
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Location: Texas
Incident Date: 12/23/1928
Weapon: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect: Not available
· Leave a Reflection
· Add to My Heroes
· Update this memorial
Share this memorial:
About 5:00 a.m. U.S. Customs Inspectors Tom Morris and M.R. Rogers stopped an automobile carrying two men about four miles southwest of Fabens in El Paso County. The vehicle had crossed the boundary line near the Fabens “hole-in-the-wall” on San Elizario Island in the Rio Grande River. The inspectors had the two men outside the vehicle and were about to handcuff them when one of the men asked Inspector Morris if he could roll a cigarette, and Morris said he could. The man pulled a .38 automatic pistol and shot Inspector Morris three times in the abdomen. He then fired on Inspector Rogers. The bullet passed through his leather jacket, a sweater and two shirts. Rogers was knocked backwards, but the bullet did not enter his shoulder. Both inspectors fired at the fleeing man as he escaped into Mexico. The driver was captured and charged with liquor violations. The disposition of any case against his murderer is unknown. Morris was taken to the Masonic Hospital in El Paso. He was conscious and recognized his friends and only lost consciousness a short time before his death at 4:30 p.m. that afternoon.
U.S. Customs Chief Grover Webb and Inspector Morris were attacked and wounded a short distance from where Morris was fatally wounded when they stopped a car coming over the Lee Moore Bridge on May 19, 1922. Both officers were shot through the jaw and their assailants escaped into Mexico.
One newspaper reported that Morris was survived by his father, mother and sister and another newspaper stated he was survived by his widowed mother. He was buried in the Masonic Section of the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso.
