Sheriff Samuel Craig Pratt

Samuel Craig Pratt

Sheriff Pratt and Patrolman Edward Clark, of the North Platte, Nebraska, Police Department, were shot and killed while attempting to arrest two suspects wanted for a two-state crime spree. The two suspects had been stopped by Patrolman Clark near the South River Bridge. During the stop Patrolman Clark and the suspects became engaged in a heated argument and he was shot in the back as he turned away from them. The suspects fled back into Kansas where they were stopped by Sheriff Pratt, who was shot and killed as he approached their car. The suspects fled the scene.

A week later one of the suspects, age 17, was arrested at his home in Tucumari, New Mexico. He claimed that the other suspect, who was nearly twice his age, shot and killed Patrolman Clark and Sheriff Pratt. On September 11, 1925, the second suspect was shot and killed in a gun battle with police in Altus, Oklahoma.

The 17 year-old suspect was convicted of Patrolman Clark's murder and sentenced to life on October 10, 1925. He was paroled in October of 1936.