Sheriff David Algerine Crawford

David Algerine Crawford

Sheriff David Crawford succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained several days earlier while attempting to serve a warrant on a man in Harrison.

The man was wanted for a gambling violation, but was also a suspect in two murders. Sheriff Crawford and a county bailiff learned the man was at a general store in downtown Harrison. When they arrived at the store the owner pointed out the wanted man to them. To avoid a confrontation inside the store, Sheriff Crawford decided to wait on the front porch. Seeing Sheriff Crawford out front, the man fired a single shot at him, striking him in the back.

As the man ran from the scene the bailiff shot him in the leg. Despite the wound, the man was able to flee. He was arrested by a posse the following day and taken to jail. After Sheriff Crawford's death two days later, a mob of several hundred men broke into the Johnson County Jail, seized the man, hanged him, and then shot him more than 500 times.

Sheriff Crawford had served as the Johnson County Sheriff for less than two months.