Deputy City Marshal W. T. Wise

W. T. Wise

Deputy City Marshal W.T. Wise was shot and killed in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, while working undercover in an attempt to apprehend two men who were wanted for murder in Texas.

Marshal Wise had gone to Pontotoc to extradite a prisoner from Texas back to Mississippi. While in town the Pontotoc County sheriff requested Deputy Marshal Wise's assistance to capture the two men. Marshal Wise returned to Fort Worth where he was permitted by the City Marshal to return to Oxford to help with the investigation.

Upon his return to Mississippi, Deputy Marshal Wise disguised himself as a cattle buyer and made contact with a man close to the suspects. The man agreed to help Marshal Wise in exchange for part of the reward money. Deputy Marshal Wise devised a plan to drug the suspects with tainted whiskey and then take them into custody. The informant, however, betrayed him and informed the suspects of the plan. As Deputy Marshal Wise approached the home the suspects ambushed him on the roadway and shot him with a shotgun and pistol.

The suspects buried his body on the side of the road where it was located the next day by a search team. Three suspects were eventually apprehended and sentenced to death. Two of the death sentences were overturned but the third man was hung in Pittsboro, Mississippi, on July 3rd, 1886.

Deputy Marshal Wise had served with the Fort Worth Marshal's Office for 18 months. He was survived by his wife and children. He is buried in Sarepta Cemetery in Sarepta, Mississippi.