Deputy Sheriff Dewitt Clinton Cooley

Dewitt Clinton Cooley

Deputy Dewitt Cooley was killed while checking the locks on the cells in the jail. One of the prisoners had managed to pry open his cell door with a crowbar and struck Deputy Cooley from behind. Deputy Cooley lay unconscious for several hours until his wife came to the jail and found him. She was also attacked by the three escaping prisoners and was critically wounded but recovered after several weeks in a hospital.

The prisoner who dealt the death blow was convicted of Deputy Cooley's murder and sentenced to life. On January 17, 1918, he escaped from Granite Penitentiary and was never seen again.

Deputy Cooley had been with the agency for three years. He was survived by his wife and two children.