Deputy Sheriff John Wesley West

John Wesley West

Deputy Sheriff John West died two days after being shot by another deputy.

On March 5, Deputy West and another deputy went to a public movie showing in a school auditorium in Robbins, Tennessee. Also in the audience that evening was the town physician, Dr. Wylie E. Foust. During the movie, it was noted that the other deputy was visibly drunk.

The other deputy became enraged when some children in the movie audience laughed too loudly. He jumped up from his seat in the middle of the audience and shouted threats of arresting the children. At that point, his fellow deputy, Deputy West, and the physician got up from their seats and tried to calm the deputy down, but this only infuriated him further. The deputy then pulled both of his pistols from their holsters, brandished them in the crowded auditorium, and opened fire, killing the physician and mortally wounding Deputy West.

The suspect was subsequently convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. He was executed in the Tennessee electric chair on January 25, 1928.

Deputy West was survived by his wife and children.