Osage County Sheriff's Office, Oklahoma
End of Watch: Wednesday, May 11, 1921
Age: 35
Tour of Duty: 8 years
Badge Number: Not available
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: May 11, 1921
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: Convicted for murder of another officer
Deputy Sheriff Sam Shelley was killed trying to apprehend two car thieves.
He was notified that a car had been stolen and that the suspects were heading his way. He parked his car on the only road available to them for escape. As the vehicle approached he ordered them to stop, but one of the men shot him in the chest.
Outraged citizens offered a reward. The suspects were part of a gang and were captured a few months later, but they escaped jail and were not captured for another six years. The suspect was convicted of the murder of Chief of Police W.J. McAnally of the Beggs Police Department. He was paroled in 1948, but after violating parole, he returned to prison, where he died in 1961.
Deputy Shelley had served with the Osage County Sheriff's Office for his second term, had been a police officer for eight years, and was also the Town Marshal of Pershing for three years simultaneously. He was survived by his wife and two children, and his parents.
He is buried at Fairlawn Cemetery in Stillwater, Oklahoma.