St. Clair County Sheriff's Office, Missouri
End of Watch: Tuesday, March 17, 1874
Age: 31
Tour of Duty: 5 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: March 17, 1874
Weapon Used: Shotgun
Suspect Info: One shot and killed
Deputy Sheriff Edwin Daniels was shot and killed as he and two Pinkerton private detectives searched for members of the James Younger Gang. They were wanted for a train robbery that occurred three months earlier. The three men were following a trail about three miles from the town of Roscoe when they were ambushed by the two Younger brothers. When the suspects told the men to drop their weapons, Deputy Daniels shot and killed one of them.
The other brother returned fire with a double-barreled shotgun, striking Deputy Daniels in the chest. He then shot and wounded one of the railroad detectives with the other barrel. The suspect then shot and fatally wounded Deputy Daniels with a pistol before fleeing the scene. He was later sentenced to 25 years in a Minnesota prison for a bank robbery and committed suicide after being paroled in 1901.
The brother who was shot and killed was wanted in Texas for the double murder of Deputy James McMahan and Deputy Charles Nichols, of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, on January 16, 1871. The Younger Gang was also connected to the death of Bureau of Indian Affairs Police Officer Frank West in 1886 by the husband of Bell Starr, an accomplice of the Younger Gang.
Deputy Daniels had served with the agency for five years and is buried in Osceola, St. Clair County, Missouri. During the Civil War he served as a private with the Massachusetts 8th Light Artillery from June 2, 1862, until November 29 , 1862.