Deputy Sheriff John Henry Bending

John Henry Bending

Sheriff's Deputies Bending and Green Willis responded to a battery call where two suspects were wanted for stabbing another citizen because he refused to buy them whiskey. When the deputies arrived on the scene, they failed to hear warnings from another deputy that both suspects were armed. Both deputies were ambushed before they could get out of their car. Deputy Bending was shot in the head, and killed instantly. Deputy Willis was shot in the abdomen and died three years later from the injuries he sustained in this incident.

Other officers returned fire killing one suspect and wounding the other. That suspect, 19, was convicted of Deputy Bending's murder and sentenced to life in prison on May 17, 1928.

Deputy Bending had been with the agency for five years and is survived by his wife.