Constable Will L. Dalton

Will L. Dalton

Constable Will Dalton was shot and killed as he and three officers attempted to arrest two brothers, from Missouri, at a residence near Garfield, Arkansas. Both brothers, ages 20 and 25, were wanted in Lawrence County, Missouri, for beating a justice of the pease nearly to death after he had them arrested for disturbing a church service.

Officer Edgar Wright of the Pierce City Police Department, Missouri, died two days later from wounds received in the same gun battle.

One of the suspects was later shot and killed and the other captured when they mistakenly jumped into a boxcar containing three posse members sent to arrest them. One gave himself up and the other received a load of buckshot in the back as he attempted to escape. The captured suspect was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He escaped from jail on July 11th, 1891, and was captured on April 5th, 1893, in Decatur, Illinois.

Constable Dalton was survived by his wife and two children.