Deputy Sheriff John Carlie Reeves

John Carlie Reeves

Around 1:15 a.m. on September 17, 1928, Henderson County Deputy Sheriff John C. Reeves while on duty and working at a dance in Malakoff, asked Jose Hernandez to leave a dance platform. Without warning Hernandez pulled a pistol and shot Deputy Sheriff Reeves in the head, killing Reeves instantly. Hernandez left the scene of the shooting, but returned a short time later and surrendered.

Henderson County Constable White and a Mr. Melvin Dodd, using Dodd's car, started with the prisoner to the county jail in Athens. Before getting out of the City of Malakoff, the car was intercepted by a party of men. Constable White was pulled out of the car and two of the men shot Hernandez seven times, killing him instantly. Neither Constable White nor Melvin Dodd was injured by the gunfire. It was reported in local news accounts that the identity of the men who shot Jose Hernandez was not known to either Constable White or Melvin Dodd.

John Carlie Reeves was survived by his wife and three small children.