Sheriff Richard Allen Pauley

Richard Allen Pauley

Sheriff Pauley was shot and killed after being called to the railroad yard to assist in apprehending two men who were riding on top of a freight car. The men had boarded the train at Brownwood, Texas, and refused the conductor's order to leave. When the train stopped in Santa Anna the conductor telegraphed ahead to Coleman to ask for the sheriff to meet him when the train arrived. As Sheriff Pauley climbed the ladder he was shot by one of the suspects. He succumbed to his wounds two days later.

The suspects were later captured by a posse of over 1000 men. On June 3, 1925, Sheriff Pauley's killer, 23, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On April 16, 1926, he went to his death in the electric chair.

Sheriff Pauley was survived by his wife and son.