Special Agent James Harris "Buck" Phillips

James Harris "Buck" Phillips

Special Agent Buck Phillips was shot and killed in Portland, Oregon, while attempting to arrest several box car thieves.

The thieves had been boarding slow moving trainings near the Peninsula Tula, and then throwing goods onto an adjacent road, where an accomplice in a truck would pick them up. Agent Phillips and his partner were patrolling opposite sides of a train when he encountered the thieves.

As he attempted to arrest them one of them opened fire, striking him three times. Despite being mortally wounded, he returned fire and wounded one of the men. The suspects were arrested several days later in Albina, Oregon, after an intensive search by local police, railroad police, and federal agents.

The suspect who shot Agent Phillips was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on August 24th, 1923.

Agent Phillips was survived by his wife, child, and mother. His brother, Deputy Robert Phillips, had also been shot and killed in the line of duty on November 18th, 1917, while serving with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.