Rural Police Officer Edward Frazier Langford

Edward Frazier Langford

Rural Police Officer Frazier Langford was killed when he and a game warden attempted to arrest a suspect for careless and reckless driving.

Visitors to Beaufort reported that they had been forced off the road by three men and a woman in a Buick near Grays Hill. Officer Langford later spotted the Buick and its occupants at a family reunion and ball game along the Savannah Highway five miles from Beaufort. As Officer Langford attempted to arrest the driver a fight ensued. The crowd rapidly turned on Officer Langford as the driver's father ran up behind him and shot him in the back. The volunteer, armed only with a two-shot derringer, fired one shot and then fled in Officer Langford's patrol car to seek help.

Later examination would reveal that Officer Langford was shot, stabbed, kicked, beaten, bludgeoned, and bit several times. The driver, his father, and his family were apprehended later that afternoon in Ridgeland. The driver, his wife, father, and three other men were charged with first-degree murder.

The defendants were all tried together in 1927. The National Guard had to be deployed by Governor Richards to prevent a lynching. The driver, his father, and another man were sentenced to death. Two were sentenced to life. One was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1929 Governor Richards commuted the death sentences to life. In 1935 Governor Ibra C. Blackwood commuted the five life terms to 10 years.

Officer Langford was survived by his wife and three children.