Police Officer Paul Ralph Fox

Paul Ralph Fox

Police Officer Ralph Fox succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained two days earlier while and another officer attempted to question two subjects who had brought moonshine onto the property of the Vesta Coal Company near Brownsville.

Officer Fox and Officer Knapp had witnessed the two men carrying a five-gallon can of moonshine from a vehicle in an attempt to sell it on the property. They approached the subjects as they entered the coal company's property. Both men shot at the officers, striking Officer Knapp in the head, killing him, and striking Officer Fox in the shoulder, arm, and back as he lay on the ground. Both subjects fled the area through a railway. A posse was quickly organized after the shooting but failed to capture the men.

Officer Fox was rushed to a hospital in Brownsville where he fell unconsciousness after giving a license plate number of the vehicle that dropped off both subjects to investigators.

Officer Fox served with the Pennsylvania Coal and Iron Police Department for seven years and previously served with the Pennsylvania State Police. He is survived by his wife and two sisters.