Officer Edgar P. Wright

Edgar P. Wright

Officer Edgar Wright succumbed to injuries sustained two days earlier in a gun battle with two brothers near Garfield, Arkansas. Both brothers, ages 20 and 25, were wanted in Lawrence County, Missouri, for beating a justice of the peace nearly to death after he had them arrested for disturbing a church service.

Constable Will Dalton, of the Rogers Police Department, Arkansas, was also shot and killed as he, Officer Wright, and two other officers attempted to arrest the suspects.

One of the brothers was later shot and killed and the other brother was captured when he mistakenly jumped into a boxcar containing 3 posse members sent to arrest him. One gave himself up and the other received a load of buckshot in the back as he tried to escape. The captured suspect escaped from jail on July 11, 1891,and was recaptured on April 5th, 1893, in Decatur, Illinois and returned to Arkansas. The suspect, now, 24, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life. On July 11, 1893, he escaped from his guards at the sand pits in Saline County. He made his way toward Little Rock and tried to swim across the Arkansas River. His body was found lodged in a drift just above Little Rock.