Captain Homer R. Spaulding

Homer R. Spaulding

Captain Homer Spaulding succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained 10 days earlier when he and two other officers were engaged in a shootout with six members of the Barker-Karpis Gang.

The officers had stopped to assist six men who were working on a stalled car at 3:30 a.m. Two of the men suddenly pulled out handguns and opened fire, mortally wounding Captain Spaulding and wounding one of the other officers. One suspect was also shot and killed.

Captain Spaulding had served with the Okmulgee Police Department for nine years. He was survived by his wife and son. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Green Hill Cemetery, Muskogee, Oklahoma.

The Barker-Karpis Gang committed violent crimes throughout the American Midwest in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Members and associates of the gang were responsible for the murders of at least ten law enforcement officers.