Deputy Sheriff Jefferson F. Beard

Jefferson F. Beard

Deputy Jefferson Beard and Deputy Charles Curtiss were shot and killed during a workers strike at the local docks. Several hundred citizens had been deputized because of the fear of violence. When a boat of strikers arrived it was ordered not to dock, but did so anyway. When the occupants were ordered to not disembark gunfire erupted and both Deputy Beard and Deputy Curtiss, one of the deputized citizens, were fatally wounded. The Sheriff was also shot and wounded.

Although the exact circumstances are unknown, it is thought that both deputies were struck by friendly fire.

Deputy Beard was survived by his wife and four children.